Longtime Radio Personality Marv Luten interviews guests, shares community updates, National and Local sports and more. The Marv in the Morning Podcast is a production of O’Quinn Media.
For guest or sponsorship opportunities, email tracy@oquinnmarketing.com or marvinthemorning53@gmail.com
— Automated Transcript —
**Welcome**
Welcome to the Marv in the Morning Podcast. Now, here’s Marv.
Thanks again and again, welcome to another episode of the Marv in the Morning Podcast on the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast site. Brought to you by TK’s Pizza, Ri Brothers Meat Company at Lynn Creek. Along with Bale’s Construction, The Bank of Crocker, Paul’s Furniture, Shelter Insurance Agent Dave Howlett of Richland, St. Robert Auto Supply, Seeker Toyota, The Pulaski County Health Center, SDR Glass of St. Robert, VFW Post 3168 of Lakeway.
America’s 250th birthday is behind us and what a sight it was in many of the cities and towns around the nation. I can’t imagine the amount of dollars spent on fireworks, especially in Washington, DC, where they set a record of over 815,000 explosions lighting up the sky in the nation’s capital.
The big block party they had planned with the 50 states all on the mall did not go very well. Politics and the weather had a lot to do with that, but the 4th of July celebration was a big hit, but it ran into some weather problems as well. Normally, the fourth is hot and quiet as far as weather goes, but nothing seems to be normal when it comes to the weather this year. We could probably say that every year.
We were hit at the farm over the weekend. Saturday the 4th, we had a wicked blast of wind that came through, and it took down part of a huge locust and walnut tree in one of our paddocks that houses one of the farm’s horses. The horse was fine, but about 30 ft of barbed wire fence was not.
We were able to get a piece of the fence put back up where the tree was to keep the horse where it needed to be. Then Sunday I went down, not early enough, I might add, and started chainsawing away until I got the chainsaw stuck in a large tree branch, and anyone who’s cut wood knows what I’m talking about.
A little while later, I freed the saw thanks to a tractor and a bucket on the tractor, but it did a little bit of damage to the bar on the chainsaw. So I was at the store last Monday to get the thing fixed and then getting out real early before it got too hot to get the tree cut off the fence and get the paddock to where it needed to be. Well, that didn’t all happen in one day. Right now, I’m not a fan of trees, fences, horses, and especially Mother Nature.
And the sad part of this all, we barely got any rain when the wind came through in the storm, something we really needed. But it did get cool for just a little while, which was refreshing. Most of the real wicked weather stayed to our north.
**Patience**
Patience. This is a virtue I was not gifted with when I was born. Many I know are in the same situation. You may be one of those. When I go to a store to get something and they don’t have it and have to go somewhere else, it annoys me.
When I was doing play-by-play of sports for many years and the radio business and the rains came and halted play, I wanted a decision to be made right now whether we can go home or we’re going to have to wait and wait and wait until the weather clears. I can go on and on, but over the years, and it took me many, many years, my patience has taken on a new life.
Maybe being semi-retired and not always having to be somewhere at a given time had something to do with that. Recently, my patience has been tested and will continue to be tested with the current traffic situation in Waynesville.
One of the reasons I left the city of St. Louis many, many years ago, I could not stand the stop-and-go traffic. No matter where you were, where you were going, getting there was a pain in the butt. Now I’m right back in the same situation. Well, sometimes.
With the current construction on I-44 at the eastbound 159 mile marker ongoing, as MODOT puts in another lane for those heading up the hill from the Rubidoux River Bridge to St. Robert, something way overdue by the way. The eastbound lanes can back up quickly, sending interstate traffic into Waynesville, and there’s really no way to avoid it except maybe going 50 miles out of your way or just stay at home.
The traffic is not at a standstill for the most part. At least it’s moving a little bit, albeit at a lot slower pace. But my patience has really improved. I went to a store the other day. They didn’t have what I needed, went to another store, found it, and I really didn’t care.
I was not in a hurry to get somewhere, got it done, and sat in my SUV and thought, well, if it were not for the constant stop-and-go traffic on the city route because of the I-44 construction, this would have really worn on my nerves. But thanks to the construction work, maybe my semi-retirement, my patience has improved tenfold, or maybe even more.
Now, if I can transfer this over to farm work and dealing with the cattle and all the other things that go wrong at the wrong time, maybe at my age now in the seventies, I can become a much more patient person. My wife is hoping so, and so am I. Just wish it had not taken this long for me to realize to stop and smell the roses. By the way, roses still have thorns, but they just don’t hurt like they used to, and I can only thank God for that.
**Today’s Podcast**
Today on the podcast, we’re visiting with a couple of county residents with the Pulaski County Community Network and Show Me Non-Profit and talk about the many non-profit organizations in the county that many of us, present company included, knew very little about. Organizations that are there to help our community at little or no cost.
A visit with Tony Layzack and Carly Owens. One, retired military, the other a Waynesville High School grad who came back to help her community. Tony and Carly are coming up next.
Hold up, this is good. If you haven’t been to Seeker Toyota of St. Robert, you’re missing out. This is the place where buying a Toyota actually feels good. Great selection, friendly faces and zero, I said zero awkward pressure. It’s why drivers keep voting us Pulaski County’s number one dealership four years in a row. So whether you’re ready to buy today or just ready to smile, come by Seeker Toyota of St. Robert, doing it the right way, the Seeker way for over 56 years. Come see what all the talk’s about. Seeker Toyota of St. Robert, the fun starts here, next to Walmart and at seekertoyota.net.
When you’ve been in business since 1939, and when you do the math, that’s 85 years, you’re doing something right. Bale’s Construction in Waynesville has been doing things right for a long time, and that continues today. Bale’s Construction has rapidly grown from being Pulaski and neighboring counties’ top residential builder to one of Missouri’s largest commercial general contractors.
Today, they specialize in construction of educational and healthcare facilities, but their excellence in building does not stop there, completing an extensive number of projects such as banking, retail, industrial, civil, multi-family, food service, hospitality, transportation, and municipal projects. Their offices in Waynesville and Springfield, Missouri allows Bale’s Construction to cover a large portion of Central and Southwest Missouri. Explore their website and see what Bale’s can build for you.
WIC is here to help your growing family thrive. WIC is a supplemental nutrition program providing healthy foods, free nutrition education, and community referrals. If you are pregnant or have a child under the age of five, you or your child may be eligible for WIC. With a card to use at the store and more fruit and vegetable dollars, it’s a great time to be on WIC. Call the Pulaski County Health Center at 573-774-3115 to learn more. That’s 573-774-3115. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
On our podcast today, we have a couple of guests, Tony Layzack and Carly Owens with the Pulaski County Community Network. Folks, thanks for joining us.
Tony: Yes sir, glad to be here.
Marv: We have, you’ll probably have seen Tony’s signs up around the area. We’re not going to talk politics, because that’s one thing we do, the only politics I talk about on my podcast are the politics in Washington, DC. Okay, because they just keep throwing fodder into your laps that you just, news people just cannot help but take off on. Just watch the news and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
But today we’re going to talk about the Pulaski County Community Network because, as Tony, you and I talked earlier, the number of not-for-profit organizations in this community was mind-blowing. I had no idea.
But first, before we do anything, I want to get a little background. First, I’m going to start with you, Tony. Give me a little background on your life and how you got to Pulaski County.
Tony: Well, you know, my father’s Navy. So, and all of my brothers and sisters went in the military at sometime or another. So I followed suit. So I did 21 years in the Army, and we were stationed out here three times. And then I went into government service and I actually retired as a GS-14 out here at Fort Leonard Wood. So, uh, that brought us here. Now, my daughter married a soldier, and they live in Georgia. So we moved back here because his family lives here also, up at the lake. And brothers and sisters are all here and everything. My wife’s from Oklahoma, so this centralizes us. So now we can be with all the grandbabies and as we age, you know, and start vacationing with our brothers and sisters, we’re all centralized. So we we’re all country people. We grew up on farms and things of that nature. My dad always bought used farms and we would fix ’em up. So that happened to us, uh, until we moved to San Diego. There wasn’t a farm there to buy, so we kind of got a little break there and learned to live in the city. But we know we’re we’re country people, and that’s what we like to do. So this is a this is a great place. You’d be in the country in 10 minutes.
Marv: And what did you do after the military?
Tony: So I own a company called Colonial Harvest, and I’m the executive director of Show Me Non-Profit. So I’ve owned several businesses since then, and I did a bunch of government contracts. My background’s in anti-terrorism, counter-terrorism. So I took a couple of those contracts and, um, you know, did another tour as a civilian over in Korea. So I was I was part of the defense program for South Korea, and, um, pretty much anything that moved, we we would work with the command to secure it and decide whether it needed to move or not.
Marv: And Carly, how did you get here?
Carly: Well, my dad went to boot camp on Fort Leonard Wood and retired on Fort Leonard Wood in 1990. And I’m very proud that I got to attend this school district, uh, and that my daughter now gets to attend it. And with all the diversity and and like Tony said, it’s a wonderful area to to live in. And and I did move away after high school. I graduated in 1998 and went to Ohio and met my first husband, and then we got divorced. And, um, I started doing stand-up comedy, and then I moved to California because I wanted to try my hand at that, but I just kept working. I didn’t really get anywhere with comedy. But I escaped LA, literally, and came back in 2012, just in time to be my mom’s caregiver. And, uh, she had wonderful care through Phelps Health. And after she passed, I decided I wanted to get a job. And so I I now work for Phelps Health, and I’m the care coordinator at the Waynesville Medical Plaza.
Marv: Okay, I gotta ask, what got you into wanting to do comedy?
Carly: Well, I’ve always been very funny. Um, but, um, um,
Marv: And you told me she was quiet.
Tony: She is quiet. That’s where her humor comes from. She’ll she’ll she’ll surprise you.
Carly: She’ll just sneak it in there. Um, I yeah, I just, yeah, I thought, hey, you know, why not? And then my first husband, uh, while we were living together, separated, he said, don’t do it. Don’t do it. And I said, well, now I’m definitely going to do it. So, yeah. And it was the time of my life, and and it was good, good stuff.
Marv: She had to drink water out of the Rubidoux or Gasconade, because when you leave and you drink water out of the Rubidoux or Gasconade, you always come back.
Tony: You always come back.
Marv: And I did you were you were a ’99 grad of Waynesville High School?
Carly: ’98, yeah.
Marv: ’98, I should have worn my Tiger shirt. Cuz I’ve spent many years at that high school in the press box doing the high school football games.
Carly: Awesome. I thought you sounded familiar.
Marv: Yeah, that that took me about 41 years. And I went through some really good times at Waynesville with the football team. And I went through some really bad times with the football team, which seemed to be going on right now. But hopefully that that will improve. Okay, let’s get to the Pulaski County Community Network.
Tony: I wanted to do your Waynesville slogan. You’d be like, “And here’s another Waynesville first down!”
Marv: That was Nelson Morgan on the microphone, a long time, Mr. Morgan, a long time friend of mine. I don’t know where he came up with that. Uh, but every time, you could bet when those uh, chains moved, you knew, you okay, shut up in the press box, because here comes Nelson! And everybody would chime in, “First down!” So, yeah. Great times with um, the coaches and the players. Uh, Carly, did you play any sports when you were in school?
Carly: Nope, nope. In fact, yeah, I um, I I had I I made a post about uh the Shirly Girl Saloon where I first did my stand-up comedy, and when they closed down, I said, I never played sports. I never felt much camaraderie until I took the stage at the Shirly Girl Saloon and met a lot of awesome people doing comedy. So, nice.
Marv: Let’s talk about this Pulaski County Community Network. Tony, when did this start?
Tony: Yeah, so um if you look at the in in its totality. So some people always tell you, well, I’m an original member, but we really started way back in 2009. And there it had it had broken and and came together and broken and came together. And some of the same people are involved, like the Waynesville mayor, Shawn, he he was in AmeriCorps at the time. And we had this thing called Halapalooza. And Halapalooza kind of kicked it off. That’s where all the snack and pack stuff started. A couple of churches got together. Pulaski County Community Network. And as we grew through that, everybody left, and the people that were left in place kind of let it dwindle. And then, I want to say around 2014, if I’m not mistaken, it it came back strong again because of Shawn and and some of those long-termers, you know. We’ll mention some of them as we talk, but some of these other people that are managers of the other nonprofits are like, hey, why don’t we start this back up again? But we had forums and we had meetings and we pretty much broadcasted weekly if not monthly, you know, everything that was going on to each other, mostly through email.
Marv: How many non-profits do we have here in Pulaski County? Because folks, if you’re listening out here and you need some help with something, there is a not-for-profit organization out there that can help you. And these two guests that I have here are putting together probably a sheet where everybody’s going to get together and if they call one non-profit and they can’t help you, there’s going to be a list where they’re going to be able to go to and give you a phone number or something to call. So, let’s get back to it. The nonprofits are
Tony: Right now, um, well, we were at 140 in our own organization back when we started. Right now, we have 40 that are in Pulaski County Community Network right now. But if you go do a quick search in the Secretary of State’s office, you can easily find 120 nonprofits in Pulaski County that are legitimately registered 501c3. But you also have a couple hundred clubs, a couple hundred clubs. And, uh, we always welcome them in too, because they do a lot of great stuff for the community. And then, don’t forget about the churches. They’re also
Marv: This doesn’t involve any of the churches at all.
Tony: Outside of outside of the churches, we have 120 that are registered with the Secretary of State’s office. Just for Pulaski County.
Marv: How do you communicate with all these people, Carly?
Carly: Um, email mostly, yeah. PCCN2014@gmail.com.
Marv: Okay. So you you have the email, um, monthly, do you do you do meetings? Or you all get together?
Carly: Yep, monthly meetings. We have a speaker and showcase, yeah, um, generally other factions of the network, like, uh, CMAC and Compass Health and
Tony: Yeah, services too. So we do services are part of the program too. If it’s a government service, if they’re doing anything for anybody in the community, we help them link it together. So like right now, we’re compiling a a list so that we can have reach-out capability, right? That’s the that’s the power of Pulaski County Community Network. We understand what the needs are. People let us know what it is. We we can link volunteer groups. We can link other organizations to collaborate. So like, uh, an example, we just did a big thing with Mocha, two two different things with Mocha. They have a a roster of different ways that they also serve the community and a whole list of ways that they send people to when they can’t do it. See, so they’re already doing it. So what we do is we’re not trying to recruit redo anything. So Mocha has their list. Well, we would say, hey, we’re familiar with Mocha’s list. Oh, you know what, contact Mocha. They can help you with these three things, but they can also send you to the other four or five locations to get assistance. So we wouldn’t recreate that. We just bring together what people are already doing. See, so we don’t compete against anyone. We just showcase what they do. Make those connections.
Marv: And Mocha is Missouri Ozark’s Community Action.
Tony: Yes, sir, yes.
Marv: And I remember from my days in radio, when widget time comes around, somebody needed uh, maybe some new seals on their window.
Tony: You contact Mocha and bang, man.
Marv: Things are happening.
Tony: And if you call them and they can’t do it, they have a list of people that they would send you to. Well, if that list gets exhausted, we will have a list. And the whole goal is to put all of these things in one location so you can have self-help at some point.
Marv: And that’s what you’re trying to do with the Pulaski County Community Network.
Tony: Yes, sir.
Marv: What are some of the events, uh, that you are putting on that can get people aware of what is going on, when it is going on, and all the all the who, what, where, when, and whys?
Carly: Well, um, our next, um, meeting is July 30th. Not sure the time because we were doing it in the morning, but we kind of want to move it to the afternoon, so we’ll solidify that when it gets closer. But, um, it’s going to be CASA speaking, and we always have our meetings at the ARC in Waynesville. They’re fantastic people over there. And we are working on an event. We’re gonna see how it goes. It’s still in the in the works.
Tony: We’ll describe him to you here in a moment, but uh. So so PCCN 2014@gmail.com. So email right there at any time to to find out what the goings on are. And then at that point, Carly will have a a time for you. So some people enjoyed the morning because they they they were let off work to come in and do it because, you know, we facilitate things that they’re doing at their workplaces. But I I think we will get more people to attend if we move it to the afternoon. And so that’s what the organization’s discussing right now. So that you can come and end your day, you know, at at the PCCN. What what happens to us is we run over because when you come to our meeting, there’s so much collaboration going on, we almost can’t start the meeting because people are like, oh yeah, that’s that person. That’s this person. Oh yeah. Oh, we didn’t even know that group existed, and I have the same need.
Tony: Organizations helping organizations is the most powerful part of your nonprofit. So if you’re a nonprofit doing things and you’re not collaborating with other nonprofits, you’re making a huge mistake because the capabilities that they have, you don’t have. And the volunteer and willingness that they have are those five or six, maybe 10 people from the organization that are willing to do the work. You could have 100 people in your organization. You’re still going to I belong to organizations that are 4 or 500 people strong and only five or six people are doing all the work. It’s just the nature of that type of organization.
Marv: That’s the nature of any organization, I really believe, because yeah, I’ve been there and was asked to join, you know, a couple of organizations, and there’s 80 or 90 people in the organization and the same five people show up all the time to do all the work. The other ones do a little talking, uh, but boots on the ground are the most important thing in any event you do.
Tony: So the primary thing with PCCN is supporting organizations doing what they already do. Now, if they want to use the services of Show Me Non-Profit, which are free, you know, they can do analysis of their program and and increase their capabilities and, you know, learn how to professionalize or programize, you know, what they’re doing if they’re interested in that. That’s something on the side. That’s an organization that’s part of PCCN, part of all of the coalitions. But one of the greatest things coming out of PCCN today is the coalitions that we have in the county, like the homeless coalition. So people people come to me all the time and beat me up because I’m part of the homeless coalition, and all we’re going to do is invite homeless to keep living here because they got it too good. And I’m like, what are you talking about? These are professionals. We have 23 groups in that coalition. And when we go out to the homeless, our goal is to get them back on their own two feet. You know, that’s and they don’t know these organizations. So if somebody had a drug problem, about 7 to 10 people a month that coalition assists in getting back on their own feet, you know, going through programs that they need. And we we can go and minister to them all we want and then we leave them there. But if we bring them nothing else, they’re still on their own accord. They’re still in the environment that they found themselves in that caused them to be homeless. So these 23 organizations are the professionals that are already doing it. You know, it’s like in my business, I make products and I sell them. I was delivering them too. That’s ridiculous. There’s FedEx and UPS. So what let FedEx do what they do and create more time for what I do. And that’s what we do in the organizations and that’s what we do. These people that are out in the woods or living in broken-down homes or squatting in your house, um, they’re not going to find these organizations for help because whatever caused them to be there is what’s causing them not to find these. So that’s why we make coalitions. So when you come to Pulaski County Community Network, some of these coalitions develop themself and shape themself because they discover each other. And they start assisting each other. And once you do that, maybe in a few minutes, we’ll talk about grant writing. But once you do that, now we can start building the things that we need in the community to be successful to compete for those grants that communities are not getting that we probably qualify more for than the people that are getting them.
Marv: How bad is the homeless problem in Pulaski County? We I don’t know, maybe about two two years ago, three years ago, when I was working at the radio station, the mayor of Waynesville, Sean Wilson, came in along with Genie King. Uh, and I think Genie King was working with snack in a pack at the time, or uh, maybe the Salvation Army. I think the Salvation Army was the one uh, she was working for, and I asked Genie, I said, they were talking about the homeless around the area. When you see when you talk about homeless, you think about DC, or LA, where these people are laying around in in encampments. Uh, I don’t see any encampments around here.
Tony: There’s so many encampments that the homeless coalition when they go out to visit, they hit about half the county in one night, but they start off at noon and they don’t finish till 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. That’s how many there are. And you’re not at any one location for any long period of time. I’ve gone out with them several times, and I I am by no means one of the master people, but because I’m part of the coalition, I go out to learn how to link those needs that we were talking about and get them the services that they need. But uh, ministering to them is also very important because they don’t they don’t have a belief structure like you would understand. But these encampments are all over the county. Basically, any road you drive on, I guarantee you one or two blocks away, there’s homeless people. And we have migrants that move through here because of the highway. Now, those people come and go, and we we we really do focus on making sure they’re able to to go ahead and move out. But when when these people get back on their own two feet, um, Marshfield, Springfield are great locations. We find them jobs. We find them, you know, places to go where, um, where they can improve themselves, you know, if if facility isn’t isn’t the issue. And then, um, finding their families, we have an agency that does that. That’s how bad the homeless is. We need all of these programs because there’s so many here. And it’s not just the homeless. We have extreme poor people. Now, you know, I I get a lot of pushback because people are upset that they’re causing their own, um, situation. Well, that might be true, but the cause of the cause is what we treat. See, see what I’m saying? So people don’t understand that. Yeah, they’re it’s self-induced hardship. I understand. And that you’re upset that we’re helping them because they could help themselves. But they can’t.
Marv: Something started this down the road.
Tony: That’s right. And they’re locked in and they get stuck in it. So really we find somebody in the coalition that will be the right trigger to to move them in the right direction, stand on their own two feet. And and every single one of them can do that. But but Tony Layzack’s showing up and, uh, giving them a hot meal, and it’s not going to do it. We just go to figure out what they need. And if they’re willing to accept what what we then bring them, you know, and I’m not the coalition leader. Ben Rudy is the leader, and he’s handing it down to a group of people. 100% of the community helping 100% of the community. That that’s what it’s about. So, um, that there’s other coalitions that we have too. You know, there’s people that focus on nothing but helping our children in the community and feeding the the children in the community because those families are poor, or single mothers. See, so if there’s five organizations helping single mothers, why would we not want to link them together? You know, because they have same capabilities and different capabilities. Once they discover it and they start working with each other, sometimes they’ll merge. Sometimes they just stay a a coalition. And, uh, you know, because people volunteer for the reasons they volunteer. And and why would you knock it? If you want to do something you want to volunteer, I’m going to let you volunteer in the way you want to. You know, you’re not an employee, and we’re going to we’re going to let you decide how you want to do it. Because so many people approach charity, um, differently. You know, so if you’re in one mindset, well, let’s maximize your mindset. Let’s put you to work the way you want to work. Well, the volunteer system that we want to set up, there’s several different volunteer groups in the community. Um, I bet you there’s not one listener right now that knows one if it isn’t at their church, or isn’t in the organization they belong to. But could they list one that’s outside of the organizations they belong to, or outside of their where they’re employed at? Probably not. We want to change the face of that so that people have a better experience volunteering. They want to do it more often. And that the needs get identified quickly so that there’s an opportunity for people to take charge and become a leader or or um volunteer to make that situation go away.
Marv: I think if you get a volunteer who sees somebody that they have helped get back on their feet, all of a sudden they go from homeless, uh, to have a place, have a job. That has got to feel great for the volunteer and that just makes them want to do it even more.
Carly: Absolutely. I think the term unhoused as well. It’s you’re not like living on the street, but couch surfing or, you know,
Tony: There’s a lot of that too.
Carly: Just making it work.
Tony: So, you know, and the whole the spirit of Pulaski County Community Network, there’s a whole bunch of people in our town right now that will tell you, I’m this about the network. Because they were. And we want to we want to reinspire those activities. But also the people that come behind you after you, they need training. They need experiences. It’s like we’re talking about. They they need fulfillment to continue doing it. So we want to pass that on to all the people that are actually helping people as well. So the whole thing about the giving spirit, it it is, um, when you give of your life, we always say, whatever you have to give, give it all. When you don’t have any more to give, work harder until you do. Your life will be enriched. So, um, you might not have money to give, but you have time to give. You might not have either or to give. You might just have some expertise, or you might have a product that’s already done, or an example of a grant that you won one day, and you understand that somebody needs that same same money, so you give them a copy of your work. You you just help them out. Now they’ll compete better. So those little tiny simple things helps all the organizations do what they do better.
Marv: How bad is hunger here in the county?
Tony: So, you know, we might be the wrong people to specifically talk about it. Um, but when you look at the medical, so a lot of our services are medical, and they come in and talk about hunger. And it’s not just that they can’t afford the food, it’s that they’re eating improperly. And it’s a lifestyle, a lifestyle of hunger problems. And when we look at when we listen to these groups come in and brief us, you learn every single time about, um, you know, they would answer this question much better than Carly and I are going to answer it. Because they’re literally living it with those people each day. We’re just observing it and learning about it. But hunger in our county is is a hard extreme hardship. And, um, we have a lot of places. I mean, Good Samaritans are amazing for food.
Marv: You drive by the Good Samaritan Resource Center, and there are people standing in line waiting to get wait to get food.
Tony: This is what you see in St. Robert and Waynesville. Go ahead and go up to Dixon twice a week. Go to Richland and and Crocker and see how they’re getting food out to the communities. I mean, almost every single one of them churches is giving food to their their parish members. And food is very expensive in Central Missouri. It’s a giant problem. Not not to get political, but there needs to be a political answer. These grocery stores, we lost our grocery store in Crocker. You know, and um I I know the whole story about it, but it’s too much to talk about during nonprofits. But it it’s too difficult for grocery store owners to make a fair and reasonable profit because of the logistics of getting the food out here. And the food that’s available for the grocery stores to buy in Central Missouri because of political agreements that we have. It’s a shame. We’re the most farm agricultural part of the entire nation right here in Central Missouri, and we can’t get food to our own people or to our schools because of this political strife. So these organizations understand that. You can’t fight what was locked in, and they do a very, very good job of um putting the other a a need statement to to know who needs it.
Marv: How do these organizations that give out the food get the food?
Tony: You can go to any dumpster any restaurant and you can find enough food in that dumpster that people didn’t eat for money. They paid to feed the hungry. And you can’t take a hamburger that hasn’t been touched on somebody’s plate and put it in the thing and give it to a homeless person. That has to go in the trash. That’s true. That’s total waste as far as I’m concerned.
Marv: It is. And I’ve worked in a lot of restaurants. So I guess as a businessman, we understand why you can’t um take the food like you’re discussing and and have a program to give it away. Um, unless you take a risk from your people. So it would be it would take severe management skills to understand that we’re not misusing it. So if you legitimately have leftover food from uh what you estimated you would need, then that’s legitimate. But if people are cooking extra food, people people will always come and make all these deals and then take advantage of themselves. They’ll be throwing away good food in the trash. So you can understand the businessman’s part too. So that is a shame. But when you sit down with the nonprofits, or I sit down with a business, I’d show them the schematics of how to how to not allow that to happen so that they can have a program for that. We don’t have a program that I know of here in Pulaski County. If one exists, please email us at Pulaski County Community Network and we’ll we’ll market you. But um, those types of things I would like to inspire in the community, you know, when we have those types of things. And um, we we could become enriched together, but you you can’t fail yourself to help other people that have failed. You have to succeed and build a cornerstone that you can stand on so you can be on the square. On the square means truthful and fair and reasonable, right? To help people. If you want to care about people, you have to be truthful about how you’re going about doing it. But another part of your question is, if you have food that you want to give away, go to the Good Samaritan. They have bins in there. They’re we’re going to have 23 bins in there that get spread out all over the community. So we we have the blessing boxes. That’s one way. But Good Samaritan also has a system that I can’t describe to you exactingly. They’d have to speak to it to determine who needs the food. And of course, you could always go to pretty much any one of your churches. They’re going to find a resource for you to bring that food to. But it has to be non-perishables. You can’t make people sick. The people that need food also need medical care and psychological care. So if they get sick, you know, a basic small illness for us is you’re going to survive it because you’re living in a home. Those people on the street, they’re going to survive it greatly differently than you would from your home. So you can’t give them food that’s going to make them sick. But we have organizations all over town, mostly restaurants that will provide hot meals. I don’t know that we’ve ever had any trouble getting a hot meal gifted to us from a business in town. That’s how the majority of that food goes out. Um, that same program, uh, is teamed up through Laclade and and Phelps County now. You know, but we’re preparing in September 35 hundred meals. Uh, yeah, and it’s going to be a regular thing that will go to each of the counties. And we have a distribution method now. So before we didn’t. You know, so when people are like, I’m offended by that and this and that. Okay, well, you’re not the one that needs the food out of that box. You know, and it’s not it’s not just homeless people. There’s people so poor they’re going to go in there and get them a meal a week out of that box. So if they needed any information, can they go to um PCCN 2014@gmail.com?
Carly: Absolutely.
Tony: Yeah, sir. And then
Marv: Or show me profit?
Tony: Sure you can go to Show Me Non-Profit@gmail.com also. And um we will link you with the right people. You know, the two of us aren’t the ones that are come out and help you. We might tag along with that organization we set you up with, you know, just so we get smarter alongside of them. But we we’ll help you find that organization.
Marv: I need to take a break here from some of our fine sponsors. We’re going to be back with Carly Owens and Tony Layzack in just a moment.
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Since 1911, The Bank of Crocker has served the greater Pulaski County area. This year marks their 115th year. How do you last that long? Well, by giving their customers cutting-edge banking services with a hometown flair. You can do your banking from anywhere in the world with their convenient online banking. At the big banks, you’re just another number. At The Bank of Crocker, they know your name, maybe some of your family, and might even know the name of the dog sitting next to you in the drive-in facility. It’s called the personal touch, which is why they’re celebrating their 115th year as your hometown bank. And there’s four locations for your convenience in Crocker, Richland, Waynesville, and St. Robert. The Bank of Crocker, member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender.
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We are back with Tony Layzack and Carly Owens with the Pulaski County Community Network and Show Me Non-Profit who are putting together a network of all the non-profits. So if you happen to contact a non-profit, they can’t help you, they can get you a phone number just by looking on their computer and hooking you up. That’s I think what this whole podcast is all about.
Where does all this money come from, Tony?
Tony: The greater majority of the funding that happens for nonprofits, the greater the greater majority of it is grant writing. Um, the second is organizational memberships. The people in the organization, they some of them are a third of their income toward the organization every single month because that’s their passion. And that’s that’s that’s how they give back. And, um, the individuals in the community. Now, let’s not leave out business owners. Business owners here are overwhelmed by the request for assistance. And they usually come through. Our business owners in Pulaski County are amazing on how much they do for nonprofits and services.
Marv: On my podcast, uh, a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned, uh, local businesses. If you are around the area, shop local, because your local businesses are the ones that are going to keep this community together. These big box stores, they’re going to come in, they’re going to go, and all their profits go to probably their stockholders. These local businesses don’t have stockholders. Money they make, they give back to the community in more ways than one. Maybe with help and maybe with a check. How does this grant writing work?
Tony: Okay, so grants grants are very interesting, right? So you can have grants as small as $100 a year, and they can be repetitive or it could be a one-time thing, right? And those are very difficult to find. Usually you cross over them when another organization found them or somebody came to you, right? So, if you’re a good grant writer, you’ll have a program in your organization, right? You could hire grant writers, but that’s a whole another game, right? But if if you do something well, and you have documented all the data of what you’re providing to the community. So if you want to compete for grants, typically, you’re providing something that nobody else provides. And it’s something that the the grant giver is interested in. So, you have to learn how to speak to the person giving the grant in that person’s language, not your language. So the things that they’re interested in, and the reason why they’re giving the grant, you want to say, we meet your needs these ways. So you got to develop in your organization all the data of what you do. You have to know what the community data is to get any of the good grants. If you want to compete well for any of the grants that are going to be repetitive or continuous, typically what they’ll do is if you can handle the grant money the first year, they’ll give you a second, third year. Or they’ll give you three years and you can get five if you’ve met your numbers by the end of those three years. That that’s a normal government grant, right? You’re going to have timelines and you’re going to have to meet meet and show that you were able to do what you said you could do. So some organizations would have to restructure. So that’s another issue for grants. So that’s why a lot of organizations don’t do it. Show Me Non-Profit helps people set up their grant writing program, right? And, uh, it’s a self-help thing, you know, you do it in stages. You do the stage, you get it done. Show Me Non-Profit will help you get the second stage done. But Pulaski County Community Network, what we’re trying to do is to collaborate with all these organizations that become members, and to get the data and the status so that everybody can write community grants. And that’s what we don’t do well here. There is some really, really good grant writers. I won’t say those organizations here because they’re not going to share their grant writing, because they’re really good. Well, they would be competing against the rest of us. Well, we would like to do as a network is have the data live, real-time data that these organizations can do, that want to write grants, that want to build a grant writing program to, uh, use that data so that it’s true and accurate and current. And we can’t do that if we don’t survey every year, quarterly, you know, uh, probably about I think to be fair, it would be three-fourths of the organizations in the county. If we do that, then I think our data would be better than most people’s data. You really want to get it down to about 3% of correctness, you know, to be professional. But that’s very extremely hard to do if if you don’t have 75% of the organizations participating in providing the data.
Marv: I’m running out of time here, but I we’ve talked about the community needs and some of the awareness sharing. I want to get back to some of the events coming up and Carly, I’m going to turn this over to you right now. Um, you have some showcase forms coming up.
Carly: Yeah, every, uh, once a month, every Friday, this guy and I get together and we have our Mid-Missouri Non-Profit showcase. We had our first interview with, uh, Missouri Social Group, and that was really good. That was a really good interview. Ashley was amazing. Um, so yeah, we just want to promote nonprofits in the area and get the word out.
Tony: We’re going to film every every last Friday of the month and then publish the first Monday of the month. And, um, you know, of course, we’re going to expand that social media. Right now, we’re just trying to get Carly and I, um, making it something people would want to watch, that’s informational. But basically, what we want is people to participate in this. So every time that we showcase, we want to say what’s coming up next month in Pulaski County. So at PCCN 2014@gmail.com, email us your flyers for all of your events from now until next year. If you got it planned five years from now, fine, we’ll put it in, you know, uh, July’s five years from now folder. And then we’ll check with you the month before to make sure that everything’s still going the way you have it planned. But what we’d like to do is have a compilation of, um, all the things that are coming up the next month. Have guest speakers on the show. That’s what we did last time. And we showcase a nonprofit or a couple nonprofits as we get better at it. And then say, okay, in in between the conversation, we say, here’s four or five events that are coming up next month. And then if we can get to all the events that we compile, great. If we can’t, we’ll post them on our social media. Everything you send to us, we’ll post on the social media. So we try to get one location. We have several organizations that have event calendars. So we would post their event calendar. So not do anything differently so that you can access it. You know, maybe we showcase them at times. And, um, not taking away from any other organization, we’re just compiling what everybody’s already doing. So that you can you you can imagine if you’re here and and you’re like, I got nothing to do this Saturday, you just go to the showcase site and you say, oh, here’s 12 events going on on Saturday. People tell us all the time, we got nothing for kids. There’s I guarantee you today, there’s four or five events going on for kids. And you just don’t know about it. So we want to be able to showcase people.
Marv: And what about training? Do you if somebody wants to volunteer, can you do you train the volunteers?
Tony: So back in the day, we had a big training program set up for grant writing, for training your volunteers, for training your board members, um, for making sure that all of your your bylaws, um, are in line with what you’re actually doing legally. And, uh, we had way ways to review those. So we’d like to get back to having those capabilities. We can do that. It’s just not organized enough. So right now, primarily what we’re doing right now is trying to get all the groups to sign up. All the organizations. If you’re a service, a club, if you’re a 501c3, if you’re a church and you want to get on the church list with us, that that has, um, uh, community activities that you want to showcase. Send it to us on that webpage. We’re going to consolidate it. And at some point, we’ll have a community access. Right now, we’re going to have membership access. And that’ll come through Carly’s monthly mailer. And then, um, you know, but, uh, as we get good at that, because we need all these other organizations to make this legitimate, to make this good. Carly and I doing this, it’ll only be what it is, it’ll be very small. But if the other organizations get on board, now it becomes legitimized because they’re legitimately doing the work. We’re just talking about it. See the difference? So, um, but, uh, Show Me Non-Profit has all all of those services if your organization wanted to sit down and do it. I just don’t do it for them anymore. See, so it’s a systematic approach to getting it done.
Marv: I always want to ask this before we get out of here. Is there anything I missed that you guys want to talk about? I have a I have a list here. I think we’ve pretty much showcased most of the stuff that’s on this list. But is there anything I missed that you actually want to get out there?
Carly: I just want to repeat the email: PCCN2014@gmail.com. Send us your flyers, send us your information. And if you aren’t a part of PCCN, then come and join us.
Tony: Come and join us and send send us your event calendars, send us all your event flyers. We want to showcase them for you regardless of when they’re going to happen. Tomorrow, this time next year, it doesn’t matter. Send it to us and, um, become part of PCCN. And with that, we’ll say thank you to Tony Layzack and Carly Owens with the Pulaski County Community Network and Show Me Non-Profit. Folks, thanks.
Carly: Thank you.
Tony: Thank you. God bless.
TK’s Pizza in St. Robert, home of the original hand-tossed King, has been throwing dough in Pulaski County for over 40 years. Although a lot has changed in that time, TK’s delicious hand-tossed pizza has not. Taste our iconic pizza, our delicious toasted subs, mouth-watering calzones, huge fresh salads, gooey cheese bread, and more. At the same little spot, we’ve been throwing dough for decades. 743 Missouri Avenue in St. Robert. Call 573-336-FAST or order online at 336fast.com. We’ll have it ready when you get here. Come on, taste the TK’s tradition.
**Outro**
Meet you at the V is a popular saying in our Neck of the Woods, and for a good reason. VFW Post 3168 at Exit 150 off I-44 is a popular place, especially on Friday and Saturday night, because it’s Steak Night from 4:00 to 9:00, where folks come from miles around to get some of the best steaks at a price that makes even the most thrifty smile. With several cuts of juicy steaks cooked the way you like, complimented by salad, baked potato, and a veggie.
Their canteen is open Monday through Thursday from 3:00 till midnight, and Friday from 3:00 to 1:00, and they open at noon on Saturday and Sundays. Their kitchen is open from 5:00 to 9:00, Mondays through Thursdays with daily specials. And did I mention Steak Nights, Fridays and Saturdays? And there’s karaoke Tuesdays through Saturdays from 8:00 to close. Plenty of TVs to catch up on all the big games, and a huge meeting room for rent for your special occasions. Queen of Hearts runs every Tuesday, and check out their website for Bingo Nights. And every second Saturday of the month, from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m., they host a veteran service officer event. Lakeway VFW Post 3168, Exit 150 off I-44. See why more people are heading to the V every day.
Your NAPA Auto Parts store, St. Robert Auto Supply, has everything you need for your vehicle and more, when you need it. NAPA brand oil and antifreeze, windshield wipers, and vehicle accessories, plus tools and equipment for all of your projects. From car covers and flashlights to car wash, air fresheners, sunshades, and glass and tire cleaner, you’ll find it all at your NAPA Auto Parts store, St. Robert Auto Supply, just off Missouri Avenue. Stop by today and get the good stuff seven days a week.
And Sports brought to you by Three Brothers Meat Company at Lynn Creek, where I did make my trip to their store and pick up some of their delicious broths. And while there, took advantage of some of the sales on meat and other things they were having. By the way, the lean ground beef I got was really, really good. While our local sports is on hold for the summer with many players involved in summer ball and other activities, fall practice is now just a month away with the seasons starting late next month.
World Cup soccer has sports fans and even non-sports fans talking and watching a game many may still not understand fully. The coverage and participation in soccer, which by the way is called football elsewhere around the world, has been nothing less than enormous. We’ve talked about the welcoming arms Americans have held out as hosts to those who came here to cheer on their teams from around the world. And even though some of those teams were eliminated, the fans support went back home, but not without spending a lot of money in America. However, many I believe will be coming back as guests or maybe permanent residents once they got the taste of that Kansas City and Texas barbeque and many other delicacies they could not get back home in their countries.
One team that took the interest of FIFA soccer fans was Cabo Verde, an island country off the coast of Africa, who took powerhouse and defending champ Argentina with superstar Lionel Messi to extra time before losing three to two. They were the Cinderellas of this year’s World Cup. The Scotland and Norwegian fans made the most of their trip to bars and venues where Scotland played. And the business people were sad to see their fans go. They drank a Boston bar dry when they visited New England, and the Norwegians with their now famous Viking roll have fans of all ages captivated. There have been some memorable games this year in the World Cup. Another game was held Monday in Seattle. The USA took on Belgium in the round of 16, and it was anything but memorable. A 4-1 loss by the USA to Belgium. Belgium is a team the Americans lost to 5-2 in what was called a friendly, which as we know here in America as preseason games. The way the USA played on Monday, it looked like a preseason game. Give Belgium all the credit. They stymied the USA offense, and if defense wins championships, it’s no wonder the USA lost. The defense was not very good. And that’s putting it mildly. As one sports pundit put it, the USA were sloppy, lax, unfocused, and a step or three slow throughout the first half. 40 minutes into the game, the USA had one shot on goal, and while it was a goal, that was the highlight of the night for the Americans. The USA only had six shots toward the net and only two on goal in the entire 95 minutes, which meant the Belgium goalie could have stayed at the bar and drank his way to the win. A sad end to World Cup play for the USA. But America did get a chance to see the best in the world soccer has to offer. Or again, as they called it elsewhere, football. Now, let’s get ready for some real football, American style. NFL and college training camps are opening up at the end of the month, and the preseason starts in less than a month, and I can’t wait.
St. Louis Cardinals are in a tough stretch of games heading to the All-Star break, which comes up next Tuesday, July 14th, from Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia. There is one Cardinal, Jordan Walker, who made the National League roster as a player, and St. Louis manager Oli Marmol will join Philly manager Don Mattingly as honorary coaches to Dodger manager Dave Roberts, who heads up the National League. Coming into this week, the Cardinals took two of three from East-leading Atlanta, then two of three from the Cubs, and moved to a game and a half behind Chicago in the NL Central. Both trailing first place Milwaukee. Cardinals can better that with their five game series against the Brewers in St. Louis. Underway this week before hosting Atlanta prior to the All-Star break. The Braves and Cardinals Redbird series is this weekend. Kansas City is still in last place in the American League Central. They now stand 11 and a half games behind the division-leading Chicago White Sox, who may want to contact one of their biggest fans, Pope Leo, over in Rome for maybe some divine intervention, because Cleveland is now only one game behind the White Sox. Well, that’s sports this week brought to you by Three Brothers Meat Company at Lynn Creek. Back with the wrap after this.
Need to fill your freezer and save some serious money? Well, that’s a problem Three Brothers Meat Company is happy to fix. We’re talking whole beef bundles, quarter beef bundles, and the mighty freezer buster, stacked with beef, chicken, and pork. So good, you might start inviting yourself to your own house for dinner. These bundles are perfect for grilling, family dinners, or just beating grocery store prices with much better quality food. Check them all out on our Facebook page. They’re pinned right there at the top of the page. Call 573-346-5233 or just swing by and see us, 2179 State Highway A in Montreal.
In these days of texting and emails, words, phrases, and names are shortened to letters. It doesn’t change anything. It just makes things easier. That’s the case of SDR Glass, a St. Robert establishment since the 60s. Still the same great service when it comes to auto glass, windows, shower doors, and anything to do with glass. And when it comes to fixing chips in your windshield to prevent cracking, there’s none better. They’re still in the same location on VFW Memorial Drive and still have the same phone number, 336-4122. They’ve just shortened their name from St. Robert Glass to SDR Glass, but we’ll never shorten their services to you, the customer.
Thanks to my sponsors, Bale’s Construction, The Bank of Crocker, Paul’s Furniture, Shelter Insurance Agent Dave Howlett of Richland, St. Robert Auto Supply, Seeker Toyota, The Pulaski County Health Center, SDR Glass of St. Robert, VFW Post 3168 of Lakeway, TK’s Pizza, and Three Brothers Meat Company at Lynn Creek. Thanks to Tracy, my producer for the glue that puts this all together and thanks to you, my podcast faithful for allowing me to come into your lives for just a short period of time. If you’re enjoying the Marv in the Morning Podcast, we invite you to leave a review on whatever app you’re listening on. We would also love for you to share the episode with family and friends on your social media accounts. Be sure to follow our podcasts on Facebook, on the Marv in the Morning Podcast page, and you’re also invited to join us on Facebook on the Fort Not Lost in the Woods Podcast group. This podcast is a production of O’Quinn Media. Join me next week and we’ll do this all over again. Until then, later.