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Episode 2030 Transcript:

00;00;01;14 - 00;00;05;26

Announcer

And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.

00;00;05;28 - 00;00;28;15

Cary Hall

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show Broadcasting Coast to coast across the USA. Here on the HIA Radio Network. You can find out more about us by going to the website AmericasHealthcareAdvocate.com. We are on 238 affiliates around the country. And I want to shout out today to KBYR AM 700 FM 88.5, in Anchorage, Alaska.

00;00;28;15 - 00;00;43;19

Cary Hall

We've been on a long time up there, and we get a lot of phone calls and emails from people up there. We want to thank you for keeping us on the air, and we're happy to serve the folks in Alaska in studio with me. This is our annual show. It's annual because it's the second time we've done it and we will be doing this every year.

00;00;43;24 - 00;01;01;09

Cary Hall

Are the folks from Zuzu's Petals very happy to have them here? John Massey, Mak Booher and Dan Spencer, welcome back, guys. Thanks so much for joining us again. I'd say Merry Christmas is a little early for that. So we'll skip the very first part. So this show that we did this last year, they had a great amount of support for you.

00;01;01;11 - 00;01;13;10

Cary Hall

You know, I'll talk about, you know, how much better last year was the year before that and how and how much better they've done. And we think a lot of that was due to the fact that this was up there on YouTube. And you heard the radio show and a lot of you got behind what they do.

00;01;13;11 - 00;01;31;10

Cary Hall

But what these young men did was they came together and they put a program together. They named it Zuzu's Petals. I'll let them explain the weird name, after we get through your. But but what they did was they put this program together to take care of families that cannot afford to have a Christmas. So they don't have the money for Christmas.

00;01;31;10 - 00;01;50;01

Cary Hall

They can't get trees, they can't get food, they can't get gifts. They come in and do the whole thing. It's really quite remarkable. I was very, very impressed with what they do. Very well organized, and it's amazing tribute to these young men and what they put together. So let's just start with you, John. By the way, John Massey is not related to the Royals baseball player.

00;01;50;04 - 00;02;06;20

Cary Hall

I wish I was the guy. He think, yeah, but he's from Australia. So they didn't even play baseball. They're so so so oh, let's just tell the story of how you guys came together. And because this is really quite a remarkable story. And how many lives it's affected now that you've done this. So let's start with that, John.

00;02;06;20 - 00;02;33;15

John Massey

Sure. Absolutely. So, I moved over to Kansas City from Australia about seven years ago. Danny and I are cousins. And we had bonded, initially over our mutual love of the Christmas season. We both had a magical experience growing up, with, his family. My family, our parents just put an awful lot of effort, into that, specific time of year and all of my happiest memories as a kid.

00;02;33;18 - 00;03;08;14

John Massey

I'm sure Dan would say the same are all focused around that, very special time of year. And I remember I had been living here for about three years or so, and it was the first Christmas where I wasn't going to be able to go home. So it was my first Christmas away from home in my life. And Danny and I, we kind of put our heads together a little bit and rather than just, you know, moping around the house talking about, woe is me, we decided, you know, why not just go out and try and make Christmas a little less about me and see if we can do a little good?

00;03;08;14 - 00;03;26;04

John Massey

So that year, which was probably 4 or 5 years ago now, we decided we were going to just make up a bunch of meals, drive around Kansas City on Christmas Eve and pass them out to homeless people. Just people, you know, on the side of the road, freezing cold out. Give them a little something on, on Christmas Eve.

00;03;26;06 - 00;03;48;09

John Massey

As the years progressed, we went down our own different, career paths. I was at a point in my career, where I wasn't quite sure in what direction I wanted to go in. So I bounced around to a few different jobs. And I remember very specifically being in a, career interview with a, career advisor, very, good role model for me.

00;03;48;11 - 00;04;11;02

John Massey

And he asked me, well, what are you passionate about? And I was like, well, that is such a difficult question to answer because it depends what day it is. You know, I'm passionate about them chiefs, you know, like I love Chiefs football. My actual answer at the time was anything to do with Christmas. It's like the one thing you know that we could think about, you know, plan every day of the year and never get sick of it.

00;04;11;05 - 00;04;32;10

John Massey

And I remember Dan and I were grabbing a drink a couple of weeks later, and I was telling him about this, and we were having a laugh. And just over a few drinks, we started kicking around the idea of, you know, can you, like, everyone's favorite job would obviously be Santa Claus, right? I mean, can you imagine, having more fun than just one day you're going out and delivering gifts to everyone in the world.

00;04;32;10 - 00;04;53;29

John Massey

And we were like, well, what if you could make that a reality? What would that look like? And so just over a couple of drinks, we started whiteboarding something, together, like a plan together. And then Zuzu's Petals is what we came up with. So we have a three fold approach, in how we service families at Christmas, we provide tailored Christmas gifts to families.

00;04;53;29 - 00;05;12;00

John Massey

So the idea being we're not, you know, putting out a bunch of gifts on a table and just saying, come and pick one and you can give that to your kid where these families are coming to us and we're saying, you know, if you if this was your only opportunity to get your kid whatever you wanted to get him, you this, this one year, what would that be?

00;05;12;02 - 00;05;38;29

John Massey

And then, we will facilitate, that gift exchange. The second is Christmas dinner. So this year, we're really excited and proud to announce that we've partnered with Brancato’s Catering, and we will be delivering Christmas dinners to all of the families on, the day before Christmas Eve. So they'll get, you know, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, all the all the good stuff that makes, Christmas Day, so special.

00;05;39;01 - 00;05;56;24

John Massey

And then we also do, decorations as well. So for families that don't have a Christmas tree will get them a Christmas tree. And then for families that already have a Christmas tree, we sub that out for a nativity scene to try and bring it back to. What? What it's all about. If you're wondering where Zuzu's Petals the name

00;05;56;24 - 00;05;58;08

Cary Hall

I was gonna ask Dan that question.

00;05;58;08 - 00;06;09;02

Cary Hall

So I wanted to see. Oh, yeah, yeah. All right. So, dad, where did Zuzu’s Petals? Because if that's not the most unusual name, and I'm like, what the hell does that have to do with Christmas? Okay, so then.

00;06;09;06 - 00;06;40;24

Dan Spencer

So yeah, if you're familiar with the movie, It's a Wonderful Life, I am. There is a pretty pivotal scene in that movie that is right before Jimmy Stewart's about to jump off the bridge right at the end in his. He's really, really struggling with, you know, really what his life's meaning is, I suppose. And so he real quick, he pulls these Zuzu's Petals out of his pocket, and when he pulls them out of his pocket, everything kind of comes rushing back to him about what's really important to him.

00;06;40;26 - 00;07;02;10

Dan Spencer

So and that's a very iconic moment in the movie. And we wanted to name our charity after something that that reminds us about what Christmas really should be about. And that that scene is, is so iconic and it really resonates with a lot of people that we're trying to get to get this message out to this.

00;07;02;12 - 00;07;09;22

Cary Hall

That's a that's pretty unique. Mak, when did you join the group? And. Yeah. And what led you to connect with these guys and do this?

00;07;09;22 - 00;07;29;28

Mak Booher

Yeah, I joined, what was it like three years ago now? About three years ago. And so I was actually working with John, where I used to work, and, and so I was a web designer, web developer there. And John's a trainer. And so I was I was walking by his office one day. He, he knew that I build websites.

00;07;30;02 - 00;07;47;07

Mak Booher

And so he pulled me aside and was like, hey, can you check something out for me? And he's like, so my cousin and I were at, we have this little charity that we're trying to get started. So what do you think of this website? I looked at I was like, oh, indeed, as I, as I do.

00;07;47;10 - 00;08;05;15

Mak Booher

So yeah, I was like, dude, yeah. So you want me to build you and I'll do it for free. Then here's our work stuff. And he's like, for real? I was like, yeah. And so and so I came over one day we were watching pre-season and, I was like kind of laying out the website template, kind of showing the like what it could look like, what we're thinking.

00;08;05;15 - 00;08;11;01

Mak Booher

And then they started talking about what they were looking for. I was like, I'm hooked, let's do this.

00;08;11;01 - 00;08;26;07

Cary Hall

And you were here last year and you've been and you're very involved in it this year. And yeah. And So that's absolutely wonderful. So a little bit more, ladies and gentlemen, if you're interested, just a couple of things. You know, number one they've got a big fundraiser on December 13th. It's at the Country Club Christian Church on Ward Parkway.

00;08;26;07 - 00;08;47;27

Cary Hall

I'm sure everybody knows where that is. It'll be at 630. They have tickets available for that. You can go online to the website. Zuzu-Petals.com. If you want to go to the fundraiser. Tickets are $50. They're going to have music, food. It's going to be a great, great event. In the meantime, if you want to get involved now, because what they do is really quite remarkable.

00;08;48;01 - 00;09;06;22

Cary Hall

Go to the website. Zuzu-Petals.com. You can make a donation online or you can call if you want to. 816-977-1955. That's John's phone number. He'll be happy to chat with you and tell you more about what they do and how they do it. Stay right there. We're going to come right back after the break. We've got more here.

00;09;06;22 - 00;09;10;19

Cary Hall

On America's Healthcare Advocate.

00;09;10;21 - 00;09;40;22

Steve Kuker

The golden rule treat others as you want to be treated. I'm Steve Kuker, and this is one of the founding principles of my firm. Senior Care Consulting. Since 2002, our value statement has included honor our mother and father. Respect our elders. Care for those in need. And treat your family as our own. We've been honored to help hundreds of families make one of the most difficult decisions they could ever make.

00;09;40;27 - 00;10;13;23

Steve Kuker

Serving them in their greatest time of need. If you're looking for someone who can provide you experienced and objective guidance when searching for a senior care community, reach out today and discover the services of Senior Care Consulting at 913-945-2800. Know your options and choose with care at SeniorCareConsulting.com.

00;10;13;26 - 00;10;37;18

Cary Hall

Welcome back to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. My producer behind microphone, Mr. Darren Wilhite behind the cameras doing all this work that goes up on the YouTube platform and all the podcast platforms. Mr.. Dave Thiessen, by the way, over half a million of you have watched the YouTube broadcast. Really quite remarkable. That number just keeps going up and up and we are on 15 podcast channels.

00;10;37;18 - 00;10;54;08

Cary Hall

So if you hear this, you want to listen to this show. Maybe you want to tell somebody about this, maybe your church, maybe your Bible study group, maybe your civic club, whatever whom you're involved with, would be involved, would like to get involved with the folks at Zuzu’s Petals and what they do. These three young men have put together a remarkable program.

00;10;54;09 - 00;11;24;21

Cary Hall

We're going to talk about their success from the last two years and how much it's grown. It continues to grow, and they continue to be able to take care of folks that are not going to have a Christmas without what they're doing to give them a Christmas, if you want to get involved, it’s Zuzu-Petals.com where you can reach out to John Massey directly at 816-977-1955 there fundraiser to December 13th at 630 Country Club Christian.

00;11;24;21 - 00;11;42;09

Cary Hall

That's at great big church right on Ward Parkway there. Tickets are $50. There's food. There's music. It's going to be a great evening and a great opportunity to help them do what they do. And the great thing is this goes right to the people that needed the most. So let's go back Dan, let's talk about last year, because we did this last year.

00;11;42;15 - 00;11;51;24

Cary Hall

And you had a significant increase over where it was the previous year. So talk about the success last year, families you were able to serve and how many kids you're able to serve.

00;11;51;26 - 00;11;59;04

Dan Spencer

All right. Yeah. So we had a great year last year. I believe it was 157 kids or 100.

00;11;59;06 - 00;11;59;14

Cary Hall

127.

00;11;59;14 - 00;12;09;11

Dan Spencer

Seven, 127 kids last year, which was a massive jump from the year before. And it was, how many families, let’s see it was?

00;12;09;11 - 00;12;09;25

John Massey

45.

00;12;09;25 - 00;12;23;06

Dan Spencer

45. Yeah. So we we had had a great year last year. We fell short of our target, which was 300. But it doesn't shoot us or it doesn't stop us from shooting high again this year. We're trying to get 350 kids to this year.

00;12;23;09 - 00;12;25;14

Cary Hall

That's double what you did last year.

00;12;25;15 - 00;12;26;04

John Massey

Yeah, yeah.

00;12;26;05 - 00;12;28;24

Cary Hall

So you've got an ambitious goal here guys.

00;12;28;24 - 00;12;49;05

John Massey

We do. You know you got to shoot for the moon to land on the stars. So that's, that's, what we're going for at the moment. And I think the, with the momentum that we've gathered in the last couple of years, the response from the community, it's just been unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. And so at the start of every year, you know, we do this year round.

00;12;49;07 - 00;12;57;29

John Massey

And so, yeah, the target is 350 kids. Which if we're able to do that that would be double, what we've done in the previous two years.

00;12;57;29 - 00;13;04;13

Cary Hall

That's ambitious, remarkable and very admirable. If you guys can do 350 kids this year, that's going to be pretty exciting. Yes.

00;13;04;15 - 00;13;05;01

John Massey

Absolutely.

00;13;05;02 - 00;13;21;14

Cary Hall

So Dan, let's just talk a little bit about what physically happens. I know you guys told some stories last year? You've got a family now. You know, I, we, I actually gave you the name of family. The my men's Bible study group has been helping out for the last several months, and you're going to take care of them this year.

00;13;21;14 - 00;13;34;28

Cary Hall

But talk about the process. How does this, you know, you reach out to them. You know, John mentioned that you're not just giving a, you know, a group of packages under a tree and say, here it's a free for all, pick what you want, talk a little bit about what how you do that and how that works.

00;13;34;28 - 00;13;54;09

Dan Spencer

So once we've located the family and we verify that there's a need then then we ask the parents, okay, so if you're going to give an ideal Christmas to your kids, what does that look like? What gifts would you like to give them? And if it's within reason, I think on average we have 100 or so spent per child is is has been average.

00;13;54;09 - 00;13;55;11

Cary Hall

Recently getting a new car.

00;13;55;14 - 00;13;56;14

Dan Spencer

No one's getting a new car.

00;13;56;14 - 00;14;00;25

Cary Hall

We just want to make sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00;14;00;25 - 00;14;21;01

Dan Spencer

So within reason we'll we'll try and accommodate all the requests. And then then we also, you know, we, we meet the parents the, the whole the big part of what we try and do is to enable the parents to give the Christmas to the family. So what that means for us is we're really never in the picture as far as the children are concerned.

00;14;21;08 - 00;14;37;04

Dan Spencer

So, you know, they come on and they show up and they see Santa and the parents get the gifts. You know, that's that's a big part of our distribution. They come up on this event day that we have. They see Santa, parents get the gifts in their car. The kids never know what's what's going on.

00;14;37;06 - 00;14;46;15

Cary Hall

So Mak, talk about that at the event. How do you do that? Everybody comes the these families are invited to the invited to the to the, to the event. It's going to be on Ward Parkway.

00;14;46;21 - 00;15;13;24

Mak Booher

So the one that dad was just talking about is our Santa's workshop. And so as this we we reach out to see if any of these families want or need help getting the gifts and a different way than actually going to the house. And it's also a little more engaged for the kids, because when we get them to say yes, that means okay, we can get certain gifts down to our church where we have the event, and we'll set up the entire school as like Santa's workshop.

00;15;13;24 - 00;15;45;08

Mak Booher

So we make a giant, giant runway down the hallway with, Santa there at the end. Snow everywhere, gifts everywhere. And so talk about that. Last year they kind of came a out after. Yeah. And so, so we usually try to get two of the parents or guardians with them. And then so when the kids go down, we can take one of the parents with us and we'll go down to like the, the meeting room and kind of get their gifts so we can take it out to the car with one of the parents and put it in the trunk, hide it in the car somewhere.

00;15;45;08 - 00;15;51;23

Mak Booher

So that way when they come back and they get the kids from seeing Santa and get all the pictures taken, they have no idea the gifts are there.

00;15;51;25 - 00;15;56;14

Cary Hall

That's remarkable, so so so what church? What church hosts this for you?

00;15;56;14 - 00;15;58;02

John Massey

So that's, Saint Vincent de Paul.

00;15;58;02 - 00;15;59;08

John Massey

A Catholic church.

00;15;59;11 - 00;16;00;03

John Massey

So that's.

00;16;00;10 - 00;16;00;29

Cary Hall

I'm very familiar.

00;16;00;29 - 00;16;01;22

John Massey

With my parish.

00;16;01;22 - 00;16;02;19

Cary Hall

Yeah.

00;16;02;22 - 00;16;24;24

John Massey

And they have been absolutely unbelievable with the support they've given us. We're very, very grateful. And yeah, I mean, I think that's the biggest thing we're trying to give is a Christmas experience. You know, it's funny, the number of kids, that signed up for that or that parents who signed up for their kids that have said that the kids have never been to see Santa before.

00;16;24;26 - 00;16;28;02

John Massey

And that's something like I took for granted growing up as a kid.

00;16;28;02 - 00;16;41;28

Cary Hall

And it's hard that's hard to understand when you think about where they're at. Number one, do they even have transportation to get to a mall? Some someplace where they go, they get them there and the kid sees the kids see all the stuff that's going on. What's what's a natural, well, I want this or I want that, right?

00;16;41;28 - 00;16;59;08

Cary Hall

What I want for Christmas. And the parents know they can't give it to them. So it's not hard to imagine that. Yeah, but the fact that you guys took this to the next step now, you create an actual that Santa's workshop. That's that that's that's truly remarkable. I've been to Saint Vincents. I was there for the wedding of Steve Sanborns’ son, and I've been there on multiple occasions.

00;16;59;08 - 00;17;11;01

Cary Hall

That's a great church and a great community, and it's wonderful that they're doing that. And so they're just basically giving you the facility so you can set this up. And then so as many as, as many of the families that want to come to that can come to that.

00;17;11;01 - 00;17;16;24

John Massey

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So last year we had I think 45 kids that came to see Santa and they on.

00;17;16;27 - 00;17;24;13

Dan Spencer

Their on scheduled time, there's no waiting in the line. They get their schedule time with Santa. It's their private moment with Santa.

00;17;24;13 - 00;17;44;24

Cary Hall

That's pretty phenomenal. That's really well done. It's called Zuzu's Petals. If you want to help out, here's how you do it. You go to the website. zuzu-petals.com. Or you can call 816-977-1955. These guys are the real deal, and they're making a huge difference in a lot of people's lives. Go to the website, make a donation.

00;17;44;24 - 00;18;01;00

Cary Hall

If you want to go to the event that's going to be December 13th at 630 at the Country Club Christian, and tickets are on sale now. There's a limited number available, so if you do want to go, you need to get those tickets right now they are again at Zuzu-Petals.com. We'll be right back after the break.

00;18;01;00 - 00;18;17;06

Cary Hall

You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Stay right there.

00;18;17;08 - 00;18;35;21

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. If you want to learn more about us. AmericasHealthcareAdvocate.com. That is the website. You have a question? Come in. There's something you want me to talk about. Go to the website, send me an email. I get a whole lot of emails and I answer each and every one of them.

00;18;35;21 - 00;18;55;25

Cary Hall

Not the same day, but I do answer all of them. So feel free to go to the website. AmericasHealthcareAdvocate.com if you need help with something. I'm happy doing so folks that need help here today. The gentleman from zoos is pedals. The website is Zuzu-Pedals.org. They provide a complete Christmas complete Christmas for families that aren't going to have a Christmas.

00;18;56;02 - 00;19;14;22

Cary Hall

That's how they do it. I'm going to ask them to tell a couple of stories about some of those experiences, because we talked about it last year and it's pretty amazing. The phone number, if you want to give John a call is 816-977-1955 and their big event December 13th at 630. It's a fundraiser at the Country Club Christian Church.

00;19;14;22 - 00;19;44;07

Cary Hall

That's that big church up on Ward Parkway. It's at 630 at night. There's 500 tickets. When it's gone, it's gone. You can reach out to them on the website. Zuzu-Petals.org. There's going to be music, food. It's really the spirit of Christmas, okay? And that's what these guys are all about. And it's really quite remarkable actually, when you think about just these three young guys coming together and making this work, and they've continued to grow it and grow it and grow it, and here we are looking at this year and hopefully we're going to be able to do 350 kids.

00;19;44;12 - 00;19;50;21

Cary Hall

That's pretty remarkable. So let's let's talk a little bit about some of the experiences from last year. So John.

00;19;50;24 - 00;20;09;23

John Massey

The one that's so pivotal to me and one that I will always remember for the rest of my life, is actually the first delivery I think we ever did was, to this, lady that I'd been in touch with a little bit. You know, I, we, always interview the folks that we're servicing to get a feel for the personality.

00;20;09;23 - 00;20;30;26

John Massey

You know, how they want this to roll out. And obviously, just to make sure they are who they say they are, etc.. And super, super sweet lady. Very, very, very nice. She had two kids a from memory it was 14 year old and and nine year old. She wanted to get the older boy. I think it was Xbox game.

00;20;30;26 - 00;20;52;25

John Massey

So NBA 2K something or other. And then the younger, the younger brother wanted football jersey or something. And Patrick Mahomes jersey. And anyway we were like, yeah, absolutely. We were able to fulfill their request. We got him Christmas dinner, all that fun stuff. And it came to be delivery day. And we we got on our way.

00;20;52;25 - 00;21;20;28

John Massey

I gave her a call to our house and she said, yep, great. Just knock on the door when you’re here we pull up in pretty rough part of town, which I think was also like the first time I'd really, appreciated, you know, I've been incredibly blessed with how I've grown up. That was really the first taste of wow, you know, like reality was setting in that not everyone, you know, was able to be raised in the environment that I was raised in.

00;21;21;00 - 00;21;45;24

John Massey

I go up to the front porch, knock on the door, and, young boy comes to the comes to the door, opens it up, and I hear this voice saying, is that Zuzu’s? And we say, yeah. And so he opens the door up and it's smacked me in the face because, the lady that we had been communicating with was lying in a bed in the living room, and she was in hospice.

00;21;45;26 - 00;22;12;26

John Massey

She had stage four cancer and did not have long, to live. And it was going to be her last Christmas with her boys. And, the dad was gone, the dad wasn't there. And these two young lads were they were very gracious, but were just sitting there, you know, looking at their mom just I mean, I cannot imagine what must have been going through their heads at the time.

00;22;12;28 - 00;22;31;05

John Massey

And I think that all kind of threw us each for a bit of a loop. Like we weren't really expecting to walk into that. And so, you know, we tried to just bring him, bring some cheer into the house and, we, we put the gifts down and it came time for us to leave. And, you know, I asked if I could give her a hug, say Merry Christmas.

00;22;31;05 - 00;22;48;24

John Massey

And she said, yeah. And so we I went down and gave her a hug, and I went over to the boys who ideally, I'm not supposed to be there, but, you know, you do what you can. And I went over and I shook the, the hand of the 14 year old, said, Merry Christmas. You know, you guys need anything, just reach out to us.

00;22;48;26 - 00;23;11;23

John Massey

And then the moment that I will remember for the rest of my life is I went over to the nine year old kid, and I shook his hand, too and said the same thing. Merry Christmas. And I went to pull away and he wouldn't let go on my hand and it almost got a little awkward. And I looked back at him and he was just like looking right at me.

00;23;11;23 - 00;23;22;26

John Massey

And eventually I was like, buddy, you better let go. Otherwise I'm going to be waterworks over here, right? And, I think we got we got back in the car and that was just this moment of.

00;23;22;28 - 00;23;46;20

Cary Hall

Wow, you know, it's funny. You listen to John tell that story. You know, I, I, you know, I used to live in Brookside. I don't live there anymore. I moved out further south. Okay. But you know, we don't realize a lot of us I think sometimes what what happens in communities where they don't have the means that we have, okay, that most of us have most of us are middle class, have good jobs, whatever the case may be.

00;23;46;25 - 00;24;10;17

Cary Hall

And then you've got situations like that. There's a mother who was in hospice going to die from stage four cancer, and she was concerned about her kids having Christmas. And guess what? These guys put that Christmas together. That should give you some idea of what the need is and some idea of why they do this. Okay, because there are thousands of families out there just like that.

00;24;10;18 - 00;24;28;04

Cary Hall

Not all of them, obviously. Maybe not even many of them have someone that is that ill. But actually the woman who I asked him to take care of this year with her 19 year old and 16 year old, is a woman who just went through cancer surgery, survived it, and now was living on a feeding tube. Can't work even though she tries.

00;24;28;05 - 00;24;49;08

Cary Hall

Okay. And they're going to go in and do the whole Christmas for them. This is exactly why I do this show every year. It's really important. Okay. The website Zuzu-Petals.com. Zuzu-Petals.com. Get involved. Take a minute. Write a check. Go to the fundraiser. They need volunteers and we'll talk about that in a second. If you want to volunteer, you can do that.

00;24;49;08 - 00;25;05;26

Cary Hall

You can also call John at 816-977-1955. Their goal is 350 kids this year. That's pretty strong. So Dan, talk a little bit about, you know, the fundraiser and then, you know, what's going on there. And let's talk a little bit about that.

00;25;05;26 - 00;25;12;02

Dan Spencer

So we have a fundraiser every year. It's a Christmas concert. And it is just it's a fabulous night.

00;25;12;03 - 00;25;12;14

Cary Hall

Real Christmas Music.

00;25;12;15 - 00;25;14;10

Cary Hall

A choir and a band.

00;25;14;11 - 00;25;36;12

Dan Spencer

It's all traditional with a choir. And it's it's a wonderful time. So that is our biggest highlight. Exactly, exactly. And we've got, we've gotten a lot of good stories that we tell. It's it's just, you know, it's certainly going to warm your heart right before Christmas. It's phenomenal. And we talk about what we've accomplished during the year, how we've grown over the last year.

00;25;36;15 - 00;25;41;01

Dan Spencer

It's it's fantastic. So it's December 13th, right?

00;25;41;05 - 00;25;44;07

Cary Hall

Yeah. December 13th, 6:30 Christian.

00;25;44;09 - 00;25;45;07

Dan Spencer

Country club Christian.

00;25;45;08 - 00;26;03;27

Cary Hall

Travel. They can get tickets online at zuzu-petals.com. All right. So I ask you, about volunteers Mak, talk about volunteers. You guys need some volunteers this year? I think it's to help with all the catering from the good people at Brancato’s. By the way, they operate the Brass Onion restaurant over on 135th Great Food, great restaurant.

00;26;03;27 - 00;26;18;09

Cary Hall

I've eaten there many, many times with my wife that probably had the best fried chicken in the world. So if you want to, if you want to go to the Brass Onion, tell them thank you for what they're doing. Brancato’s Catering owns that restaurant and it's great food. So talk a little bit about it. So that's going to be a big deal.

00;26;18;14 - 00;26;21;01

Cary Hall

That's a lot of meals for a lot of people to deliver.

00;26;21;05 - 00;26;47;10

Mak Booher

Yeah absolutely. Yeah. So so I mean we're going to need like volunteers for a lot of different things with like the gift deliveries if we need that, and also with the food deliveries. And so do you get involved that we have a couple of ways. We've got our marketing email, which is just marketing@zuzus-pedals.com. Or we can also just go straight to the website and on our contact page, it's going to come straight to our marketing team and to and to us, the three of us.

00;26;47;15 - 00;26;58;20

Mak Booher

And so we will be able to filter that out. And so if anybody wants to get involved, please just send us a message through the contact or email us directly. Or they can also call John, as you mentioned.

00;26;58;20 - 00;27;02;27

John Massey

And so I think that's.

00;27;02;29 - 00;27;18;02

Cary Hall

I hope they bombard you with calls it over. Yes over that successfully. So so so volunteers to do the food and then what else do you what are you what what are the things you looking for them to do John. Are they going to help out with the, Santa's workshop and all of that?

00;27;18;08 - 00;27;38;12

John Massey

The reality of the services that we provide, is that it's not free. You know, it costs money to do it, to do these things. And at the end of the day, we do, require, require funds. So even if you are, in any way able to make any sort of financial contribution, please do it.

00;27;38;14 - 00;28;01;05

John Massey

100% of the proceeds go directly towards our mission. We are not getting paid for this. And then if you are not in a position, to contribute, we completely understand, you know, things are tight. Please tell three people in your life about what we're doing and what we're trying to do, and just continue to spread the word and see if they are in a position to contribute.

00;28;01;07 - 00;28;24;09

Cary Hall

That's a great message. The website is Zuzus-petals.com. If you want to call John and blow his phone up, please be my guest. 816-977-1955. If you've got a civic group, if you look, you know they go to Saint Vincent Catholic Church. Country Club Christian is hosting this. So this is interdenominational. All right.

00;28;24;13 - 00;28;43;21

Cary Hall

So if your church wants to get involved give him a call or go to the website and send them a message. They will welcome your support. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. We've got one more stay right there.

00;28;43;24 - 00;29;10;04

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. My producer, Mister Darren Wilhite, behind the microphones, behind the cameras, Dave Thiessen. We post all these shows on our YouTube platform, America's Healthcare Advocate and the 15 podcast platforms. So we're on everything from Rumble to iHeart media, to Audacy Media, Spotify, SoundCloud, you name it, we're on it.

00;29;10;04 - 00;29;27;04

Cary Hall

Okay, so you hear this. Maybe you do want to tell your civic group about it. Maybe you want to tell your Bible study group about, or maybe your church group or whatever the case may be. Have them go to the podcast, listen to the show, or go look at the video. It's up on the YouTube platform. What these gentlemen are doing is remarkable.

00;29;27;04 - 00;29;55;03

Cary Hall

It's touching people's lives directly. They are a 501 C3, 100% of the money goes to what they do. They get paid nothing. This is all being done by volunteers and there's no renumeration to any of them. So this is a great opportunity to do something. The website zuzus-petals.com. If you want to call John Massey and please do and blow up his phone 816-977-1955 they they'd love to hear from you.

00;29;55;07 - 00;30;18;15

Cary Hall

If you want to make a cash donation or you want to volunteer. Also big fundraiser December 13th at 630 at the Country Club Christian Church right there on Ward Parkway. Tickets for that are 50 bucks. It's 500 seats. It's second traditional Christmas music. There's food. It's just going to be a great opportunity for to to get involved in a way and bring some joy of Christmas to your family.

00;30;18;18 - 00;30;29;17

Cary Hall

If you want to go hear some traditional Christmas music and enjoy it for what it's meant to be, Dan, I want to hear. I want to hear what what what you think was the most memorable experience in the 3 or 4 years you've done this?

00;30;29;17 - 00;30;47;21

Dan Spencer

Yeah, absolutely. So I mean, John just talked about a story that gives him more purpose for why he's doing this. And and mine is, you know, it's it's I'll share in just a second. So the very first year that we did this, our applications had closed, we had figured out who we are going to to help that year.

00;30;47;24 - 00;31;05;10

Dan Spencer

And then this lady reached out to, to us, it was, you know, pretty close to Christmas. And she said, hey, I know you guys are closed, but I really have a need. She's like, my husband and I, we both lost our jobs, you know, we're we're struggling right now. We could really use, you know, our kids are getting nothing for Christmas.

00;31;05;10 - 00;31;29;07

Dan Spencer

We're just going to struggle to pay rent. So we thought, okay, you know, we this is exactly why we exist. We're going to find the money and we're going to figure out how we're going to help her. So we we were fortunate enough with donations to be able to provide them Christmas. But the most notable point about this story is that when we showed up, she said, I know we talked and you guys were going to show up.

00;31;29;07 - 00;31;48;27

Dan Spencer

At this time, I didn't think you were real. I thought you got. And she she there were tears in her eyes and she's like, you guys just gave me another day of relief. And, you know, I can't even believe it. So that was something that, you know, she, you know, my my waterworks came on in the car after that, because, you know, it was I didn't think about you.

00;31;48;27 - 00;31;59;04

Dan Spencer

Had she. She probably didn't even think we were coming. So for us to come in then to to you really give them a Christmas. It was it's it's why we why I keep doing this.

00;31;59;10 - 00;32;18;11

Cary Hall

You had 127 kids who saw you come last year and 45 families. So obviously you're very, very real. Let's talk a little bit more about the about the, the Santa's workshop and, you know, a little bit more about what you're doing there with these, with these kids and that, that whole Christmas experience. Yeah, definitely. And why that's different than going to the mall.

00;32;18;18 - 00;32;26;26

John Massey

Definitely. So Santa gives us one day in his busy schedule, where he joins us at, Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.

00;32;26;26 - 00;32;31;14

Cary Hall

By the way, none of the none of these guys play Santa, they’re way to young. They just go, you know.

00;32;31;17 - 00;32;55;14

John Massey

Rah rah rah rah rah, right. Some day something, and, every family that applies, they will have the option for us to either do, a delivery to their house, or they can bring their kids to see Santa and what was, kind of interesting, to us is that a bunch of these families have never had the opportunity to take their kids to see Santa, which is something I always took for granted.

00;32;55;14 - 00;33;17;06

John Massey

I love going to see Santa when I was a kid. And so they, each get an individual appointment, with Santa. So it's just them in Santa. There's not a big line of people out the door. Just, you know, we're not churning him through. We're giving. We give every family, approximately 15 minutes to sit with Santa, chat with him, tell him what they want for Christmas.

00;33;17;08 - 00;33;24;15

John Massey

And the cool part is, is that Santa already knows this. So we, based off of the applications we give Santa some information.

00;33;24;19 - 00;33;32;12

Cary Hall

You smuggle the packages out to the family, while the kids are being distracted by Santa. Yeah, it's pretty smooth operation, guys.

00;33;32;15 - 00;33;35;07

Dan Spencer

In most cases, it's exactly what the kids asking for.

00;33;35;07 - 00;33;38;05

Cary Hall

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that that's that's pretty remarkable.

00;33;38;05 - 00;34;01;01

John Massey

What was cool is, I mean, so FYI, Santa is played by a very good friend of ours. So Danny's dad and my uncle, and I mean, to us, that's just Uncle Joe, you know, like, it didn't occur to me that that Santa Claus. But the number of kids that came through looked around the corner, saw Santa sitting in Santas chair with the Christmas tree, and they were like, oh my God, like that.

00;34;01;08 - 00;34;12;15

John Massey

That's him, you know, like I've seen him in books, but I've never seen him in real life. And all of a sudden they were sitting on Santa's lap and Santa was giving them that kid, you know, a moment that hopefully that kid will remember for the rest of his.

00;34;12;15 - 00;34;33;15

Cary Hall

Life, I think. I think that's a great note to wrap it up on. Thank you all three for being here. We're going to do another one of these closer to the, to the season a little later, probably in the first part of December. But you know, we you hear a lot of negativity in this world, especially, you know, the way things are running right now, you've got three young guys here, 28 years old, 30 years old and 29 years old that have made this their passion.

00;34;33;17 - 00;34;49;26

Cary Hall

They do this year round. I think it's pretty remarkable. I think it's pretty amazing. And I think it says a lot about the spirit of the people in this country, and especially young people who want to get involved and do something makes a difference. They're making a difference. They want to make a difference to 350 kids this year, and you can make that happen.

00;34;49;26 - 00;35;12;19

Cary Hall

Go to the website Zuzus-Petals.com. If you want to call John. They need volunteers. They need money. They need a lot of things. 816-977-1955 they are a 501 3C 100% of this money goes directly to what they do. They don't get paid anything for this. They're doing it because they want to do it, and they're doing it because it makes a difference.

00;35;12;25 - 00;35;28;03

Cary Hall

If you want to help them make a difference in a family's life, especially in a child's life, this is the way to do it. Once again, the website zuzus-petals.com. Thank you guys. This is really, an excellent show this year and I really appreciate your coming in.

00;35;28;04 - 00;35;29;24

John Massey

Thank you, thank you, can’t thank you enough, sir.

00;35;29;26 - 00;35;46;13

Cary Hall

Well, you did a great job. And I think this is going to resonate with our audience. And it's your opportunity, ladies and gentlemen. And now I leave you with this thought from Albert Einstein. The one who follows the crowd. They usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.

00;35;46;15 - 00;36;09;20

Cary Hall

Remember, friends, it's a funny thing about life. If you refuse to accept nothing but the very best, you most often get it. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to coast across USA. Goodbye America.

00;36;09;22 - 00;36;10;24

Cary Hall