0:01

Hey, folks, We're back for another the

0:03

second episode of Ask

0:06

Kevin Almost Anything.

0:09

This is our second one. I mean,

0:11

the idea is that people have written in

0:14

and reached out and said,

0:16

you know, we got some questions that we're

0:18

wondering, and so we look through

0:21

and we decide what would be fun to

0:23

respond to it, and we'll see

0:25

how this goes. I

0:32

am joined now by

0:35

the executive director of

0:38

six Degrees dot Org Stacy Houston,

0:40

who is awesome

0:45

and I

0:48

concur yeah, and

0:50

who's a little tired because she

0:52

saw Madonna last night, but

0:55

has decided to rally today and

0:57

coy and join

1:00

me here in Ask Kevin

1:02

Almost Anything.

1:03

I stays, Hi, Yeah.

1:06

If Madonna can do it, I can do it. I'm

1:08

inspired. That's for sure.

1:11

Good idea, good idea. She's

1:13

something amazing. It really is.

1:15

Talk about a show.

1:17

I don't think I've ever seen Madonna alive. I

1:19

think that it probably

1:21

didn't quite line up with my

1:25

age, and then

1:27

I don't know. For some reason, I just that that's a show

1:29

that I never saw, but it must be incredible.

1:32

It was really incredible.

1:33

It was a pretty diverse audience

1:36

for sure, But I think that, yeah,

1:38

she put on on one hell of a show called

1:40

the Celebration Tour. So it's kind of like all

1:43

all of her music throughout the year, so something

1:45

for everyone.

1:46

I think a lot of young people there, yeah,

1:50

I.

1:50

Think so and

1:52

not so young. I mean she's sixty five.

1:55

Is my age, same

1:57

age as Yeah.

1:59

Yeah, but she

2:01

was definitely it was very theatrical,

2:03

so I think similarly to a

2:05

lot of the you know, the bigger pop stars

2:08

of today, Like she's still moving

2:10

around that stage and telling a story and

2:14

a lot of actual social impact stuff, right,

2:16

A lot of things that she

2:18

talked about through her music that she kind

2:20

of highlighted with the

2:23

stage design and the sets

2:25

and those sorts of things, especially around like the LGBTQ

2:28

community and the

2:30

HIV crisis of the eighties and

2:33

things like that. So it was powerful.

2:35

It was really really cool.

2:36

Yeah, it's funny you bring that up, because when you really think about

2:38

it, she was really there

2:40

is an element of UH

2:45

pop female pop stars

2:48

who you know, have

2:51

sort of empowered the various

2:55

sometimes unrecognized

2:58

factions of their uh

3:00

their audience and given

3:03

them a voice

3:05

and support in ways.

3:08

And I think she really was one of the first.

3:10

I mean, you know, followed certainly by

3:13

Gaga and now you

3:15

know Tailor and

3:17

Beyonce, and you know, it's like

3:20

you you

3:21

you you go beyond just making the

3:24

music and and even

3:26

beyond just having the adoration

3:28

of of your fans, but you actually

3:30

are are trying to support

3:32

people to you know, kind of be who

3:35

they are, you know, Harry Styles and you

3:37

know, it's it's interesting, but but Donna was really sort

3:39

of a you know, a pioneer in that way.

3:41

I think that you know, in music,

3:44

a lot of the early rock stars

3:46

and the idea was that you just you

3:48

were kind of trying to keep it distance. That was

3:51

kind of part of what rock and roll was that you were

3:53

this sort of distant, you know, kind

3:55

of persona and

3:58

and not necessarily you

4:01

were more kind of speaking two people than speaking

4:03

four people. So I think I think

4:05

it's interesting that she was

4:08

early in that that movement.

4:10

Yeah, and it definitely I think probably inspired

4:13

those that came after her, right for sure, Yeah,

4:15

to not squander that opportunity, Yeah,

4:19

and definitely not shy away from it because

4:22

she's bold now. But I

4:24

can only imagine when she started,

4:26

you know, forty years ago. Yeah,

4:30

that was like a moment.

4:31

So well, I first saw her

4:33

in Uh, oh gosh, whatlder that movie?

4:37

I feel like maybe it was a Jonathan Demi movie. I'm

4:39

trying to she had a small part. Oh

4:42

boy, what was it? And

4:45

but she was it was you know, a lot of it

4:47

was like her kind of singular

4:50

style and the look

4:52

and her you know, just she's attitude.

4:55

You know, she was just kind of badass. Anyway,

4:58

this is the Madonna, So.

5:01

Yeah, she deserves her own episode.

5:04

Thank you, Madonna for letting us just riff on you

5:06

for a little bit.

5:08

Well let me read the first question.

5:10

How's that? Since this is called

5:12

ask Kevin almost anything? Uh,

5:15

this is from CHRISA

5:17

And she says, Hi, Kevin, I'm

5:20

from food Bank, Victoria in Australia.

5:22

Love what you do. I was wondering if

5:24

you have any budget type recipes

5:27

that we can share with our folks. I

5:29

just thought it could be a fun thing to do. Oh

5:32

yeah, if you have any other ideas. I

5:34

know you help so many people already, but I thought

5:36

it was worth asking. Cheers Chris.

5:40

Okay, so when she's

5:43

talking about budget type

5:45

recipes, I can tell you that one

5:47

of our favorite things that

5:49

we make, when

5:53

you know, a lot of times will be thinking, well,

5:56

what are we going to do tonight? What are

5:58

we going to get? You know, cures very

6:00

big on like finding new recipes.

6:02

You know, she does searches and follows

6:05

things, and I'm a little bit more, you

6:07

know, just kind of improvisational. But

6:10

you know, it's usually we have

6:12

some kind of big idea and every once in a while

6:15

we want to stay in but

6:18

we're out of big ideas and

6:20

we've we have a short handle. We'd just go

6:22

pantry and she

6:25

says yes, and I say pantry,

6:27

yeah, And it's really pantry

6:29

pasta is what it is. So

6:34

you generally have lying

6:36

around at least a couple

6:38

of clothes of garlic or an

6:41

onion. And

6:43

then that's always like the basis

6:46

for anything, right, any

6:48

any any thing that's worth

6:50

eating, It starts with it, you know, some

6:52

garlic or some onion. So

6:56

you you put that in the pan and

6:58

you start you like,

7:01

so I tell you that, and

7:04

then you open up the pantry and you see what's in

7:06

there. And so it could be

7:09

a can of tomatoes, it could be a

7:11

lot of ours. Is like a can of tomatoes

7:14

we get opened up, a can of tuna we

7:18

throw in some

7:21

you know, whatever kind of herbs you have, we're

7:23

lying around and even if they're dried, you

7:25

know, some regular basically you just

7:27

make a sauce, add a little bit

7:30

of wine, something

7:32

has to be, you know, make it liquid

7:35

enough, and then you make some pasta

7:37

and you put it on and that's pantry

7:39

pasta. We've we've

7:42

oftentimes have a lot of people

7:44

have some capers lying around,

7:47

some olives lying around, some you

7:49

know. I mean, it sounds it sounds like I'm

7:51

just making something from garbage, but it really is

7:54

is these are all things that will

7:56

keep forever. Yeah, And

7:59

that's that's what we do Petripasta.

8:02

So this kind of reminds me of

8:04

this woman that I met recently and

8:08

feeling pretty bad right now that her name is escaping

8:10

me. But she has an Instagram page

8:14

and she I don't know if she's coined

8:16

this, but she does this thing called shelf Timber

8:20

where it's like in September

8:23

she challenges everybody to only

8:26

use fifty dollars a week for

8:28

groceries. I think she's a pretty large

8:30

family. I think she has like six or

8:33

seven kids something like that. Well,

8:36

so I think this might help Chris's

8:38

community as well, you know, and

8:41

they are challenged to use

8:44

only what's in the pantry on

8:47

their shelves for this whole month,

8:50

and then they can buy like, you know, chicken

8:53

or some of those additive type things

8:55

to round out a meal with

8:57

the fifty dollars. And it's a way that

9:00

they save up for the

9:02

holidays that are quickly approaching.

9:04

Right, So it's like we're gonna eat in, We're gonna

9:06

just clear out our pantry because, like you said,

9:10

I mean, have you ever got I mean, this

9:13

is my experience. I'd go to my mom's house

9:15

and I would go into her pantry and I

9:17

would see something from like two

9:19

thousand and and four, and I'm like ah,

9:23

and I'm like, like, you're what It's like a can of olives

9:25

and You're like, hey, I'm pretty sure

9:28

this is expired. And she's like it's

9:30

fine. I'm like, no, Like, I

9:32

don't think you should eat this. Like there

9:35

has to be some reason why we can't just keep

9:37

things forever, you know, But.

9:39

Can't you eat a two thousand and four tour Alli?

9:42

I don't know. I think I probably would.

9:45

I'm embarrassed to say I don't really check

9:48

the labels that often although my

9:50

mother she uh,

9:54

well, first off, she wasn't a good cook. Nobody

9:57

likes to say that about their mother once. My mother was

9:59

a bit, but my mother was a terrible cook. Let's

10:02

face it. She had six kids.

10:04

Yeah, And and she

10:06

was kind of often doing what it is

10:08

that talking about just kind of you

10:11

know, finding some stuff and whipping

10:14

something up. I mean, I think that we're

10:17

a lot better at making it taste good.

10:20

But she wasn't as good as improvising

10:22

as you're saying.

10:23

No, And she would she would take

10:26

things and she didn't believe

10:29

she's very much ahead of her time in terms of this, but she

10:31

didn't believe in like single use

10:33

plastic. And and so she

10:35

would just take food and

10:37

just put it in a bowl and just

10:39

stick it in the refrigerator and sometimes it would

10:41

sit there for a couple of weeks. And that that's the stuff

10:44

that I was like not not going near

10:46

in a case something that was actually vacuum

10:48

fact or sealed. I'm

10:51

okay with it. And you know, I'll tell you something interesting

10:53

in terms of like, as we know, fresh food

10:57

often goes hand and often

11:00

people who have food insecurity, it

11:02

becomes very hard for them to find fresh

11:04

food. There aren't places that actually

11:08

have you know, fresh

11:10

produce.

11:10

There are in food deserts often, yeah.

11:12

Food deserts. Yeah. But one thing that

11:15

is true, and I'm

11:17

not a nutritionist, but I can tell you that I

11:19

recently read an article which was had

11:21

to do with which was written

11:24

by you know, smarter people that me scientists

11:26

saying these are the things that we wish people

11:29

would stop

11:31

believing in terms of food

11:33

nutrition, and one of them was that

11:36

canned fruits and vegetables

11:40

are nutritionous, nutritional.

11:43

They You can have

11:46

a frozen or canned or

11:48

frozen fruits and vegetables,

11:50

if they contained a whole ton of sugar

11:53

like that's added, then possibly

11:56

that's you know, going to you're gonna

11:58

have to kind of keep an eye on that. But if you're

12:00

talking about a can of peas or

12:03

or or a bag of spinach that's

12:05

been frozen, these are that you don't lose

12:07

any nutritional value from from vegetables

12:10

when they're when they're frozen or can Apparently

12:13

it's some yeah, and in some

12:15

cases it's actually they actually

12:17

have more vehements and minerals than they

12:19

do if you cook them down and cook

12:22

them fresh. So when I when I learned that, I

12:24

said, well, that's really that's interesting

12:26

because it it

12:29

means that if there are things that are on

12:31

shelves that people

12:33

can get, you know, some good nutritional

12:36

value from those from those fruits and vegetables.

12:38

Anyway, good question.

12:40

Yeah, definitely, all

12:46

right. Question number two

12:49

do you want to read it?

12:49

Coup?

12:50

Okay? This

12:52

is from Rebecca Graham.

12:55

Kevin, you with your wonderful family are

12:58

so special? A question for you? Would

13:00

you do Footloose too? U? Footloose

13:03

too has been done?

13:06

Has it?

13:06

Though?

13:07

I thought it was like a remake, you

13:09

know, like, well, what's your right?

13:11

I mean, I feel your foot.

13:13

Loose two would be like a sequel like you

13:16

are now, John, let's

13:18

go.

13:18

And I'm not banning dancing, not.

13:21

Your banning dancing.

13:22

But you know, like you're older,

13:25

you've raised your own your kids

13:27

are are in high school, right, like I feel

13:29

like that's the sequel, right, like

13:32

it's your son right.

13:34

Never say never. I think it would be a disaster.

13:39

It's funny because they they made

13:41

countless Friday the thirteenth,

13:44

you know, when I was in the very first Friday the thirteenth.

13:47

Then they remake Footlosts and they remade

13:49

Flatliners, and then I decided that they're

13:51

just remaking all the movies that I was in

13:53

the beginning with F. So

13:57

if I do another movie that becaus with F will probably

13:59

probably, I don't

14:01

know.

14:02

You know, a few good men, let's not.

14:04

Few good men? There you go, there you go?

14:06

Well that actually they're they're

14:09

doing that too. No, yeah,

14:11

I think so that.

14:12

Just makes me angry. Just leave

14:14

well enough alone.

14:15

No, seriously, I have a couple things

14:17

like Dirty Dancing, obviously,

14:20

especially.

14:20

In my generation, that is like a classic. You

14:23

watch it. I watched it to death.

14:25

I watched it so many times I could quote

14:27

most lines from that movie. They

14:30

remade it, right, they did a

14:32

kind of part two Dirty Dancing Havanah

14:34

Knights or something like oh yeah, right right right,

14:37

no offense who everyone was in it. But no,

14:39

it was not Just leave

14:42

leave them alone. If they ever try to

14:44

remake Breakfast.

14:45

Club, oh, I

14:48

will start.

14:48

A petition like, wow, is that

14:51

one of your favorites? That's my

14:53

my yearbook quote?

14:57

Was you know that closing line of

14:59

the movie, No, I doubt which of us are a

15:02

princess? A brain?

15:04

The act of you know a criminal

15:08

and an outcast or.

15:09

Something like that.

15:10

Someone that loves that movie is actually

15:12

really angry with me right now.

15:13

They're like, you don't love that.

15:14

Movie this is the quote, but

15:17

it shouldn't be remade. But I feel

15:19

like those are the types of movies

15:21

that are yeah, like

15:24

on the chopping block, someone's going to try

15:26

to remake it.

15:27

M I may yeah,

15:29

yeah, Yeah. It's a funny thing with

15:32

remakes because I

15:34

kind of agree with you. There is something about

15:37

let's just leave well enough alone unless

15:39

there's really a really kind

15:41

of fresh idea. But the other

15:43

piece of it is that in our business, everyone

15:46

wants intellectual property and wants

15:49

to, you know, revisit

15:51

intellectual property. That being said, you

15:53

know, I'm in Beverly Hills

15:56

Cop four, and I

15:58

think that's actually going to be really fun movie.

16:00

I think I think it had Top Gun, you know, when

16:02

they redid Top Gun recently, you know, or

16:05

I mean so anyway, I don't

16:07

know what the story would be for

16:10

Footloose. It

16:14

would have to be you know. Actually, they

16:17

actually offered me a part in

16:20

the second, you know, in the remake

16:22

of Yeah

16:24

it was terrible. The part was, and

16:27

I was like, why would I be in this playing.

16:30

It doesn't make any sense. Like it doesn't.

16:33

It just doesn't make any sense here. I'm

16:36

not I'm not really understanding. So

16:38

anyway, they I

16:40

said, no, they didn't. They didn't miss me. Actually

16:43

I thought I thought the dancing was incredible

16:45

in that movie. Yet the second

16:48

one was in a lot of ways a lot better than what we

16:50

did. But anyway, thanks for

16:52

that question.

16:54

And awesome,

16:57

so we have a

17:00

the special next question. Actually, I

17:03

received a note from

17:06

Sharon Sawyer and Sharon

17:09

was writing in about her niece and

17:12

her niece Kelsey, who

17:14

will hear about it because we have some audio

17:17

clips to play. But in

17:19

short, Kelsey has

17:21

had a really has

17:24

gone through some pretty hard circumstances. Right, So

17:26

she lost her brother to

17:30

cancer when she was a kid and he

17:32

was a kid, and then in her early

17:34

twenties she lost her mother.

17:37

And she was one of.

17:37

These people who basically

17:41

stared at grief and decided

17:44

to use it to fuel her to

17:47

create pretty incredible impact

17:50

through starting a nonprofit. And so

17:52

I read this note that we

17:55

had submitted and I just thought, I.

17:57

Need to call Sharon. I want to talk

17:59

to her.

17:59

I want to, you

18:01

know, hear her voice and hear her talk about Kelsey

18:05

and then following up with Kelsey as well. So

18:08

I want to share a clip from that conversation

18:11

with Sharon Sawyer where she really talks about

18:13

her niece, Kelsey's story and

18:16

what she's done over the last few

18:19

years. So we're going to play that clip now.

18:21

My niece Kelsey took tragedy, you know

18:23

a lot of tragedy in her life and turned it into

18:25

something really really good.

18:28

Kelsey and her brother went to camp

18:31

when they were children. And when

18:33

they went to camp, he

18:35

was eleven and she was thirteen, and it was

18:37

a pediatric cancer camp that.

18:40

Is held locally.

18:41

It was what everyone

18:44

came to say Cole, her

18:46

brother, Cole's best week

18:48

of his life. And she loved it there

18:50

too because they had siblings of children with

18:52

cancer there as well, and

18:55

it was just a place you could be yourself and

18:57

you could be around other

18:59

people that had cancer.

19:01

And her mother, Stacy was very,

19:04

very.

19:04

Involved with this camp after Cole passed

19:06

away, and

19:09

Stacey became president of the

19:11

local.

19:13

Foundation that runs his camp and

19:16

just had a huge passion for it.

19:18

Kelsey, as well as my children

19:20

and a lot of people in our family,

19:22

all worked at.

19:24

This camp retreat, you know, every year when it

19:26

would come.

19:27

But the biggest need they had was a

19:29

facility or a place that they

19:31

could hold it that was safe, that was

19:34

like ADH eighty

19:36

eight approved, close

19:39

to the local hospital. It

19:41

just there was not a facility or a place

19:43

to do this locally, and so

19:46

they were taking children to the upstate

19:48

and it was just a long distance if someone got happened

19:50

to get sick, you know, the week of the thing. But

19:53

Kelsey and all my Kelsey

19:55

became just very passionate as every counselor

19:58

for Camp Chemo ends

20:01

up getting for the children.

20:02

And that's where kind of

20:04

it, that's kind of.

20:05

What drove her to try to help build

20:07

this retreat center that her mother

20:09

dreamed of years ago.

20:11

After her mother had passed away.

20:14

You know, when her mother passed away, they immediately,

20:16

I mean it was very suddenly when her

20:18

mother passed away, they immediately started a

20:21

foundation named after Kelsey

20:23

and I mean named after Cole and Stacy

20:27

and then with the idea that they

20:29

would possibly donate it to a camp

20:31

or build a camp. And the next

20:33

thing you knew, they were flying with it, and Kelsey and

20:36

others in the community decided to support

20:38

this idea and build Camp Coal.

20:42

And how much did they end up raising to build Camp

20:45

Coal.

20:47

The initial.

20:50

The initial capital campaign was nine

20:52

million dollars and they achieved

20:54

that in under two years. When

20:56

you're starting from grassroots and nothing

21:00

thing, it takes

21:02

a lot to get to that place. And

21:05

there's a local family that was just very

21:07

instrumental in this.

21:08

They bought the Fawcett family bought.

21:12

The land that was donated to Camp Cole, which is

21:14

forty acres and they donated

21:16

it to Camp Cole and they bought it for this purpose.

21:20

Their daughter too, was a counselor at

21:23

Camp Chemo and understood what

21:25

it meant for these children to be at camp for

21:27

a.

21:27

Week, and so you

21:31

know, it started rolling from there.

21:32

Those were friends of the family and friends at Kelsey

21:35

and her Dad's got new and they

21:37

believed in the dream and helped

21:40

them a long way to get it rolling on.

21:43

You know, Kevin, when you first

21:45

started six Degrees, did you ever

21:48

think about, like how

21:50

difficult that fundraising piece is, Because

21:52

like when I hear that nine million

21:54

dollars, that is a ton two

21:57

days in two years, amazing, It's

22:00

incredible.

22:01

Yeah, it's amazing. It's that is a that

22:03

is a lot of money. Yeah, and and

22:05

and it's something that I honestly I still

22:09

you know, I still

22:12

kind of struggle with a little bit. You

22:16

know, obviously

22:19

if you if you're if

22:21

you're doing well, you're going to be on

22:23

the other end of people asking for

22:25

money, you know, a lot. And

22:28

I think that, uh,

22:31

you know, what people do with their money

22:34

and how much of it they

22:38

give away or or don't. You

22:40

know, it's a very private, very personal kind

22:42

of decision. I mean I think that uh,

22:45

you know sometimes you

22:48

know when when people I'm

22:50

sure there's people that like this

22:52

family, that that go out and just

22:54

say, okay, I'm just gonna buy this this, you

22:56

know, forty acres for for these people,

22:59

and they probably do it quietly

23:01

and aren't really you know, looking for a big

23:03

pad on the back. And that there's people that publicly,

23:06

you know, will donate you'll hear about it, you know, donate

23:09

millions of dollars to something. And and I

23:11

think those are both really really super

23:13

valid ways in order to to

23:15

uh to you know, spend

23:18

your money or or or donate. I don't

23:20

I don't pass a judgment on either one. Of those

23:22

things, either saying privately

23:25

or being public about it. But I do know that

23:29

it's it's not in my nature to

23:31

ask people for

23:33

money. It's just for some reason,

23:36

it's it's not I've always found a little bit uncomfortable.

23:38

We've talked about the fact that, you

23:40

know, I never really wanted to

23:43

do sort of typical fundraisers,

23:46

you know, uh, rubber chicken

23:48

dinners and you know, auctions

23:52

and that whole that whole way of you

23:54

know, working with with charity. But

23:57

it is a it's that's just the way it I mean,

23:59

that's there. There's no way around it. So

24:01

to answer your question, I

24:04

didn't know how difficult it was going to be,

24:06

and but I did know that it was going to

24:08

be something that I was not going to, you

24:10

know, feel all that you

24:12

know, comfortable with in

24:14

my situation. Also, there's

24:17

this other piece of it I think if

24:19

you know too truthfully,

24:22

which is people can look

24:25

at something like asking for a

24:27

donation and I'll say, well, why don't you just you

24:29

know, why don't you just pay for it? You

24:31

know? But I think this is

24:33

really this is impressive that in

24:35

that amount of time that they're nowhere, where

24:37

is this.

24:38

Camp by the way, it's

24:40

in South Carolina.

24:41

South Carolina m H And

24:44

yeah, no, it's incredible, And she touched on a couple

24:47

of things in there that I think

24:49

were really powerful, and it actually ties back to your

24:51

point that you just made. I think sometimes

24:53

when there's a celebrity that's like a founder of an

24:55

organization, it can be even more difficult because of

24:57

that very reason. People are like, well, why don't you just like

25:00

solve world hunger yourself?

25:01

Right?

25:03

But the key that makes

25:07

I think Kelsey's organization

25:09

Camp Coal and Sharing story so powerful

25:11

is that all these people were

25:13

touched by the work of Camp Chemo, which

25:16

was this earlier camp that they experienced

25:18

as kids, and they were so touched by it because they saw

25:20

the way it impacted their

25:22

loved ones and their niece and nephew

25:24

that attended it, and then family

25:27

members got engaged and other community

25:29

members got engaged. And

25:31

I think that that's the key.

25:34

It's like, if there was just one

25:36

source of throw money at it, it

25:38

actually doesn't do anything right. You actually

25:40

need people to be inspired, yeah, to have

25:42

skin in the game and to roll up their sleeves

25:44

and want to stand like shoulder shoulder with

25:47

you on this work right, because

25:49

it's not just money to build something like

25:52

to operate something like this, which

25:54

they'll get into. It's an immense undertaking

25:59

and I just think it's is so incredible to

26:01

think that, especially a young woman that

26:05

was, you know, facing that type

26:07

of heartache, was able to

26:09

turn that into something so inspiring. I

26:17

want to play a little

26:19

bit more from my conversation with Kelsey,

26:22

because I got a chance to reach out to Kelsey, who

26:25

is a dolt, just as Sharon braved about her

26:27

niece, I'm just so so so kind,

26:30

and she shared a little bit about

26:32

you know who she is and who

26:35

Camp Cole was named after, and

26:38

you know why she started it. So let's

26:40

play that clip now.

26:42

My name is Kelsey Sawyer

26:44

Cole and Camp Cole

26:47

is a camp for children, teams, and adults

26:49

with illnesses, disabilities.

26:50

And life changes.

26:53

Camp Cole really started and

26:55

was birthed out of a place of

26:57

pure love, joy and excitement.

27:00

So Camp Quoe really came.

27:01

About because at the age of

27:03

eleven and I was thirteen at

27:06

the time, I had a younger brother who

27:08

was diagnosed with a really rare form of cancer,

27:11

rapdomyasar coma, and so

27:13

with that diagnosis, we really saw

27:16

our normalcy in our daily lives

27:18

kind of be flipped upside down.

27:21

And so for.

27:21

Us, you know, days were packed in

27:24

the hospital. Cool had multiple

27:26

shots in the evening times. It

27:29

was pretty ill the bit I

27:31

watched his entire kind of physical

27:34

physical stature shift and

27:37

change, and so it

27:39

was just really difficult for my family

27:41

and I to kind of navigate

27:43

this new sense of life

27:46

in the way that it looked.

27:48

Fortunately for us, we

27:51

were introduced to a camp program

27:53

that provides the camp experience for

27:55

children who have cancer in their siblings,

27:57

and so that's really where Cole

28:01

and I were able to be with other people

28:03

who understood what it was like to be walking

28:05

in the shoes that we were walking in. For

28:08

Cole to be able to open up the

28:10

doors and see other kids with bald

28:13

heads and other kids with ports,

28:15

and to have discussions over chemotherapy,

28:18

treatment and oral medication, and

28:21

to talk about the realities in a safe

28:24

space. For us, it was just

28:26

something I'll never forget. And

28:28

then selfishly for me to be around

28:31

other siblings who knew what

28:33

it was like for mom and Dad not to be able to

28:35

make soccer practice or not

28:37

be there to pick you up after school. It

28:40

was just this community that

28:42

could feel all the way that we felt

28:45

a lot of times, we found this an

28:48

intense sense of empathy at

28:50

a time where our community was

28:52

so incredible to us, but they showed

28:54

us so much sympathy, and

28:57

so for us, it just was

28:59

it was a It created these memories, It

29:02

created these experiences

29:05

at a time where I felt like cancer took

29:07

so much from us.

29:09

It took my family away.

29:10

From me, it took Cole

29:12

being able to participate in soccer and skateboarding

29:15

and swimming and surfing. But camp,

29:19

for us, it gave us

29:21

something. It gave us friendships, it gave

29:23

us so much more. And

29:25

so we came back after

29:28

that week long overnight camp and

29:30

would not be quiet.

29:32

So Cole and I talked about it NonStop.

29:35

And that's really where my family saw

29:37

the benefit that camp can make in a

29:39

child's life.

29:41

So my whole family got really involved.

29:43

Unfortunately, about four months after

29:46

that camp experience, Cole passed

29:48

away. But for us, once

29:50

again, we were surrounded by this

29:52

community, this group, this family

29:55

who knew what it was like to be walking in

29:57

the shoes that we were walking in. And

29:59

so that for us, maybe just an incredible

30:02

impact in our lives. Those

30:04

counselors, those other campers are

30:06

still my best friends are

30:09

still We're still in my wedding, We're there through

30:11

my child's first birthday. So

30:13

it's just been incredible to see the way

30:16

that lifelong friendships

30:18

can really be birthed out of some

30:21

pretty intense obstacles that we

30:24

have.

30:24

To go overcome.

30:26

Wow, that is some some story. What

30:29

a uh I

30:31

mean talk about

30:34

taking something so painful

30:37

and so difficult to even

30:40

bear and you know, turning

30:43

it into something uh

30:45

just kind of beautiful. And you know the thing that I'm

30:48

struck with. And when we talk about this a lot with

30:50

six degrees dot orger these kind of grassroots

30:53

movements because and

30:57

I'm not I'm not you know, saying this

30:59

is not also this

31:02

this would also be something great to do. But you could

31:04

also find have found, you

31:06

know, an organization pediatric cancer

31:08

research or whatever it is, and started

31:11

to do you know, fundraising in your

31:13

own community. But in

31:15

this case, you know, she took

31:17

something that was so important,

31:19

so experiential to her

31:22

and really really personal

31:27

and built something

31:29

that is really really super personal,

31:31

you know, to her, And that's what was really kind

31:33

of so impressive about this.

31:37

Yeah, I think that a lot of what she talked

31:39

about was connection, which we often

31:41

talk about at six degrees as well, and

31:44

that need that we all have for human

31:46

connection. Yeah, and

31:50

I think that when you're in that like kind of coming

31:52

of age time period

31:55

of your life, especially like eleven, twelve,

31:57

thirteen years old, a week it can't

31:59

can feel like one

32:01

of the most life

32:04

changing things that you've experienced

32:07

to date.

32:07

Right, you're away from.

32:08

Your parents, you have some autonomy,

32:11

you're with your peers, you

32:14

are learning to kind of navigate in the

32:16

world without that adult

32:18

in your life being there telling

32:21

you, you.

32:21

Know nature, Yeah, sometimes

32:23

it's your first yeah, disposure to

32:25

nature.

32:26

Oh, absolutely, absolutely,

32:30

So yeah, a lot of friendships

32:32

are formed that way because

32:34

they're experiencing that together. So yeah,

32:38

I think what they're doing is incredible.

32:42

The other thing that this camp

32:44

does really well is how

32:47

they structure their camps

32:50

so that kids that have similar

32:53

lived experience or similar disabilities

32:56

are actually at camp

32:58

at the same time, so that

33:00

they're around more children

33:03

that they have like this very

33:06

unique experience

33:10

with right, creating just

33:12

more belonging.

33:14

Camp Cole is actually located

33:16

in Columbia, South Carolina.

33:19

In so

33:22

we love our location. It's

33:24

able to serve thousands of children

33:27

that really range from a very wide

33:29

variety of different critical

33:31

illnesses and disabilities. So we

33:34

get the opportunity, and I say, we have the

33:36

privilege to serve campers

33:39

who have real genetic disorders, part

33:41

and kidney disease, children experiencing

33:43

homelessness, children who've experienced severe

33:46

burns.

33:47

So it is.

33:48

Very incredible to

33:50

be able to see the diversity that

33:53

we have the opportunity to give those

33:55

those transformative experiences

33:57

that spark the joy year

34:00

at camp. And so we really

34:03

at the nucleus of Camp Coal

34:06

were really focused on providing

34:08

an experience that otherwise would

34:10

not exist for these populations.

34:14

And so for us being able to give

34:16

a child with a very severe

34:18

critical illness an opportunity

34:21

to catch a fish, or to play

34:23

basketball, or to get

34:25

on the back of a horse to hold a chicken,

34:28

these are all little things that I feel like so

34:30

much. So we are so blessed

34:33

with a good, clean health,

34:35

and so when.

34:36

Something like this.

34:37

Happens in your family or to a loved

34:39

one, you're really challenged to

34:41

think about wait a minute, you know,

34:44

health is such so important

34:47

to us and being healthy and living healthy,

34:49

active lifestyles. And so

34:52

for us, Cole was very

34:54

active, loved being

34:56

outdoors, loved team building

34:59

activity, and loved his peers

35:02

and being social and that was something

35:04

that with the critical illness all

35:07

his things, for us, it became

35:09

a lot harder.

35:11

And so I really think back to.

35:14

Being at a young age, at the age of

35:16

thirteen and when Cole was eleven, just

35:19

really seeing the little things in

35:21

life that we take for granted and how

35:23

do you remember,

35:26

and showed a great gratitude and appreciation

35:28

for them.

35:29

That's beautiful. I mean, it's interesting

35:32

because again

35:35

this is this

35:38

isn't an example of someone

35:40

that is taking something

35:43

super personal, like a super personal experience,

35:45

and even taking the details

35:48

of that experience and shaping the

35:50

the you know, the foundation,

35:52

the movement, the idea around

35:55

those those very very specific

35:57

personal ideas. And you know, it is true

36:00

that, I mean, camp experience

36:02

is not everybody get as the luxury of having

36:04

them, but can be you

36:06

know, very profound, even

36:09

as you pointed out Stacey in a

36:12

week and I'm sure

36:14

that there's also a

36:18

lot of great

36:20

impact for the families surrounding the

36:23

people that are the kids that

36:25

are going and you know, not just the not

36:27

just the kids, but the families that get

36:29

a chance to witness that or experienced

36:32

that, or be able to offer some

36:35

kind of i

36:38

don't know, respite from what must

36:40

be a really very challenging and

36:43

difficult time.

36:45

Oh yeah, absolutely.

36:47

It had me reflecting a lot in my conversation

36:49

with Kelsey about what

36:51

we take for granted all

36:54

the time when you have a kind

36:56

of quote unquote clean bill of health. And

37:00

you know, I've talked about this a little bit before, but my mom

37:03

was legally blind and she was

37:05

in a car accident when I was eight, and so it

37:08

was, you know, just kind of a cute accident.

37:11

Then when she came out of the hospital,

37:13

you know, she everything

37:16

changed about you know, she couldn't you

37:19

know, be a nurse anymore. And she wasn't

37:22

able just to jump in a car

37:24

and drive to the beach if she wanted to drive

37:26

in the beach. I mean little things like you

37:29

know, being able to catch something on your periphery

37:31

right and being.

37:32

Like, oh, there's a there's a dolphin over there, did you see

37:34

that? Just jump?

37:35

It's like, there's no way she was ever going to see

37:37

things like that again. And I

37:39

think when although she

37:41

wasn't a sibling, as a daughter, it had a similar

37:43

impact when you

37:46

are growing up having to

37:48

be more aware of this person and

37:51

create more space for them and their

37:53

needs. And

37:56

it can be it can be a

37:58

lot, but it also can really help shape

38:00

you and make you passionate about

38:03

you know, equal

38:06

access and accessibility and inclusion

38:08

for those that are

38:11

disabled and are you know, do have ailments

38:13

that we don't

38:15

talk about a lot in society,

38:19

and so yeah, it's it's just it

38:22

sounds like a really beautiful space,

38:25

camp Coal, and I can only imagine

38:27

that these kids are and their siblings

38:29

are having some of the best times of their lives.

38:31

Absolutely. Yeah, yeah,

38:34

that's I'm so glad you reached out to

38:36

them.

38:37

Yeah, it was let's

38:40

tell you, it was a hard call. I was like, I

38:42

could not do this all the time.

38:44

It was very emotional, right, and

38:47

I think, well.

38:48

Kids of your own, no, I mean, you know, that's that's

38:50

that's when this kind of thing really

38:52

starts to really starts to hit

38:55

you.

38:55

Absolutely absolutely. And

38:58

I've had friends that have lost their their

39:00

children as well from pediatric

39:02

cancer, and so

39:05

yeah, I think about Abigail and Eloise

39:08

and I think about what you would do as

39:10

a parent. But

39:13

such an inspiring story, and we're going to make

39:15

sure that people know exactly

39:17

where they can learn and help

39:21

Camp Coal and Kelsey's

39:23

work further with

39:26

a great call to action.

39:28

Our call to action for Camp Coal

39:30

would be for people to get involved

39:33

be a part of our team. Follow us on

39:35

social media. Camp Coal at

39:37

Camp Cole, South Carolina. Our

39:40

website is campcol dot org. It

39:43

is not inexpensive to send

39:45

these campers to camp. While

39:47

they're out here, we don't get to just say,

39:49

wait a minute, let's stop treatment

39:52

for a week. Let's stop your medical

39:54

treatment plan for a week.

39:56

We have to do We rock on.

39:58

Even at camp, so

40:00

we're really quickly administering the medication

40:03

and getting them back out to having fun.

40:06

And so that cost is something that prohibits

40:08

some of our campers to have this experience.

40:11

So financial donations means such

40:13

a great deal to us. We're

40:15

big on Amazon wish List

40:17

and getting those you know, the band aids,

40:20

the bug spray, all

40:22

the fun different sports falls out

40:25

here to Camp Goal. So those are all different

40:27

ways that you can really help

40:30

and be a part.

40:30

Of our team.

40:31

Stacy like I said, I'm so happy that you reach out to

40:33

Kelsey and shared, and Kelsey and shared.

40:36

Thank you so much for coming

40:38

on and sharing your story and

40:40

telling us about the camp. Uh, it's

40:43

it's it's incredible. What's what

40:45

what you guys are doing there and

40:47

you should be very proud of this work. And

40:49

as everybody heard, uh,

40:52

those are there's ways that you could help. There's

40:54

ways that you can reach out and things

40:56

that you can do. I can tell you.

40:59

Let me just tell you a funny camp

41:01

story. Well you can decide if it's funny or

41:03

not. When I was in camp what

41:06

it has to do with things of

41:08

a charitable nature. When I was in camp, every

41:11

year at this camp, they

41:13

would do this thing called the fund and

41:17

campers would either pick

41:21

blueberries or strawberries. It

41:24

was kind of like a work camp, and or

41:26

they would forego a meal. They would

41:28

do different things that would

41:31

raise money for a specific

41:34

fund that the money that

41:36

these campers, either from

41:38

giving up or from working, we're going to

41:41

donate each year. And

41:44

then campers would pick

41:47

a particular fund and

41:49

do a little research on it to the extent that

41:51

you could I don't even know how you could research something

41:53

where we were out. There was no computers. Obviously,

41:55

this we're talking about the I don't

41:58

know, probably late sixties or seventies,

42:01

and and and then they would

42:03

make a presentation for this fund to

42:06

the camp body and everybody

42:08

in the camp would vote, and

42:10

then the winner of that vote

42:13

would get the money that the campers raised

42:15

that year. So the

42:17

year that I was there, and

42:20

let me just say generally, it was you know,

42:23

Save the Whales, Save in the Redwoods

42:26

Unise, you know, charities

42:28

like that. I decided that we should

42:30

raise money for the Black Panthers, and

42:33

so I

42:36

I stood up in front of the camp body

42:39

because at that time, you know, the Panthers were doing

42:41

you know, they had this breakfast program

42:44

that was you know, very popular. They were doing

42:46

a lot of you know stuff. And

42:51

I stood up in front of the camp body and then, you

42:53

know, I said, okay, folks, this is this is

42:55

why I think that the money should go to the

42:57

Black Panthers. And we won the

42:59

vot vote. But

43:03

here's the hilarious thing, and this taught

43:05

me a lot about the world. All

43:07

of a sudden, the people that ran the camp just

43:09

freaked out. They were like, we can't

43:12

give the money to the Black Bess. I said, you have to. We

43:15

won the vote, and it went back and forth, and this

43:17

this big argument. They had

43:20

no problem with me presenting

43:22

it, but once it actually won, all of

43:25

a sudden they went, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, this

43:27

can't happen. And so

43:29

the compromise, which I

43:32

was very unhappy with. But

43:34

you know what was I going to do I was eleven years old,

43:38

was that the money

43:40

would be divided between for

43:43

the four charities that were presented. So

43:45

in the summer of whatever this was in nineteen

43:48

seventy one or this is in nineteen seventy

43:52

there was probably a check

43:54

for about twelve dollars

43:56

and thirty five cents that presumably

43:59

came from Camp Tree Tops to the

44:01

Black Panthers.

44:04

I love it.

44:06

Well, there you go. That's

44:08

that's my camp story and listen.

44:11

Thanks thanks for checking this out. See

44:14

you next time. Hey send

44:16

us some questions and

44:19

we will hopefully respond to

44:23

ask Kevin almost anything.

44:26

Thanks, thanks, thanks.

44:33

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44:35

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