Volunteers Needed - How Helping those in need fills your cup.

Then I'll give it a— I'll give it a 1 too.

Okay. Ta-da! I think that might be my favorite part of that beginning clip. Like, I want to go find that Suicide Prevention Saturday where I went ta-da! So anyway, uh, it is Saturday night. It's 9 PM Eastern according to Mr. Paul Lathrop, 8 PM Eastern for Central Time, which is the only time that matters, is what he just said over on the bullets. But we'll just pretend that we know that Eastern Time is the beginning because New York and Boston are here, so obviously that's way more— oh, hi! Sorry. Hi Peter. Um, hey Tara. Uh, yes, we already talked, never mind. And Barbecue was— whether he's still here or not, I have no idea, but he was the first thumbs up because I was stalking myself on YouTube, and so I saw he was there. All right, um, Suicide Friends is Saturday. Why? Because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths that the CDC talks about, that they need to figure out where all the gun violence comes from, are suicides. And that's why every Saturday night since 2018, I come on here for a couple minutes to talk about mental health or something that will help you with your mental health. Mr. Fusco, I suppose this is in between your normal napping, right? My friend Mr. Fusco here, he, he's, he was, yeah. So anyway, he doesn't sleep a lot. He wakes up a lot. So whenever he's awake, he's just in between his naps. Hello, Mr. Mike White. Yeah, I'm taking DJ's thing because look, it's you live, Moo. I haven't seen Moo in a while. So, all right, so where are we this evening? Okay, yes, we are going to talk about how to make you feel better by doing something for other people. I am here to help people learn new things about things that they may not have been comfortable talking about, like suicide or what to do after someone commit suicide, or how do we maybe try to help someone prevent committing suicide and stuff like that. Also making sure that you have some new tools for yourself because all of us are in need some of the time. There are times when we are caregivers, there are times when we need to be taken care of. All of us fall into that. So volunteering, why does that make you feel better? Well, because you're serving others. And, uh, we were actually just talking about a— what is it— Twilight Zone, I think it was. And, uh, the aliens came down and there was this big book, and one of the humans were trying to figure out how to decipher what the book said. And it says, how to serve humans. And so they're like, oh my gosh, they're coming here to save us and serve us, that's so great. And then later on, like, I think like the end of the show, they're like, it's a cookbook. So we're not looking to serve people up on a platter. We are looking to serve people as far as taking care of them. So resources, I always try to give y'all some resources. So here is what I did for y'all. I pulled up some examples of what you can do. There's all sorts of ways that you can help other people. Now, one size never fits all. Oh wait, sorry. Mike says To Serve Man. Yes, that is it. And I don't even know if it was Twilight Zone or what is the other one? Not Twilight Zone, but the other one that was like that. To Serve Man. That would be the one. All right, so in all of your free time, right? Which, yes, I know most of us don't have free time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. We all can fit something into it. That we want to do. And serving people and taking care of people is something that we should try to put in there. So as a volunteer, one of the things I have done is you can volunteer at a food bank. When I worked in corporate, this was an example of one of the things we did. Our corporate said, hey, they need help in the food bank in Hartford. And so one one Saturday a month we would go and help create food, serve food, all that sort of stuff. You don't have time to spend time helping? Well, obviously you can donate. Mike, this is something you kind of already do, right? Volunteer as a Big Brother. I mean, not that I think you actually volunteer as a Big Brother, but when you're working with kids, you may as well. So Big Brothers or Big Sisters, um, is a way to help kids. And what is more important than helping kids? Absolutely nothing. Our children really are the next generation. To show that someone cares for them is a very simple thing that you can do. Um, I shouldn't say simple. It's very, uh, it's very challenging, but it's still something that you could look into. Don't like kids? That's okay. Maybe you wanna help someone who is a shut-in. Now, usually people think of Meals on Wheels as something that elderly rely on, but it can just be someone who is going to need your assistance because they are stuck home for one reason or another. No, still don't wanna be a food delivery person. Okay, how about running into a burning building? I know that around everywhere that I know of, volunteer firefighters are definitely high in demand. You get— you're unpaid, but your training is usually paid for. I have lots of friends who have been firefighters or are. I did just do my EMT training. Oh, but wait, there's more. Ready? Don't want to run in burning buildings? How about pick people up off the floor? Uh, as an EMT, I will say for my my check rides, really and truly my first time in the ambulance for part of my EMT stuff was literally that we were going into this person's house to pick them off, up off the floor of their bathroom. There's obviously much more interesting things that happen, but for the most part, that is an idea for you. Maybe you already know something about, medicine or something along those lines. It's really above basic first aid, but it's, it's kind of cool if that's your sort of thing. All right, back to kids. Cub Scouting, Boy Scouts of America. They do boys and girls. I like Boy Scouts of America better than Girl Scouts just because it's a less, I don't know how to say it. It's a more fun thing to do. All right. Don't like kids. Don't like blood. Don't like fires. I got more for you. What about animals? You can take animals. And here's the cool thing about animal shelters. There are tons and tons of animal shelters. It's not just the SPCA. There are tons of little itty-bitty volunteer places within your community. Here in Connecticut, there's, um, the little Guild of St. Francis, which just takes cats. There's some places that just do dogs. There are some places that just do specific breeds. So there is something for everyone. Oh, but wait, there's more. If you're like me and you happen to like shooting, you can volunteer at something like Tony's, um, the diversity shoot. You can go help with registration, you can help with instruction, you can help with all sorts of stuff. I just saw him on the bullet just before this show. And he is looking for money right now. But those of us who are in the shooting sports, there's also Rick Ector's Legally Armed in Detroit, and he also does a 2-day or an all-weekend— it's a Saturday, Sunday— where instructors such as myself and a bunch of others come from all over the country to volunteer. And I didn't even think of this. How could I forget?, but I did forget. The shooting sports, IDPA, USPSA, your local gun club. I don't know about you guys, but all the gun clubs that I belong to, they offer you to be able to go and do projects on, on site. Torrington Gun Club is where one of the places I belong, Northwest, NWCSA. I always forget what it actually stands for, Northwestern Sporting, anyway. You can go and do 10 hours of work there and help clean up your club. So volunteering, there's lots and lots of options. If none of the things that I showed you are even slightly interesting to you, find something. There's gotta be something. Uh, you can volunteer at a church, a synagogue, a hospital. Um, everywhere needs volunteers. I have been a volunteer since I was 12 or 13 when I started teaching Sunday school.. And then I volunteered at my rec department when my sister was 5 or 6. So 1987, '86, somewhere in there. Wait, '89. Yes. Anyway, somewhere in the 1980s. And I helped the rec department teach soccer. So maybe you have a sport that you do that you could go help teach kids. They are always, always, always looking for volunteers. You don't have to volunteer forever. You can just volunteer for a season or volunteer for a month, but get out of your own way and do something for others. Because I know if I don't feel well, if I am sad and depressed and I have to go do something like, hmm, 9 o'clock on a Saturday night, yes, maybe something like that. There are times when I'm not going to lie, there are times like, do I really have to do this? And the answer is no, I don't have to do this. I choose to do this. And I always feel better after, no matter how tired or sleepy I was beforehand. I definitely feel better after. So I had to look away from the comments. So DJ, is there anything that I should pay attention to?

Quite a few things going on. Okay, things going on, but you've also had me really working on some of these links. I'm finishing up rolling some of those in right now with— and I would like to draw attention because you do good work and you do good work for us and for the greater community, several different community's worth of interest wide. And I've just put your Patreon link in the text chat. I would encourage folks to swing by. This is not the kind of thing Brooke would ask for herself, so as a co-host, I'm asking you guys to go, you know, think about doing the Patreon subscription there. Um, let's see, questions. However, I need to go through and parse a little bit. I know that there was something up there from Guns and Barbecue. It was a little bit long, so it might be like kind of jokey, but I'm gonna go ahead and do like a modest screen on that.

Let's see, we, we— yeah, he and I discussed that. From time to time. It's like, am I too much of a jerk? I'm like, only sometimes.

Not at all, not at all.

And here he is, you know. Yes, I, I actually— I did see this briefly, and that's why I actually went to not looking at the comments, because I'm like, if I start talking to Barbecue— um, so yes, he put that up when I was talking about the Meals on Wheels. So, uh, yeah, so, but yeah, no, um, I don't know anything about Meals on Wheels other than I see the trucks around. I know that when there's bad weather, that's when they really need their drivers because a lot of people don't drive in the bad weather. So if you're a good driver, that's another thing.

But, um, and I'm aware of the need for suburban and rural deliveries for Meals on Wheels and other food support programs like that, distribute food distributions. Um, you can, that's another way where you can volunteer your help. It's the kind of thing where you can pitch in, you can pretty much show up at any organization's distribution day and say, how may I be of help? And they'll find something for you to do or anything.

But like Tara, Tara loves to cook, so volunteering at a food, um, food kitchen is like one of those things. I'm like, yeah, I, I mean, I know she likes to cook for us to on YouTube and stuff, but Tara Smith's Kitchen makes— that's what I think of. But that doesn't mean that's what she likes. Um, yeah, the animals and kids, there's so many options.

Hold on, animals and kids. We got this from Clover Tag, bringing it to your screen. A little late. Have you mentioned 4-H yet?

I did not. And 4-H is really specific in that you could start a 4-H with poultry or— I was about to say poultry or chickens, but you could do a 4-H with poultry. You can do 4-H with horses, pigs, cows, all of that sort of stuff.

And see what clover's brought? I'm bringing that to you. You can literally start a 4-H club for the kiddos doing just about anything, shooting sports, animals, sewing, cooking, hiking, fishing, robotics, computer, carpentry, literally anything. The man has given us quite a few choices to start with there. So yeah, opportunities abound.

Yeah, and actually, I was, I was actually contacted from, for the shooting sports for a 4-H just in the next county. So yeah, so they really do do shooting sports as well. So, and we know that barbecue is wrestling coach. He coaches his daughter, but he can all do all sorts of stuff. And then there's old Fiddlesticks. Just so y'all know, he's not swearing anymore. He's saying things like peanut butter and jelly, but I told him he could say fiddlesticks instead. Hello, Miss Vanessa Kitty. I think we've said hi to everyone. I took the liberty of grabbing everyone as they came in. And so Um, yeah, so volunteerism, it's an easy way to build your confidence up. It's an easy way to build up your self-worth. It's an easy way to pay it forward. We are all blessed with some kind of skill, and most of us don't realize our skill until we try to use it for someone else. Uh, Tara, like I said, made me think of, ooh, she'd be great in a food kitchen. She could really help out, maybe make the food even more good with the stuff that they've got. Someone like Barbecue, coaching wrestling, why not? Maybe there, there's a recreation department or something that needs that sort of thing. CloverTac, I don't know, obviously he's got the 4-H thing dialed in, so he knows how to go with that. So yeah, volunteering is not selfless. I can promise you'll get as much as you put in if you are sincere. Anyway, right, don't show up just to show up because Brooke said so. So, um, do it because it's something that you like. And that's why I tried to give you guys all those different ideas, is because you may not be a kid person. That's okay. You can go work with animals. You might not be a dog person. You might go have to work at the cat shelter. You might be, um, like me, like I love the parrots. We have a parrot, um, shelter here in Connecticut, because a lot of people don't understand when you buy a parrot you need to be 12 because parrots live for 60, 70, 80 years. So a lot of education around that sort of thing. So whatever your passion is, uh, DJ, I don't know, could you volunteer to teach music lessons or something like that?

You know that I could, and I don't, so maybe I'll consider that now.

All right. Well, you know, I'm not trying to pick on anyone, but I'm just like, oh, like, what do I know about people that are regular watchers here on a regular basis? So, and so I just want to give Barbecue props for actually saying fiddlesticks out loud. Even if it was, you know, the F word ahead of time, but you know, all of our practice, whether it's getting better marksmanship skills, better safety skills, better speaking skills, It takes time. None of us get it all done all at the same time. Oh, so, all right, so apparently Clover of Tech is fully green in the 4-H. So have you, uh, yeah, let's see. So what have I done? I've done Sunday school, doesn't take that much, the plan is usually already there. I've done homeschooling for our church that takes even less time because we use a video thing. There's lots of easy ways to serve others, and just decide what you want to do and what would make you happy. Um, like CloverTac said, as far as that whole being sincere, if you don't like kids, don't go coach the kids' soccer game. If you don't like animals, don't go volunteer at the animal shelter. If you love cooking, go to a soup kitchen. If you love helping people in bad situations, become a firefighter or become an EMT tech. You can come in at basic. You don't have to go to EMT. You can be a basic life skills person. I don't know all of this stuff, right? I just know that you have a gift that you can share with others. Tara's cooking. DJ's music, uh, barbecue's ability to wrestle, CloverTac's ability to get into the 4-H, Nessa Kitty. I don't know, what can you help people with? Um, one of the things, one of the guys I listen to all the time, Dean Graziosi, Tony Robbins, there's a bunch of them, but basically your mess is their message. Oh, G2/3, there's another one, right? Going from a hard place of no faith and then learning how important faith is. So maybe he would go help at a Sunday school or something along those lines. My brother became an American-based missionary where all he does is go and try to save souls. So pick your thing. Oh, Mike Fusco. Mike Fusco. Oh my gosh, yeah, this dude that's over on the Facebook side. Um, He volunteers like crazy. Uh, he is well known in our state because of his ability to raise money for gun clubs, that sort of thing. Peter Estrada. Oh, here's another volunteer idea. Whatever your state's Second Amendment foundation or Second Amendment group is, uh, Peter Estrada happens to run the urban outreach for CCBL, which is Connecticut Citizens Defense League. And so there's so many ways. There's so many ways to serve. I've been serving a long time on lots of different levels, and sometimes I forget all the stuff that I've done. And I've been trying to pare it back a little bit because I love spending time with my family, and I'm really trying to grow my business. So your time may not be the moment, this instant, that you have to go out and volunteer. I just want to plant the seeds. So that's what I got for everybody today. Um, all right, so we got crabby turtle. Um, and Tara Smith, volunteer firearms instructor. Yeah, and I think you and I talked about that before. And here's the thing, Mr. Barbecue, have you not heard those who cannot do teach? I hear that one all the time. Um, so what is the Blazing Sword database? That's what I want to know. And CloverTac. Okay. See, you all know what you're talking about. I have no idea. All right. So that's all I got. DJ, anything else?

I just hope that everybody has a wonderful remainder of the evening, the weekend, and a great week ahead.

All right. With that, I will see you all next week. Yeah. Nothing exciting coming up that I'm aware of. But I could be wrong because I feel like I haven't looked at my own calendar in God knows how long. So good night all.