Speaker 1: It's nice eyes.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you Mazy Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 3: Probably back for the final hour of my broadcast year.
Speaker 3: In the second hour of our twelfth annual Nightside Charity Combine.
Speaker 3: Delighted to welcome someone who I consider be a hero
Speaker 3: of mine, young man named Matt Brown. Matt suffered a
Speaker 3: horrific physical injury playing ice hockey about a little over
Speaker 3: fifteen years ago. He's only in his early thirties. He
Speaker 3: runs a foundation to help others who are in his
Speaker 3: same or similar set of circumstances. Talk about a hero,
Speaker 3: Matt Brown. Welcome back to Night Side. How are you, buddy, Dan.
Speaker 4: It's great to hear from you. How are things going
Speaker 4: in your end?
Speaker 3: I'm doing fine. Other than I'm dealing with something real
Speaker 3: simple like bronchitis, You're dealing with a much more complicated situation.
Speaker 3: Tell my audience your story. What happened to you in
Speaker 3: one of your what third varsity ice hockey games?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: So next next year, January January twenty third will be
Speaker 4: my uh well, it will mark fifteen years since my
Speaker 4: spinal cord injury. During the second period of a hockey game.
Speaker 4: I was racing for the puck, was going at it
Speaker 4: within the player on the opposing team. We collided. I
Speaker 4: ended up losing my footing and went headfirst into the boards.
Speaker 4: And that's that's kind of where this story began. My
Speaker 4: high school hockey career ended. But you know this, this
Speaker 4: new story began, and there's been good days and bad days,
Speaker 4: but you know, the good day is definitely outweighed the
Speaker 4: bad things to a great family and great friends.
Speaker 3: Just unbelievable. You now have turned that circumstance for which
Speaker 3: obviously is it happens occasionally. They're they're You're not the
Speaker 3: only one. But you've turned it into a positive. Uh.
Speaker 3: And what does the Matt Brown Foundation do? Who are
Speaker 3: you trying to help?
Speaker 4: Yeah? You know, I think we were so lucky with
Speaker 4: the way that Nora would and my friend and the
Speaker 4: family and the hockey community rallied around my side. You
Speaker 4: know that as as I looked back, kind of as
Speaker 4: the years went by, I knew that it was time
Speaker 4: for me to get back to others. I'd seen individuals
Speaker 4: in situations just like mine with you know, not that
Speaker 4: support system. So I wanted to have, you know, our
Speaker 4: support system, someone the group that I call my village
Speaker 4: become the village of someone else, and so in June
Speaker 4: of twenty twenty, smack dab in the middle of a pandemic,
Speaker 4: we decided to launch the Matt Brown Foundation. And as
Speaker 4: you can imagine, it was slow at first. We waited
Speaker 4: fifteen months for our first event with a golf tournament,
Speaker 4: but as the years have gone by, we've been able
Speaker 4: to have the golf tournament of Falmouth road Race teams.
Speaker 4: Most recently we just got into the UH charity program
Speaker 4: of the Boston Marathon. And so we help individuals suffering
Speaker 4: from paralysis with help from anything from helping them get antis,
Speaker 4: have accessful advands, bathroom and home renovations, standing frames and
Speaker 4: pieces of home equipment for their home, and we just
Speaker 4: want to make you know their life and whoever they're with,
Speaker 4: You know, their life a little bit easier than the
Speaker 4: one before, a little bit their days a little bit
Speaker 4: easier than the one before.
Speaker 3: Man, how can my listeners tonight help the Matt Ground
Speaker 3: Foundation give us the website? UH? I think it's pretty
Speaker 3: simple and directly right ahead.
Speaker 4: Stared right around the beginning of the new year, you know,
Speaker 4: our our website is still up where we're gonna be
Speaker 4: launching ah. You know, the new site right around the
Speaker 4: beginning of the new year, and we're going to have
Speaker 4: a quarterly newsletter come out there. You'll be able to.
Speaker 3: Know you you you. I didn't hear it's is it
Speaker 3: simply Matt Brownfoundation dot org.
Speaker 4: Matt Brownfoundation dot org. And we're on Instagram and Facebook.
Speaker 4: If you touch up with our marathon team, help out
Speaker 4: with our golf tournament sponsors there and then our Famol
Speaker 4: throwers in August.
Speaker 3: Perfect, Matt, thank you so much. I'm just a little
Speaker 3: pressed on time, but you're doing great work, my friend.
Speaker 3: You are one of my heroes and I appreciate your
Speaker 3: time tonight, my friend. We'll talk soon.
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, just happy holidays, all right, right back at you.
Speaker 3: Merry Christmas. Okay, Rob, where do you want me to
Speaker 3: go here? Which? Who's Okay, let's talk now to Beverly Dillon,
Speaker 3: who's the president of the Massachusetts Lions I Research Fund. Beverly,
Speaker 3: how are you? I think everybody knows what the Lions
Speaker 3: clubs do, but give us a brief description of that.
Speaker 6: The Lions are a charitable organization. There's clubs all over
Speaker 6: the world, so it's a worldwide organization that it's a
Speaker 6: It raises money. One of the biggest thing we do
Speaker 6: and people don't really ever think about this. Lions Club
Speaker 6: International Foundation raises money for disaster release and lately that
Speaker 6: has been necessary all over the world. Their boots on
Speaker 6: the ground, the first one is there if anyone needs
Speaker 6: help after a disaster.
Speaker 3: Now, how can folks I guess they can join the
Speaker 3: Lions Club. But if they want to just support the
Speaker 3: Lions Club, what's the best website? I mean, I know
Speaker 3: there are Lions Chapters everywhere. How can we simplify for
Speaker 3: we have a big audience out there listening tonight. How
Speaker 3: can we simplify for them?
Speaker 6: Beverly Lions Club's international dot com and it tells you
Speaker 6: all about the Lions Clubs. If you have any interest
Speaker 6: in supporting it, they you can contact them through the
Speaker 6: website if you would like to join the club, they
Speaker 6: will as if you give them your information, they will
Speaker 6: contact the club in your area.
Speaker 3: And then that that website again, no matter where you
Speaker 3: are in the world, it's Lions Club dot org dot org.
Speaker 3: It's a great organization. Obviously, it deals with folks who
Speaker 3: are uh you know, who are who are in need
Speaker 3: and just a wonderful organization. I'm so happy that we're
Speaker 3: able to get you on tonight. Thank you for being there.
Speaker 3: And I'm hoping that a lot of people will be
Speaker 3: thinking about the Lions Clubs. There's they're everywhere, so no
Speaker 3: matter where you're listening tonight, and you'd like to get
Speaker 3: associated with your local Lions club Lions Club. Uh again,
Speaker 3: it's Lions Club International dot org. War Clubs Okay, plural Internet.
Speaker 3: Thank you, perfect, Thanks so much, Beb. I appreciate it
Speaker 3: very much.
Speaker 6: You're welcome.
Speaker 3: All right, we get back. We have some more very
Speaker 3: important groups to basically introduce you to here on Nightside.
Speaker 3: My name's Dan Ray. This is our twelfth annual Nightside
Speaker 3: charity Combine. Coming back right after this quick break.
Speaker 2: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 2: nights Side Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 3: Looking forward to welcoming Jennifer Harnish or Harnish, I'm not
Speaker 3: exactly sure the pronunciation. I apologize. Jennifer, director of Social
Speaker 3: Services of the Massachusets Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired,
Speaker 3: tell us about the organization.
Speaker 7: Jennifer, Yeah, thank you, Dan, You've got it right. The
Speaker 7: Massachusetts Association for the Blind and visually impaired. We provide
Speaker 7: services and resources for individuals who are new or who
Speaker 7: have had long term vision loss. We have a really
Speaker 7: active volunteer program. Volunteers go into the individual's home, read mail,
Speaker 7: take an individual grocery shopping for example. We provide access
Speaker 7: technology training, how to use your phone, your computer, take notes.
Speaker 7: We also have a really strong adjustment counseling program. Our
Speaker 7: adjustment counselors are all blind or low vision themselves. And
Speaker 7: we also have over thirty peer support groups across Massachusetts
Speaker 7: to provide that really important group support so people know
Speaker 7: they're not alone in their journey and they can share
Speaker 7: with each other what's working for them and ask per
Speaker 7: support and peer relationships when they're looking for that. We
Speaker 7: also have occupational therapists yep.
Speaker 3: Are you a private organization or is it some state
Speaker 3: funding here as well?
Speaker 7: We're a nonprofit. However, we do receive us some amount
Speaker 7: of state funding to provide our support groups as well
Speaker 7: as our occupational therapy work is covered in part by
Speaker 7: sometimes health insurance.
Speaker 3: Excellent. Excellent, So give me the website and also can
Speaker 3: people volunteer? Obviously, financial support is always welcome I know,
Speaker 3: but are there opportunities to volunteer and give us the website?
Speaker 5: Absolutely?
Speaker 7: So the website would be the acronym so it's MS
Speaker 7: and Mary ab than blind vi dot org and then
Speaker 7: slash TWAV which stands for Team with a Vision. We
Speaker 7: have a Boston Marathon charity athlete's team and they are
Speaker 7: running to raise funds for the Mass Association for the Blind.
Speaker 7: And you can also find out more information about our
Speaker 7: volunteer program and the their services that we provide.
Speaker 3: And obviously you'd love to get some financial support from people.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, we appreciate people's generosity.
Speaker 3: Many of us who have never had to deal with
Speaker 3: serious eye problems need to probably think about maybe making
Speaker 3: a little contribution to say thank you, Jennifer. I really
Speaker 3: enjoyed our conversation. Thank you for what you do.
Speaker 7: I can thank you for having us sontam.
Speaker 3: I can't imagine the people you help and how important
Speaker 3: your help must be to them.
Speaker 7: You know, we all want to be independent and live
Speaker 7: a fulfilling life.
Speaker 5: That's airport you bet you?
Speaker 3: Okay, thanks very. I want to welcome our next guest.
Speaker 3: It's his twenty third birthday today. His name is Debon
Speaker 3: mayjaq Taban, Happy birthday. How are you?
Speaker 8: And thank you so much.
Speaker 3: I'm doing well, Tibban. You were born in Kenya, I
Speaker 3: think you told me twenty three years ago today. But
Speaker 3: you are South Sudanese and you represent a group called
Speaker 3: the South Sudanese in Richmond for Families. Tell us about
Speaker 3: the group, obviously, the group I assume is to support
Speaker 3: South Sudanese people in our in our community. You told
Speaker 3: me there's a pretty good population about eight thousand people
Speaker 3: who are South Sudanese here in Greater Boston. Is that true?
Speaker 8: Yes, yes, that's true. So the South Sudanese and Richman
Speaker 8: for Families is a nonprofit organization that services eighty families
Speaker 8: within the Greater Boston area. And the programs that we
Speaker 8: have we pay up to four thousand, five hundred dollars
Speaker 8: for preschool. We send kids to summer camping in New Hampshire.
Speaker 8: They go, they go up for two weeks. We also
Speaker 8: help pay for drivers education and we also help with
Speaker 8: tuition reimbursement.
Speaker 3: Now, you came to this country at a very young age,
Speaker 3: as I.
Speaker 5: Understand it, correct, Yes, sir, How.
Speaker 3: Tough has it been? Two Basically acclimate yourself coming out
Speaker 3: of a worn torn country South Sudan and and and
Speaker 3: find yourself, you know, half a world away.
Speaker 8: I've definitely been tough. I've had my challenges, but you know,
Speaker 8: I've been very fortunate. When I first arrived in the US,
Speaker 8: my family and I manded in Bingham to New York
Speaker 8: before moving to Fargo, North Dakota, and then finally coming
Speaker 8: here in Massachusetts. And it's definitely been a struggle learning
Speaker 8: the language, getting adjusted to the American culture, but I
Speaker 8: want to trade it for anything in the world. And
Speaker 8: with great organizations like s s c F helping some
Speaker 8: Sudanese get acclimated to life in the US, it's it's
Speaker 8: just been a very smooth process. And I've been very
Speaker 8: blessed and grateful.
Speaker 3: And and you've gone to school and you're you're on
Speaker 3: the way to a successful life here, and we're very
Speaker 3: happy to have you. We consider your presence and your
Speaker 3: family's presence a gift to all of us, so welcome.
Speaker 3: You don't need my welcome, but I want you to
Speaker 3: know that I'm sure that my audience if they want
Speaker 3: to help you and fellow South Sudanese members. There's a
Speaker 3: website and it's it's s s e F for South
Speaker 3: Sudanese Enrichment for Families simply s s e F Boston
Speaker 3: dot org. Is that the correct.
Speaker 8: Website, Yes, sir, thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you, Deban, and again, happy birthday. It's not
Speaker 3: often I have no idea how I spent my twenty
Speaker 3: third birthday, but I hope you'll always remember being on
Speaker 3: night side advocating for the South Sudanese community. Thanks so much.
Speaker 3: I really appreciate that.
Speaker 8: Thank you, Thank you so much for the opportunity at
Speaker 8: the holiday.
Speaker 3: You're very welcome. What what do you celebrate? You celebrate
Speaker 3: Christmas or what's your holiday?
Speaker 8: I do celebrate Christmas.
Speaker 3: Yes, well, I'm going to wish you merry Christmas because
Speaker 3: I celebrate Christmas as well, and I like to I
Speaker 3: like to wish people merry Christmas if they happen to
Speaker 3: celebrate that holiday on the birthday, honeka oronzo, whatever they celebrate,
Speaker 3: as far as I'm concerned, Thanks about it, and again,
Speaker 3: happy birthday.
Speaker 8: Thank you. Take care of yourself, you.
Speaker 3: Too, You too welcome. All right, Next up, we have
Speaker 3: group which is in the title. I think you can
Speaker 3: figure it out. Food not bombs with me is Jay Haycock. Hey, Jay,
Speaker 3: welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 5: How are you hey, I'm doing great, Dan, thanks for
Speaker 5: having me on tonight.
Speaker 3: Well tell us about food, not bombs. I think I
Speaker 3: get the drift, but let us know what you do here,
Speaker 3: as I just did your local chapter of a national organization.
Speaker 5: Well, that's right, we're actually a worldwide organization. Food and
Speaker 5: Bottles started. Yeah, we were starting California about I want
Speaker 5: to say, thirty five years ago. We have over a
Speaker 5: thousand chapters in different cities around the world, and I
Speaker 5: represent the chapter here in Wallfam. We just celebrated our
Speaker 5: fifth year anniversary. And what we do is we get
Speaker 5: donated food from various sources, local supermarkets, restaurants, bakeries, cafes,
Speaker 5: and just you know, local people in the community who
Speaker 5: donate food, typically vegan and you know, some baked goods
Speaker 5: as well, and we usually stick to vegan for you know,
Speaker 5: dietary restrictions. Certain people may have religious restrictions for what
Speaker 5: they're eating, but pretty much everybody can eat fruit and veggies.
Speaker 5: So that's what we kind of on.
Speaker 9: Yeah, And so how we do.
Speaker 5: Is we Oh, go ahead, I'm sorry, Dan.
Speaker 3: No, say how can folks not take advantage? But how
Speaker 3: can they take advantage of the opportunity to uh to
Speaker 3: benefit from what you do?
Speaker 5: Well? We set up in Waldam Common Park once a
Speaker 5: week on Sunday afternoons. What we do is we cook
Speaker 5: the food. We have a local faith based organization that
Speaker 5: provides some space for us to cook and then we
Speaker 5: take it down. We set up in the park and
Speaker 5: whoever wants to come can have a meal. We also
Speaker 5: have you know, things like toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, feminine pads.
Speaker 5: We've had sentinel test kits had. We had a gentleman
Speaker 5: come up and tell us the other week that, you know,
Speaker 5: having one of these kids actually saved his life. So,
Speaker 5: you know, we just try to provide whatever we're able
Speaker 5: to that the people in our community need.
Speaker 3: Well, that's that's great. There there's always a need in
Speaker 3: every community. Wallfam is a great city, but obviously there
Speaker 3: are folks. Absolutely, So if some of my listeners want
Speaker 3: to either participate as beneficiaries or they'd like to contribute
Speaker 3: to support what is the website? I bet it's going
Speaker 3: to be pretty easy to remember.
Speaker 5: It is going to be easy. The best way to
Speaker 5: get ahold of us right now would be Food Not
Speaker 5: Bombswallfam at gmail dot com. That's going to be our
Speaker 5: general email address. We also have a presence on Instagram
Speaker 5: and on Facebook under Food Not Bombs Wallfam, and we
Speaker 5: do have a donation link there. You can also have
Speaker 5: contact if we're always looking for volunteers. Anyone's welcome. We
Speaker 5: don't turn people away when they're coming for food, and
Speaker 5: you know, anyone's welcome to participate. We're trying to build
Speaker 5: a community here. That's what we're what we're doing, and
Speaker 5: that's great. Things to be working out pretty well so far.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you for listening to night Side, Thanks
Speaker 3: for reaching out and participating in our twelfth annual Nightside
Speaker 3: charity combine and I hope you get a lot of
Speaker 3: good support from my listeners. Thanks thanks again. Holiday. What
Speaker 3: is your holiday coming up? You a Christmas guy? Honkah
Speaker 3: or Kwonzo? What's your holiday?
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, I'll be doing Christmas. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3: Dan.
Speaker 5: All right, have a great.
Speaker 3: Night, okay too, by go take quick break here at
Speaker 3: the bottom of the hour, we get the news coming
Speaker 3: up and on the other side, we have five more
Speaker 3: great charities to introduce you to here on the twelfth
Speaker 3: annual Nightside Charity Combine. We'll be back on Nightside. Rob
Speaker 3: Brooks is doing a great job keeping everybody in order tonight.
Speaker 3: Thanks Rob. We'll keep going right after this.
Speaker 2: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on wz Boston's
Speaker 2: news radio.
Speaker 3: By the way, if you want to listen to any
Speaker 3: of the interviews we're done during the last two hours,
Speaker 3: you can always go to Nightside, undemand dot com. Uh
Speaker 3: and if you're one of the charities who we interviewed,
Speaker 3: you're able to isolate that and that down and put
Speaker 3: it on your own website and circulate it. So now
Speaker 3: let us continue. I'm going to welcome Doug Gregan as
Speaker 3: with a group called New Brothers Incorporated, which is a fellowship.
Speaker 3: Tell us about it, Doug, exactly what type of fellowship?
Speaker 3: Who do you serve, what do you do?
Speaker 5: Yeah, but Dan, I this is incredible stuff. I'm here tonight,
Speaker 5: so thank you so much for the opportunity. And these
Speaker 5: other organizations are fantastic.
Speaker 10: Yeah, we're twenty years in prison and aftercare ministries. Right, So,
Speaker 10: just as a Christian organization, we're looking to see and
Speaker 10: seeing the power of God Touch, addiction, healing from brokenness,
Speaker 10: you know, the brokenness of the stuff these guys are
Speaker 10: dealing with, relationships and family, and then just the purpose
Speaker 10: of God and the purpose in life. So this is
Speaker 10: our goal, is to see the power of God move
Speaker 10: in all of these areas. We've been doing this for
Speaker 10: twenty years. You've got three basic elements of ministry, right.
Speaker 10: The first is to the incarcerated. I serve as a
Speaker 10: local chaplain in the Middlesex County. We've got Whole Mail,
Speaker 10: which is a national mailing ministry. We're sending encouragement, inspiration
Speaker 10: and instruction to people around the country. And then we
Speaker 10: just started a mentoring ministry called Titus two pen Pals. Locally,
Speaker 10: We've got Aftercare, which is the real tough thing, as
Speaker 10: you know, supporting people coming out of incarceration. Right. So
Speaker 10: the key to that for us is connection to a
Speaker 10: local body and then fellowship, staying in relationship with these
Speaker 10: guys and their families, the relationships that are important to them.
Speaker 10: And our third piece, which is actually a big deal,
Speaker 10: and this is where volunteering comes into play, is engaging
Speaker 10: the church, the local church in prison and after care ministry. Right,
Speaker 10: making opportunity for them to touch the incarcerated and post incarcerated.
Speaker 10: So it's an incredible opportunity.
Speaker 3: How'd you get into this, Doug? Did we you just
Speaker 3: call to service?
Speaker 10: Well, I'll tell you real quick. I was riffed from
Speaker 10: Verizon in Middleton, right, Verizon Yellow Pages. I was riffed
Speaker 10: in two thousand and three. I went into a jail.
Speaker 10: I'm a musician to play jazz Christian music. And the
Speaker 10: night that I went into the local Lawrence County facility,
Speaker 10: God called me in the prison ministry. So yeah, it
Speaker 10: was definitely a major detour from where I thought I
Speaker 10: was going.
Speaker 3: Well, i'll tell you, I said to a couple of
Speaker 3: folks early tonight, the doing God's work. You are absolutely
Speaker 3: doing God's work. How can folks who either want to
Speaker 3: support you financially or who might I get involved with
Speaker 3: New Brothers in corporate and give us the best way
Speaker 3: to get in touch with you?
Speaker 10: Yeah, the simple, the simple way is through that web access.
Speaker 10: It's New Brothers dot Org. New Brothers with an s
Speaker 10: dot org. You know anything you need there more obviously,
Speaker 10: more information about the ministry and then involvement engagement. So yeah,
Speaker 10: that would be fantastic.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm so proud that you took the time tonight
Speaker 3: to spend some time with us, and that you obviously
Speaker 3: hurt us on night side. Big supporters of what you do.
Speaker 3: People who do go into prison, particularly those who go
Speaker 3: in pay their price, their debt to society, they should
Speaker 3: be given an opportunity, and they just kn't put them
Speaker 3: out on the street and say here's fifty bucks, good
Speaker 3: luck with the rest of your life.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: They need people like you and your organization to guide them.
Speaker 3: They didn't have mentors, and that's probably why they got
Speaker 3: into prison in the first place. I'm a huge believer
Speaker 3: in that, and I just want to say thank you
Speaker 3: for what you do, Doug. Merry Christmas.
Speaker 10: Thank you so much. So many people impacted by incarceration.
Speaker 5: It's a great opportunity.
Speaker 10: Hey, God bless you. Merry Christmas, and thanks again for
Speaker 10: the opportunity.
Speaker 5: It's wonderful.
Speaker 3: You bet you look forward to talking with you again
Speaker 3: when I want to talk about a very simple idea
Speaker 3: that mushroomed into a very big idea. Andrew and Ava
Speaker 3: and friends Charity Lemonade stand. Andrew and Ava are at
Speaker 3: this point probably well asleep, but the Dad. John Russell
Speaker 3: from Pelham, New Hampshire joins us. John, Welcome to night side.
Speaker 10: How are you, hey, Dan, how are you? Thanks so
Speaker 10: much for having me.
Speaker 3: Oh, my pleasure. Your children, Andrew and Ava are now
Speaker 3: how old?
Speaker 11: Andrew turned ten in November and Ava will be six
Speaker 11: in January.
Speaker 3: And they've been doing this lemonade stand now for how long?
Speaker 11: So the kids have been operating their lemonade stand for
Speaker 11: about four years now. They just finished their fourth lemonade
Speaker 11: season this path August. And how it came about When
Speaker 11: my son Andrew was five, he was inspired by a
Speaker 11: girl in the next town over from us named Julia
Speaker 11: Degnan and she ran a lemonade stand to raise money
Speaker 11: to buy toys for six children in the hospital. So
Speaker 11: our first year was to support jus mission. And that
Speaker 11: year we raised and donated just shy of three thousand
Speaker 11: dollars and Julia added that to what she had raised
Speaker 11: and donated approximately six thousand dollars to Lawrence General Hospital
Speaker 11: in toys. And since then our own lemonade stand. We
Speaker 11: didn't have a name at the time, you know, we
Speaker 11: were just putting up a cute lemonade stand. At the
Speaker 11: end of the driveway and accepting online donations, and since
Speaker 11: then we've grown to over forty kids involved who have
Speaker 11: raised and donated over twenty thousand dollars to local charities.
Speaker 3: Unbelievable, just unbelievable. So, if folks want to associate or
Speaker 3: affiliate with you, folks, is there a geographic limitation or
Speaker 3: can they associate and affiliate with Andrew and Avis and
Speaker 3: Friends charity Lemonade Stand from wherever?
Speaker 11: They can associate with us from wherever. At this time,
Speaker 11: we only have a f Facebook page. It's Facebook dot
Speaker 11: com slash Andrew and Eva and Friends Lemonade Stand and
Speaker 11: it's Lemonade Aid. We do try to keep our donations
Speaker 11: locally because the children get to see.
Speaker 10: Their impact, sure right they Every year we.
Speaker 11: Donate to the Pelm Food Pantry and sixty eight hours
Speaker 11: of Hunger. The kids do all of the grocery shopping,
Speaker 11: They do all of the budgeting, all of the loading
Speaker 11: and unloading of carriages, stocking of shelves when they get
Speaker 11: to the food pantry, and then the cleanup. And you know,
Speaker 11: the important thing behind this is is it's a lemonade stand.
Speaker 1: It's fun.
Speaker 11: The kids are building great relationships and friendships. But more importantly,
Speaker 11: there's a lesson behind everything that they do, and so
Speaker 11: it's super important for us. You know, we my wife
Speaker 11: and I started this. We thought it would be a
Speaker 11: great way to teach our kids lessons. And here we
Speaker 11: are four years later, you know, twenty thousand dollars later donated,
Speaker 11: and we've learned that they're the ones teaching us the lessons.
Speaker 10: It's so it's it's been. It's been a fun ride
Speaker 10: and really important.
Speaker 3: Well it sure sounds great, and again, give us that
Speaker 3: website one more time where people can either contribute or participate.
Speaker 3: And you guys are based in Pelam, New Hampshire, So Massachusetts,
Speaker 3: New Hampshire border pretty pretty all pretty uh, in the
Speaker 3: in that same area. Uh, it's a Facebook page, So
Speaker 3: give it that that website one more time.
Speaker 11: It's Facebook dot com, slash Andrew and Ava and Friends.
Speaker 11: Lemon Aid stand Lemonade is spelled l E M O
Speaker 11: n A I D or if they wanted to donate
Speaker 11: via Venmo, it's at sign a a F lemon dash aid.
Speaker 3: Sounds great. Uh. You should be very proud of your
Speaker 3: children and you are teaching them well and they're probably
Speaker 3: going to become economics majors and graduate from Harvard or
Speaker 3: Dark with business school and go on to great careers. John,
Speaker 3: thank you very much, appreciate your time. Congratulate your children
Speaker 3: and I hope that you get a chance to play
Speaker 3: this for them tomorrow because they'll be very proud of
Speaker 3: what their dad just did for them.
Speaker 10: Thank you, sir Dan, Thank you so much. Glad to
Speaker 10: hear that you're feeling better. Wishing you and yours a
Speaker 10: very merry Christmas and a happy new Year.
Speaker 3: Right back at you, Merry Christmas in happy twenty twenty five. Thanks.
Speaker 3: Now I want to introduce Julie McDonald. Julie is with
Speaker 3: Juniper Outreach which is a food pantry for Worcester schools.
Speaker 3: Julie McDonald, Welcome to Night's Side.
Speaker 9: Hi Anne, how are you the other night?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I know that. Thank you so much. We're going
Speaker 3: from a lemonade stand now to a food pantry for
Speaker 3: Worcester schools. We got a food theme going on here.
Speaker 3: Tell us how long the food pantry's been around, who
Speaker 3: does it serve and what help do you need.
Speaker 9: If any Well, we have several of them. So we
Speaker 9: started this in twenty twenty and we started with one
Speaker 9: food pantry with the idea that we wanted to make
Speaker 9: sure that the food that was in the schools was
Speaker 9: getting into the hands of kids who were going home
Speaker 9: with nothing at night. So our population is ninety five
Speaker 9: percent low income, and so a lot of these children
Speaker 9: are going home at night and they don't have access
Speaker 9: to any meals or any snacks or anything. And you know,
Speaker 9: the food that's available to the families is only as
Speaker 9: good as the families that are around to serve it
Speaker 9: to them. So a lot of these kids are going
Speaker 9: home and they're homeless, and they might not have a
Speaker 9: place where they're sleeping, they might not have a place
Speaker 9: where they can access the food, they might not have
Speaker 9: an adult to help them. So we started with one
Speaker 9: food pantry at a school in the inner city of Worcester,
Speaker 9: and we now have eight of them. And again the
Speaker 9: idea is to make sure that the food gets into
Speaker 9: the hands of the children and not anybody else. So
Speaker 9: they can go into the school food pantry at the
Speaker 9: end of the day and you know, grab themselves something
Speaker 9: for the nights, the weekends, the vacations. You know, they're
Speaker 9: now off for two weeks of school and some of
Speaker 9: these children will not have access to food for two weeks.
Speaker 9: Imagine that, you know, we're all thinking like, oh, what
Speaker 9: are we having for Christmas dinner? What's going to happen
Speaker 9: the next day? What are we going to do with
Speaker 9: all these leftovers? And some of these kids won't have anything.
Speaker 9: So we now have eight school food pantries. In four
Speaker 9: we have actually, excuse me, seven, soon to be eight.
Speaker 9: We have four elementary schools and three high schools where
Speaker 9: we are serving students and they can go into the school,
Speaker 9: pack a bag and I'll go into the pantry, pack
Speaker 9: a bag and bring it home for the nights and
Speaker 9: the weekends.
Speaker 3: That sounds great. So the best way for people, particularly
Speaker 3: those in central Massachusetts who would like to help you,
Speaker 3: but you'll take help from anywhere. Do you need volunteers
Speaker 3: and supper financially? Okay, if you want to vol.
Speaker 9: You know, get your companies, get your companies involved. It's
Speaker 9: a great chance to get your organization involved. Come in,
Speaker 9: stop a pantry, you know, meet the children that are
Speaker 9: actually coming in and grabbing this food. We have a website.
Speaker 9: Juniperhealth dot org is our website. You can email us
Speaker 9: at Juniper Help at gmail dot com.
Speaker 3: You make sure that yeah, me, make sure that's Juniper Health,
Speaker 3: not Juniper.
Speaker 9: Help, right, Juniper Help, Juniper h E l p S.
Speaker 5: Juniper Help dot org.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, yeah, I'm glad help and health sometimes sound
Speaker 3: a little similar, but it's help like it does. Get
Speaker 3: a good helping of food. Juniper Help dot org.
Speaker 12: That's a good way to say it exactly.
Speaker 5: And I know I I'm a marketer.
Speaker 3: I'm a marketer there.
Speaker 12: Dan, I think I could use you on the backside here,
Speaker 12: So Juniper Help dot org and uh, Juniper Health at
Speaker 12: gmail dot com.
Speaker 9: I'd love to have we always new volunteers. We've been
Speaker 9: an amazing group of volunteers. But again, get your companies involved,
Speaker 9: you know you employees involved. It's a great way for
Speaker 9: community outreach. But thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 3: I really you're very welcome. You're very welcome, Julie, thank you,
Speaker 3: thank you so much for all you.
Speaker 9: Merry Christmas to you and feel better.
Speaker 3: I will feel better and hopefully be all set by Christmas.
Speaker 3: And I hope you Merry Christmas to you and to
Speaker 3: all the folks you help. Thanks Julie. We'll be back
Speaker 3: for a final segment. We have two groups programs for
Speaker 3: people Boston Entrepreneurs Network coming up. We'll get them all in.
Speaker 3: We're right on schedule. Everything's working almost perfectly, almost too perfectly,
Speaker 3: but that's okay. We still have a few minutes left
Speaker 3: in my broadcast here coming back on night Side.
Speaker 2: Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Speaker 2: Night Thanks Studios on w b Z News Radio.
Speaker 3: All right, we're going to welcome Jim Jordan. Jim's based
Speaker 3: in Framing Him and he runs a program called Programs
Speaker 3: for People. Jim tell us what.
Speaker 1: It's all about, Okay, Dan, I'm not the executive director.
Speaker 1: I'm one of the volunteer board members, but very proud
Speaker 1: of the agents. We're very proud of the agency. We
Speaker 1: help those who are mentally challenged a little bit, received
Speaker 1: counseling at ten support groups, find employment, move up a
Speaker 1: couple of steps, you know, in society, and maybe get
Speaker 1: on a better track. And very proud of the results.
Speaker 5: I know.
Speaker 1: I've been there twenty nine years as a volunteer and
Speaker 1: they've done our just amazing work in the Framing Him
Speaker 1: and the surrounding towns and we it's put people make
Speaker 1: their lives more positive than what were they were before.
Speaker 3: In fact that sometimes Yeah, Jimmy, I know that you're
Speaker 3: a fixture, a fixer in the Framingham community. You've in
Speaker 3: real estate. Tell us how people who might be in
Speaker 3: Framing Him or elsewhere who might need some help, how
Speaker 3: do they contact you? And more importantly, how does some
Speaker 3: of my listeners who might like to support your organization,
Speaker 3: how can they get in touch and perhaps make a contribution?
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for that. Dan Our website is programs
Speaker 1: for people dot org and there's donate well, right again,
Speaker 1: it's programs for People dot org and there's a donate
Speaker 1: now which on the right top of the page, and
Speaker 1: it's relatively easy. We're also based at ninety eight Lincoln
Speaker 1: Street in Framing Him, right across the street from the
Speaker 1: MetroWest Medical Center, and we have a lot of contact
Speaker 1: and networking with the hospital and other local agencies. And
Speaker 1: you know, when we turn on the television news these days,
Speaker 1: I see bad things, But when I go to the agency,
Speaker 1: I really see positive results and people are receiving support
Speaker 1: and moving up a couple of steps in society.
Speaker 3: Like I said, Jim, thank you very much for what
Speaker 3: you do and what you've done for so many years,
Speaker 3: And thank all the other volunteers with programs for people
Speaker 3: dot Org.
Speaker 7: Thanks Jim, Thank you Dan very much.
Speaker 3: You're very welcome. All right. Our last charity of the
Speaker 3: evening the Boston Entrepreneurs Network Maureen Mansfield. Maureen, looking forward
Speaker 3: to chatting with you here. Tell us about the Boston
Speaker 3: Entrepreneurs Network. Who gets involved in and what do you do? Welcome?
Speaker 13: Hey, Dan, it's Maureen, last but not least.
Speaker 3: Yep, that's okay. They've all been good and you're going
Speaker 3: to be one of the best. Go right ahead.
Speaker 13: The Boston Entrepreneurs Network was founded in nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 13: It was founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. It focuses on
Speaker 13: education and network for anybody that's looking to start, scale,
Speaker 13: and exit their startup. We have educational meetings once a
Speaker 13: month from September through June. We also offer an opportunity
Speaker 13: for startup founders to give a ninety second pitch in
Speaker 13: front of a live audience and receive feedback, which is
Speaker 13: very valuable when you're trying to pitch for investments and
Speaker 13: you may meet somebody in an elevator that could be
Speaker 13: party for startup.
Speaker 3: Or elevator elevator pitch. You got it right?
Speaker 13: I love that and it's a great we are underneath
Speaker 13: in international organization.
Speaker 6: It's the I Tripoli.
Speaker 13: Have you heard of that?
Speaker 3: No, I have not.
Speaker 13: Okay, it's the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers. So
Speaker 13: we do have some affiliations out of Washington, DC, some
Speaker 13: connections with the MIT Lincoln Labs, and I have been
Speaker 13: part of that. And also we get invited sometimes to
Speaker 13: private events where there might be world leaders there and
Speaker 13: presidents of major companies in Boston like hospitals companies, and
Speaker 13: even some from other countries like Japan. So I co
Speaker 13: found an Exodus startup and I was a panelist about
Speaker 13: bootstrapping to a funding event in November twenty eleven. And
Speaker 13: since then, an Angel investor asked me to be part
Speaker 13: of the group since I was multi talented, so I
Speaker 13: showed up, I did whatever they needed and now I'm
Speaker 13: a vice chair. And we have opportunities for people to
Speaker 13: participate in our community, to volunteer, and also to actually
Speaker 13: be part of a real nonprofit. So if you do
Speaker 13: a startup or have a startup that's has a nonprofit component,
Speaker 13: we actually have meetings and voting and minutes to be approved.
Speaker 6: So it's it's really good, great experience and.
Speaker 3: The most important information, the most important information. If you're
Speaker 3: an entrepreneur or a budding entrepreneur out there, how can folks
Speaker 3: most easily get in touch with you?
Speaker 13: Sure, we have a website. It's www dot Boston e
Speaker 13: net b O S T O N E N E
Speaker 13: T dot org. Or you could email Boston et at
Speaker 13: gmail dot com.
Speaker 3: That's easy, boy, That that's easy. Waureen. It's delightful to
Speaker 3: finish with you. I know you probably were very patient
Speaker 3: to wait until the end, but you were last, but
Speaker 3: you were certainly not least. I really do appreciate you,
Speaker 3: appreciate everyone tonight. Thanks so much for joining us, and
Speaker 3: thanks for listening to Night's side and reaching out to us.
Speaker 3: We I hope a lot of good charities tonight, yours
Speaker 3: being certainly one of them. Thank you so much for
Speaker 3: your time, and.
Speaker 13: Thank you for doing this. I heard the show last
Speaker 13: year and I thought, GEE would be great to have
Speaker 13: an opportunity. So I appreciate your staff and you for
Speaker 13: reaching out, and I think your show is awesome, and
Speaker 13: I think all these nonprofits are really adding value to
Speaker 13: our community. So thank you so much, Dan, Thank you.
Speaker 3: Very much, And if you celebrate Christmas, let me be
Speaker 3: the first to wish you Merry Christmas.
Speaker 13: Merry Christmas, Dan, Okay.
Speaker 3: All right, that's a great night. Okay. Well, that wraps it, folks.
Speaker 3: That was the twelfth annual Nightside Charity Combine. Now, if
Speaker 3: you want to listen to any of Nightside, we have
Speaker 3: a website. Rob will post tonight's hour at Nightside on
Speaker 3: Demand dot com. You can listen to at any hour.
Speaker 3: It's posted in reverse order, so when you go to
Speaker 3: Nightside on Demand dot com, you'll see the twelve o'clock
Speaker 3: hour that we just the eleven o'clock hour we just finished,
Speaker 3: and you scroll down read the ten to ninety eight
Speaker 3: and then last night's show, et cetera. If you're want
Speaker 3: of the groups who participated tonight, you can pull down
Speaker 3: your interview. All you need is somebody who has a
Speaker 3: little bit more technical expertise than me. Pull down that
Speaker 3: interview and you can post it on your website and
Speaker 3: send it out to your supporters and your stakeholders and
Speaker 3: let them know that you were on the twelfth Annual
Speaker 3: night Side Charity Combine. All right, I want to thank Rob. Rob.
Speaker 3: I hope you and yours have a great merry Christmas.
Speaker 3: I'll see you on January first. I'll thank Marita, but
Speaker 3: most importantly, I want to thank all of you who
Speaker 3: take the time to listen to Nightside on a regular
Speaker 3: basis and who take the time to call the show. Well.
Speaker 3: I will be back on January first. We'll have our
Speaker 3: regular hosts, Morgan White I believe, and Gary Tangway will
Speaker 3: be in. During the next week and a half or so,
Speaker 3: I'm going to get myself all squared away here, get
Speaker 3: rid of this bronchitis or whatever the hell I'm dealing
Speaker 3: with now, spend some time with my family, and come back.
Speaker 3: I'm refreshed and relaxed and ready to go for another year.
Speaker 3: We are in our eighteenth year of Nightside, all thanks
Speaker 3: to all of you. So I just can't tell you much.
Speaker 3: I appreciate all of you who listen and contact this show.
Speaker 3: I will also tell you that I'm getting better. I
Speaker 3: had a little bronchitis, and if you want to see
Speaker 3: me and I'll prove you I'm getting better, just go
Speaker 3: to Nightside on Facebook Nightside with Dan Ray and we
Speaker 3: will do our last postgame in just about a minute
Speaker 3: or two. So in the meantime, have a great Christmas,
Speaker 3: have a great Honuaka, have a great quans or a
Speaker 3: great Festivus. Whenever you actually celebrate. O'll end as always,
Speaker 3: all dogs, all cats, all pets go to heaven. That's
Speaker 3: why my pal Charlie Rays, who passed sixteen years ago,
Speaker 3: fourteen years ago in yeah, fourteen years ago in February.
Speaker 3: That's why your pets are a past. They loved you,
Speaker 3: loved you, and you love them. I do believe you'll
Speaker 3: see them again, see you again in twenty twenty five
Speaker 3: on New Year's Night. Thanks everyone, God bless Merry Christmas