Tom Bradley and Ellis Benus Talk Fitness, Rental Properties, and Advocacy on TTBS Podcast

Whether we like it or not, he's the self-proclaimed governor of mid-Missouri, and he's the host of TTBS, the podcast. Since we can't shut him the hell up, here's Tom Bradley. Thank you, Nikki Garman, and you can't shut me the hell up. And we've got a lot to talk about, and people are like, are you late getting started today? And I'm like, I'm not late getting started over here. And if we are, it's Ellis Bendis' fault. I'll take responsibility for that. Is that okay? Yeah. We're never late. We're always on time. Yeah. Hey, you said you hit the gym five days in a row. I worked out five days in a row. That doesn't mean the gym necessarily. That was elliptical or body weight exercises. But I'm really trying. Whatever. No, you're working out. I'm really trying. Yeah. Look at you go. Yeah. Like I said, I've got the genetics to make it into my 90s because my grandparents did. Yeah. And they treated their bodies horribly. So I was like, if I take care of this thing instead of the doughy outlook I have now, I think I might be able to make it. How's your outlook on life? It's kind of a doughy outlook. It's doughy. Let me say good morning to Brad Newkirk, who I know is listening from his hospital bed. The guy had open heart surgery. Oh my gosh. Wait. Was I not supposed to? Oh. Oh. Sorry. Sorry about that. He's lounging today. Yeah. With an IV drip. I want to tell you something. Brad is one of the most physically fit guys I've ever met. And I told him that when he climbed almost naked into a hot tub with me. And I was like, man, you are one beefy, cakey looking. You are. Did he get back out of the hot tub after that comment? No. Because I definitely would have. No. Everything warmed up. You know what I'm saying? No, no, no. He's in tremendous shape. He's a long distance runner. And he's a long distance running coach as well. Oh, wow. To kids. And it just goes to show you, you've got to pay attention. Yep. You've got to check it out. So I've got one more thing I want to do on my health care. And that's I'm going to do a calcium screening. Yeah, me too. After Sarah talked about that, I think it's so important. Sarah Hill, who was on the podcast with us. A lot to get to in the first couple of minutes. You asked me, will I talk about Mayor Buffalo in Columbia. We'll get to something in a moment. We're live from Truman's Bar and Grill this weekend when Alabama comes to town from Mizzou. That's an 11 a.m. game. And you're like, how do I tailgate and have some? Shut up. Get into Truman's and take advantage of their breakfast buffet. Oh, nice. It'll be here. And then go straight over to the stadium and watch Mizzou beat up on the Crimson Tide. So we appreciate that. And Ames is taking care of us today. I think Cheyenne has the morning off. So thank you, Ames, for doing that. Oh, and Truman's posted a little video of their breakfast buffet. And I want to quote my wonderful wife, Dynamite Deb. And you tell me if this is sacrilegious. She says, good God, I'm starving now. That all looks delish. When she says good God, that's not sacrilegious. That's her praying. I think that's a praise. Praise the Lord, I'm starving. Praise the Lord, that food looks good. Thank you to all of our supporters out there, including our sponsors last week, which we didn't get to do some specifics with, and we had to skip things like the big announcement of the week and the segment called Keep Your Eye on the Crap, because we had a special podcast with Moon Choi, Chancellor at Mizzou. And thank you, Moon, for being with us and everything you're doing for our city. Now a quick mention about Mayor Buffalo. I'm going to say as of right now, the offer still stands. Babs, you can come on the show. It's been about two weeks since I reached out to you and said, we had a shooting in Columbia and I need you on the show. And she has not responded to the email. And I'm pretty sure I gave her my phone number in there too, which I don't give it to all the women I reach out to. But I did to Barbara Buffalo, our fine, fine mayor, and she still hasn't responded. Now the offer is not going to stay there forever, Barbara. So get in touch, and we'll get you on the schedule. Today our guest on TTBS, the podcast, a very real story we're going to be talking about with kids who unfortunately are part of the foster care system in Missouri. Not so unfortunately, they have help with CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates. And there's a lot to talk about, and you're like, well, Tom, I don't know what this is. Well, then maybe you better be listening. We're getting into it in just a moment to explain what is going on and why these kids need our help, and why I have believed in CASA for so many years now. Ellis Bennis is the co-host, our webmaster, and from floatingaxe.com. Went through the talk about your working out, but explain to me, you're taking care of a rental house? Yeah, so it's been a lifelong dream. I grew up, my first job was a four-year-old. I was painting rental properties for my parents. I got paid in Hot Wheels cars, still have the Hot Wheels cars. And so that was always my dream, and we got our very first one. Ironically, it's right across the street from us, so it's super easy. And my first renter is already rented. She happened to have given birth to my wife, so my mother-in-law will be right across the street. I got lost on that day. Your first renter is already signed on? It's my mother-in-law. You're still working on the place. Is she in there, like, in her house, walking around? All of her stuff is in there, but she hasn't moved in yet because the bathroom has to be done first. Okay, you're doing that now. It's better to take care of the bathroom before your mom-in-law moves in because if you've got to go in while she's there, that can be really embarrassing for everybody. For everybody. So I'm just going to put it out there like that. Do not wait to take care of that. It is time for us to get to our next segment, Big Announcement, this week. Releasing the hounds in our Big Announcement with Creekside Pet Center, and their other locations, including in Columbia, Bed & Biscuit, and in Boonville, of course, Dirty Harry's, Creekside Pet Center. Oh, dude. They're horses, by the way. I saw this this week. They love animals so much. They have horses, Creekside? Well, not at Creekside, but the Brumman family has horses. Oh, cool. I don't even know how many. Like, five? Wow. So we were there within 24 hours of Cisco being born this year, and we were over there at the stables, and I have an emotional tie with a horse now. I never knew this could happen. And when I saw him a few weeks ago, I was like, what's up, buddy? He's like, I know you. I did the same thing. I gave him a horse nod. I was like, I know you. They had a horse dentist at the stables this week. Oh, my gosh. There's such thing as a horse dentist. A horse dentist. They put the head of the horse. This isn't like a godfather routine. They put the head of the horse in a sling, and then they get this big shop light shining into the mouth, and the horse goes, here, here, here, and shows its teeth. I never knew this was going on. Anyway. I want to know who gets bit more. Do you think human dentists or horse dentists get bit more often? I like the question. Can you research that? Yeah, I'll look that up. Next week, we will talk about such things. The big announcement this week is that City of Columbia, this is KMIZ officially with the story, City of Columbia says it plans to make advocating for changing the state's juvenile gun law a priority next year. Now, it is a big announcement, and I believe that everything we're doing for safety, for our citizens, and for those that come in to visit us in Columbia, is a major priority for us right now. And any idea that would like to be thrown on the table, throw it on. Put it on the dry erase board, and we'll just put them all up there. And if you want to talk about guns and gun laws, I am all for talking about what we should do and not do and such things. And I'm a big supporter of the Second Amendment, as you are as well. Absolutely. And I know you carry on. We talked before the show, there's stuff in this that I just did not know about, about juveniles having firearms and stuff. So there's a lot of ambiguity in this. So, yeah, it's something we need to talk about. Even people that really support Second Amendment, or they carry it on a regular basis, or they've got 18 guns, they love going hunting or protecting their home, or whatever it is, even many of them, many of y'all, don't understand the laws. We've got the federal laws, and we've got the state laws, and they're not jibing. J-I-B-E. Do you know that AI looked it up and they're like, no, you're trying to spell jibe, G-I-B-E. And I'm like, AI, bitch, I got you this time. The word is jibe. I thought it was jive. No, jive turkey, no. Jive is a whole different thing. Jibing, all right, means to be in agreeance or in agreement, working together. It's working like this. And it may come from a sailing term. Look it up if you don't believe me. The flying jib. When you look it up, you'll be like, I'm jibing with Tom Bradley now. I never knew we could jibe together. In some counties in Missouri, it's recognized as a dance, and jibing in those counties is outlawed. So wait, be careful, because if you're jibing with Tom, you might be breaking the law. Depending on the county. Be careful. Check your county ordinances. So why am I all in support of this? Because I don't like the laws not being congruent. That's a problem, and it leaves us doing, what are we doing here? And I know everyone's talking about federal law and rights and state laws and rights. Guys, I'm pretty sure when we got out of the Civil War, none of it has made sense to me since. Not that I was here during the Civil War. But it doesn't make sense. And the reality is we've got to figure out how to work these things together and still retain not only local control, which people want to talk about, but more importantly, local responsibility. Next time you want to talk about local control, try to put responsibility first and remember that there is something else. It's actually a job that comes along with that. I want a car. But a 16-year-old kid with a Beretta stuck in his waistband, that's not what we're talking about here. That's exactly right. So we want to get into this and talk about it. So I'm glad they're looking into it. Of course, it was a unanimous decision by the city council. We'll see what goes on with that. But I'm glad they're moving on that. Thank you, last week, Moonshoy, being on the show. I, in fact, cannot thank him enough for the conversation that we had. With that, I'm going to bring on the bed now that tells us. That's a technical term for music. I'm bringing on the bed now. That brings us into introducing our guest this week. But our guest is not singular. It is plural. And we begin by saying good morning to one of the people that are making things work at CASA. Court Appointed Special Advocate or Advocates. CASA. And what exactly that means. And now we say hello to Angela Carson. Good morning, Angela. Good morning. How are you? Doing fine. We've got to be honest with everybody, okay? Yeah. So we're going to mention this right now. You weren't supposed to be on the podcast this morning. This is correct. But we thank you for stepping up. Happy to do it. And saying that you would. You know, we've talked before on my radio show about CASA. And we've had many a person on to talk about it. But I want to get into the human side. And really we're talking children. On what CASA does and why you guys exist. And why it means so much to a lot of people out there. And I'm one of those people. So tell me, how did you find out about CASA? My journey started 11, 12 years ago. My husband and I were foster parents in Jefferson City when we lived there. And our youngest joined our family through foster care. And in the process, as a foster mom, every time I would go to the courthouse. And be waiting for her case to be called. And just observing all of these kids who actually didn't always have somebody in there waiting for them. Or speaking up for them. It was really eye opening to me. And she didn't have a CASA volunteer. And the case workers would just keep changing. And not out of malicious intent at all. But they just wouldn't pass on information about her very well. So you didn't know anything about CASA. And you're not an attorney. Correct. So you didn't even know what the hell was going on in the courtroom. Yeah. And so you're a foster parent. And the only reason you were there was to be supportive to the foster child. And because, let's be honest, you needed to take her over and then bring her back. So it was like taking her to basketball practice or something. Yeah. How old was she by the way? She was an infant. So she literally didn't have a voice. And so I felt like my job in the room at meetings was often to bring pictures, tell stories. I wanted her to be a person to all of them. So that they would care. Do you feel like the court allowed you to do that? That you're like, but Your Honor, here's a picture. Or do they say, sit down ma'am? In the courtroom there, it's a little different here. And I think that foster parents are asked for their updates and perspectives more than I was then. But I was acknowledged but never got to speak. Really? And so that's what made it feel like such high pressure to make everybody in the meetings who were going to get to speak to the judge really care about her. And make her come to life. She was too little. So I would. I'd bring pictures and just talk about all the things she's doing. Because I wanted them to remember Leah. Not her case number. It's interesting you talking about you and your experience and Leah. Because I don't remember ever hearing the story over the years I've been involved in CASA. And a lot of people in your position working with an organization like CASA would say, Well I got out of college and I started working with some non-profits. My heart always told me to do this. And that's why I wound up here. And yet you came through a different doorway, didn't you? I did. Yeah. Very, very much different. Yeah. And I didn't know that Leah, you were going to talk about this, and that she was an infant. And so when we talk about a kid needing somebody to be there to represent and be their voice, that's a, they all need it. But that's a great example, right? Yeah. Why did you and your husband decide to become foster parents? I don't know that I can totally explain it. Even before I was married or had kids, my heart was just drawn to adoption, to care for orphans. I mean, part of that's my faith. And so whenever we got married, I'm like, just so you know, I feel like adoption will be part of our family. You didn't tell him beforehand? No. You waited until after. While we were dating. That night. If you know Jeff, he's pretty good with his love. Before we consummate this relationship. We just need to talk about this. When you said, I do, you don't have any idea what you were saying. No, something he must have, this is the kind of guy you guys already understood each other. Yeah. So, yeah. And so we had three biological kids, and then foster care wasn't necessarily the route I thought we would go. But it just became really apparent there are kids already in our community that need a family. But also, we're like, we want to help more than one kid if we can. We have room in our home. And so, room at our table. And we thought we would probably, because that's typical. You foster lots of kids. Our story was unique. And people shouldn't go into foster care saying, I want to adopt a baby. That is not what foster care is for. Right. We want families to reunify. What an impactful, important portion of everything you guys do, that little statement is. You want the families to reunify. Yeah. That was, and we've talked about it before, we were a foster family as I was growing up. It was, once we became that, it was like, duh, this was always going to happen anyway. And I know that my parents were not able to have kids anymore after the first six. And so what do you do? You've got to bring more in. And so we became a foster family. At no point, and we had three babies during the course of that time. And then an older child also. At no point did they come into the house and we think, gosh, I hope they can now be our brother forever. The thought was, what's going on with their mom? And will they ever want them back? Will they clean up their act? So I'm so glad you brought that up. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah. We love her mom still to this day. She just couldn't do it and wasn't ready. And at some point, children, they deserve permanency and Leah couldn't wait forever. And so at some point, then what does become best sometimes is for children to go into a guardianship with family or be adopted by a foster family. But what really was awakened in me in the process was it was the word advocacy. And I didn't know about costs at that point. But looking back, I'm like, that's what she needed the whole time. Because it was so difficult to hear in the courtroom. Like the judge has like you have like one minute in front of the judge to give updates. And they're trying to make lifelong decisions like that impact the kid's whole life with the information that they're given in the courtroom. But some friends of mine were foster parents and their kids did have a CASA and she was a game changer for those girls. Really? And so that's how I learned about it. And we were we ended up being our one and only. Oh, wow. Yeah. She never left. And that's not a typical story. How old is Leah now? Eleven. Eleven years old. Yeah. Leah may catch some of this podcast. I don't know. I don't know that it's necessarily for kids. But if she does, Leah, I just want to say hello and we're talking about you. And I know that could be kind of weird, you know, but it's your special in a most outstanding way. So I just want to say hello to you and acknowledge that you're a real person out there. We're talking about your your life. And I think that's I think that's part of what we're dealing with this morning. We're going to talk to people this morning like Darren Day. He's going to be here and he's a friend for a long, long time. And there's a big event coming up. We're going to be at Pierpont. He's going to be slinging drinks and raising money. It's great. But this in that night, we may stop down a little bit and talk about the reality of CASA. But I wanted to do that this morning that we really get into this here. So did CASA reach out to you guys with Leah or did you reach out to CASA or what happened? Her case was closed, actually, and we had moved to Columbia. And my hands were full. We were not fostering anymore. But I'm like I want to get back into the space somehow. And so I became a CASA volunteer after she got in. Because you only had three kids biologically and now you had another that was to be with you guys forever. Yeah. So you had room. Yeah. Free time. Not in my house, but room in my heart. Yeah, yeah. And so I'm like that is how I can make. It's a deep impact. It's different than showing up and just volunteering for an hour. And it's my passion. And so I decided that's something I can do. They won't live with us. I can go to them, get to know them, and be their voice in court. And so I got trained in 2020 and was a CASA volunteer for over four years for two little boys. Got to watch them go from ages one and two to five and six. Oh, my gosh. And I still keep in touch with their great aunt who they ended up staying with. And just got school pictures yesterday, actually, of the boys. And it's just an honor to get to and a privilege to get to enter into someone's story in their life and get to be that for them. For anybody who gets inspired by this, just to put a clarity, you don't have to be a lawyer. No. You don't have to have any prior legal or training. Just if anybody's interested in helping, just contact CASA because you said you went through the training. Yeah. So you will train folks on how to do this. Correct. Yeah. All walks of life. I thought if some of us kind of had a little litigation attorney in our heart. I would love the chance to tell a judge what's going on. If you have a lawyer inside, is heart the right location? I think that might be somewhere else. Wow. I got some attorney friends that are laughing very much at that right now. No, but you guys, you go through a level of training to get up to this thing. But we need people to represent. And CASA is needed so it's not just the child that we're talking about being Leah or the two young guys that you represented. We're talking about there's a need out there right now. Oh yeah. How many kids are there in foster care in Missouri right now? In Missouri, there's usually around 13,000. That number can move up and down a little bit. Wow. That's a lot of kids. And so at some point, sooner or later, there has to be a court proceeding on something going on with them. Oh yeah. Okay. And every time there's a court proceeding, if there's not a CASA involved with them, they're on… What is it? Just the court going, well, they look like they've eaten in the last week. Is that… Well, I don't know. What does the court do without a CASA being there? And you refer… CASA is the organization, but it's also what you call someone that does the volunteering because they are the advocate. Correct. So they are called a CASA. Yeah. If the kid in foster care doesn't have a CASA to help them, then what happens? They're case workers. They're professionals paid to manage the case. They're also thinking about the parents and what they need to be doing and visiting them. And they're supposed to visit the child in the home every month. The hard part is they have so many cases, and it's hard for them to see… Fly. Sorry, there's a fly. Yeah. It's hard for them to really get to know the children. Yeah, basically making sure, are they safe? Are the parents doing what they're supposed to do? Organizing all the meetings. And there are also attorneys called guardian ad litem, which represent the children in court. But they as well have so many kids on their case and rarely get to know the kids. What's the normal caseload for a case worker? I mean, like, CASA, you were saying, like, you had one, two. One. So what's the normal caseload for one of the case workers? Eighteen. Wow. Eighteen. It's supposed to be eighteen. However, they're usually way understaffed, so it can get up to thirty. Sounds like teachers in our public classrooms, right? Yeah. I mean, way too many kids, and then what do you wind up with on that thing? Yeah. That is just, that's got to be so difficult for the kids. Does a child, let's say we've got a ten, twelve-year-old, do they recognize the value? Are they building a relationship with their CASA? And so when they, and the child will go into the courtroom for that proceeding, right? Sometimes they do. Okay. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It depends. If they want to talk to the judge and they want to be there, yes. Then they'll be there. And so they are there, and the CASA is there as well, representing and explaining to the courtroom what's going on with the child's life. Do they look at them like, that's my hero right there? Do they? I don't know that they always get told that. Sometimes kids in the moment don't realize how important something is in their life. Sometimes they do. We have a teenager who recently just graduated high school, and she did write a letter to her CASA volunteer who, now she's starting culinary school. And she never believed in herself that that was possible, given her life circumstances and how she grew up. And she did recognize that Denise helped her believe in herself. She helped her fill out the paperwork. She helped make the dream come true and helped her see a different vision for her life. And so when you're working with teenagers, there's more of that opportunity, you know. And they're older and they recognize, like, also you're not paid to be here. You just want to be here. And that feels different. That's a real relationship, and you know that person really cares to show up for you, not for a paycheck, but just because they care. The generosity, the love that you guys had in your family, which love is a many-splendored thing. Love can't be divided, but it can be multiplied. And you can't take away love. It doesn't work like that, but you can add love. Isn't that weird, the way that that works? And you guys had so much that you needed to share and begin to multiply, and so you did that. How old is your oldest child? 17. 17 years old. Life's much different now, isn't it, for you guys? Very different. Very, very different. Boy, you are really in the swing of things now. So 17 down to Leah. Is Leah the youngest then? Yeah. Is that correct? So it's 17, 15, 13, 11. Oh! Oh, Lord! This isn't a prayer, but God be with you. Thank you. I don't know what else. That is a prayer. Yeah. We need the help. I know we need to move on, but thank you for standing in, because at the moment's notice it was like, we were going to have a wonderful grandmother on. Can you quickly explain, and maybe we'll have Virginia on sometime, can you explain exactly what went on in her life? Yeah. Her two grandsons had come into foster care, and because of the tension on the team and caseworkers constantly changing, she just wasn't getting good communication. She didn't feel like she was being heard, and actually the boys were being, they were at risk of being removed from her home over some misinformation. And so Acosta got assigned to the case, and Denise actually was a volunteer on this case too. Whenever she started coming over to the home, frequently too, she got to really see what their home was like, and the love that was there. And began speaking up and making sure that grandma's voice was being heard in the meetings, and not being overlooked. And the boys were able to stay. They were at risk of being moved to a whole other town. Leaving their school, like all the stability that they had was at risk, and that causes more trauma to kids. And so when Virginia talks about, everything changed whenever Denise came onto the scene. And the boys, she trusted that Denise had the boys' best interest at heart, and they bonded with her. They're still in each other's lives to this day, and friends. And sometimes causes do provide that support even to the caregivers too. And making sure that their voices are being heard. We want to keep kids stable where they are, and support families. And so Grandma Virginia ended up adopting her two grandsons, and they're doing phenomenal here in our community. But she's a huge cheerleader for CASA because it was a game changer for her and her grandsons. Another question that just came to me. I know you mentioned graduating from high school. That graduates you, and you age out of the foster care system, right? What about CASA? Do they age out of having their CASA volunteer involved with them? What does that normally look like? CASAs stay on the case until the child exits the foster care system. Kids can stay in the system until they're 21 now. And some kids are like, I want out, and I don't blame them. But they're able to receive just a lot of support and resources. I think that's a good question. And I understand that that gray area between whether it's an official date or no, we can kind of help them. I know a lot of people, our kids, who needed a lot of help. It wasn't like 18, we changed the locks on the door, although it was a nice idea. And I did try one time, and I got in trouble for that. Angela, thank you for your time this morning. And the personal, very personal stories is really great. Because we're in a shift now, and I'm going to bring your mic down and bring up another mic. We're still talking CASA. But I wanted to make sure we had a chance, Ellis, to talk about the realness of this, the reality of the kids. And they're out there right now, and they need this help. And I think at a certain level, the organization of CASA needs the help as well. So we're going to bring to the table now to talk more about the organization, what's going on financially. Kelly Hill, Heart of Missouri CASA Executive Director, good morning. Hey, thanks for having me back on. Thank you for being with us. I didn't know the story that Angela had. I know. Isn't she amazing? You knew it, though, right? Oh, my gosh. She didn't just throw that on you right now. Best decision I made four years ago. I read her cover letter. I'm like, hired. Hired. You can't replicate that. You can't replicate passion. You can't create it in somebody. You can teach somebody hard skills. You can teach them how to use a database, usually. But you can't teach that. God, so. Whether you're going to have it or not. You say hard skills. We've got all this soft, soft, soft that we need to have room in our hearts. The untangible things, the intangibles that we need to have for kids. But you, as the Executive Director, we've got some boards. We've got some nails. We've got to build some stuff going on. We need to raise some money right now. Exactly, yes. What's going on with you guys? Are you building a new place? We are building a new building, a permanent home for CASA in the community to last for years and years and years. Wow. Yeah, it's exciting. Let's go back to the heart of Missouri. CASA covers what area? We serve, right now, the 13th Judicial Circuit, which is Boone and Calloway counties. Okay. I don't usually look at 13th Judicial. I live in one of those. I didn't know I was in that circuit. So it's Boone and Calloway. And this home you're now, is it just a dream? Did you start breaking ground yet? It's not just a dream. It will come to fruition. We break ground officially in the spring and start construction in the spring. Okay. So you have your ground. We bought land. We have 1.3 acre plot of land on North Stadium by Knights of Columbus. Nice. Good, good, good. So we have raised, to date, $2.7 million of a $4.6 million goal. Damn. Yeah. That's incredible. Right. Yeah. We have a great community that's getting behind us here. Wow. I want to talk more about the specific dollars in a moment. What will the home be for? What is it exactly going to be? Yeah, when I say home, I mean like a home for costs. It's not a home for kids. So it'll be our permanent headquarters and clubhouse. So we have two main things to accomplish in this space. One, it's going to give us enough space on our training advocacy center side to have the staff and to provide the training necessary to serve all the kids who need us. So we've tripled in size over the last seven or eight years. We were serving about 20% of the kids in need in 2017. We're serving about 65% now. That is unbelievable. Way to go. Yeah, it's great. Yeah, let's just sit in that for a second. I want to tell you something. I have friends who have gotten involved with CASA. We have family members. Ashley, our amazing Ashley daughter, is involved with you guys. We've had you guys on the show. We're all a part of this thing going on. Yes, you are. We've done a hell of a job. Yes, you have. All right. That's really, really great because we're getting behind things. We feel the passion for them, and we want to see things go well. To go from 20% to 65%? Right, yeah, over about the last seven or eight years. And that represents kids' lives, just like Angela was talking about. We're serving a little less than 400 kids right now a year, but there are more than 600 in need every year. So we still have about 200 kids every year who still need a CASA. So we've grown a lot. Can you explain that number difference? Because we had said there's 13,000 kids in CASA, but then you're saying there's 600 that need a CASA. Sure, that's in our local area. Okay, gotcha. So 13,000 is the entire state. The whole state, gotcha. So in our two counties, on average each year, there's about 600 to 650 kids in foster care. Okay. And every year we're averaging a little less than 400. We've reached that point some years. Okay, and again, to clarify, it's not a new 650. No, yes. It's that it's hovering around, and if we have six or 650 kids in foster care in these two counties, we'd love to have 600 to 650 CASAs. Yeah. Okay. So, well, we actually only need around 300. Because of siblings? Yeah, sibling groups, exactly. And we have about 180, 90, 190 active in a year. So we need about 100 more. Okay. It's a big number. Yeah, but you're growing. But we are. And you're getting more. And every time somebody else comes on board, their neighbors or a friend or family member goes, so what are you doing now? To explain it. Yes, exactly. Like we're doing here today. As many times as we've talked about it. It's not just when you've been on the show. Right. We've talked about it. Yeah. You didn't even know we were talking about it. I didn't. Thanks. It's all good things, right? And we'll bring it up. And somebody will be like, what the hell are you guys talking about? And people, but they're learning. Yes, right. Okay, so we need space for you guys, for what you are doing. Yes. And this new building is going to be on North Stadium. Right. And it's going to cost over $4 million. Yes. You're over halfway there. Right. There is something about a, someone has pledged some money to you. Right. How much money is that that's hanging out there? Well, the 2.7 is in committed pledges and gifts already. Okay. We also right now have a really exciting challenge grant that isn't a part of that 2.7. We have a foundation called the Maybe Foundation. No, no, wait. Maybe? Like maybe you'll get it. Maybe you won't. I know. It's spelled differently. I did. I swear to God, I did not know. I know. You had to say it. If you didn't, you would have missed an opportunity. From a marketing standpoint, they might need a different name. Maybe they do. Especially if somebody is giving you money. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. Yes, we had to go there. Thank you. Okay, so we have a $600,000 challenge grant. So, the next $600,000 we raise will all go to unlocking that challenge grant. When I saw that, because I've been involved with a lot of different radio-thons, tele-thons, and fundraising, and sometimes they put those out there and it's like, is that real? If I was giving you guys $600,000 and I found out that you didn't get to the point that you needed to, I would want the money back. Sure. And actually that happens on a regular basis. So, I think that's a real challenge grant. It's like, we're putting the money in. If you guys are serious, if the constituents in your two counties are serious about this thing, you'll come through on it. So, those dollars are out there if we can raise the other money. Yeah, and we will. I mean, we will. There's not an if. I believe you. It's going to happen. There's no maybe. There's no maybe. Exactly. There is no we can't do this. Well, that's big. So, our goal, we have until July to reach the challenge, but our goal is to have it done by the spring so that when we break ground, we can start construction, we can reach their challenge, and that'll get us to about 3.9 of our overall goal. So, we'll have about a year. Construction will take a year. So, we'll have a year left to raise the rest. I want to go to something I'm quoting off your website when you talk about that CASA needs the home. It's not kids needing the home. Right. But you do say on the website that the children need to meet with their advocates, with their CASAs, in warm, child-friendly rooms. Yeah. Well, like, most people would not think that's going on, but you recognize there's a need for that. Why? Right. So, that's the other side of the building. So, I first talked about the training advocacy center side that will allow us to expand our team to serve all the kids. The other side is a really, a part we're really excited about. It's called the clubhouse, and it's a space that is designed with kids in foster care in mind from the get-go. So, there's no space like this in the community, and numerous things are going to happen in there that will uplift, really, the whole system. One, it's a space where CASA volunteers will be able to have visits with the kids. Again, it'll be private, neutral, but home-like and comforting and healing. But some other things we're really excited about to help just our partners in general. So, when we talked about reunification, Angela said the goal is to reunify. We want parents to reunify. There's a process they have to work through, and at the beginning, they are having supervised visits. So, somebody is supervising the visits, making sure that things are okay, kids are safe, parents are sober. Because the kids wound up in foster care one way or another. Yes. And so, something wasn't right. Something went wrong. Yeah. And I will say the majority of the primary reason kids come into foster care is because of neglect. And neglect is associated with several things, very complicated things. Parental substance use problems. So, drug addiction. Serious mental health problems. A lot of times, insufficient housing. So, homelessness. They're all kind of combined into this big web of really complicated things, and kids aren't safe in those situations. So, knowing that's the primary reason, parents need to be supervised in those situations. There are going to be a small number of situations where the courts won't ever try to reunify. Very small percentage. We're talking this really serious physical abuse or really serious sexual abuse. They're not even going to go that route. That's a very, very, very small percentage. You know, that's a tough thing to bring up because it's so less than human. Yeah. Yeah. And I understand that. But it is a reality, and I think there are people listening who will be like, I'm glad to hear that because I don't know exactly what's going on there. Other people could be under the stresses of mental illness or substances they're addicted to, and maybe they are able to grow out of that. Yes. They can get help. Yes. And then at that point, there also might be something about a child and how long they've been in foster care and what's going on with the parent. And maybe you get to the point that they're 15, and maybe it's just not going to happen now, possibly. Yeah. Yeah. Especially if the things are working well in the foster care environment they're in. Sure. Yeah. This is the hard part of foster care. When it comes to foster care, there's not always black and white answers. Parents deserve the opportunity in most situations to put the work in to get their children back. Termination of parental rights is the worst civil judgment that exists. It's equivalent to murder on the criminal side. So we have to be really serious about taking that route. But kids also deserve permanency. Time is different to kids. They don't deserve to linger in foster care for two or three, four years because we're waiting to see if some parent is going to get together. Yeah. So there's a balance. And parents need as many opportunities from the get-go as they can get, which is a whole other conversation. But in the clubhouse, what we're going to do, there are not enough good spaces for parents to have supervised visits with their kids. There's a space issue, and then there's a supervision capacity issue as well. So one of the things that we have designed into the clubhouse is these spaces where supervised visits can happen at the clubhouse. And I think the quality of visits is going to go up. The number of visits is going to go up. Parents need more supervised visits than they get. It's like they get one hour a week. That's not enough to maintain a bond with your kid, especially if you had a baby. So we're going to be doing that. The space is going to be used for a lot of sibling groups are separated in foster care, a pretty large percentage. And they deserve to have visits. And sometimes a placement provider might not want those visits to happen in their house for whatever, like, oh, it's a sibling group of six kids, and I have my own kids. Like, it's a lot. They can have those at the clubhouse. Again, it's private, but it's also a neutral place. It's a friendly, comforting space. So there's just a lot of ways we're really excited about providing something that doesn't exist in our community to kids and families in foster care that we think is going to help their outcomes long term. We're hoping that having this space and helping with supervised visitation will help with reunification outcomes. I want to make sure people understand that when I talk about things that we need to work on in central Missouri, right, and we can get down on whatever it might be, whatever entity it is. When we talk about that, the reason I bring it up is because I care, and I know everybody around me cares about what we're talking about. And this step that you guys are making with CASA is the kind of thing we want to see happen. This is beautiful that you guys are working on it. I know we've got to move through, but Kelly Hill, thank you for talking with us. Yeah, thank you. And how long until you're going to say, okay, we're hitting the deadline. How long are you giving yourselves to raise the money? Well, specifically the maybe match, we have until July 8th of 2026, but we'd really love to hit that by March 1. So any gift that we get to the campaign now is essentially matched. It's doubled right now because we have this $600,000 match. Okay, then we're going to be working on it with you, and please stay in touch. And we're going to shift again with our cameraman over here operating it. Are you okay with your fingers? Yeah, there's four buttons. It's really complicated. You've got a lot going on. It's real difficult. You're going to find a common theme here as we talk about parenting and bring on Darren Day, husband, father, CASA, firefighter, part-time bartender, and friend. Hello, Darren. How are you? There you are right there. How are you doing, man? Good. How are you? Good. You know, we've already talked about how many kids earlier. Three kids. I've got three kids. You have three kids. Yes. Ellis is the only one that's beating us, and I'm going to let him win. I've got four. Four kids over here. No competition here. There's an old saying. If you want to get something done, go ask a busy person because they'll get it done. I guess it has something like that when you're talking about helping a child. We need a CASA. We need somebody to volunteer for CASA. I know. Go get a guy that loves kids so much that he had three of them with his wonderful wife. You've got three kids. How old are your kids now? I've got a freshman at MU. I've got a 16-year-old fresh driver, and I've got a fresh 13-year-old in seventh grade. They're fresh these days. Did he hit all three of the worst possible things? I think he did. Yeah, that's difficult stuff. But you've been involved with CASA for a while. Yes. And you brought back your cocktails for CASA coming up in Pierpont, and that's a week from tonight. Yes. And I'll be there, and so will hundreds of other people. But tell us, in the beginning, why did you get involved with CASA? I got involved in CASA because I'd volunteered with the fire department for a long time and kind of worked myself away from that. But I felt like I wanted to give back to the community. I wanted to get involved with CASA. Kelly was an inspiration to me. I saw her present at my rotary. And it was something that just kept coming back around. I kept running into people who said, hey, you should consider CASA. And one thing I like about this organization is that I am working with kids who none of them asked to be in this situation, right? So I feel being an advocate for them is something that's really rewarding, and it was a good way for me to give back to the community. What a neat thing all the way through. You've got a wonderful family. By the way, your wife is a doctor. Did she just receive some sort of an award? She did, yes. I'm not going to let this go. What was it? She is the Young Physician of the Year Alumni Award, which all of her residency partners have chimed in and said, yay, that means we're all still young. Well, congratulations to her. Thank you. I'm very proud of her. Absolutely amazing. You weren't running out in the street yesterday, by the way, to clip down some weeds, were you? That was not me. I swore to that. Somebody ran out into the middle of the stadium. You and I live in sort of the same neighborhood-ish area, and somebody ran out there. I thought they had lock bolt cutters. And I was like, where's this guy going? And he looked like you. Tom had nine and one dialed. I did. Those are hedge clippers. And they were hedge clippers. They were pruning clippers. And he ran out there because there were weeds growing up at the median, which I think now that he's clipped them, I think we'll have some panhandlers out there. Can you teach kids not to run with scissors? He's running with giant clippers. He's running out there in the middle. Oh, my God. Trust me. I had thought about doing it myself because that was becoming the tree in the middle of the stadium. Whoever that was, you're my new hero. But you've been a hero for us for a while. And this thing, is this like the third year you've done this? This is our third year, yeah. Oh, God, we had so much fun the last two years. And so many people come out. You guys now have additional parking and shuttling available for Pierpont. First, hats off to Pierpont for doing the guest bartender deal. Absolutely. All they do is they say, hey, do you want to guest bartend? And you say yes, and they go take all the money and give it to whatever you want to give it to. Wow, that's awesome. So you'll be doing that out there. Do you have special drinks for us a week from tonight? We do. We're going to do a blackberry mule, which will be a non-alcoholic option, but we can also add alcohol to it for you. What's in that? That sounds interesting. So it's like a mule. It's got ginger beer. Pretend I've never drank alcohol in my life and then explain. Well, what's beautiful about a mule is you can do a mule so many different ways. You can do a Kentucky mule with bourbon. You can do a Moscow mule with vodka. And so it's a very versatile drink. It turned out to be our most popular drink last year. Would you say this is a Missouri mule? A Missouri mule. This is a mule however you want it. But we're going to do blackberries in there, muddled blackberries, and ginger beer, and then whatever alcohol you want to add to it. What's the best thing to throw in there, vodka, or would you throw in rum? I don't know. I think rum's a little sweet, but I'm more a bourbon guy, so I like the Kentucky mule. Okay. All right. I like a beer, and I like an N.A. beer. So that's the two things that I'll be having that night. But you'll have other cocktails as well. Yep. We'll also have our old-fashioned, and I just learned from the little thing on the table today that next week is old-fashioned week. So how much better could that be than to come out to Pierpont, support a good cause, and have an old-fashioned? Are you saying the old-fashioned, the cocktail, is so important it gets a full week? It does, evidently. Damn. If you die for our country, you get a weekend. If you're an alcoholic beverage, you get a solid week. You get the whole week. Who's going to be playing? How do you get live music? Yes, we've got the house band. They're going to be out there. Good. They've got a great following, so we're excited to have a crowd come out to see them. We've definitely learned a lot in the first two years. We're finding new ways to manage the crowd, so we're going to be organizing the drink line and the food line and all of that in a little bit different way. For those that are drinking beer, we'll have a beer table where you can come buy a big bucket of beers and not have to wait in the longer line to get cocktails and food. Was your date last year in October? It was. Okay. I just remembered that the weather was great, so it's one thing that you've always got going for you. And this year, you've added parking at Devil's Icebox. I don't know if Pierpont has ever done that before. Devil's Icebox, the parking for that is just through the woods and down at the bottom of the hill into Rockbridge State Park. So you'll grab a shuttle, come right up to Pierpont and be right there, and then pick up a ride back, right? Yeah. Okay, so that's easy enough. What time does this begin next Thursday? The event runs 4 to 8 or whenever we stop. So the parking is running 5 to 8.30. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. We're assuming in the first hour people will be able to park at Pierpont, and then it will fill up. Okay, but we'll get that going, and then we'll keep it going after the event for a half an hour, as long as it takes to get you back to your car. We'll take care of you on that thing. Get a free cup with a shuttle ride. What? Yeah. So if I ride the shuttle, I get a free cup? That's right. Is it filled with something? I'm sorry. I'm asking too many questions. It may be filled with water for you on the way there. That'd be fine, too. Hydrate on the way. But, yeah, Missouri Auto Auction is one of our sponsors, and so we've got some cups with their logo and with CASA on there. Mo-X is helping us with the shuttle as well for a discounted rate, so we want to say thank you to them. But Missouri Auto Auction is part of that as well. We felt like transportation and shuttle just kind of went well together, so we've got a lot of supporters this year. And I want to bring up the others, and you can mention them if you'd like to as well. Questec, Tiger Pediatrics, and Calibyte. Yeah. What is Calibyte? They're the power company out in Callaway County. Okay. Yeah. Cala, being coming from Callaway. Yep. There we go. And that's the Internet, too, so power and Internet. Okay. And Questec, Mechanical, and Tiger Pediatrics. So thank you, you guys, for joining in and being a part of this. And it's tough for us in a podcast to get into events specific like this because most of what we do with podcasts are created from a little bit longer shelf life, I guess. The whole podcasting thing is still new to me, so what do I know about it? It's been around for 15 years. It's new to Tom. I appreciate you guys reaching out and saying, let's get together and talk about this thing, and also the help from Amazing Ashley behind the scenes saying, hey, Dad, don't forget. And I'm like, okay, thank you. I appreciate that as well. But is there anything else that I'm missing right now? Oh, how else are you raising money that night? Well, we want to recognize Commerce Bank. They're one of our corporate sponsors as well. So they're one of the people that are helping us kick this off. So we do have some corporate sponsors in this. You know, the first year we did this, we didn't really know what we were doing. And I said, I don't know what a goal would be. How about $5,000? We almost hit that. We hit $4,500 that first year, and we thought that was a success. Pretty good guess. So last year we were like, well, how about $6,000? Last year we hit $11,000. So that was amazing. Well, then you're not doing well because you're doing way too much money. I know. I mean, your earning is good, but your guessing is bad. Yeah, I know. I know. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Did you make the guesses after you started on the Missouri Mule? No. No, no, no. I think I made $6,000. And you're like, darn, we're past $6,000 now. That's what I said. Shut up. No. Well, our goal this year is $15,000. Damn. And so we're really hoping to get to that. This event just keeps growing, and it's just so much fun. I almost feel like I'm not doing enough because I have so much fun doing it. Well, let's be honest about this thing. There are other guest bartenders that have been on the Pier Pot. Yes. How are you doing? Do you know what they've earned out there? I know Bree's Gift, I think, was one that I think they hit the goal, hit the record. But I don't know what the record is. I always like to compete with Craig Brumfeld, and so I always just aim to outdo him. Was his money he was raising for Peace, for Julian Jackman's? Yeah. Incredible organization downtown. So, okay, so you think he's up here and you've got to get to him? Yeah, I just want to beat him. Did you go to his event? Yeah. Will he come to yours? I bet he will. I bet he will. He better drop some coin. Yeah. He's got a lot of money. I'm just saying, he should give you a lot of money. So will you have raffles and stuff going on? Oh, yeah. Silent auction things? Yeah, we'll have some silent auction stuff kicking off next week, and then we'll also have some raffle items, and we've got some really cool stuff. We've got some things donated from Rusty Drewing, some Chiefs stuff that you could win. We've got some bourbon raffle packs, other sort of alcohol raffle packages. So lots of fun stuff to win. I want you to go so far past 15 that we're all talking about you behind your back going, God, his estimates are horrible. He doesn't have a clue as to what he's doing. And the other thing I want to mention is Commerce Bank that you brought up, that they're your presenting sponsor. Yes. They've got a lot of money, too. They should just open the vault and say whatever you can carry out. Have you guys ever seen one of those tubes where they turn the air on, and people have to try and catch bills? Oh, yeah. They should do that without the fan, let you walk into the vault, and whatever you can grab, come on out of there. Isn't that other people's money, though? What are you, a bank examiner? You're obviously not a member. I don't think we need your help on this thing at all. Darren Day doing a great job, doing the heavy lifting of getting out there and making this happen. So thank you for being involved at that level, and for caring about the kids that Casa is doing such a great job taking care of. So I greatly appreciate you asking us to get involved. It really warms my heart. Isn't that, Ellis, what we're trying to do is take a moment of our lives and give it to somebody else? Absolutely. So thank you, Darren. Appreciate that, man. Great organization. Great organization all the way through. Appreciate them being here this morning. Sometime, maybe it'll be next year, I want to meet Grandma Virginia that we were going to talk to this morning. And I know she's very, very busy and she couldn't make it by, and that happens. Okay. There's only, are we late? How long have we been on? No, we started at 835 or so, so we're right on track. You're doing great. It just kind of always winds up that way, doesn't it? Yeah. All right. Let's go to our next segment, which I think for a lot of people has become one of our favorite segments of the podcast. And before I get to it, do you have any weeks off coming up that you need off on the show? Not that I'm planning on, I don't think. Okay. Well, think about it. Unless you just want to get rid of me one day. No, no, no. I was thinking, I love doing it, but we cannot be expected to be here every single week. You don't know the pressure that puts on us to be here every single week. So there will be some weeks that we take a break from it. And what else can I mention on housekeeping notes? Oh, I wanted to mention about Facebook. Facebook has been screwing everybody that does a live video cast. Because you do a live video to your page as a post, after 30 days, it expires. Right. We have now found the end around on that. And this is what Facebook is making available to us, and so we're using it. So, for instance, Tegan Higgins, I think thousands of people have seen this video now. He's awesome, dude. Tegan is in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and for the rest of his life. He'll be rolling around in that wheelchair or going down in that mono-ski thing on the slopes in Colorado. Oh, the tracked wheelchair? That was the coolest thing I've ever seen. Yeah, doing his turkey hunting. Oh my gosh, I love it. He'll be doing all of that with a bullet lodged in his spine. Yep. If somebody says, how are you kind of weighing in heavy this week? Well, I do have some lead I'm carrying with me over here. Anyway, that is now permanent. It will not leave. Excellent. The reason I bring it up is not for the future for you to know that this podcast will live for eternity, but it's more that people have been asking us, what happened to the podcast with such and such, or this one or that one? Guys, it's not us. Right. It's Facebook. And I do have archived in my own files videos of all of those podcasts, but how do we put them back up? And they can go to YouTube. With that being said, so that's the other thing. You want to explain that? Yeah, so YouTube, for some reason, their policy is different than Facebook. So they actually keep the lives up basically indefinitely. So if there's a show that you missed on the Facebook page, jump over to the YouTube page and see if you can find the one you want on there. All right, easy as that. That takes us now to that favorite segment every week. Are you ready? You got to keep your eyes on the craft. You can't handle the craft. Looky here. There's a big difference between shit and Shinola. As my great-grandfather always said, Matumba, keep your eye on the craft. Always keep your eye on the craft. Brought to you by Family Focus Eye Care, famfocuseye.com. You asked me, it felt like just a question out of nowhere, who owns Family Focus Eye Care? Yeah. Dr. Rich. Very cool. Dr. Joseph Rich. Everybody thinks that's his first name. I did until you just said Joseph. I thought first name was Rich. Okay. Dr. Joseph Rich. You can call him Dr. Rich. That's what I call him. Perfect. Go from there. Family Focus Eye Care online, famfocuseye.com. God, I've got to talk to him about reading glasses. I know you just get them wherever, but I want him to actually tell me what power that I need to get. Yep. I need to get some. I was working on the tiles. I know you can just buy them off the end cap or whatever, but shouldn't you get prescription glasses even for reading glasses? I feel like that's still a good idea. Famfocuseye.com. Yeah. Ask them because I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. Ask the radio personality. Put locations in Columbia and Eldon and very soon at Lake of the Ozarks as well. Keeping your eye on the crap. Columbia is asking for participation in their Como to Zero initiative. Now, for most people, going anywhere and winding up at zero sounds like you're moving in the wrong direction. And I think somebody decided Como to Zero sort of rhymes and they like the feel of that thing. Well, my friends, it's a little deeper than that. There's a different push out there that is for the what the hell is it called? The Zero Initiative. What is it? Vision Zero Movement. Okay. Again, as we just talked about, Family Focus Eye Care. If you say my movement is toward Vision Zero, it doesn't sound like you're going in the right direction. That sounds bad. The Vision Zero Movement is an initiative to say we should not have any pedestrians hit and killed by vehicular traffic ever again. That's a stupid ass name for an unattainable goal. When somebody walks out in the middle of I-70 at 3 o'clock in the morning and is struck by a car, they are hit and killed. And it happens. And it's happened. People walking across I-70 as it rolls through Columbia. So I don't understand it. And some of the things they suggest are very farfetched. So I'm not all with that. So when we talk about keeping your eye on the crap, the Como to Zero Initiative that they have started up for the city of Columbia has announced this. And I read this from KOMU.com. In a private conversation during last night's council meeting, this was published on Tuesday of this week, we learned there will soon be a first reading of a Median Safety Ordinance. And I'm telling you to be on the lookout for this thing. Median Safety Ordinance. There's not a lot going on at the medians besides separating traffic. If you build a median to be a pause rest zone for pedestrians, there better be a damn good reason for that. Because I don't think, generally speaking, pedestrians should be stopping in the middle of thoroughfares. Or standing there or sitting there or sleeping there. Or begging for money there. So I'm telling you right now, anybody can say, no, no, this is good news. We don't want people to get hurt. The Como to Zero is a great idea. And the Zero Vision concept, God, what a stupid ass name, is a great idea. We need to get behind this. Back down, you guys. There are reasons we build roads, 45 mile an hour traffic, two directions, for cars and trucks. People that are shipping hospital supplies, ambulances, fire trucks that are going by. None of the reasons are for pedestrians. Example. What do you build if you want to be able to transport yourself or other things via golf cart go? Golf cart paths? Golf cart paths. Where do you generally see those? In golf carts? I mean golf courses. Golf courses. You almost got that one wrong. You put me on the spot. You're making me really nervous. I know. Sometimes people will drive golf carts on roadways. And if they do, they have to be outfitted and approved to do so. Do pedestrians sometimes lay feet onto pavement that are otherwise built for vehicles? Yeah, they do. So we've got to be concerned. But you will always have pedestrians hit and killed by vehicles on places like Highway 63. And they're not supposed to be there. The Zero Idea doesn't work. When they start talking about median safety, and that's what they're looking at in Columbia, I'm just telling you there's a good chance there's crap going on. And what's the name of this segment? Keep Your Eye on the Crap. Keep Your Eye on the Crap. It's as easy as that. And with that note, it's time for us to wrap this up. So we're going to hit the close on this particular podcast. Anything else you'd like to throw in? Because I feel like I jumped right into the close. No, I'm good. It's great. You sure? Yeah. I'm with you. That makes sense. I feel like I wore you out on this last segment. No, it was so good. It was going through with the CASA folks. I'm going to quote a scripture here from James. It says, pure religion is undefiled, taking care of widows and orphans. So take care of these kids. They're not all orphans, but they still need somebody. That's exactly right. So good. I appreciate you doing that and bringing it back up. All right, we've got to get out of here, folks. All I have left to say, except live this day as it was the last day of your entire life, right? And my friends, hookah hay.