The Power of Gratitude: Richard Paul Evans and the Heroes of the Holiday Season
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Welcome to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. As always, when we get to the holidays, we like to do a little bit different show here for you. We like to focus on things that people are doing to help other people. We like to focus on things that are bringing joy and goodness to the world. Because obviously, especially right now, we need a lot more of those stories in our lives, Chuck. I think everybody does.

And they need to be highlighted more. And they need to be highlighted more. And so that's why we're very excited today to start our program with Julie Sullivan. She is the executive director of Pay Away the Layaway. It's a great name. For over a decade, this incredible organization has been spreading joy by paying off holiday and back-to-school layaway balances for families in need. And here's the interesting thing. And Julie, I'm going to ask you to start with this.

It says here, this started as a random act of kindness. So tell us about that.

Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much for having us and for highlighting PayAway. I'm so happy to be here with you both today. So PayAway, yes, started with a random act of kindness. Our founder, Lee Karshour, did his first layaway payoff in 2011 at a Kmart in the Bronx. He had actually, take a step back, won a Qdoba contest. He had... Wait, like, like a burrito contest?

Qdoba? Yes. The burrito thing? Qdoba. Yes. So he actually entered a contest and you had your photo with the Qdoba Q had to be the most liked one on Facebook that week over the course of two months.

He garnered all these people. I think it was 3,145 people liked one of his photos. So long story short, over those two months, he garnered all the support and he won. So he won the contest. He wanted an iPad and a year supply of burritos for himself. Well, I can never have too many burritos, but continue. Look, a Q&A is a delicious burrito. Yes, yes, yes. They do.

So after that, he kind of sat down and said, you know, if I could garner the support of over 3,000 people to win an iPad and burritos, what could I do to do something better for my community? And how can I channel that into something that supports more people in a good way and gives back? So he ended up channeling that same kind of support. He raised a little over $1,000 that first year in 2011.

Once he had that, he put on a Santa hat, took the train to a Kmart in the Bronx and paid off $1,000 worth of layaway balances. And at that point, he said, I'm going to do this every single year.

And that's really how it was born. You know, he did that first payoff. And then in 2013, it was picked up by NBC News and really put the organization in a national spotlight. And from there, we've been able to really just grow our mission of inspiring hope and spreading kindness. How many layoffs do you pay off a year? It varies on the year. In total, since we started, we've paid off over $11,000.

for children and families. And then in addition to that, we also support military families specifically. And we've paid off over 4,000 of those. But we always do over 1,000 every year, but it varies depending on how much support we receive that year. Now, how do you select the stores? How do you pick where you're going to go and do this? Yeah.

Yeah, so it's kind of twofold. We make sure that we try and cover as much of the U.S. as we can every year. So making sure we're on both coasts, middle America. And so we're making sure we're covering that. If we haven't been someplace in a couple of years, we make sure we head back to that state.

We also have, we're incredibly grateful for the support of many celebrities and athletes. They will specifically say, you know, I want to give back in my hometown or I want to give back where I play. So that also factors into the decision making of where we pay off balances. So that's nationwide. And then through supporting military families, we've also expanded that out to worldwide. So we've paid off.

layaway balances on bases in Guam, Germany, as well as stateside as well. So we're really making sure that we're worldwide coverage.

That's fantastic. We're talking with Julie Sullivan, Executive Director of PayAway the Layaway. You can follow them on X, PayAway, the at PayAway, LayAway. Julie, what's your website also? Yeah, we are payaway.org. And you can find all of our, you know, how many people we've supported, how you can support us and kind of all the information you would need. You got a good website, payaway.org. It's a very good website. That is great.

What is the average cost of the layaway you pay off? On average, they range from $100 to $150. And what percentage of people in the United States do layaway for back to school or even Christmas? They are...

You know, in recent years, more retailers have done away with layaway. We do have great partners that continue to have it. But, you know, there's a lot of people, especially in more impoverished areas that are utilizing layaway in order to, you know, not have to pay interest fees on credit cards. And they're able to little by little pay off those balances to be able to get back to school supplies and gifts for children. Yeah.

So there's still a large percentage of people that are, you know, utilizing layaway in order to make sure they get everything that they need for their families. Do you have, do you hear from families that you pay off their layaway from? Do they get back with you? What does this mean for their life?

Yeah, so we actually, we hear from families quite often when we pay off a layaway balance, we give them an email address where they can send us feedback. We also give them the opportunity to record a video back to us. And those are always really powerful. You know, someone just gets their layaway paid off, they're surprised. And we get tons of videos from people that are in their car and just overwhelmed, you

sitting in the parking lot after picking up their layaway balance or their layaway goods. And what we've come to realize is that that emotional response we see, whether it's laughing, jumping up and down or sobbing, it's that stress relief. It's that one more thing kind of it's taken off their plate and someone else

picked it up for them. And, you know, when you need a little bit of help or just a random act of kindness can go such a long way and people, they're so grateful for the people that are making that possible. Julie, how big is your staff at PayAway to lay away? It is myself and Lee, the original founder of PayAway. So we are a two person team.

That's fantastic. You mentioned that you have a lot of celebrities and athletes and things who have come on board and endorsed and worked with you guys. Who was the first who stepped up like that?

So the first one of our first first athletes that helped out was Dwight Powell of the Dallas Mavericks. And he really year after year has been such a great supporter for us, but was one of the original athletes that had started working with us. And he had actually grown up utilizing layaway. His family did. So, you know, it was a near and dear to his heart, the cause.

Well, I love that because one of Dwight Powell's great skills is denying gifts to the opposition at the rim. So you've got some peace paying it back to the kiddos. I love it. For our listeners who want to get involved, what's the best way to get involved and help you?

Yes, they can always, if they'd like to support us, go to payaway.org slash give. And if they're interested in volunteering or just had more specific questions for me, they can always reach out to Julie at payaway.org. And I'm happy to chat with anyone who has interest in volunteering or supporting us. So how long have you been executive director now? Two and a half years. Okay. Okay.

So first day you started to today, how has this job changed you? How has it changed your outlook on people? It has really made me recognize that there is so much good in the world when we see so much bad and kind of there's overwhelming things going on in the world. This job, it amazes me every year. Every time I do a payoff or I'm at an event, I'm just amazed by the people and the impact that

that we have on people by paying off their layaway. But it's also the people that come together to support military families and paying off their balances or just random strangers that they don't know and they'll never know, but they're coming together and they want to do something nice for someone. And that's where we come in with spreading the kindness and spreading joy. So it's really...

it's a great job i mean you're you're making people happy and you're helping people help other people so there's really to me there's no better job i i think you brought up a very good point we've had other guests we're having on today with our foundations and they've also the same thing it's just how much their job has given them hope and humanity because all we hear is that we're so divided we can't get along we're not inviting somebody over for thanksgiving we've disowned friends

But I'm sure you don't have people talking about their partisan stripes if they're going to help or not. They just want to help. Yep. And most of the time, it's just, you know, here's a gift and put it to where it's most needed and where people need that little extra helping hand. And, you know, there's people happy to help and there's people happy to receive the help. That's fantastic.

That is awesome. As you're doing this, what are you most thankful for? You know, we always end our program on Thanksgiving with what we're thankful for for the year. What are you most thankful for on your journey at Pay Away the Layaway?

I think I am most thankful for one, the number of people we get to help, the people across the country and the world that we're able to help and really grateful for the people that help us do that. You're helping us spread our mission, inspiring hope, spreading kindness. And I will forever be grateful for the organization and just the impact that we continue to have year after year and growing that impact to really

really make it a nationwide movement. And over 15,000 people have been helped by this. This is just incredible. Julie Sullivan, tell folks, we have just about a minute and a half left. How do folks, again, support your mission, support the work you're doing, and use this as a fantastic way to give back to people?

Yeah, you can head straight to payaway.org slash give. That's probably the best way to help us continue to inspire hope and spread kindness by paying off layaway balances. Fantastic. Thank you so much, Julie. We really love having you on the program. We have one minute left. If you had a message to send out to folks for this holiday season from your experience working with pay away the layaway, what is that message? I would say, um,

take the time this holiday season to do at least one nice thing for someone else. So whether it's a family member or a stranger, whether you help us pay off layaway balances or not, I think at this time in the world, everyone needs a little bit of extra kindness. So making sure you go out of your way to do one nice thing for someone else. I think that's what everyone should focus on this holiday season. Fantastic. Thank you so much.

Julie Sullivan, Executive Director of PayAway, The Layaway. Folks, you can find them at payaway.org. You can go to PayAway, Layaway on X and follow their work there. We highly encourage you to be part of what they're doing. And like Julie just said, find some way to contribute, help somebody, whether it's a stranger or a family member. Acts of kindness will benefit you more than it benefits the recipient, quite frankly.

And stay tuned because we have a lot more on our special Thanksgiving program coming right up. Folks, this is Sam Stone for Breaking Battlegrounds. Discover true freedom today with 4Freedom Mobile. Their SIM automatically switches to the best network, guaranteeing no missed calls. You can enjoy browsing social media and the internet without compromising your privacy. Plus, make secure mobile payments worldwide with no fees or monitoring. Visit 4FreedomMobile.com today for top-notch coverage,

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Welcome to Breaking Battlegrounds. We are starting off with a great guest, Danielle Gletto. She's the founder and executive director at One Simple Wish. You can find them at onesimplewish.org. What they do is they help kids in the foster care system get their wishes fulfilled. Danielle, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me. So what was the genesis of One Simple Wish? How did you begin it?

Well, the organization began, I started it 16 years ago. A few years prior to that, my husband and I had decided to become foster parents. And we didn't really know much about the system, but what we learned, it really shocked us just how little the kids had when they came into foster care and also just how much they wanted to just be fostered.

kids just like every other kid. And we also found that a lot of our friends and family wanted to help. They wanted to do something, but didn't necessarily, you know, feel equipped to become foster parents or adoptive parents. And we're asking us always like, what else do you think we could do? And I had a marketing background. So I decided to create an organization that would make it easy to share the stories of real kids and young adults who are experiencing foster care. And I

allow people to respond to their needs and wants in the form of granting wishes. So 16 years ago in 2008, we launched onesimplewish.org. Started in New Jersey, which is where I live now, but it has now become a national organization. We work with community partner nonprofits, churches, schools throughout the entire country. So it's really grown. Do you do this full time now?

I do. Yes. We have a staff of five and we grant about 30,000 wishes a year. That's amazing. So right now on your website, onesimplewish.org, you said there are currently 1,884 wishes totaling $342,000. How many of those will be fulfilled? Do you ever not get them fulfilled? What percentage get fulfilled? Yeah, it's a great question. So in the very beginning, it used to take, you know, upwards of, you know,

Several months, it could take up to a year for a wish to be granted. But these days, the average wait time is about 15 days for a wish to be granted. And we do actually grant 100% of the wishes that come in, thanks to our awesome community of wish granters that show up every single day.

You'll see if you go to the site, anybody who visits the site will see that that number of wishes waiting to be granted will go up and down throughout the holiday season, throughout every single day. And sometimes it can be, you know, in the high thousands. Other times it can be in the hundreds because wishes are coming in every single day. How many wishes do you grant annually?

Yeah, each year it's about 30,000 wishes from kids and young adults that are represented by those partners we have nationwide. This year, we're actually seeing a record number of wishes come in, especially now during the holiday season. We expect that about 15,000, more than 15,000 wishes will come in before the middle of December. I want to get into this further with you about your experience in the foster care system, because I just don't think many people realize what it's about. Sure.

Has the generosity of Americans surprised you as you've undertaken this endeavor?

You know, it has and it hasn't. I think I tend to be a pretty optimistic person when it comes to people in general. I really do believe that at the core, most people are good. So when I started this, I certainly was very hopeful that people would have the kind of response that they have had, which is that, you know, we all deserve joy. And in the midst of crisis, especially, you know,

you know, life doesn't stop happening around you. And even if you're not yet in the exact place you want to be, whether that's physically or emotionally, you know, you still want to and deserve to experience moments of happiness. So I think that's a really relatable thing that most people feel. And I think that what our site does is it

it shares that this is a commonality between all of us and it empowers so many people to show up for others in a really simple and direct way. So yes, I mean, I'm surprised that we're able to do 30,000 wishes a year, especially with such a tiny team. But I really do believe in the goodness of people. I think that there is a lot more good than anything else. I agree with you. And we, in these times of polarization, you just hear about the bad on each side, but

Deep down, most Americans are just very good and very giving people. They are. And we want the same things, right? We want to be safe. We want to be happy. We want our loved ones to be taken care of. And I think that's just the universal truth among human beings. So how does granting a wish for these kids in foster care impact their life? Can you give us some examples how it's helped them?

Yeah, I think, you know, it runs the spectrum of being, you know, wish granting can be something that is a point in time, wonderful moment that in and of itself tells somebody that they're seen. It tells somebody that what they want, the things that make them happy are important and they matter and they deserve them.

On the other side, you also have wishes that can truly be life changing. They can open doors to opportunities that wouldn't have existed before. They can make connections to other people that may not have been made. They really do have this power to affect the course of somebody's life. And again, whether that's for a moment or for a lifetime,

All of that goodness makes a difference. And we've seen wishes that have, you know, that the response we've gotten from the child has been, you know, I just can't believe that a stranger wanted me to have this. And they just can't believe that there's somebody out there thinking of them, somebody that doesn't even know them. And that's such a powerful feeling, especially now.

When you grow up around a lot of trauma or you're growing up around a lot of neglect. It's a glimmer of hope in the goodness of people, I imagine, for a lot of these kids. Yes, it's a great, absolutely great way to put it. We've got about two minutes left. We're with Danielle. She's the founder and executive director of One Simple Wish dot org. Visit it. Donate. Don't be cheap. Danielle, what do you wish people understood about the foster care system and the children who are part of it?

Yeah, I think the biggest thing is, you know, they're just kids. They're just kids like every other kid and kids like you and I were. You know, they want the same things. They want to enjoy their lives. They want to fit in with their friends. They want to experience new things. And, you know, the things that they have been through, the circumstances they were either born into or that happened around them,

are not their fault. And, and, um, you know, they, they deserve just as much happiness and goodness as everybody else. Would you, do you just still, do you still foster care children?

No, my husband and I actually, we adopted our oldest daughter. She's now 17 and have also a biological daughter. And for a little while, we had some older kids that stayed with us as they transitioned out of the system. Sorry. But no, now we're...

You know, we've got two teens and lots of pets. So the organization's growth has really, really kept us busy. So no, we're not currently fostering. Is the family involved with your two children and your husband? Are they all involved in this as well? Or is this what you, you know, do they come in and help?

with it? Yeah, definitely my kids. My husband has a separate career, but my daughters were just in Los Angeles with me for a week. We were in LA and Napa and we threw some wish parties out there, which are really fun. Yeah. And so they love getting involved. Danielle, we've got 30 seconds left. Tell people where they can find you and what they can do to help.

I encourage everybody to go to onesimplewish.org. You can browse thousands of wishes between now and the end of the holiday season. They start at $10. They go up to $500. And even if you can't grant a whole wish, any size donation is used to pool together so that we can make sure every single wish comes true. And I encourage you to share the site with everybody that you know. It is a joyful place, and we are super grateful for every single person who shows up. Yeah.

Danielle, you're an angel here on earth. We appreciate your help. We'll be pushing this out to people and hope our listeners will donate and help make a kid's Christmas and holiday season. Thank you for joining us. Thank you so much. Thank you. Danielle at onesimplewish.org. Don't be cheap. Get out there and donate. This is Breaking Battlegrounds. We'll be right back. All right. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone, our next guest, a regular this time of year. I hope you're

Always. Always. And I hope he will continue to be. And I hope many of you are looking forward to Richard Paul Evans, New York Times bestselling author of The Christmas Promise and The Christmas Box, the most popular holiday tale since Tiny Tim, according to Newsweek. It's a pretty darn great. You know, the compliments you've received about your writing, that's when you sort of think about, right? You sort of put it on the shirt as a logo. I mean, what do you do? I mean, it's pretty impressive.

Yeah, Simon Schuster, they play off the king of Christmas fiction. Everyone wants a coronation from New York Times. The king of Christmas fiction, I'll take that. Do you get a crown? Do they send you a crown? It's like you're the king of Christmas fiction? No, you just get a robe. You have to go to Burger King to get your crown. All right. Let's talk about Michael Bay, The Colony.

This is one of the series of books you've done on it and it's been quite successful. It's your final installment. How did it feel writing the final installment on this 10 book series? Actually, I was kind of in a different place. Not kind of. I was really sick.

And we couldn't fail. And in the middle of this, I had a surgery and I had a blood clot that went to my lungs. And while they were checking and going through me, they thought they found cancer. So it's like I'm going I'm behind on the book. And it's like and they kept doing tests. Every test came back positive. It's like, all right, I mean, I'm be alive for this one. So this is what I wrote it under. And I still it's like I still have to finish the book.

And my daughter called me. She's the writer. She's an international bestselling writer, Jenna Evans Welch. And she goes, Dad, I can't let my son read your book. I can't let Sam read it. It's too dark. She goes, I know. I'm sorry. I know you're six months late on this. It's killing me to tell you this, but I know I need to tell you. It's too dark. It's too scary. And I looked at it. It's like, yeah, I don't want it to end that dark. And so I went back and rewrote it.

everyone wants the dark version when they hear that it's like okay they're making furniture out of people's skin okay it's really bad and so um anyway it's just i actually last night we had a big launch party and we had almost a thousand people came to it um and it was sad i felt it's like my cove has been beautiful um

I did a Skype in Saudi Arabia. It was voted their favorite book series of the school. And these kids are from Jordan and Syria and Saudi Arabia and talking about how much the book meant to them. And, you know, I got during the riots in Iran, I had some kids from Tehran reach out and said, we have a fan club for Michael Bay here in Tehran.

And I thought, how fascinating that, you know, something like this can reach across cultural and politics and ethics and people gravitate towards and grab it. So I've loved Michael. I loved every minute of it. It's been beautiful. I'm really grateful that it's a footnote in my career. When you write a series like this, it's 10 books. How much are you...

you know, outlining it ahead of time, the entire arc, or is this just a character development where each book you kind of just take off from where you left? It was like, it was like, I just ad-libbed it. I didn't know where it was going to go, how long it was going to be. And I would put the kids in impossible situations that there's no way they can get out. And then it was like playing a game. It's like, okay, how do I get out of here?

So, that's what it was like, the whole thing. And I actually ended with number seven. Number seven was called The Final Spark. And I thought it's, or The Last Spark, and I thought it's over. And then COVID hit. And I really, besides missing everyone, I missed the kids. I loved, we had 4,000 kids come to one book signing.

I love the kids. And I mean, I remember I walked out on stage and the chair was so loud, it hurt my ears. And I thought, everyone should have this much love directed at them one time in their life. I thought, this is like really amazing. These kids were so great. And it was so fun to give something that meant something to them.

So it was sad. I actually got teary-eyed last night. I said, you know, this is it. And, you know, I'm getting all these letters from kids saying, don't stop, or how much it means to them. And, you know, I'll even be like, kids are older now. I started in 2011. I'm checking out the store the other day, and this beautiful young woman on the other side, she goes, Mr. Evans, my teenage years were your books. I grew up with your characters. And that's how I defined my teenage years. I thought, you know, it was Michael Bay.

And so they call themselves Baniacs and I just love it. Yeah, I was actually at a book signing. It was with Glenn Beck.

And I didn't have my credentials. I couldn't just walk in. So I thought, well, I'll just go wait in line with everyone else. The line was about a quarter mile long. I just stood in line. The line wasn't moving. And I thought, well, okay, I'm not going to get in time for my book signing. So I go to the front of the line, and I noticed the people in front were all wearing shirts that say Baniac. And I'd never seen that before.

And I told the guard, I said, look, I'm Richard Paul Evans. She started laughing. She goes, that's your line you were just waiting in. Richard, we're going to stop you right there. We're going to take our break. We're with Breaking Battlegrounds. We're with New York Times bestselling author Richard Paul Evans talking about Michael Bay, The Colony. And next, we're going to talk about his new book, Christmas in Bethel. We'll be right back.

Folks, this is Sam Stone for Breaking Battlegrounds. Discover true freedom today with 4Freedom Mobile. Their SIM automatically switches to the best network, guaranteeing no missed calls. You can enjoy browsing social media and the internet without compromising your privacy. Plus, make secure mobile payments worldwide with no fees or monitoring. Visit 4FreedomMobile.com today for top-notch coverage.

digital security, and total freedom. And if you use the code BATTLEGROUND at checkout, you get your first month of service for just $9 and save $10 a month for every month of service after that. Again, that's code BATTLEGROUND at checkout. Visit 4freedommobile.com to learn more.

At Overstock, we know home is a pretty important place, and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms, Overstock has everyday free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high-quality furniture and decor you need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock, making dream homes come true.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host Chuck Warren and Sam Stone. On the line with us, continuing on, Richard Paul Evans, New York Times bestselling author. He has a new book out, Christmas in Bethel, we're going to be talking about. But before we do, we want to finish up a pretty fascinating discussion about his other book series, Michael Vey. The Vaniacs. The Vaniacs, The Colony. I had one question. Is there anything, I mean, over 10 books...

that you're going back and say, I wish I didn't have Michael Vey do that. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, in fact, I made, I make mistakes. Like in number nine, they're involved the Amakari tribe. And all of a sudden they started getting these letters pouring in. It's like, but I thought the Amakari tribe was, was wiped out in book number three. Your readers know better. Your readers know better. They do know better. Actually, if I have a question, I can't find it. I put online as the readers don't tell me.

Who was that person? What percentage of the Michael Bay audience do you think has reread the book more than once? Oh, my gosh. We had someone last night who's read the series 140 times. Really? Yeah. It's actually because the book is so readable. I mean, the number one comment we get on Michael Bay is you got my kid to read. I probably heard it. I probably heard it eight times last night. One got came and she was teary eyed. She goes, my daughter wouldn't read. She was failing.

in English. And the little girl was there. She goes, and then we found Michael Bay. I love that. I read it over and over and over. Well, we all know the key to successful education is the ability and desire to read. Yeah. And so if you can spark that, you probably change your whole academic career, frankly. Yeah. And she goes, I was just such a poor reader. I said, guess what? So was I. I remember the day they moved me. I was in Los Angeles. They moved me to the poor reading group, the youngest, the bad readers.

I thought, and I remember even as a kid thinking this was horrible, but it's like, why am I with the dumb kids? Because by then you already know who's supposed to be the dumb kids. Right, right, right, right. I'm one of the dumb kids. And I just, because of my Tourette syndrome and ADHD, it's like, I really struggled with reading. And it wasn't until I had never read a chapter book till middle school. And I found a book called The Hobbit. And I realized, oh, they just have to be really good books.

And that actually helps my writing because I basically write for those kids like me who can't read. I throw out so much of my books. If the book's not moving fast, I get bored. And I have to read the book 70 times, not once, you know, writing it. So it actually it turned that disability, so to speak, turned into a blessing.

We're with Richard Paul Evans, New York Times bestselling author. You can find his book on richardpaulevansstore.com and Amazon and everywhere else you can buy books. So you have a new book coming out called Christmas in Bethel. It's out. It's out. It's out. It's out.

How did your recent health scare affect your writing in it? Well, actually, in a big way. I turned in Michael Bay six months late. The day before I was turning it in, I get a call from my adult publisher and they said, we need your book. Is it ready? I hadn't started it. This seems to be a cycle with you, though. I'm always late, but not like this. And this was like they were they were like panicked. And they said, look, you have seven weeks to turn this book in or there won't be a book this year.

And I didn't do a Christmas book last year. It's like people won't wait three years. It's like I have to do this. And so I literally prayed. I said, listen, God, you and I both know this is impossible. You don't write a book of this quality in seven weeks. I said, I'll do my part, but I need help.

And it came. It poured into my mind so fast. And I didn't even know how the book was going to end. But I would write till two in the morning. I mean, I didn't leave my den. Some days I didn't even know what the weather was outside. And I just wrote and wrote and wrote. And then I'd go to bed at two in the morning and I'd dream the book. And I'd dream parts that I hadn't seen. And next morning I'd get up and write them out. So I turned the book in at 6.30 in the morning, wrote through the night, very caffeinated.

and wrote the book and sent it in. And the thing is like something weird was happening with the book. I kept, or it's my life. I kept seeing the numbers 11, 11, just over and over 11, 11. And after about the 12 times, like what is it with scene 11, 11? What does that mean something? I looked it up and it said, I mean, it was at two in the morning. I look up, it's like the universe is conspiring to help you reach your goal.

And it's like, oh my gosh, I just had these chills. And it's like, it was this kind of faith. And so I finished the book and turned it in and Kerry calls. He goes, I go, I can't sleep. I'm so hyped up. And he's like, well, let's go to breakfast. I go and I get my phone. It's 11, 11.

And I go, I go, thank you. I go, I thank you so much. And I gave her the book. She, we have a tradition. She's the first one to read it. And she was terrified. It's like, what if this book's awful? She knew what I'd gone through. And I walked in on her reading and she's like, oh my gosh, this is, I can't turn the pages fast enough. And then she finished and she goes easily in my top three of all your books. I've written 47 books.

it's like easily in your top three i love this story and i love this story too i think it's really fascinating it's it's a great story and i want you to talk about the plot for our audience here because i've been reading them about third through i got it yesterday but you had a comment in there in the beginning that said home who our protagonist beth said oh no the protagonist the author that she was talking to home i think we're all looking for home and if i think it back through your books and your writing they're all about finding home because

And I think you know this because what you do at Christmas Box, so many people really don't have a home. They don't have that safe spot. They don't have that security. And I find that to be a very constant theme. And is that a theme you try to push in your writings that, you know, there's home. I think we're all looking for home. And then you also had the, you know, the writer in here that she was smitten with, to say the least. We're all waiting for a connection.

And this is a common bond, depending on your politics, religion, whatever, that we all want. Is that a theme you try to push across? Home, I've never actually thought of that. It's in the book. I would change one letter and make it hope. My books are about hope.

And I think we all want to be understood. I think that's a whole point. My wife says, you know, you share too much. And I wrote a book of essays called sharing too much, but you know, I shared, I wrote an essay about marriage, how I saved my marriage and it had more than 140 million readers. Last I checked who read that. And I still today, I, you know, I've, I've run into so many counselors and marriage professionals who actually hand that out first thing. Um,

I wrote one about my Tourette's syndrome. A woman wrote an anonymous letter who said, you're clearly a wicked man. You have no place in the church speaking. I can tell you're wicked because you twitch. And I said, well, no doubt I'm a wicked man. No doubt I'm broken, but that's not why I twitch. I twitch because I have Tourette's syndrome. I said, the sad thing is when I was a little boy, I believed it. I believed I was bad.

And I said, and there's little boys and girls who take their lives because of this, because of the teasing and the bullying that goes on. And I said, so, you know, I'm proud of my Trent syndrome. And I wrote this, I said it out at midnight. And when I got up in the morning, I had 80,000 shares.

Oh, that's great. It went, people were looking for that woman and, and it's like, it was incredible. And so that kind of connection when all of a sudden people say, wow, you were speaking for me. I hope that in the books, I hope, you know, in this book, Christmas and Bethel, it's about a woman who is based on a true story, actually, who was going to kill herself. You know, she has a horrible, abusive life and she finds a book and the book's called Bethel. And she reads this book and she feels understood and loved her the first time and hope that

and decides to live. And then she finds out the author's coming to her hometown and she's so excited to meet him. And yet she's terrified. Cause like, what if he's a complete fake? Right. And that's what, so that's the premise of the book. I thought it was a really cool premise and,

Well, you've lived it. It turned out fine. You've lived that by your, all these book signings, you've seen, you've seen what your writings mean to people. You see the hope you give them. You've seen kids you start reading because of a series of books you wrote. I mean, you know, I'm sure when you write something, you don't start off that way thinking that's what it's going to do for people, but it's touched people's life in a significant way that's changed their course.

Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, it's amazing what a book can do. I mean, books change, start revolutions and they change lives. So they start revolutions inside of ourselves. Last night, one woman said they were going through cancer and she goes, we would listen to your books on the way up to the hospital and the way back every day. And it's like, that's what got us through all of this. Just that peace we felt. We're talking with Richard Paul Evans. You can get his new book, Christmas in Bethel on Amazon and most places that you're going to find your books online. Richard, you were talking about, um,

you know, doing this one event where you were stuck in the line and then you were with Glenn Beck. I imagine you've met a lot of authors talking about, you know, who was, you did the character being disappointed in it. Who have you met who you were blown away by how authentic and impressive they were when you met them, that it kind of gave new meaning to their writing? Actually, I probably, what first came to mind was Ron Howard.

I was so, first of all, I met him. I just, I was starstruck and I like slurred my words and I was scared of him and he like walked away. And then later on, I saw him, we were at a bench in Maui. And I said, I'm sorry, I sounded like an idiot. He goes, oh no, no, no. He goes, I'm just shy. He goes, I'm pretty shy. Actually, I know who you are. My wife circled your name coming here that she wanted to meet you.

And I said, do you want to have dinner with us? And she goes, yeah, we'd love to have dinner with you. And then he followed me around the next day. My agent goes, Ron Howard's like a puppy following you. And I go, that was, and Carrie ran off with Cheryl. And it was like, this is, I kind of felt famous at that moment. It was kind of cool. Oh, that's really cool. But he was really kind. He was just a normal guy. And he had all these little opies running around. His kids were all redheaded and looked just like opies. It was a good memory.

so you're releasing this new book um do they send you to explain to our audience do you go on a do you go on sort of like a press tour now do they go send you to interviews and newspapers i guess you do everything through zoom now but do you have a lot of interviews set up what what does the publisher make you do now versus what they did two decades ago completely changed completely changed um and because the whole environment has changed and once covet hit um

My book sales went up during COVID. I'm sure many did. And I didn't tour. And it's like, well, why are we touring then? Because tours are very expensive, you know, like 50 grand. And I used to, like in the early days, I would go to like, my gosh, 16 cities. I would leave. I'd be gone right now on the road. I'd come home for Thanksgiving and go back on the road and be gone until, you know, 10 days before Christmas. And the difference is now we don't have all the media. I mean, I'd go into town. I'd be on the cover of the Cincinnati Inquirer, right? Or just, you know, go in there and it's like,

These newspapers are gone. Colorado, lots of newspapers are Denver Post, I mean, they're gone. I think Denver or the Rocky Mountains. One's gone. It's like, so you don't have the newspapers. The radios have since deregulation. Now they belong to three people and they're all satellite. So you're not there. And you have, so there's not radio and the TV, all the local shows have disappeared. Right.

So there's kind of no reason to go out on a book tour. And so in the same way, like we saw with Donald Trump, that all of a sudden Joe Rogan is the biggest thing that was watched during the election. It's like it's changed. The world has changed. But I've been at this for 30 years. Can you believe that, Chuck? 30 years. And it's like I've seen the world change and I've stayed afloat by keeping up with it.

And so I have enough of a fan base that when I send out, oh, get this, you're going to die, the number 11, I sent out about my book. My book hit number 11 on Barnes & Noble. This is a month before it came out. And it hit 22, 11 plus 11 on Amazon. That was a month out and it was in the top 25 books on Amazon, which means it had sold so many books online.

that the pre-orders are not far to put in the top 10 of the New York Times, just the pre-orders. Well, with Richard Paul Evans, his new book, Christmas in Bethel, you can find anywhere you buy books or go to his store, richardpaulevinsonlinestore.com. Richard, we have two minutes left here. Doing this for 30 years, what has your opinion changed about people when you started 30 years ago as a young man?

young father versus now as a grandfather dealt with various issues of life how has your opinion of people changed what do you see in them now that you didn't see 30 years ago that's a really good question we just we had our thanksgiving but um people talk about the politics of thanksgiving this year and for the first time ever politics was threatening to put a divide in our family and i sat down with one of my daughters i said um she said i just don't get it you're really smart you're smart how could you do this i mean we have a gay i have a gay daughter i have

neurodiverse and so how could you do this? I said a couple of things, Jenna. First of all, I've never I would never vote in any way that would not make my children's lives better. We just see it very different. But I do have perspective. I have perspective. You don't. And I said, I'm not looking for confirmation bias in my life anymore. Most of my life is looking for confirmation bias. Now I just want truth.

You know, I have enough money and place that I could do whatever I want with the rest of my life. I can disappear and be totally happy, go to my ranch and be a rancher and never see a deal with the world. I want to make the world a better place. We are working to help abuse children. I'm right in the thick of it. I would never do something that I think would hurt someone. We spent most of our life trying to serve people.

You know, we started Christmas Box House. We've served more than 140,000 abused children. And it's like, I'm in a place. And then we told our kids, we brought them in and we talked about wills. It's like, you need to know we're not afraid of dying. Right. So we're just, we just love you. And, you know, you get a stage. I love my wife and I just want to spread love in the world and then die and go talk to God because I'm totally convinced that God exists and that there's another world. I've seen way too much to deny it.

That's fantastic. Well, Richard Paul Evans, as always, thank you for being generous with your time. We're glad you're feeling better. And we look forward to another 20, 30 years of Christmas books and many other books. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving that you've already celebrated the week before, but have a wonderful weekend. We'll talk to you soon, my friend. Thank you. This is Breaking Battlegrounds. We'll be right back.

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The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to-do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a yourname.votewebdomain from godaddy.com. Get yours now. Welcome back to Breakthrough Backgrounds, the podcast portion. Sam, Kylie, we're here today and Zoe engineering us today, making sure you can hear us.

Zoe, what do we have for Kylie's Corner today? Kylie, what do we have? I decided to do a positive story today. As you should, because our interviews were quite good, people giving. Yeah, I wanted to talk about Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench. For those that don't know the story, Wanda is a grandmother who had sent a group text out saying, Thanksgiving dinner is at my house on November 24th at 3 p.m. This was nine years ago.

Let me know if you're coming. Hope to see you all. Of course, that includes Amanda and Justin, to which Jamal Hinton, he was on this chat. He responds and he says, who is this? And he says, she said, your grandma. He goes, grandma, can I have a picture? And she said, of who? And he goes, you, LOL. She sends a photo.

And he sends a photo back and goes, - Because he's black, right? - Yeah, and she's white. And he goes, "You're not my grandma." - She's very white. - Yeah. - She's English white. - And he goes, "You're not my grandma, but can I still have a plate?" And she said, "Of course you can. That's what grandmas do, feed everyone." And so he went over that year for Thanksgiving and now they are going on year nine and continuing. And they've been through a lot of things. In 2020, she lost her husband.

Last year she was diagnosed with breast cancer. And so she just says this is a time of year that they just get together, build this friendship and they've just stayed in touch. And she's really grateful for it. - Is he close to the other grandkids? Do we know? - I think she, with the grandson that was supposed to be invited, yes. Yeah, there's a bunch of photos of them. He's also gotten a girlfriend during this time period. So now she goes along to Thanksgiving dinner. This year he's hosting. So this is his first year, I believe, hosting this dinner instead of grandma. - You wonder,

I think that would happen a lot if those accidents happened. Absolutely it would. Yeah, I think it's such an amazing story and probably a good example for all of us to reach out and invite people to Thanksgiving dinner who may not have anywhere to go. Does he have a grandma? Like a biological grandma? He does, yeah. He does. How does she feel about this? She's taken over. Yeah, I'm sure she's probably grateful for it too. I think I love stories like this because I feel like people are afraid of...

making connections with strangers. What's your motivation? As we talked about Richard Evans' book, Beth in it was very much that way. They put a wall up and here's somebody, two people put a wall down, now he's part of this extended family and sounds like somebody has a good relationship with his family as well. So he's just brought in the clan. I mean, I love it just because it's,

It's so perfectly emblematic of what the intended spirit of Thanksgiving is. And compare and contrast this story to what we keep hearing in the press since this election, where you have all these people telling people, confront your family members, cut them off, don't involve yourself with them anymore. And then on the other side, you hear a story like this. Now, which of these serves humanity better?

I mean, that's just night and day. Well, exactly, Sam. That's an absolutely perfect example. I'll tell you, I heard two stories this week that just made me sad. One, we have a friend that used to work for me. Her daughter is getting married here on 27th of December. Her best friend did not come to her bridal shower because her daughter, who's a doctor, voted for Trump. Yeah.

And so, you know, just not cool. So, you know, the fiance just called up and said, yeah, well, don't come to the wedding either. What's wrong with you? Right. That's just awful. It's just crazy what's going on. And then I have the woman who cuts my hair.

They have, it's a great clips, you can tell by my hair I don't spend hundreds of dollars on it. And they have, you know, the two women in there, there's three people full time, the two women in there voted for Trump, but they don't talk politics, they just sit there. And the other one voted for Kamala and

She had needed a week sabbatical and has not really talked to him since. And it's like, "Well, has anything changed with your friendship except election day?" And she goes, "No, nothing's changed." You know, and if Kamala had won, we'd be talking to her. I just find it distressing. So I love stories like this that people can get together and put those down because we have so much more in common than not. We were talking about the Wish Foundation for foster kids, right? And just, she was saying, remember she said,

Nobody goes without a gift that she posts. They do $30,000 a year. I mean, there's just so many good people out there. It's like people just pull up your bootstraps and get a brain. I have a friend who a few years ago, he bought a motel.

And he won't book it for the week around Thanksgiving or Christmas because he goes and hands out the keys to homeless people. Oh, does he really? And then he has a big, like in their little court, it's like one of those motorhome, you know, old 60s motels.

And he sets up... Was it like 14 rooms or something? Yeah, exactly. I think it's like 18 or 20. It's tiny. It's in a lousy part of town. It's terrible. I mean, frankly, I wonder how he doesn't get stabbed at this place half the time. But twice a year, he hosts this feast in the parking lot for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And he opens up the doors and takes them off the street and fills the rooms with those folks.

Big rewards for that guy upstairs, I'll tell you that. That's quite remarkable. Quite a sacrifice, because I'm sure sometimes the rooms are not left in the best shape. You know what, actually, he said, because he's in a rough part of town to begin with, and a lot of their clientele, that's kind of like when those folks get enough money, that's where they're staying. He said those are the nights he has the least problem. They will leave the room as close to perfect as they possibly can. Because they do it as a gift. Yeah, because they value...

that he's taken that care for them and given it. So he said, he said, you'll come in there and like, we have to unmake the beds. Sure. We have to change the sheets. They didn't think about that, but they made the bed. Well, I think it's, um, as we were talking again about the, um, the foster care wish, um, one simple wish, one simple wish.org. Um,

that these kids getting these gifts that they've asked for gives them hope and they come from very rotten situations. I mean, no one's in foster care that's been there because I just want to go to foster care, right? Right. And I view it as the same thing with these folks who are currently without homes, that there's some goodness in the world that someone provided and just gives them a hope for people as well.

Absolutely. So let's talk about the price of Thanksgiving dinner. I think the one thing you and I... Kylie's pulling up Axios. The one thing you and I discussed this year that I really hate is I think the government just simply...

I don't know if it makes up numbers, but they alter them to bake their fat. So, for example, we were talking about maternal mortality rate, right? And then I told you why I read they actually, you know, they're saying we're one of the highest in the world. And so I'm like, in America? I mean, I just find it. So we looked it up and come to find out what the government says, it's up to a year after you give birth. And over half those deaths were due to drug addiction or suicide. So,

But it needs to be termed a different thing than like... Because when you hear it, you think, oh, they're dying on the table in the hospital. Right, right. And so when you take it out, we're like number one in the world, right? I mean, no one's dying on a table in a attorney ward. And specifically what I find interesting about that is by...

the deception that they're using in their presentation of those numbers, they're actually limiting the ability to address the problem effectively. Right, because it's a problem. I don't want any of these moms to feel so hopeless postpartum that they take their lives or the addiction takes their lives. So we need to step up. But don't put it in a number that you think our hospital systems are so bad in America. They're like Africa. That's not the case. They're talking about like, oh, we need doctors.

Yeah, I know.

So they come out and they're saying that Thanksgiving dinner will cost someone $58. I'm just going to call BS on that for most homes. For 10 people. Well, take a family of four to McDonald's or Five Guys or In-N-Out, and I'm telling you, they're spending $80. So you're telling me the fast food is more expensive than a 10-pound turkey or 5-pound turkey and all the fixings?

And I love saying fix it. All I can do is go on my own personal experience. Yesterday, I went and shopped for a four-person Thanksgiving. And you're one of these males that actually follows pricing. Yes. I mean, Sam actually knows, right? He compares. I mean, we had this conversation. He knew what he paid two years ago versus today for green beans. No, I do. I do. I am super Jew. I am cheap as the dirt.

You are stereotyped. Yes. You are stereotyping here. Look, there's a reason for some stereotypes. I embrace this one. It is what it is. But here's what I'm saying. Four people. So turkey, potatoes, green bean casserole fixings, mac and cheese fixings, two pies, and a couple of trays to cook the stuff in, right? $143. Yeah. So I don't know where they get this number from.

It's weird, you know? And I just feel, again, it's a way to make people feel like, well, see, things aren't expensive as they are. And the problem is, and you and I discussed about this, the reason you have Donald Trump being number 47 now is because people were told the economy's great. And they're like, well, I just paid my utility bill. I just went to the grocery store. You're lying to me. Right. I don't mean, you know, it's not unique to my neighborhood. And that's the problem. And the government has got to start realizing that.

People get paid, and in return they pay for things. So they know the prices of things. Right. People work full time, but they know they don't have as much disposable income as they did four years ago because they're living it. You know, it's always theory's nice, but reality's reality. When you used to be able to save $500 a month off your family's income, and now you're down to $100, or you're not saving anything, you know it. Yeah, they're not saving anything. You know it. They're not saving anything.

anything no but by all of their they're burying themselves in credit card debt as a matter of fact and there's you I talked about there's a lot about defaulting there's a lot of indications as what did you tell me about the credit you told me a story about the bank about the credit cards that folks listen to this this was alarming because I told this number to people they're like what the heck so this was about what two three months ago I guess about three months ago is talking to a friend who works at Chase he's in their credit card division and

Obviously, they have different tranches of customers. The customers that credit card companies don't actually love, but they need them for their balancing, are customers probably like you and I and whatever who just pay off every month. Right. We just automatically pay our credit card bill. It's just a different form of payment up front. Which is a minority of people, by the way. It's a tiny minority. It's about 18%. He says 15% to 18% of credit card payments.

holders do that, right? They were seeing over 30% of these folks, this tranche of people, carrying balances that were delinquent. - But tell the type of people who are carrying these balances. - Well, that's the thing. These folks tend to fall into a very specific financial category. They tend to be people who make more than $180,000 per year. - And they're not paying it off. - And they're not paying it off. And you brought up the point at that time, which I thought was exactly right,

they're trying to maintain the lifestyle they had. Exactly. Exactly. So when you're a little bit, when you're below $75,000, you just know what you can have, right? But your point, you've had this disposable income for years, so you can do these extra things, club memberships, sports for the kids, maybe a vacation here or two. They're trying to keep it up, and they're financing it on credit cards. And so as we've discussed in the past, so the inflation they've talked about,

That's not really the inflation. The inflation is what their credit card bill is. Yes. So that's 18, 24 or higher percent. Right. And when you carry balances, they always add up more to your interest rates. Oh, yeah. It's going up like crazy. They're definitely increasing the base rates that these folks are paying at that point because they're not in the same risk category anymore. Yeah. Right? I mean, this is... There's a lot of indications. I really think... I know we're going down the more political road here, but I really am concerned about...

that we are standing on the brink of a potentially very significant recession. Yeah, yeah, I do too. I do too, because it's going to hit people that you're used to having disposable income to keep other people going. The credit cards have been maxed. The income is not kept up. People are really stressed right now. And then when you add all that up with some really big...

Frankly, the Biden administration using short-term debt financing to lower their short-term costs for the, you know, look better on paper has left a time bomb in Donald Trump's lap. Well, as we end the show, we've appreciated our guests today. Folks, we will be posting all our guests' websites on. Don't be cheap. Go help out. And for those of you who have disagreements with family,

based on anything, but it seems to be politics the most. You know, I was reading the other day a father who lives in Oregon. He has three daughters. He voted for Trump. They voted for Ms. Harris, and they're not coming to dinner now. If you're in that lot, you need to look in the mirror and get your crap together. 100%. Because family is long-term, and there's no reason if you've had a great relationship all these years, and because you have a difference of who to vote for, that there's no reason to dismiss those family bonds.

Before we wrap up, we always on the Thanksgiving show, we end up with what we're grateful for for this year. So for me, I'm grateful that I had 49 years with my father and I'm grateful for the friends that I have, Chuck, Kylie, everybody here in my life. It makes a huge difference. And yeah, I think with what we've been talking about in politics just isn't this important.

It's just not important enough to stand in the way of this stuff, of your personal relationships. It's mostly irrelevant to you. Your life isn't going to change that dramatically because of who got elected. So be thankful for those people and embrace them.

I'm grateful for two things. I'm grateful for the goodness of people that are out there still helping kids like in foster care and so forth. There's so many of them, of all political stripes, all religious stripes, that I'm grateful for them. And I'm grateful for my family. And I'm grateful for our differences. And none of them have gone batshit crazy. They still accept us for who we are. We still get together and realize we love each other. And that's what I am grateful for.

I also am very grateful for my family every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My mom is one of six and every sister, except one, she lives in North Carolina now, but everyone still gets together. And I think that that is so fun. Isaiah, my husband, calls it the family reunion every year. But I'm very grateful that we do that every year because I don't see them. I don't see them during the year. And so seeing my aunts and my cousins and uncles and

my grandpa. I'm very grateful for that. We did just buy a house as well, so I'm very grateful that we were able to do that in

We are too. And we're hoping you'll be grateful for Costco next week that they deliver your washer and dryer on time. I really hope. Since they missed delivery yesterday. They missed the delivery, but we're in the Thanksgiving mood, so we're still positive. And we're grateful for Zoe. Zoe, thank you for all your help. Yes, indeed. Thank you for doing a great job with engineering today. On behalf of Zoe, Kylie, Chuck, and Sam, have a fantastic Thanksgiving. And if you're having to speak to your family, get your crap together and go out and repair it. Have a great weekend.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. We have with us now Doug Douglas McDermott, but we're going to call him Doug. He said we could. He is the founder of the Gift of Gratitude Foundation. You can find it online, thegiftofgratitudefoundation.com. Doug, welcome to the program. Thank you. Great to be a part of it. So your foundation recognizes veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans, veterans

Peace out. Basically, first responders, military veterans who serve with honor and selflessness, and you provide them with work of art that about inspired by stories of faith, prayer, courage, virtue. What gave you this idea to do this? This is different. Most groups just say, give me money, give me money. You're saying, you know, let's give a work of art that means something. What's the genesis of this? Well, art itself is.

literally brings a powerful experience. It's something that they can look at often. You can see it. You can feel it. It really brings comfort. It sparks positive emotions. Most importantly, it literally touches heart. It brings hope. It can heal wounds. And it's a great way to express gratitude in a meaningful way. That's its purpose.

So can you give us some personal stories of art you've provided to military first responders and how it's played a role in their healing?

I'd be happy to. Thank you. Actually, I'd have thousands, but we'll do just one. How's that? One, maybe two. We love good stories. All right. Then I can do that. Tell us. One of the first ones, I won't give either of the names, though, because the sacredness, but I promise you the first one that I'll share, majority of all your audience will know who it is, but I will not release the name. Okay. All right.

Well, the opportunity that the artist himself had, Scott Snow, he had a referral to present to a 100-year-old veteran. And as he was getting ready to present the work of art to this 100-year-old veteran, he brought with him his family. And the veteran himself asked as many of his family members locally to be present as

When he was to receive this gift, it was told that he was receiving a gift of art for his service in the military. And he had gathered everyone around for this presentation. And just as the artist was about to fully explain everything in detail and present this work of art,

He said, wait just a moment. Now, could you imagine how the artist and his entire family and everyone there hearing this 100-year-old veteran say, wait just a moment. I'll be right back. And he left. And then he came back into the room in his dress uniform. He could still fit into it. Still could fit into his dress uniform. Goodness. And he only wore...

the two medals that meant the very most to him. How sacred. What an opportunity. Indeed. Indeed. The second one, similar. A Vietnam veteran. I had a chance to meet him on a plane on one of my work schedules at my assignment. And I just opened up and started visiting with him. And he started sharing with me his story.

And I said, would you allow me to honor you with a work of art? And I just said just briefly over this. And he was a retired one-star Navy Admiral. I found a way to contact him.

his son, who was, of all things, I played golf with this son's father-in-law. Wow. And it was a coincidence. You know, there are no coincidences to me. Sure. But this father-in-law to the son of this admiral took pictures. And here the family had gathered together.

and they brought out the artwork to be presented

And again, this now veteran, Vietnam veteran, said, would you please excuse me? So guess what he did as well? What did he do? He went and got in his uniform. Still fits? His dress uniform. He was a one-star admiral. And he said, I want to have my picture taken in my uniform. It means this much to be honored in this way.

Isn't that something? Something so simple as a work of art can touch the life of those who have served. How many works of art do you present and give to people annually? Hundreds, if not thousands. And do artists come and just donate it? Or how do you find the art that matches the individual? Well, we have commissioned 14 works of art. 12 are done.

And we've used one artist for all 14, even though 12 are done, we still have two left. But we commissioned the artist to paint certain works of art. All of them have a military theme to them. The only one that does not is an artwork of the Savior.

But it is the first day of his last three years, and his first foot forward is his left foot.

Now, why is that significant? With the military around the world, what is the first step when someone marches in the military? Left. Left. So does the army of God. And so that is the only work of art that is not having a military theme, but it still has a portrait of the Savior taking his first step with his left foot of his last three years of his life.

No, that's amazing. Folks were with Douglas McDormand. We call him Doug because he's a friend of the show now. And he is the founder of gift of gratitude foundation.com. Doug, this, this website's impressive that you have. And one thing I want to ask is that you have various clicks for people, chaplain service, peace leaders, first responders, but you have victims of suicide, individuals and families. And,

How many people go through and click through that? And what resources do you provide? Believe it or not, many, many, many. That particular opportunity is we have created a work of art that is given to our active duty military chaplains.

federal chaplains, civil chaplains, and health chaplains. The art itself is the story put into art of the story of Elijah the prophet in the Old Testament. It's the only prophet of God who requested to have his life taken.

And a messenger sent from God told Elijah his mission was not yet complete. And so we provide this particular artwork to our chaplains for our active duty men and women who have suicide ideation. We also present it to our veterans, as well as the federal and civil and health care, to help them visually understand

Once they tell a story, have those with suicide ideation look at the art and ask, what does this art mean to you? And it opens the hearts of those with suicide ideation. I could give you story after story how the art has helped these chaplains. It's nothing we have done, but how the art itself has helped others not take their life.

Thank you. Well, Doug McDermott of the Gift of Gratitude Foundation, thank you for joining us today. We'll be putting this on our social media and we'll send you the clip. But Doug, thank you for what you do. It's quite meaningful. It's just so different than the typical groups that say we're going to send you some money. This seems very personal. It seems a way to recognize or for those going through

mental challenges considering suicide. It's a way to remind them why life is worth living and you're just doing a fantastic job. And we are grateful for people like you during this holiday season. Have a great weekend. Thank you. And thank you for allowing me to be on your show.