Candid Conversations with host Adrienne Barker, MAS. Sponsored by www.PromoIndustry.Guru

All right, we're back, we're back. Okay, so for everyone that's just joining us live right now, Nick is here in Daytona Beach with me. Daytona Beach. So, so, Deltona, to me it's all the same. Is it weird? Like Volusia County, I should say. So, so, so 2017 you started Pay It Forward. And everything worked out well. You got— I love that. Wait, so was the backpack idea, was that your first one? What is the mission of Pay It Forward?

Our mission is to spread kindness, perform random acts of kindness through giving back in the community, whether it's paying for someone's groceries or picking up trash, instilling the kids to empower themselves to do right instead of doing wrong. And our, our, our mission thing, our quote is a little goes a long way because the smallest little thing allows us to grow and, and turns into bigger things. And I was taught that as well along the way from other people that have been successful in this nonprofit realm.

So Nick, did you, did you think when you started your nonprofit that collaborator would be your middle name?

No, ma'am. I didn't even honestly, I just said I didn't honestly think that I myself, Nick Rawls, and my wife and kids would be able to pull something off like this and have a good impact. But I just say it speaks volumes to our community, of Volusia County community as a whole, because without them it couldn't be possible.

And they're saying without Nick it also couldn't be possible. So Nick, so you collaborate. So are you reaching out to people here about it and they're reaching out? And, and what are the collaborations that you're working on?

So, so we do collaborate with a lot of organizations, and when we see people having certain events and different events that are like-minded like ours, we support them. We reach out to them, and we have organizations that reach out to us. There's a few organizations that we work with all the time. One of them is the Daytona Dream Center. They do so much great work. Another one is One Bad Decision. They do— she does a lot of great work. And, you know, she teaches kids about one bad decision can turn your life all the way around and, you know, put you down and stuff like that. So those are a couple that we really hold on to and help out. And our mission is the youth. So we always give back to teachers, help teachers out, help the youth out. So anything that we can do to help, and as long as it's within our mission, we're going to help.

I love that. So I'm not really familiar with Daytona Dream Center. Tell me, what do they do? Food?

They do, they do, they do food outreach. Um, they're part of, uh, Calvary Christian Church, but they're their own entity, which is really cool. Um, they go out and not only do they pray for people, but they put— their thing is mainly, uh, the outreach is food and making sure people are fed um, with no questions asked. They don't have to attend the church, but they, they just give back. They're— I would go, I would do anything, walk on hot coals for that organization because that's how they get there.

Yes, right. They give forward, not back. They probably don't— they don't even take anything to take back. They give forward. And then One Bad Decision is a great name, by the way. And I would love to, um, interview both from the Dream Center. One Bad Decision, if you could, um he'll hook me up. And so, so tell me how she operates, just briefly. Is that so?

Yeah, her, her, her son made a bad choice and he got— he ended up getting killed. And community wanted to blame it on the police officers, and she wasn't going to allow that to happen. She stood up, and as a great mom— she's, she's our family now. She's considered family. Forget a friend, she's our family. And she stood up and said, nope, my son made a bad choice. And so in his honor, what she did was she connected youth just like we do, but she bring them— she brings them to like police officers. She has a good following with them. And her organization is based upon making sure you don't make that one bad decision that can change your life. So her name is Erica. Fantastic. She's, she's amazing. She's totally amazing. Um, so yeah, she does the same thing like we do, grassroots. We started from nothing. We're not like those big huge nonprofits, but what we are, we're, we're small. We're the smallest biggest nonprofit in, in Volusia County.

Oh, I love that. I love that. So, so it's, it's family together. So you both work together, Maggie Is Maggie close to you by any chance?

Yeah, she's— she went on a run, um, with the kids. It was her step. She got to put her steps in. Um, she doesn't like the camera too much. Uh, she likes to do all the back of the office work and, uh, putting up with my crazy ideas at 2 o'clock in the morning and stuff like that. And, oh Maggie, I just had a dream, I want to do this. She said, Nick, let me just write it down.

That means that you guys are totally soulmates. That's awesome. Wait, so you have children? Tell me about the children. What do you have?

I have 2 girls and a son. My oldest is 16. Her name is Nevaeh. She's dual enrolled, straight-A student from the beginning to now. She's a senior this year. I have Jada. She's STEM, the STEM program. She's going to the 7th grade this year. And my son Dominic, he's 7. He'll be in the 2nd grade this year. Who loves school, who loves—

Oh, you said Deltona. I lost you again. That's so weird. You said Deltona, right?

Yes.

Okay, so I was, uh, I was a judge in The Amazing Shake. Was your daughter involved in The Amazing Shake?

No, ma'am.

Okay, that was, that was an interesting program they had in Deltona. Is your 16-year-old driving?

She is.

Oh my God, she wanted to drive, huh? A lot of girls don't, so she's, she's brave.

I made her wait, uh, even though she had a permit for over a year. I made her wait, um, an extra 4 months. Not because of— I wasn't afraid of her driving, it was other people. So I didn't want her to rush into things. And even now she drives by herself, but I have her check. Hey Dad, I'm leaving here, I'm letting you know I'm here, just so I know, um, that she's always safe and it's gonna be okay.

Nick, try to come on. You're— we want to look at your face. Hey Nick, you know what, can I go on a soapbox right now?

Um, Absolutely.

It is, it is ridiculous the way the drivers drive. And if you're a driver, you should— you don't know if there is a teenager with their new license driving and they may be nervous. So give people that drive a little slower, give them understanding, because you don't want to have a young girl or young boy that just got the license and like you drive right in the behind them. Or I had a car, I was I am a slow driver, I'm gonna admit it. Okay, Grandma's on the road. Hi everyone. But like, I was driving up from Brevard and I was, I was like driving slow on the right-hand side of the road and all of a sudden this like Jeep had to come around on the shoulder for no purpose because there was— it was— the road was clear. And I thought, my first thought when these things happen is, what if I was young? Because you, you have to You care about your neighbor and you love children, you would actually drive responsibly. So put in your mind that there's a baby in every car and a teenager is driving that baby. And treat it like my mom always said, everyone is special cargo. So do not put anyone else at risk because the driving is crazy. And your daughter has to be told to, when she gets to a stoplight, a stop sign or stoplight, to a stoplight really, to, to beware of the runners. So you have to wait like 3, 4 seconds. So if you're behind me, sorry. If I am in the front, I am looking and making sure that that is clear because I don't want to get rammed. So, okay, off the soapbox. I'm stepping down. I'm really done. Can I come up? So, so tell me about the mask. You're home and you're— are you in your office? Oh, I gotta put you in the stream. Hold on, Nick. I'm sorry, I gotta put you here. Okay, so you're— hold on, I'm sorry, wait, where are you? Okay, there you are. Okay, so you're home, you're in your office. Yeah, I love that you're wearing a mask. Are you wearing the mask to show you wear a mask, or do you need to wear it because you're, um, in quarantine in your home.

No, I'm wearing it just to say, hey, you're supposed to wear your mask.

Wait, I can't hear you. I can't hear you. Wait, turn the volume up.

You hear me now? Hello?

I can't hear you.

Can you hear me? Hello? Hello? No, no.

No, no volume.

I don't know.

You hear me?

Yes.

Wait, did you press your mute button? Now you muted? Are you sure?

Oh, hold on. Are you?

No, you're definitely not muted.

I don't know. One second. Let me—

ah, your mic is on. Yeah, I could see that. I don't know what's going on.

Can you hear me?

It's, it's this app. It's like really a crazy dumb app. Wait, so I'm gonna— I'm going to hide you again and come back and see if I get your— hold on, Nick, I'm gonna remove you. Come back in. So this— sorry, this— I had to give it a 1 star for this program. It's like the worst. But you know what, it's technology, so I am okay with that. This is the one thing that none of us could really help. Is, you know, unless you just don't have good Wi-Fi. But really, at the end of the day, you want to have good Wi-Fi, which I can just take a minute, by the way, to tell everyone. I'm very excited. We've got some great workshops coming up from SCORE, and they're free workshops. So we have coming up Dr. Laura McGuire from Tolerance to Celebration. So that's going to be a great conversation. We have— that's August 5th on Wednesday night. So very excited about that. We have Barbara Lydia Trapp. So if you do not have our information, please click SCORE 87, so, or Volusia Flagler SCORE, and just Google it, and then go to workshops and you'll see what we have. But I just want to bring that up because it's really great doing workshops. And if you know someone, or if you yourself are an expert and would like to share that knowledge to help support businesses, we would love to have you be part of our workshops. Here's Nick again. Patience is a virtue. My mama said. All right, let's put you in the stream, and I can hear you.

Yay!

So, Nick, so, um, so I was asking because actually it's a serious question, you know, like when people are home, we forget you do have to— like, I really— I had just spent 4 weeks, um, I— there's a story that's going to be actually coming out, um, on CBS about the contact tracing and what had happened to me, but I was in a hotel with like so many kids and the baseball and nobody was social distancing. So I was thinking, I really myself, like, so wearing a mask is smart, but I wasn't sure. Are you wearing it because there are any concerns?

None.

All right.

None.

I am— tell me, tell me about what's behind you. I see some really positive words and I'm curious, what am I looking at? Silly.

Yeah, so I'll show you the words.

Special, sexy. I'm gonna read them off. Intelligent, amazing husband, ah, number one dad, good looking, one of a kind, strong, 42 inches.

Get— no, get number 42.

Wait, number 42? Oh, you're 42! Oh, oh, I love that. Let's, let's bet. Wait, what's that one say? Wait, now I want to read the other one. Go down a little bit more. Go down. Gets better with age, 42. Oh, that's the one with the 42. Hilarious. Yes, you would like that. That is awesome. What's the other ones? Silly, generous. Oh, oh, they see that. I love it. W-I Oh, witty! That's a great one. Humble, I love that. Humble, I love, love, love. Spontaneous. Yes, great job.

So what happened was, on— I don't, I don't really care for gifts and stuff like that, awards, none of that means anything to me. So my family would, on Father's Day, they decided to say what these words describe me to them. So I've never taken it. I haven't taken it down since Father's Day. I don't plan on taking it down until they make a little picture or something and put it on the wall, because it meant more to me, to, for my family to tell me these things than getting an award, getting a dollar, a gift. None of that. This meant more to me personally. So I kept it up.

I love that. I love that. But getting donations is really important. And I love the humility Uh, but I also think that it's really important that you keep promoting. I love that you're promoting because everything you do promotes to have someone else do it too. And that is really— because we have to remember, Nick, this is interesting to me, but there's like— when businesses start kicking up, we get more businesses that are, are opening up. I, I wish that businesses would allow education of their employees to understand what it's like to actually get involved. So, uh, and just to kind of— for instance, when I, when I moved into Celebration, Florida, and I had a staff, I knew that I was involved in the chambers, and I was on this board, and Give Kids Safe Shelter, and it goes on and on. I was doing what I really thought my passions were to do, the, you know, Children's Advocacy Center. I loved everything. So I did— I volunteered personally for things that meant something personally to me that I didn't care if I got business I didn't even want business, I just wanted to do it. And then I knew what would be important for business because you have to have that part. And I would volunteer, and that was more chambers and, and, you know, event planning and that kind of thing. But what I noticed is that I had staff that never really had gotten volunteered or didn't really know what that would be like. So I wanted to incorporate and make sure that they had their opportunity to know that they could also find a passion and what that would look like. And that they could do the same thing if they're in sales and want to build their sales up, find a work passion, and then also find something personal. Or if you have children, you find— you know, in my life, I love that I serve with superintendents because that's a nice thing, you know, for me. So you pick your passion, but a lot of companies don't know how to do that. They don't know where to start. And so that may be something nice for Pay It Forward to actually help companies to understand how you take someone and how they how they really can donate their time. I love companies that give 8 hours free, you know, once a month or whatever they decide to do. But there's a lot of people out there that really are like, I don't know what— like, I want to be on a board, but I've never served before. So we need more boards to have a spot for someone that's younger and never served before and then mentor them so they understand what that means for future. So to me, What do you think about that? Is there— like, how do you just keep building your volunteers and have it be a lesson?

Well, um, they— first off, whoever has— whoever wants to jump into a role like a board member or even just be a part of an organization, especially with us, we want it to be, uh, natural. We want it to be something that they're really passionate about. You know, you have some people that, oh, they want it for the spotlight. They just want to come and take a picture. You know, that's, that's each his own, but when they're dealing with us, we would like them to be like-minded. We would like them to really love children, love community, community-first attitude where, you know, you can go check on your neighbor type stuff. You can do these small things regardless of race and everything else. Just have that passion to help people. And honestly, I'm, you know, obviously we need dollars to run our organizations. But I promise you, volunteering is more— it means more to us than anything else. Volunteering that time, like you said, an hour, 8 hours, and it's such a good lesson. And we encourage families to do it because let's face it, none of us— a lot of us don't have the time to sit down like when I was growing up. I didn't have it either way. But even when I was growing up, there were families that sat at the kitchen table all the time and ate together and talked about the day. Now it's a face— it's Facebook, it's social media, it's the phones, it's iPads. We don't get that. So if we can get families to come out, mom with this daughter or dad with the son or the whole family, um, to come out and pick up some trash in their own community or the beaches that we love together to give back like that, that's, that's meaningful. That's, that, that's quality time that they can show each other today. You were there, remember? We did this for our community. That's the beach that we go on and we go on this the water and everything else. So that's the rewarding part. I think if they have the passion, then there's definitely places for people on our board, on other boards and different organizations as well. If they're passionate about really truly community first attitude.

I totally agree with you. And I agree with you, don't join it for, you know, cause you want business. I mean, join a chamber for business. I think there are, I love SCORE. I do SCORE as like my passion. I really don't do it for business, but does it help? Me. I mean, I would think that people would see me, that I know what I'm doing when it comes to business. Sure. But, but I, I totally agree with you. I also have to say, I'm a mother of a 14-year-old. I think I'm going crazy. I think I need help. I really do. I really do. She's killing me. You know what I find is crazy is Every time, like, my daughter, you know how she gets back at me when she gets mad at me? She messes kitchen— she messes up the kitchen. She'll like bake and like, like, like, I think she sets a bomb off or something. I'm like, what's going on? Every time she gets mad at me, she's in the kitchen cooking something up, and then she'll like— anyways, I actually have 4 kids. I have a 37-year-old I have a 37-year-old born, a beautiful, beautiful man, and he's given me 2 grandchildren.

Nice.

I have a 20— a 30— oh my gosh, I'm sorry, sorry, Sam— 31-year-old in Shanghai.

Wow.

So I haven't seen him since October of last year, and then he went back to Shanghai. And of course, he— you know what's crazy too? Is that he was telling me all about the virus before. Yeah. And I never ever once thought it was going to be coming here. Like, for some reason my mind didn't say, oh, we're going to have it here. So like, but I look back and I think that was really kind of silly of me because why wouldn't it go from China to here? So somehow, I don't know, uh, but he's doing great and he's doing really fantastic. He, um, He has a very cool business. And then I have a 25-year-old. He's doing amazing. He's in Arizona, in Tucson, and, uh, and another hotspot, of course. And his girlfriend is a nurse, so, uh, things are very, very, uh, very scary in Tucson, Arizona, like they are here. And then I got Alana, my 14-year-old. So I have 3 boys and a girl.

Wow.

And 58 with the 14-year-old. Right? Yeah, I deserve my own award. There's my award.

I love it.

But really, honestly, it's not easy raising children these days. And then with COVID hitting and everyone has to find in their heart— and I think that by when you give up your time, it really, it does something for us. It does. And my parents, all they— my parents I grew up in a family business, a very nice life, but I only knew about giving. My parents always were on one committee or another and donating their time, and my dad never said no. He had— whether it was gifts or artwork, I always could donate to anyone that I wanted to donate to. So I was very lucky that way and blessed. But I recognize, you know, the work that nonprofits do and how important it is. And I love— so tell me about some of the other groups that you're involved with too. Like, so as far as, um, and also how I can help you, like, like what maybe what I can do, um, to help. I don't know, but what is it that you— what do you need a little help in? Social media?

Anything. Um, we're, we're humble. Um, we're a humble organization. Um, from like what right now with the kids, one of them, like I was, I think I was telling, um, one of our main things is their backpacks. Um, each year we like to give the backpacks. We started with 1,000, last year we did 2,000, and we had, yeah, and it was, we had over 4,000 people show up at this event, which is really beautiful because it was a community effort.

You just had it the other day.

Well, no, that was a, that was a food drop that the We were partners with the Daytona Dream Center. That was their food drop, but we partnered with them on that, yes. So our goal this year is not to do 2,000 backpacks, is to try to raise enough funds to get the laptops because, yeah, a lot of kids are not going to go back to school right now because of what's going on. So, and we know there was a shortage in our, in our county, some families couldn't get it or they couldn't have the internet access. So our goal is to bridge that gap and say, hey, if you need a laptop and you want your child to stay home, here's your option. And we can, we'll try to get them a laptop, and if they have internet service, then we'll give them a laptop. If they have a laptop, you can't get internet service, our goal is to try and find a hotspot, a little hotspot receiver that they have and give that to the families in hopes they would use it for the right reasons for the school hours between 7 and 4 o'clock so the child can get their schoolwork and be comfortable with not having to force their child to go back to school if they didn't want that to happen.

Now, what about— so what about— I know that sometimes difficult to connect people with what's out there. So I think that there's a few companies that offer maybe $15 a month, so a pretty fair price. Which would be actually maybe even fairer. But it's, it's filling out the paperwork. We all know that when there's services out there, which is beautiful, but then it can be very difficult. So it's nice to have someone that can come in and, and kind of just help navigate what that looks like, fill out forms if needed, and make sure that, that they're able to get the free Wi-Fi.

And right.

And I was reading, I think that there was a lot of the A lot of them, a lot of the computers didn't come back. That there was— I know, last year too, that there was a loss of a lot of computers. And, uh, and that's really a shame because I don't know how that works with accountability and what, what happens with that. That's, that's disappointing. I don't know what to do either. Um, so Alana's supposed to go to mainland, and she definitely didn't do very well with how the schooling was. I was thinking live with— I, I try to read everything to understand if she could do like— it would be nice to do 2 days at school and 3 days home, um, and see if she can handle wearing a mask all day. And, you know, I don't know, I want to do what the teachers want us to do. It's weird, I feel like I want to do what they like. I— not that I don't have my own brain or mind, but I don't want to do anything that would hurt anybody. Or teacher, but sometimes I need more direction so I can make everyone happy with my decision.

I tell you, I like, we discussed this, the one that just got approved was the Volusia Online, where they actually have the teacher and the child has to be in front of the laptop.

Live stream.

The live stream from 7:55 to 4 o'clock, and then they get the recess and the lunch. And that's the accountability because a lot of the kids, Let's face it, they got up at 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, my kids did, and then they did their work, you know. And if we do that, then they're really going to be behind when they have to go back to school. So if we keep them in the right mindset, let them wake up, eat the cereal as if they're— breakfast or whatever— as if they were going to school, and they get right in front of that laptop right when that bell rings on this computer, and they have their class. And I think that's the route that we're going to go because we've talked to some of the members of the faculty, of teachers, principals. And I think to let them get the kinks out for the first weeks, a couple weeks there, it might be imperative for all of us to maybe think about that option too. At the end of the day, everyone has their own decision, whatever they feel comfortable with. But for us, we're just gonna let our children stay home, except my senior. She's dual enrolled. I want her to go to school. She's gonna wear a mask every day. She does it already at her job anyway. She's ready for that. She carries the sanitizer, so she's washing her hands, she's practicing all that good stuff. So we're encouraging her to go and finish her high school year so she can do all those things like we did when we were in high school, 25 years ago, I might add. But ultimately, it's a choice. And like you said, I want to do what's right for the teachers and the staff there because they're important because if they get sick, who's going to jump in? Who's going to— who's going to—

exactly. So I'm doing live stream. My daughter said this just this— when she woke up today at like 2 o'clock, and I'm like, whoa, you were really like— you slept like you hadn't slept in years. And she said, Mom, my sleep is so messed up right now. And I was like, yeah, that's why you're going to do the live stream. But she really said it. She's like, I she knows herself that she is totally off balance and she's not happy with it. And, uh, and I can understand that. So it's, it's a cycle. It's a cycle. But, um, I'm glad they're offering the live stream because that will put her in front and it'll be fun. It'll be more fun. I, it was— I mean, you know, I don't want to complain, but it was like, really? It was really tough. Oh my God.

Oh yeah.

And I'm not even— what did— so did you Do you remember your first time that you left your house after, like, after May, after we were kind of like opened? Do you remember what was the first thing you did besides shopping?

I went to work. I got called back to work. You were working the whole time? Ma'am?

You were working the whole time?

No, ma'am. I was— I was— we were furloughed or laid off at the Hard Rock. And then I got the call to come back. And then that was the first thing I did. And then it took us another We didn't really do anything for another month after I started working, and then we just took a little trip and that was it. And that was actually— you work at the Hard Rock? I do.

What do you do?

Front desk.

Oh my gosh. Hey, wait, is Sparky there? Where's Sparky?

Sparky's not there anymore, but she's a cool person. I love Sparky. She's awesome.

I love Sparky too. So I met Sparky— I had a gallery in Daytona, a Tanger, and Sparky came in because we had a Betty Boop. Yeah, original brand ambassador of Betty Boop.

I know, her motorcycle is Betty Boop.

She's awesome. And, um, Andros, you have the most amazing— I mean, I like talking about awards. I think he's won every award that's ever been made in the whole world. That guy, he's amazing. I saw him in action. I was at a board meeting of the— I was watching a public participant in the Halifax Arts Advertising Council that they had last week, and I'm like, he's, he's amazing. That's a beautiful hotel.

How fun. It is a very good place to work for, and I enjoy it.

I really enjoyed it last year. I enjoyed myself. I went to their— the music thing that they had where they had, um, they had the, uh, Our Friends Electric, and they had like 12 different bands, and it was like a yacht night, right? That was the best night I've had in a long time. Like, I really enjoyed— there was like perfect music, perfect night, perfect everything. I had a table He had invited me. I was like, I was happy. And I didn't even have a drink because I don't drink. Well, so I love meeting you, so I thank you. So you've been volunteering for Healthy Souls?

Well, yes, we— I haven't done anything yet, um, because me and, um, Maria, we were— she was, um, we were planning something for Puerto Rico with all the hurricanes and the earthquakes and stuff. And then COVID hit. So that is our mission, is to do something really big and collaborate with Healthy Souls to do something really big for Puerto Rico and also here in Volusia County as well. But I know that they still need a lot of help in Puerto Rico, and sometimes we forget about our neighbors and we shouldn't. Um, they're just as important because if we went through something, guess who's going to call and help us out? Puerto Rico. Um, so we always take care of our next-door neighbors. It can't just be sometimes just Volusia. We got to help out Flagler, you know, we have to help out Lake, we have to help out Seminole if we get called on, um, Orange County, whoever. If they call and they need us, we should be available because that's our neighbor. That's the right thing to do.

Exactly. I totally agree with you, and I'm hoping myself, uh, when everything opens, that I can do a mission trip to Puerto Rico. I was very excited to do that with And, uh, yeah, she's fantastic.

Um, if you don't know Maria, you should get to know her. Her heart is all in the right place. Um, I respect that lady fully. She had a mission in 6, 7 months. Look at where she's at right now. And I, I thank God for that lady and all her entire staff. Um, you know, I want to be a part of what she's doing because she's— she— her heart is in the right place. So kudos to her. Hope she's feeling better, um, right now. I know she's down right now, but she's feeling better. I've been checking on her daily, hopefully. Um, hi Maria, if you're watching or hearing, we love you and hope you get, say, uh, healthy real quick so you can get back to work.

I am, I am looking for someone to help me. Um, I want someone who has a voice, who could sing, and they could turn and write a song for me. There's something about Maria from the Sound of Music, but have it all be about like Maria, our Maria. Like there's something about Maria, like, or watch the Sound of Music. So if anyone's got a voice out there and can see the singer, um, anyways, Nick, so it really, it is, there's so many lovely people in this community to get connected with and to, and to grow. We're very lucky. I think many communities are very lucky that they have some amazing, caring, wonderful people And during this time, I know I wear a mask and I am happy and proud to wear a mask. And, you know, I think that I'm going to do a little— I said no politics, but I want to just say one thing. Leaders are born during times like this. And yes, I'm going to say it out loud, my shout out to Mayor Henry for not only mandating a mask, but putting a little fine behind it because I think that it's great. I think that people that don't want to wear a mask, I don't know if they get in their car and don't put their seatbelt on, or do they get in their car and don't want to drink, like, oh, like, oh, I'm gonna drink because they're telling me not to. Wearing a mask is important. And even if, even if all of a sudden we find out 3 months down the road it didn't do anything, why wouldn't you want to just possibly make a difference and help. It's not about losing our rights because— and, and the reality is he had to make it a law. He had to really put a mandate out there, not make it a law, but he had to attach a fine to it and say we need to have it done because people weren't listening. So everyone says, I don't want to have it be a law, but then they made it end up being a law because nobody was doing it in the first place. And he's such a great leader that he didn't get scared, and because he saw that we were heading down to a very scary area. Nobody wants to reclose, and I don't think we are, but we need businesses to get back to work. We want employees to be safe. Businesses have to come up with— another thing too is some businesses have to come up with what happens when an employee gets sick, what that looks like. Do they pay the employee for the time it takes when they're staying home or just the time it takes to get tested now? So we've got a lot of crazy things going on to, to try to, you know, but if the one simple thing we all could do is wear a mask, and I get it, some people can't wear a mask, okay, get it, you know, but for the average person, you know what, wear a mask. And if you can't wear a mask, I think that there's plenty of ways to get your food delivered or whatever you need too. So you would just— oh, we don't know. I, um, so there'll be a story that'll be coming out on the news regarding my experience with wanting to be a COVID contact tracer. Still want to do it. Never had the opportunity, but really want to do it. And there's a big story behind it, Nick, so you have to watch it. I'll push it out on my thing. But I think right now it's very important that we are ethical in business and in our day-to-day life. We, we all have morals and we we, you know, keep them, uh, straight and, and we screw our heads on right and we work towards helping all of the wonderful, um, foundations that are out there. And Pay It Forward is great. I love the whole concept of Pay It Forward. I think that it's brilliant. Beautiful movie too, wasn't it?

Yes, it was.

It was. There should be like, you know, a new one too. That would be good. Hey, You doing it?

I wish. I would love to have a movie or a documentary done, um, because my mess became a message. I love—

my mess became a message. Oh my gosh, that's your quote.

Yeah.

Well, then do it. You can do it.

You can do it.

Now you really don't even need anything. Get your phone.

Anything is possible. And, um, you know, I just— I don't know, I just come up with a lot of good stuff, and then My wife kind of pushed me, said, stop coming up with all these great ideas and start putting something to use and put them to, you know, into action and stuff. So sometimes I'm my biggest critic and it kind of stops me sometimes. But I do agree with you on the fact of like nonprofits and stuff. We're very valuable. All nonprofits are valuable. They have their own, their own benefits. And everyone is each— we might have different missions, but we're trying to accomplish the same thing in this community. So I think that, you know, that all these nonprofits should know who they are, especially in our Volusia County. Each nonprofit should know who— what services that provides for the other nonprofit. And so if Billy or John or Marie or Thomas or whoever comes to Pay It Forward and say, hey, well, I'm out of food, I should be able to say, hey, let me give you contact information for Healthy Souls or the Dream Center. Oh, my child is making some bad decisions. Well, hey, let me talk to Terrica with One Bad Decision or or whoever it may be, or, you know, I need some aftercare. How about the Boys and Girls Club? Let me call Robin Marcus or somebody, you know. Um, that kind of stuff is what we all should have, and it just shouldn't be all the big nonprofits getting all the, uh, praise and glory, because the small ones has a bigger, bigger fight and bigger punch in it too, because we know what it means to, to do a lot with a little. Um, so I encourage these big corporations, I encourage, um, smaller mom-and-pop places, don't just always just give to the big name brand company nonprofits, check out the local ones that are actually doing something too in the community as well. Because once again, together we can do anything.

Exactly. And ask your employees if they would like to get involved in or host a— again, it's like this COVID that's getting in our way. But you know what, it's actually what I would recommend for some of the larger companies is to host a nonprofit They can host their own nonprofit roundtable. They can host their own nonprofit little mini trade show in their cafeteria, bring out the nonprofits and let their employees talk to each one and get a feeling because everyone's got a different passion. So put the nonprofits in the room. And when we're back together, having a nonprofit trade show that's open so people can ask those questions, you know, can my daughter volunteer? Sometimes someone wants your, your child. And so I love nonprofits that you could bring your 14-year-old and get them involved. You can't. So, you know, you find what's going on. I don't know if you know this. I did 10 years with Muscular Dystrophy Association. I used to say I work for Jerry Lewis. Do you remember Jerry Lewis?

Oh, I do.

Okay. So I, but I worked for Muscular Dystrophy Association for 10 years. I did the telethon for 8 years, directed it in my community. Very important. But always making sure that any event, anything that we do, that we make sure that you can get the mission out with the use of children. I love that idea. One Voice Volusia is wonderful. They seem to connect everyone. We've got some great connectors out there and it's important, but you're right, always having resources and keeping it up. Maybe we could help to put together a nonprofit and not to do anything but to sign up volunteers, get committee members, and get future board members, like not trying to sell to them, not trying to buy, just information on what they do so you could actually see it. I think that that would be brilliant. I know I attended something like that, I think in Arizona. Very, very nice. I think virtually.

I totally agree. I totally agree.

Maybe we could start that. We could get a virtual Zoom going on and get everyone to come in and then invite people to come in that want to, because some people are home and there's a lot of things you could do at home too. That just like, you know, some people making masks, but, uh, envelopes, you know, just, you know, making phone calls for you, reaching out. So I would like to offer you, because I just learned how to do this and it's kind of fun, is if you send me like a 30-second or a minute of your speaking. I'll throw it in like a fun little, um, like kind of like a, like a flyer, like a little thing that looks like— so whatever. I use Canva. I got the Canva Pro, so I'm playing with it. So if you need any good art, but they're called like the video ads kind of, okay. You know, like I did one for myself, so kind of have the background and then we could put you speaking in it. I don't know, I can make it look cool. So anyways, I can do that. Um, I have, uh, I have some, you know, marketing. I I do want to remind you too that SCORE is awesome for nonprofits, life of a nonprofit. So did you get a chance to use SCORE when you were starting your nonprofit?

You know, I got the paperwork and I ended up just going online and I should have went to SCORE because I would have learned a few more things that I did not learn. So I encourage people to use that complimentary service if they're thinking about starting a nonprofit or if they need refreshers on things too, because it is a great asset to have.

It really, really is, and it's for the life of it. So at any point, if you have questions, if there's something you want to grow, so score.org. And when you go in there, there's a lot of workshops that you could look at too, or webinars, excuse me, that have been out. So very, very, very great. They just— it's amazing what SCORE offers to businesses and nonprofits. So it was great talking to you tonight. I look forward— I'm hoping to see you. Can I get on your list? Would you mind putting me on your email list?

I sure will.

Okay. And then if we have— we'll throw the link on your website along with— you have a newsletter signup? Do you have a way to get— are you collecting emails?

Yes, it's on our actual website. They can go on there as well. Yep.

And what is the website? I'm gonna put it on the screen right now. So you tell me right now and I'm gonna throw it on.

Sure. It's pay it forward, pay.

It4ward.xyz. Wait, that's an interesting extension. I never heard of that.

It's been around, uh, it's just started over, uh, maybe— well, we've had it for 3 years now, so it's growing. It's— they— Google or GoDaddy told us it was the next thing, like the.com,.org. Well, XYZ is the next thing that's um, should be trending. Yeah, so we just went ahead and did that.

Can you see that I have it right? I think I have it right. So it's on the thing. It's— do you see on the scrolling thing going underneath? Okay, pay it the number for ward.xyz.

Yes, ma'am.

All right, I'll put that on. So nice talking to you. I, I am very honored because I'm humbled. You've been touching me without even realizing it. It took me a year to realize that your name's not Nick Maggie. I think I missed the N. So it's Nick and Maggie, but I didn't understand it. And then I realized I put everything together and then I'm like, oh, I got to meet them. So very, very exciting. And I look forward to— are you still working at the Hard Rock now?

I am. I'm looking forward to the opportunities that may exist. It is beautiful there, though. I mean, you get to see the ocean. Yeah, I like Healthy Souls. Um, I love what you guys are doing, so, you know, it's easy to fall in love with that kind of passion that you guys, um, have over there. So, and you have a great team, so we're praying on it.

You know, Maria and I met at Elevate last year. I don't know if you heard the story, and we met and I asked her to be your friend, um, and for an hour and a half actually, and we sat together, we watched Elevate, and Maria said I'm going to be on the stage. And I'm a copycatter. I'm like, I'm going to be on the stage too, Maria. And we're both going to be on Zoom because we both got accepted. So we both have a speech to share for Elevate this year coming up. And we've been very close. And I, Maria, I just absolutely love her. And I'm very excited. We're working on a workshop, by the way. I just want to let everyone know we've got a workshop coming up and it's— Maria is planning this amazing opportunity for businesses to get involved in disaster relief by being trained in first aid and CPR. Imagine every business having a couple people that actually are trained so that when there's a disaster, they can walk outside and immediately be able to offer first aid. Can you—

that is huge.

That is huge. And that is her goal. First she had hours, she's a Maria, and she's accomplished every goal. So now it's getting certain amount of people actually with their first aid and CPR training and understanding how to actually assist. It's very exciting. So got a lot of things going. So thank you, Nick.

Thank you.

Thank you.

God bless. Thank you.

Be safe.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

That was fun.