Single Payer Radio | SPAVA | Preventing Adolescent Violence | 7-22-24

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Hello, and welcome to Single Pair Radio. I'm Paul Hoppey,
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broadcasting from the Haburn Building in Louisville on the WFMP
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one six point five Forward Radio Community Network. Our programs
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air every Monday at two pm, Tuesday at seven am,
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and Wednesday at eleven am, and we also stream our
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show on SoundCloud. The show was a product of Kentuckian's
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for Single Payer Healthcare, affiliated with Physicians for a National
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Health Program through its Kentucky chapter. We produce this program
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because we believe healthcare is a human right. We advocate
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for a national, not for profit, publicly funded, single payer
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healthcare system for everyone. The views and opinions expressed on
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our show are those of the speakers and not the station.
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Our station relies on volunteers like myself and your ideas
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and donations to keep us on the air. Today, doctors
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Mike Flynn and Gene Shiveley joined me as co with
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their guests, and Michael will introduce them.
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So, Mike, Yeah, this is Michael Flint. I'm retired surgical
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oncologist from the University of Louisville, and let me begin
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with the usual disclaimer that any comments I make represent
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my personal views and do not represent the views of
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the Department of Surgery or the University of Louisville.
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Gene, this is Eugene Schadley. I'm a retired general surgeon
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from Campbellsville, Kentucky. I spent my whole career in rural Kentucky.
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The views that I expressed so that was a mild
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and not Taylor Regional Hospital in nor to partner.
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With Surgery at the University of Louisville.
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We have a special program today. We have three guests
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representing an organization SPAVA. Spa VA, the Society for the
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Prevention of Violence and Aggressiveness in Adolescence, and we've had
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them on before. They did a program and it was
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so well received we've asked them to come back to
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have a wider discussion about some of these issues. I
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will briefly introduce each of these individuals and then give
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them each an opportunity to make whatever comments they'd like
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to make for as long as they'd like to make them,
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and I would ask each of them, for the benefit
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of our listeners, to expand upon the introduction that I make,
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so that they have a better understanding of the issues
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and the background of SPAVA. First of all, Tim Banerjee
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is a retired neurosurgeon and a farmer, and he started
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SPAVA after the Heath High School shooting in West Paducah
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in nineteen ninety seven. Doris Man is a longtime teacher
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and administrator. She's a SPAVA board member and coordinator. Mark
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Hudson as a CPA, the owner of Strategic CFO Services.
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He's a SPAVA mentor, a board member, has been a treasurer,
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and I think is currently present and if I get
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that ruin, Mark, you can correct me. So thank you
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all for coming. We're looking forward to the discussions. Tim.
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We're going to begin with you and make comments for
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as long as you like about whatever you like, and
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then we'll let Doris and then Mark. So Tim, the
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floor is yours.
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Well, good morning.
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I just want to say that doctor Flynn, that I'm
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really not quite retired. I still run the Neurostategedy Clinic.
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I stopped operating, but anyway, so in nineteen ninety seven,
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after the Heat High School shooting, I at that time
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happened to be teaching in Cambridge, England, and I saw
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that and then I called Archbishop Kelly and mister Morris
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Reisner from j CPS, and I said, you know, I
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could probably help the children to be more respectful and
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not kill each other.
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So I kind of.
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Called my late friend mister Franklin, the attorney and Judge
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Mary Corey, who was also retired, and asked them to
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help us to form a nonprofit organization. And before I
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arrived from England, they had already done all that, so
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it was their help and with mister Tim O'Mara, we
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formed an organization called SPAVA Society for the Prevention of
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Aggressiveness and Violence among Adolescents.
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Our plan was that time to kind of visit in
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the school.
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System JCPS and the Catholic schools and helped the children
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to understand the value of respect, integrity and learning to
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honor each other. And we started the program with a
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scholarship for the children in the name of Gandhi and King,
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even before United Nations started doing that. That was the
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year before that, to honoring those two men who were
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both killed by gun violence.
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Because I was very concerned that gun.
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Violence is a becoming a common problem in the school
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system and everywhere else actually, so that was the whole
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idea of starting this program and the way it happened
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was that I went to the school also at first
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before I wrote the curriculum, which JCPS modified and made
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it much better than I could have done. Is that
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I went to a class and went to a seventh
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grade class, and.
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As the teacher, asked the teacher if I could.
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Just ask a few questions to the children, and she
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said yes, And so I asked the kids if they
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ever heard of a guy called Martma Gandhi. So one
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of the kids raised his hand and I've never forgotten that.
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I said, okay, so tell me what you know about
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mart mc gandhi. So he said, oh, yeah, he's a
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funny looking dude with no clothes on. Because I figured
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he must have seen the Gandhi movie. And so I thought,
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it will be wonderful if we can introduce the concept
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of Gandhi and doctor Martin Luther King to the school
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system by telling the children about them and about their
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work of non violence. And that's how we went about.
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And then, of course I taught in multiple schools, and
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then at present Doris, doctor dorris Man runs the program
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with mister Mark Hudson. It is our president, and so
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I'm going to let them kind of take over and
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go from there.
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Doris, since your return.
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All right, good afternoon, and thank you, as Tamir said,
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for letting us be a part of your show again. Yes,
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I am a retired educator. I was in I either
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taught or was in administration for thirty seven years thirty
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one years of Jefferson County Public schools, and I always
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worked with at risk kids or what we call the
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asis kids. He at first childhood experienced kids that deal
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with trauma and divorce, violence.
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That kind of thing.
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So doctor Banerjee came to Southern Middle School I think
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maybe the second year, second or third year that he
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had started as papa, and he happened to have my
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class of students, and my students absolutely.
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Worshiped the ground the man walked on.
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He'd come in the building, and they were like little
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ducks following him when he got in the building. And
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kids would want to be a part of this program
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even though they had never.
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Been in the program.
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I mean, so word spread really quickly that doctor Banerjee
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was a cool guy to fall And then I was
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at Thomas Jefferson and doctor Banerjee walked from here, where
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did you walk to doctor Banerjee to.
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Colorado to Oregon, ill Argan, Okay, across a hundred.
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Yeah, talking about peace and non violence and just making
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people aware of what's going up, the issues that were
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going on. And doctor Banerjee actually at that time I
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was at Thomas Jefferson and our class went down and
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they had media covering it. So we got to cheer
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doctor Banerjian as he started his wall. And then in
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twenty seventeen I became the coordinator and I've been the
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coordinator ever since. And it's my job to work with
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schools and organizations to find mentors to work with our students,
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helping them learn to resolve conflict peacefully.
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So that's what I do. And I write grants and
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lots of other things.
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Lots of other things.
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Mark, it's your turn.
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Okay.
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This is Mark Hutson and I've been associated with SPAVAS
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since two thousand and six. First of all, thanks for
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having us again. We appreciate the opportunity. I was the
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president of the East Louisville Sunrise Rotary Club in two
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thousand and five and six, and doctor Bannerjee was a
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member of that club and he was urging me that
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may be an understatement urging me to become a spab
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a mentor. So I said, once I get done with
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this rotary thing, I will do that. So in two
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thousand and six I became a mentor and I never
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could picture myself in front of a class teaching.
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But I hooked.
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Up with a man, a gentleman I didn't know, only
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met through Spava, and he and I became a Spava team,
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which is it's actually an important concept of Spava that
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mentors can team up and kind of share the responsibility.
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It's a little bit, I will say, I will admit
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at the beginning a little bit of a daunting task
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getting up in front of a class, but seemed to
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go okay because I did that for I guess about
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thirteen fourteen years and we do multiple classes, and unfortunately
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my Spava mentor partner has passed away.
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In the meantime, but.
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That was my you know, kind of introduction to Spava
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and that kind of grew through the years, and.
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The enjoyment level of.
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Working with the kids was just I just really can't
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describe it. It's challenging, no doubt, because you feel like
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every time you go into that class, you've got such
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a responsibility to kind of help these kids through the
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difficult game of life. And in some cases it's extremely
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difficult for these kids. But I got to meet so
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many wonderful kids, and I guess the highlight of my
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SPAVA career was And this has happened multiple times, and
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I don't think it's because I'm sure it's not because
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of me. I'm sure it's because of the program. But
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we come back and visit the kids. You know, they
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have graduation after I worked mostly with fourth and fifth graders,
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but when you come back to visit, they just kind
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of spontaneously come up and.
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We all have a group hugged together. So it's just
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never could have envisioned anything like that when when you're
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working with the kids.
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But so it's I guess it's definitely safe to say
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that being a SPAVA mentor has I think been the
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most single most gratifying experience of my professional life for sure.
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And I am I'm kind of I'm not doing this
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direct mentoring anymore. I'm working with Doris and Tamir and
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the SPABA board as the president, and that's my role
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is shifted.
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A little bit.
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But I hope it's I'm not sure I'm as effectives
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as presidents I was as a mentor. I hope I
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was effective, but it seems like that's what the organization requires.
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At this time, Jane, you are.
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To begin the conversation with.
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You reading on this again. What SPAM was says for.
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Yes, I can say Society for the Prevention of Aggressiveness
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and Violence among Adolescents.
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And is this a program that's just I to Luisville
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or has to spread to other cities and towns throughout
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the Kentucky and the United States.
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I can tell you this.
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I was invited but with Jackson, Mississippi, by the superintendent
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of the schools, and I did some training, but I
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told them that they would have to raise their own money,
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because I, from Louisville could not provide them funds for
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the scholarship.
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So I don't believe it went very far. After that.
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Then I was invited to New Mexico, Albuquerque by the
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Attorney General to train lots of people and tell them
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about the program. And I did that, and then I
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also trained people in Canada. I was invited to a
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school in Vancouver, and so I went and trained a
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bunch of people in there. And they taught the program
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for a year, I think, and then they stopped. So
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I don't believe it has become effective in any other places.
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But they know about it because when I walked across
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the United States with a sign that said SPAVA on
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my chest and carrying a little sign that says walk
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for kids, people stopped and we did it. I met
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multiple rotary clubs on the way if there was a
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proper time, and I did introduce a program to different people,
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and we had lots of donations from different organizations. But
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I'm not sure that it has become part of multiple
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state program. It should be because we basically teach children
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respect and honor and integrity and empathy, and I have
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taught in multiple schools with this kind of interactive situations
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for them to do one act of kindness every day
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and keep a kindness log to help them to understand
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the value of respecting each other and not call bad
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names if somebody disagrees with me.
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And so that was where it was.
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Are you still connected with the Rotary Club and have
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you considered trying to make SPAVA a principal project for
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the Rotary Club in the state of Kentucky.
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I am not involved with the Rotary Club anymore. Morning.
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I mean, it takes me so much time to what
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I do. I just a rotary club always meets.
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Early in the morning, and I'm gonna.
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Feed lots of animals and do different things, and I
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just can't not able to do it.
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Okay, I can jump I can jump in on that
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one as well. And for some actually different reasons, I'm
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not involved with the Rotary Club either. So at this point,
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other than we do I have spoken to the Rotary
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Club about Spava in the last several years, but at
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this point we have no direct relationship ongoing relationship with
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the Rotary Club.
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Well, I'm a member of the Rotary Club, and as
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you know, we have various projects, and it seems like
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that this would be a really good project, at least
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for the district and maybe for the host state if
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we could get them involved.
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They do a good job with the Rotary Foundation and.
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The international projects and local projects that they do.
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Doris, let me tell my story about my one experience
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being a mentor. I was recruited by Tamir and this
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was I don't remember exactly the year. It was in
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the early two thousands, and I did it with a
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fellow from the political science department at the University of Louisville,
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and we showed up on Wednesday afternoon for I can't
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remember them that the eight or ten weeks and had
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this really remarkable experience with a a in a grammar
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school which was behind Churchill Downs and between Churchill Downs
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and Southern Parkway.
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And you were simple, simple, yes.
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And it started. It was a little rough to start off,
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but to the end of it we really had. It
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was a remarkable experience. At the end of the day
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they sent me. I've got a bunch of letters and
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the pictures and drawings that they all sent. So my
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question to you, Doris is how do you how do
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you recruit people? If you're the coordinator, I guess that's
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your job.
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And well, one of.
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One of the ways we do that, Mark and I
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go to and speak at a class at U of L.
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The doctor Laura Haynes, who's on the board a sup
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A board, also is a psychology professor at u of L.
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And for her.
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Students have to do twenty eight hours of community service
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as part of their grade for the semester, and five
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different nonprofits go and speak to her class and then
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they choose who they want to work with, which organization
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they want to work with. So Mark and I do
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a presentation, we get students from there. Also, doctor Haynes
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has students who are doing their internships.
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Through u of L Psychology.
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Department, and they need approximately one hundred and fifty hours.
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I had two interns from doctor Haynes's classes first semester
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and then one intern second semester this past school year,
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and I've already got the name of somebody for this
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coming school year, so that's one source of mentors. Then
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also I am reaching out this year to the fraternities
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and sorority at u of L. I am reaching out
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to the Jefferson County Retired Teachers Association and going to
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speak at one of their luncheons. I belong to the
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Cathedral of the Assumption and sing in their Sunday night choir,
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and Father Chandler, who was a pastor in May, let
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me come and speak it all board the masses about
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SPABA trying to get mentors, and I've got some mentors
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that way, So just it's anybody that I can think
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that will help. I've had some mentors from Bellerman I've
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had some mentors from Spalding.
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I now have the.
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Name of Simmons is starting an education program this year,
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and so I've already spoken to a gentleman that's a
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part of that program, and I'm going to go speak
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to someone at Simmons to try to get some mentors
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from there, because we need black males working with our students.
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Do you have some specific guidelines because when we did this,
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and again it was early on I think in the
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program and Tim had given us an idea of kind
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of what they wanted to do, but we didn't really
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have a lot of specifics and we kind of made
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it up as we went along, and again it was
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very enjoyable. One of the things that I did was
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I had everybody stand up and they would come to
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me and we would shake hands. They would look into
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my eyes and they would say, my name is Peter O'Toole,
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how do you do it? My name is Mary Murphy.
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And we did things like that. So I guess, when
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you're taking these young interns and people, do you have
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a pretty good eyea outline of what you want them
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to accomplish or how you want them to do it?
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Yes, several years ago, doctor bannershy Mark.
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You may know this either one mister Hudson. A curriculum.
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The curriculum guide was developed for K through second grade
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and the third through twelfth grade, and it's all on
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the website and the website has just it will.
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We are working on getting an updated, new and.
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Exciting website, but you can go to that website and
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find the curriculum guide, which tells it's you know, it's
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got lessons for activities for each of the ten lessons
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what the students are covering. But one of the things
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that I'm working on this summer is is getting more interactive,
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engaging activities as a part of this because with students now,
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especially since the pandemic, they have become so driven by
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iPads and technology and that kind of thing that in classes,
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you it's almost like, especially with the smaller ones, you
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have to use videos to kind of help them understand
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what you're talking about. For words, is empathy. That's a
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very difficult word sometimes for people to wrap their head
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around as children, but then even adults. So there's so
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many wonderful resources either YouTube videos, children's books, that kind
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of thing. So the goal this summer and then through
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this coming school year is to definitely update the curriculum
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so that we have all of these resources that people
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could use in addition to what's already in the curriculum guide.
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So there definitely is.
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Protocol to follow with what they're teaching each week and
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the type of activities and that kind of thing. Because
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one of the most important things I tell the mentors
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is you can't talk at the students. You have to
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work with the students and make the students feel like
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they're very much a part of what you're doing.
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Do you have training programs?
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Oh? Yeah, there is training. It doesn't take very long,
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but it's just base helping the mentors understand things like
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professional etiquette, integrity. They can't talk about the students when
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they're out of public places. They nothing faith based can
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be mentioned. Those kind of things are discussed and then
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then the mentors have to do a background check.
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Also, do you get fish churches in?
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Oh, Tim, did you want to say something?
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Understand the question the question again?
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Do you give churches involved in your program?
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Yes, we had for example, Springdale Presbyterian Church had several
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members that taught in the program. Then I had Unity
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Church several members fought for years in the program. As
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a matter of fact, a couple of preachers at Unity
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Church they were part of the program. So we have
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had yes, churches have been involved in teaching the program.
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But we we had to be a little bit careful
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because we had to have trained people and tell them
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that yes, we may be people of different faith, but
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we do not promote any one religion or other in
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the school system. But archibisial Kally told me in his schools,
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in the Catholic schools, so we can talk about God
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as much as we want, because I talked with him
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about that, but I want to mention something with that
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what Doris said and just expand on that so people
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can understand that we continuously need volunteers in this program.
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It's done by volunteers. We have had some. We sometimes
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have reimbursed people for their travel expanse Gas and all that.
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But it is very important for community members to teach
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the children the value of hard work and how not
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to make incendiary remarks about things that they hear, but
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to dissipate, like I would teach them. If somebody is
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telling a lie, clearly don't call them a liar. Something
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else that makes it a little less incendiary, and trying
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to not to put the children in a corner so
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that they have no escape route. Always give the kids
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an opportunity to save their face.
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It's very important in life to do that.
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And although that, you know, we have to be very
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careful what we hear on TV. And we have had
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lots of discussion because children would I taught in the
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detention center straight for five years. There is no ten
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weeks stuff. They told me, I have to come here
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every week. But I had the children tell us how
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they would do active kindness, how if there is a
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scene that they see like I asked them, what would
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happen if I came.
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Let's say I'm just going to pick a number.
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Let's say I came at a certain street at nine
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o'clock in the night and they were in the corner.
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I asked them, I said, would you introduce me to
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your friends? And one of the kids said, oh, doctor Timmy,
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why what do you I wouldn't come, I wouldn't acknowledge you.
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So I wanted to improve their confidence level too. I
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taught them about virtuosity and these are the words that
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we tried to help them to understand. So they can
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be respectful to each other and not call each other names.
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It sounds like you need to be talking to the politicians.
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If let me ask.
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You this question.
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We got a kid.
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Let's say you got a kid that's raised and I
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just functional family, and the family is fighting all the.
428
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Time, the kids exposed to violence.
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Uh.
430
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The uh?
431
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The stepmother and the mother fighting all the time.
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How do you teach a kid to deal with their
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constant struggle like that.
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They at least answer first and then you can talk
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about it. Yeah, okay, So we have actually faced this
436
00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:09.039
situation because we have a little box in our class
437
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where children put their questions anonymously if they have a question,
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and if something that looked very like I was teaching
439
00:27:17.720 --> 00:27:21.279
in a school in Bowling Green and at the Warren
440
00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:26.279
East High School, and when somebody wrote something that I
441
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thought was really scary, I immediately went and talked to
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the principal and let them handle there. We did not
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address the issue of the family in the classroom. I
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always if there is something that requires attention, I talked
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to the counselor and the principle in private and let
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them handle that.
447
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Because you know, I have always used that word.
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Among ourselves, and I said, you know, there is a
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tremendous sense of entitlement in the country, and sometimes the
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entirement interferes with education and good behavior.
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So we have to we have to be very careful.
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I wrote a play for the children in one of
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the one of these community centers, and they performed this
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play which says, I will not children care a little
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sign that said I will not smoke in the car.
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I will read to my children before they go to bed.
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I was called by the director. He said to me,
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or she said to me. He said, you know that
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to energy that play didn't go very well. And I
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understood it didn't go very well because obviously that children
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tried to tell somebody that, hey, I don't like.
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You to smoke in the car when I'm sitting in it.
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So the whole idea is that we have tried to
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avoid confrontation with the parents and anything that requires attention
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because father's plan plan originally was never to educate the parents.
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Our planers to educate the children.
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Okay, I understand that, Well, what do you say to
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a kid who is paying constantly bombardy with controversy and.
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Of violence.
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How can how they how do you teach them to.
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React to that.
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I think the most important thing as a mentor or
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as any adult that would be working with the student,
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the most important thing you can do is listen to
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that child, because they need to know that somebody cares
476
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enough about them that they're willing to listen. And as
477
00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:43.039
doctor Bannercy said, if you're aware of situations such as that,
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it's very like I always tell my mentors, if you
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are in a situation where you feel like a child
480
00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:52.160
is in dan is either a danger to themselves or
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00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:56.680
to others then, or in a situation that's dangerous for them,
482
00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:00.759
it's very important to let the counselor knowing immediately, though
483
00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:02.880
lots of times the counselor is already aware of that
484
00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:07.279
because those kind of issues often, I mean, you can
485
00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:11.039
teach children like breathing exercises to kind of calm down,
486
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You can talk to them about learning how to make
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positive comments about themselves and that kind of thing. But
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when you're dealing with content with issues where it's a
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continual part of a child's life, that's where the mental
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health specialists and the counselors and the schools definitely become
491
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and should be a part of whatever is going on
492
00:30:33.200 --> 00:30:37.680
with that child, because those kind of issues, a child
493
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:43.079
needs counseling way above what we are capable of doing
494
00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:45.720
within a ten week period for an hour in each class,
495
00:30:47.079 --> 00:30:50.640
and other than just the simple things like listening and
496
00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:54.279
helping the child understand that they have worth and value
497
00:30:55.079 --> 00:30:58.599
and helping them just even maybe express that worth and
498
00:30:58.680 --> 00:30:59.680
value in themselves.
499
00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:03.680
If I could jump in, yep, Mark could jump in,
500
00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:05.480
go ahead.
501
00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:10.839
I think it's important for your listeners to to understand
502
00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:16.359
that BABA is taught in a classroom environment. So our
503
00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:23.359
challenges to provide the students with tools which are in
504
00:31:23.400 --> 00:31:27.799
the curriculum. But at the same time, if one child
505
00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:32.519
has a certain issue which as Tamir said, comes out
506
00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:35.559
generally will come out of the question box or it
507
00:31:35.599 --> 00:31:38.680
could come up in discussion, and that's to our job
508
00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:42.640
is then to refer that particular issue to the teacher
509
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:47.200
because we just don't have the capacity to handle and
510
00:31:47.400 --> 00:31:53.359
mentor individual students. That's not part of our our mission.
511
00:31:54.839 --> 00:31:58.480
Marks as a treasure or at president, could you kind
512
00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:03.519
of give us as of the financial situation of SPAVA.
513
00:32:03.880 --> 00:32:07.000
You know, how do you get resources? I don't necessarily
514
00:32:07.079 --> 00:32:12.759
need numbers, but you know, how do you fundraise, what
515
00:32:12.839 --> 00:32:17.839
do you advertise? Just give us an overview of.
516
00:32:17.799 --> 00:32:21.960
How that works. Our primary source of funding we.
517
00:32:26.680 --> 00:32:28.160
Mark went away.
518
00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:29.599
I can't hear it.
519
00:32:29.799 --> 00:32:31.519
Mark, I don't think we can hear you.
520
00:32:32.920 --> 00:32:35.319
All right, Well, I can kind of step in there.
521
00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:42.480
Our primary source of funding is grant writing, and from
522
00:32:42.519 --> 00:32:46.480
the middle of January through the end of March, I
523
00:32:46.519 --> 00:32:50.240
wrote twelve different grants and I'm in the process of
524
00:32:50.279 --> 00:32:54.440
writing two more right now. We also, for all your
525
00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:57.799
listeners out there, give for Good. Louisville is coming up
526
00:32:57.839 --> 00:33:02.319
soon in September, and that's a perfect way for people.
527
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:04.880
To support SPAVA financially.
528
00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:09.119
And then also one of the things that I'm starting
529
00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:14.079
to do this summer is reach out to businesses. I'm
530
00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:16.400
going to begin reaching out to businesses to see if
531
00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:21.119
they would be willing to sponsor SPAVA with the financial
532
00:33:21.160 --> 00:33:26.039
donation or mentors, and then if they give a financial donation,
533
00:33:26.200 --> 00:33:28.640
to ask them if they would be willing to commit
534
00:33:28.680 --> 00:33:32.079
to that every single year. So those are kind of
535
00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:36.240
the primary fundraising type. Well, the way we get the
536
00:33:36.279 --> 00:33:38.000
finances was FAVA.
537
00:33:39.319 --> 00:33:42.559
I would like to go ahead, and then I want
538
00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:43.680
to ask dorsa question.
539
00:33:44.359 --> 00:33:48.799
I'd like to just mention that you know, Doris is
540
00:33:48.799 --> 00:33:51.599
writing lots of brands to help us. We have had
541
00:33:51.680 --> 00:33:56.400
lots of friends personal donations and that has kept us
542
00:33:56.400 --> 00:34:02.319
going and from Better Louisville Medicals Society to multiple organizations
543
00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:06.119
including Stockyards Bank, they have all helped us a little bit,
544
00:34:07.079 --> 00:34:11.039
and we would like more organizations to understand the value
545
00:34:11.079 --> 00:34:13.280
of it, and it would like the city City of
546
00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:16.480
Louisville to help us a little bit, because you know,
547
00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:17.800
every time there has.
548
00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:20.519
Been a killing or something like that, I've always looked
549
00:34:20.519 --> 00:34:22.159
at the person to see, oh, my god, was this
550
00:34:22.199 --> 00:34:27.079
person my student? Thank God? But it hasn't that I
551
00:34:27.119 --> 00:34:27.880
can recognize.
552
00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:31.239
But anyway, so like children understand, and I want to
553
00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:33.079
just go back for a second to say it for
554
00:34:33.159 --> 00:34:38.320
the listeners that about this situation. We were discussing about
555
00:34:38.360 --> 00:34:41.320
if there is an aggressiveness in the family and how
556
00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:43.559
do you teach the children. Well, I'm going to give
557
00:34:43.559 --> 00:34:45.960
you an example of a little girl whose name I
558
00:34:45.960 --> 00:34:48.639
shall not mention though I know her. She wrote a
559
00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:51.440
letter and she actually wrote a part of an essay
560
00:34:51.960 --> 00:34:56.239
in which she said that my parents were fighting, to
561
00:34:56.360 --> 00:35:02.000
which she said to them, you know, Ellman, talk about
562
00:35:02.039 --> 00:35:05.280
it before the yelling at each other like Spaba has
563
00:35:05.320 --> 00:35:08.719
taught us. I've never forgotten that and she said that
564
00:35:08.760 --> 00:35:13.519
to us about the Yeah, so, so I do. It's
565
00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:16.119
your time to ask the question, how interrupted.
566
00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:18.199
You doors up?
567
00:35:19.039 --> 00:35:19.360
Have you?
568
00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:23.239
Did you have experience in grant writing before while you
569
00:35:23.280 --> 00:35:24.480
were teaching?
570
00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:28.960
Yes? Okay, Yes, I wrote grants while I taught.
571
00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:32.519
Okay, so, and one of the one of the main
572
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:34.599
grants I wrote while I taught was a huge title
573
00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:37.199
one grant and those are very very difficult to get.
574
00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:39.960
When I was in Southern Middle School about twenty five
575
00:35:40.039 --> 00:35:43.119
years ago and we got a huge fifty thousand dollars
576
00:35:43.119 --> 00:35:45.719
two year grant through them, and twenty five years ago
577
00:35:45.800 --> 00:35:46.840
that was a huge grant.
578
00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:49.960
So, but then I wrote smaller grants also.
579
00:35:50.840 --> 00:35:51.079
So.
580
00:35:54.119 --> 00:35:58.480
How do you if you got an organization who doesn't
581
00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:04.800
have someone like you, is trying to get grants, how
582
00:36:04.880 --> 00:36:08.079
would you How would you go about that? Do you
583
00:36:08.199 --> 00:36:10.760
hire a grant writer or you try to get one
584
00:36:10.840 --> 00:36:14.559
to volunteer. I'm a member of a group that tries
585
00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:19.000
to have cancer patients and I contacted some grant writers
586
00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:21.280
and I had no success.
587
00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:24.880
Well, yes, one of the we got, we did get
588
00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:27.920
a capacity something called Capacity grant this year to the city,
589
00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:31.199
and one of the French benefits that kind of came
590
00:36:31.239 --> 00:36:33.800
with that is we get eighteen hundred and fifty dollars
591
00:36:33.840 --> 00:36:39.039
worth of services through Community Foundation Invlueville. And one of
592
00:36:39.079 --> 00:36:41.039
the one of the options that we can use that
593
00:36:41.079 --> 00:36:43.920
eighteen hundred and fifty dollars with is for writing grants.
594
00:36:44.320 --> 00:36:46.639
So if you're interested in trying to find somebody, you
595
00:36:46.679 --> 00:36:51.079
could call Community Foundation off Louisville. But their grant writing
596
00:36:51.119 --> 00:36:54.239
fee is I think it's now ninety five dollars an hour,
597
00:36:54.880 --> 00:36:57.079
which means that you're going to have to be trying
598
00:36:57.079 --> 00:36:59.800
to get some really really large grants to cover.
599
00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:00.320
Those fees ease.
600
00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:03.920
So how well I've decided SPAGA is going to use
601
00:37:03.960 --> 00:37:07.079
that eighteen hundred and fifty dollars is I will write
602
00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:10.840
the grant, but then I will work with the person
603
00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:14.400
with the grant writer at Community Foundation of Louisville maybe
604
00:37:14.920 --> 00:37:18.119
an hour two hours, ask them to go over the grant,
605
00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:21.119
what can I make better in your opinion? Change that,
606
00:37:21.159 --> 00:37:23.480
and then submit the grant and see if that will
607
00:37:23.480 --> 00:37:25.119
help to give more grants.
608
00:37:26.079 --> 00:37:31.360
How much oversight or input does any particular school have
609
00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:37.880
in your activities. Okay, I remember when when we I
610
00:37:37.960 --> 00:37:40.320
did this again, this is a long time ago. It
611
00:37:40.400 --> 00:37:43.719
was the very beginning of the program. There didn't seem
612
00:37:43.719 --> 00:37:46.280
to be very much. They kind of let us do
613
00:37:46.360 --> 00:37:49.119
what we wanted to do. So I'm kind of curious,
614
00:37:49.480 --> 00:37:52.440
when you go to a place, do you have some
615
00:37:52.519 --> 00:37:56.880
sort of interaction with the administration so they have an
616
00:37:56.960 --> 00:38:01.639
idea what your what's your plan is? Or you show
617
00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:05.280
them an outline? How how does that work? Because I
618
00:38:05.320 --> 00:38:09.039
when i've when I'm just going back to my experience
619
00:38:09.119 --> 00:38:13.760
of many many years ago, it was it was pretty loose.
620
00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:18.480
I could take that one on a higher level. As
621
00:38:18.519 --> 00:38:22.679
far as j CPS goes, we we operate under a
622
00:38:22.719 --> 00:38:28.239
memorandum of Agreement and it's a it's a fairly lengthy
623
00:38:28.440 --> 00:38:32.840
legal document and it spells out really what we.
624
00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:37.639
Can and cannot do and on more of a global basis.
625
00:38:37.679 --> 00:38:38.960
If you will, could.
626
00:38:38.840 --> 00:38:41.719
You give us a few examples when you get finished
627
00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:43.400
with the explanation, please.
628
00:38:44.679 --> 00:38:45.440
Examples.
629
00:38:46.760 --> 00:38:51.719
There's certain I think one thing that one thing indoors
630
00:38:51.800 --> 00:38:54.159
can jump in here as well. But one thing that
631
00:38:54.239 --> 00:39:00.159
we you're really not are you're prohibited from doing.
632
00:39:00.199 --> 00:39:03.119
Is collecting data specific student data.
633
00:39:04.400 --> 00:39:08.119
You know, the students are a protected class and so
634
00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:13.719
we cannot we cannot provide, we cannot capture data. So
635
00:39:13.800 --> 00:39:17.239
to speak on the students, it's a I won't say
636
00:39:17.280 --> 00:39:19.760
we can, but Doris can jump in here too. It's
637
00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:24.880
a very very complicated process. Then there's other things like,
638
00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:30.559
you know, we have to have background checks and.
639
00:39:29.840 --> 00:39:32.360
My building, my building insurance.
640
00:39:32.519 --> 00:39:37.719
Yeah, liability insurance. So there there's a number of requirements.
641
00:39:37.800 --> 00:39:41.440
But you know, doctor Polio is a signator on that
642
00:39:41.639 --> 00:39:45.039
and then they said they have they have me sign it,
643
00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:49.360
so that that's kind of the overriding governance so to
644
00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:53.599
speak with regard to the public schools, and I think
645
00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:58.880
Doris could speak to the more specific requirements that are
646
00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:01.199
principal or teacher may have.
647
00:40:02.960 --> 00:40:04.039
Yes at the schools.
648
00:40:04.400 --> 00:40:08.719
I usually work once administrative permission has been given at
649
00:40:08.719 --> 00:40:11.840
a school or an an administrative team decides that they
650
00:40:11.880 --> 00:40:15.760
want SPABA there. I usually work with either a mental
651
00:40:15.760 --> 00:40:18.800
health specialist, the counselor or the frisky, the family resource
652
00:40:18.840 --> 00:40:23.599
the youth service center coordinator and decide in setting up.
653
00:40:24.960 --> 00:40:25.920
What the school wants.
654
00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:30.960
And they pretty much dictate what their expectations are regarding
655
00:40:31.599 --> 00:40:33.840
the grade level they want us to work with the
656
00:40:33.920 --> 00:40:37.480
number of classes, the time, the days of the week,
657
00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:41.280
all that. I get all that, and then I get
658
00:40:41.320 --> 00:40:43.440
all the information from the mentors that I have to
659
00:40:43.480 --> 00:40:46.880
see when they can work those times or work when
660
00:40:46.880 --> 00:40:49.159
they're available, and then I put it all together like a.
661
00:40:49.159 --> 00:40:50.400
Big, huge j Excel puzzle.
662
00:40:50.639 --> 00:40:56.280
But the schools very much dictate what what their needs
663
00:40:56.320 --> 00:41:00.719
are because in going into the schools, we cannot be
664
00:41:00.760 --> 00:41:04.079
a burden to the schools because they're already dealing with
665
00:41:04.360 --> 00:41:08.079
so much, especially since the pandemic. And I've read studies
666
00:41:08.119 --> 00:41:10.519
that are saying it's going to take kids ten or
667
00:41:10.519 --> 00:41:13.960
fifteen years to catch up with the academics that they
668
00:41:14.119 --> 00:41:15.360
lost during the pandemic.
669
00:41:15.800 --> 00:41:20.039
So when I go in, i've.
670
00:41:20.559 --> 00:41:23.760
We've kind of been a way cater not in a
671
00:41:23.800 --> 00:41:26.679
bad way like you think about movie stars catering that way,
672
00:41:27.079 --> 00:41:29.760
but truly work to cater to the needs of their
673
00:41:29.800 --> 00:41:32.199
students and the teachers and the school.
674
00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:37.400
Now, are the requirements or the requests or I'm not
675
00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:41.199
exactly sure how to state this, of the religious schools
676
00:41:41.239 --> 00:41:43.440
different from the public.
677
00:41:43.079 --> 00:41:48.559
Schools, No, it's pretty much the same. But last year
678
00:41:48.599 --> 00:41:49.679
we were in none of.
679
00:41:49.679 --> 00:41:53.559
The Catholic schools because they've got a new social emotional
680
00:41:53.639 --> 00:41:57.119
learning program called Frenzy that they're using. And I know
681
00:41:57.239 --> 00:42:00.000
that because I was the principal at Saint Andrew Academy
682
00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:05.719
the year before last, and all the schools in the archdiocese,
683
00:42:05.800 --> 00:42:09.880
all the Catholic schools are using the Frenzy program, so
684
00:42:09.920 --> 00:42:10.400
they have.
685
00:42:10.360 --> 00:42:11.079
To pay for that.
686
00:42:11.519 --> 00:42:14.559
And I think one of the advantages for SPAVA is
687
00:42:14.599 --> 00:42:18.239
that it is free. And it's such an important program
688
00:42:18.280 --> 00:42:21.440
too because we work from a preventive perspective and kind
689
00:42:21.440 --> 00:42:23.119
of proactive when it comes.
690
00:42:22.840 --> 00:42:24.239
To non violence.
691
00:42:24.960 --> 00:42:29.400
So and I don't know when and if any of
692
00:42:29.480 --> 00:42:32.079
the Catholic schools would decide they want us back. We
693
00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:35.159
are in some other private schools, the West End School
694
00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:39.920
and then the other one is the Nativity, so both
695
00:42:39.960 --> 00:42:41.440
have considered private schools.
696
00:42:42.199 --> 00:42:44.920
Well, let me then ask a similar question in a
697
00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:51.320
different way. If you go to a school in lower
698
00:42:51.360 --> 00:42:55.519
income district as opposed to an upper income district, of you,
699
00:42:56.079 --> 00:42:59.199
are there differences there and the issues that you deal with.
700
00:43:01.920 --> 00:43:05.440
No, I don't know that the issues are all the same.
701
00:43:05.519 --> 00:43:08.360
I think it's but when you're dealing with a school
702
00:43:08.559 --> 00:43:11.840
that there's a greater poverty level within the school, or
703
00:43:11.840 --> 00:43:15.199
more aces students in that school, You're going to have
704
00:43:15.239 --> 00:43:17.920
a greater percentage of the kids who who are struggling
705
00:43:17.920 --> 00:43:23.119
with those issues, you know, trauma and the house divorce
706
00:43:25.039 --> 00:43:28.159
violence that they're dealing with, domestic violence, child abuse.
707
00:43:28.360 --> 00:43:30.599
You're going to have more.
708
00:43:30.760 --> 00:43:35.320
Kids experiencing those issues if they're coming from poverty, because
709
00:43:35.320 --> 00:43:39.679
studies show that poverty and violence oftentimes are associated.
710
00:43:39.079 --> 00:43:39.639
With each other.
711
00:43:40.280 --> 00:43:44.760
Well, let me ask you go ahead. So I'm sorry, Tim, I.
712
00:43:44.719 --> 00:43:46.239
Would like to just interject.
713
00:43:46.599 --> 00:43:50.360
If you look at the school shootings, you will find
714
00:43:50.360 --> 00:43:54.559
out that actually the middle income and the high income
715
00:43:54.599 --> 00:43:57.280
schools are the ones that produced the guys that went
716
00:43:57.320 --> 00:43:58.360
out and killed the others.
717
00:43:58.960 --> 00:44:03.400
Starting from Heath High School, it was not a poverty school. Wow.
718
00:44:04.280 --> 00:44:08.760
Well, I've had five children, and as they have all
719
00:44:08.840 --> 00:44:13.599
grown up, the most difficult times that I've had with
720
00:44:13.679 --> 00:44:18.760
them has been in their adolescens. So I guess the
721
00:44:18.880 --> 00:44:22.159
question is when you go to a grammar school versus
722
00:44:22.159 --> 00:44:25.440
a high school, may ask you the same questions about
723
00:44:25.480 --> 00:44:31.360
the high income low income things like that, How are
724
00:44:31.400 --> 00:44:35.920
there issue differences that you deal with in those two
725
00:44:35.960 --> 00:44:38.039
different environments.
726
00:44:40.480 --> 00:44:43.159
Daughters, I'm gonna just sit May I just go ahead?
727
00:44:43.440 --> 00:44:45.239
May I just okay.
728
00:44:46.119 --> 00:44:50.480
In some of the lower income schools, some of us
729
00:44:50.519 --> 00:44:54.760
men are recognized that the children actually run the family.
730
00:44:55.320 --> 00:44:57.159
I had a kid in my class.
731
00:44:57.039 --> 00:45:00.519
He was fourteen years old. He told you know that,
732
00:45:00.679 --> 00:45:04.000
to Tim, you will never understand what I do. I
733
00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:05.599
have a young brother I take care of.
734
00:45:06.119 --> 00:45:07.039
And so people have.
735
00:45:07.039 --> 00:45:11.599
To understand and be empathetic about this whole situation because
736
00:45:11.599 --> 00:45:14.400
many of these children have a huge burden on your shoulder.
737
00:45:15.239 --> 00:45:19.480
Their parents already yes, and their parents already yes. Yeah.
738
00:45:19.519 --> 00:45:23.000
So you're still dealing with the issues of maybe when
739
00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:25.440
you get into high school there would be the possibility
740
00:45:25.519 --> 00:45:28.639
or greater risk of more gun violence. Maybe that these
741
00:45:28.719 --> 00:45:31.039
kids are dealing with when they get older, more gang
742
00:45:31.079 --> 00:45:34.599
issues than the little ones. But a lot of the
743
00:45:34.679 --> 00:45:37.360
issues are still the same, the family issues, they're dealing with, the.
744
00:45:37.320 --> 00:45:38.679
Poverty that they're dealing with.
745
00:45:39.360 --> 00:45:42.880
Uh compared you know, from high school to the lower
746
00:45:42.920 --> 00:45:46.280
grades or even from the schools.
747
00:45:45.840 --> 00:45:47.920
That deal with more poverty and less poverty.
748
00:45:48.679 --> 00:45:52.679
Do you and your program do you get into gang issues,
749
00:45:53.119 --> 00:45:55.599
how to resist that and how to deal with it?
750
00:45:56.039 --> 00:45:56.159
Now?
751
00:45:58.199 --> 00:46:01.639
What other than other than trying, other than if we
752
00:46:01.679 --> 00:46:05.400
teach them the skills how to communicate how to be
753
00:46:06.239 --> 00:46:09.239
how to be assertive when it comes to taking up
754
00:46:09.280 --> 00:46:13.320
for their rights, talking about not bullying. Hopefully talking about
755
00:46:13.599 --> 00:46:17.360
those kind of topics will help.
756
00:46:17.400 --> 00:46:20.840
Steer them away and help them.
757
00:46:21.920 --> 00:46:25.159
Students oftentimes get involved with gangs because they feel the
758
00:46:25.239 --> 00:46:29.559
need to belong, and this can be a way to
759
00:46:29.639 --> 00:46:32.800
begin to help kids understand that there are ways that
760
00:46:32.880 --> 00:46:35.760
you can belong in good ways in addition to and
761
00:46:35.840 --> 00:46:36.400
bad ways.
762
00:46:37.079 --> 00:46:39.400
Now do you deal with go.
763
00:46:39.280 --> 00:46:43.039
Ahead, Mark, I'm sorry I can but to say that
764
00:46:43.119 --> 00:46:49.480
we do focus mostly on the younger kids. Our program
765
00:46:49.679 --> 00:46:55.440
is designed to be preventative. We won't not go into
766
00:46:55.559 --> 00:46:59.519
high schools or middle schools, but the sweet spots, so
767
00:46:59.599 --> 00:47:03.719
to speak for Spava. It seems to be in our experience,
768
00:47:04.119 --> 00:47:07.840
or definitely in my experiences, those fourth and fifth graders.
769
00:47:07.880 --> 00:47:10.559
If you can give give them some tools early on,
770
00:47:11.679 --> 00:47:14.400
sometimes by the time they get you know, middle and
771
00:47:14.559 --> 00:47:18.400
definitely high school, the you know, the they're a little
772
00:47:18.400 --> 00:47:22.079
too far into the gang behavior and some of their
773
00:47:22.119 --> 00:47:23.639
attitudes and so forth.
774
00:47:25.360 --> 00:47:31.400
Now do you specifically deal with bullying and directly or
775
00:47:31.480 --> 00:47:35.440
is that just something that's kind of taken in an
776
00:47:35.440 --> 00:47:37.039
indirect way.
777
00:47:37.320 --> 00:47:41.199
The program, the program, the way it's taught, and the
778
00:47:41.599 --> 00:47:45.360
curriculum has a you know, it's not hit and miss.
779
00:47:45.159 --> 00:47:50.199
It builds up to a bullying uh.
780
00:47:52.400 --> 00:47:58.360
Conclusion, if you will, And that conclusion of the program
781
00:47:58.480 --> 00:48:01.760
is a bullying role play. And so what we do
782
00:48:01.920 --> 00:48:06.639
is we have, you know, we have roles of the bully,
783
00:48:07.320 --> 00:48:13.079
the bully's friend, and the person who's be who's being
784
00:48:13.159 --> 00:48:17.000
bullied and their friends, and they come up with their
785
00:48:17.039 --> 00:48:22.480
own their own themes as to what the issue is
786
00:48:22.599 --> 00:48:25.559
and then they they use what they've been taught in
787
00:48:25.599 --> 00:48:30.400
SPAVA up until that point in dealing with the bully.
788
00:48:31.360 --> 00:48:34.880
And they're in my classes, they were the teacher actually
789
00:48:34.920 --> 00:48:38.920
recorded those and we would watch the videos and their
790
00:48:38.960 --> 00:48:44.519
classmates would critique their performance so to speak, and whether
791
00:48:44.559 --> 00:48:49.800
they brought out and use the how they and they'd
792
00:48:49.840 --> 00:48:53.639
identify the techniques they were taught in SPAVA. So that's
793
00:48:53.719 --> 00:48:58.159
really kind of a the culmination of the program and
794
00:48:58.199 --> 00:49:01.800
it builds that. So to answer question, yes, specifically, we
795
00:49:01.880 --> 00:49:03.119
do deal with bullying.
796
00:49:05.239 --> 00:49:08.440
And I would like to add to that and say
797
00:49:08.440 --> 00:49:11.440
that I have also in my classes very much taught
798
00:49:11.480 --> 00:49:16.920
the children about the different kinds of bullying, physical, emotional,
799
00:49:17.079 --> 00:49:22.519
and economic bullying and how to respect women and how many,
800
00:49:23.159 --> 00:49:28.320
how many times economic bullying can be because sometimes I said,
801
00:49:28.360 --> 00:49:28.719
as we.
802
00:49:28.719 --> 00:49:31.360
Grow up, you know, depend upon our situation in life.
803
00:49:31.880 --> 00:49:34.320
We think, if a mom is just kind of taking
804
00:49:34.360 --> 00:49:36.960
care of the things in the house, that doesn't mean
805
00:49:37.000 --> 00:49:40.400
that I can just pay less and put more stress
806
00:49:40.400 --> 00:49:42.719
on mom. That's the form of a bullying. So I
807
00:49:42.840 --> 00:49:46.239
made the children understand that very clearly. That is very
808
00:49:46.280 --> 00:49:49.400
important for us as we grow up as men who
809
00:49:49.800 --> 00:49:53.360
recognize the fact that we must work for our sisters
810
00:49:53.639 --> 00:49:56.239
to get equal pay as we do for our jobs.
811
00:49:56.679 --> 00:49:59.719
That's part of our responsibility. So I showed them to
812
00:50:00.079 --> 00:50:02.239
sticks of how women get less pay than the men.
813
00:50:02.840 --> 00:50:05.360
And these are the things children have to understand up front.
814
00:50:05.440 --> 00:50:07.960
And I have helped many of these kids understand, and
815
00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:11.880
I've taught them resilience so they're not bullied. A young
816
00:50:11.960 --> 00:50:17.760
fellow who graduated from Senex after leaving the Jesseps and
817
00:50:17.840 --> 00:50:20.519
he went and volunteered somewhere in the eastern Kentucky and
818
00:50:20.519 --> 00:50:24.039
wrote me a just unbelievable letter. He says, do to Tim,
819
00:50:24.119 --> 00:50:26.599
you taught me about resilience. He told me that I'm
820
00:50:26.599 --> 00:50:30.159
going to possibly face that my parents will get divorced,
821
00:50:30.719 --> 00:50:33.159
and then you said that sometimes children are used that
822
00:50:33.280 --> 00:50:36.960
little spies, and then I will be If I don't do.
823
00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:38.960
This, one of the parents might deell at me.
824
00:50:39.519 --> 00:50:42.320
But I learned from you that we must be equal,
825
00:50:42.440 --> 00:50:45.840
learn to love both parents equally and not be spies
826
00:50:45.920 --> 00:50:48.239
for each other. So I must not be bullied by
827
00:50:48.239 --> 00:50:51.079
one or the other. And they understand that if we
828
00:50:51.159 --> 00:50:53.000
give them real examples of life.
829
00:50:55.639 --> 00:50:58.159
How many was my go ahead?
830
00:50:58.599 --> 00:51:01.079
No, I was gonna say so, was I mean that
831
00:51:01.199 --> 00:51:04.840
kind of a letter from children? I work in the
832
00:51:04.880 --> 00:51:08.440
Family Community Center at this moment as a volunteer. I
833
00:51:08.480 --> 00:51:10.480
saw it a kid who is in the University of
834
00:51:10.559 --> 00:51:14.320
Louisville Medical School and he came and volunteering and I
835
00:51:14.400 --> 00:51:16.239
recognized him and I said, oh my god.
836
00:51:16.119 --> 00:51:17.559
You're in my seventh grade class.
837
00:51:18.079 --> 00:51:20.800
And he told me, yes, you taught me about resilience
838
00:51:21.199 --> 00:51:23.360
and how to It is because of you that I'm
839
00:51:23.400 --> 00:51:27.079
becoming a doctor. So I think these are very important
840
00:51:27.119 --> 00:51:30.599
things for children to learn, that things that they might
841
00:51:30.800 --> 00:51:34.079
face as we have grown older, to pass on some
842
00:51:34.119 --> 00:51:38.760
of these information to them throughout SPAVA program.
843
00:51:39.320 --> 00:51:43.400
How many mentors do you have actively and loved in
844
00:51:43.480 --> 00:51:45.800
the school program starting.
845
00:51:45.440 --> 00:51:50.440
This year this year where I'm just in the process
846
00:51:50.440 --> 00:51:54.719
of getting started. Last year, altogether, I had twenty one
847
00:51:54.880 --> 00:51:59.639
mentors who volunteered approximately nine hundred hours, and I was
848
00:51:59.719 --> 00:52:00.360
very rut of.
849
00:52:00.360 --> 00:52:05.360
That, Well, that's that's that's not enough. That's not enough.
850
00:52:06.760 --> 00:52:11.679
There's more demand than than there are mentors. Constant challenge
851
00:52:11.840 --> 00:52:12.239
we have.
852
00:52:12.800 --> 00:52:18.719
Do you find that getting college students and graduate students involved?
853
00:52:19.480 --> 00:52:19.599
Uh?
854
00:52:19.840 --> 00:52:22.440
Does that make a difference to the kids relate to
855
00:52:23.480 --> 00:52:27.400
younger people than they do to middle age or older people.
856
00:52:29.119 --> 00:52:32.519
I've seen with the college students that I think that
857
00:52:33.360 --> 00:52:36.280
they can develop some very strong relationships with the students
858
00:52:36.360 --> 00:52:39.880
because they're not that far off in age where But
859
00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:43.000
then you also have great value in the older mentors
860
00:52:43.039 --> 00:52:48.440
also bring life experiences with them, So I think sometimes
861
00:52:48.679 --> 00:52:51.800
it depends on it depends on the personality of the mentor. Also,
862
00:52:52.599 --> 00:52:56.280
I think that plays a big factor in it with uh,
863
00:52:57.360 --> 00:52:59.880
you know how they deal with the students and the
864
00:53:00.760 --> 00:53:03.320
and the manner in which they bond with the mentor.
865
00:53:04.000 --> 00:53:08.199
Now, if you have a limited number of mentors poor
866
00:53:08.280 --> 00:53:16.320
working nine hundred hours, do you deal with burnout issues? Uh?
867
00:53:17.119 --> 00:53:23.239
No? Other I mean they anybody that mentors they know
868
00:53:23.519 --> 00:53:26.360
when they start, what will deal with or what they'll
869
00:53:26.400 --> 00:53:29.159
have to deal with. And with the college students especially,
870
00:53:29.559 --> 00:53:33.559
it's only for ten weeks, and for some of them
871
00:53:33.679 --> 00:53:37.400
they're either doing their internships or getting college require you know,
872
00:53:37.519 --> 00:53:42.360
hours required. Some mentors have had I have struggled more
873
00:53:42.400 --> 00:53:46.039
with their classes, and there have been two situations where
874
00:53:46.039 --> 00:53:49.320
I've actually gone into the schools, like for the whole
875
00:53:50.320 --> 00:53:52.960
ten weeks and work with the mentor as they were
876
00:53:52.960 --> 00:53:55.639
working with the students, because they were dealing with some
877
00:53:55.760 --> 00:54:00.960
very difficult students. So you know, I worked very much
878
00:54:01.079 --> 00:54:04.159
make the experience very positive for those who choose to
879
00:54:04.199 --> 00:54:05.639
be mentors for SPAVA.
880
00:54:06.519 --> 00:54:10.400
The question that was asked if the younger mentors U
881
00:54:10.599 --> 00:54:12.840
if the children make connections, And I'm going to tell
882
00:54:12.880 --> 00:54:16.559
you the answer is probably yes. Because there was a
883
00:54:16.599 --> 00:54:21.760
time when doctor Flynn, myself, doctor McMasters, doctor Hiram Pope,
884
00:54:21.760 --> 00:54:25.199
doctor Chuck Bark, all of these people who volunteered you know,
885
00:54:25.519 --> 00:54:27.920
their operations, who had postponed a little bit or whatever
886
00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:31.239
way they made their time. The point is they made
887
00:54:31.239 --> 00:54:34.440
a difference because like for example, doctor Coots used to
888
00:54:34.440 --> 00:54:37.920
teach in the program, and doctor Kotz told me that
889
00:54:38.039 --> 00:54:40.039
they don't listen to me. I said, well, doctor courts.
890
00:54:40.079 --> 00:54:42.480
They don't know that your doctor courts, your doctor courts
891
00:54:42.519 --> 00:54:45.719
to us, to the children, you are not as effective.
892
00:54:46.159 --> 00:54:48.880
So I think it is very difficult.
893
00:54:49.159 --> 00:54:52.039
And the young people make a better connection in that
894
00:54:52.159 --> 00:54:54.039
regard because they can relate to.
895
00:54:54.039 --> 00:54:56.719
Their age, and I think they understand better.
896
00:54:58.480 --> 00:55:01.880
And I think that the younger mentor also they have
897
00:55:01.960 --> 00:55:06.400
a better grasp of almost the needs of the students
898
00:55:06.960 --> 00:55:12.079
because I know that last school year, the big cartoon
899
00:55:12.159 --> 00:55:16.760
character was a little dog named Blue. And you know,
900
00:55:17.039 --> 00:55:19.440
the college mentors are the ones that told me that
901
00:55:19.639 --> 00:55:22.960
they had some of their lessons around Blue because it
902
00:55:23.039 --> 00:55:26.840
was something that the kids related to. So those kind
903
00:55:26.840 --> 00:55:29.199
of things I think cause a little bit of a
904
00:55:29.599 --> 00:55:33.360
can you know, produce a little bit closer connection.
905
00:55:33.599 --> 00:55:37.960
Also, we're getting close to the end of our lollipop here,
906
00:55:38.000 --> 00:55:40.639
We've got about three minutes left. What I thought I
907
00:55:40.679 --> 00:55:43.559
would suggest is I'd like to give each one of
908
00:55:43.599 --> 00:55:49.559
you an opportunity to make whatever final statements you'd like
909
00:55:49.679 --> 00:55:52.480
to make to her mentors, and then Paul will take
910
00:55:52.599 --> 00:55:52.960
us out.
911
00:55:54.039 --> 00:55:56.880
Okay, so I'm going to say that I would very
912
00:55:56.960 --> 00:55:59.679
much like to those who are listening to this program
913
00:56:00.119 --> 00:56:03.360
to hopefully volunteer because we need lots of mentors.
914
00:56:03.960 --> 00:56:06.599
We need more mentors and more funds to make.
915
00:56:06.519 --> 00:56:10.320
This thing happen, because this is a very important program
916
00:56:10.360 --> 00:56:13.760
to teach their children so that how to be respectful
917
00:56:13.800 --> 00:56:18.719
and honorable and become useful citizens and not shoot each other,
918
00:56:19.119 --> 00:56:22.400
which doesn't amount to very much in our life.
919
00:56:23.360 --> 00:56:24.920
Yeah, and I'd like to add to kind of what
920
00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.559
Tamir said that not only do we need volunteers to
921
00:56:29.599 --> 00:56:35.559
mentor you know, or to support us financially, but there
922
00:56:35.559 --> 00:56:39.320
are many other ways that somebody could help. I just
923
00:56:39.480 --> 00:56:42.559
if somebody is like a retired teacher and they've written
924
00:56:42.599 --> 00:56:45.719
grants before, I would be more than happy to welcome
925
00:56:45.719 --> 00:56:49.199
anybody that could help me with that. Or if somebody
926
00:56:49.239 --> 00:56:53.440
could help with our social marketing, or could help with
927
00:56:53.599 --> 00:56:56.719
just even finding grants that I could write. So there's
928
00:56:56.760 --> 00:56:59.360
so many other ways that somebody could help.
929
00:57:00.199 --> 00:57:02.320
Contact. Information is on the website.
930
00:57:03.440 --> 00:57:06.079
Yeah, I would say we have a very small board.
931
00:57:07.119 --> 00:57:10.480
We're looking for to add new board members. So if
932
00:57:10.519 --> 00:57:14.840
your listeners would have an interest in SPAVA, I think
933
00:57:15.119 --> 00:57:19.840
we'd be certainly anxious to speak with them. Also, make
934
00:57:19.880 --> 00:57:23.440
the point on the younger mentors versus the what I
935
00:57:23.519 --> 00:57:30.599
call the community mentors or the older, more life experienced mentors.
936
00:57:30.639 --> 00:57:35.360
We have more continuity with the older mentors with the
937
00:57:35.400 --> 00:57:38.079
young with the college age kids, it's hard to get
938
00:57:39.360 --> 00:57:42.639
continuity and it's it's really kind of a one off
939
00:57:42.760 --> 00:57:43.679
thing for them.
940
00:57:43.800 --> 00:57:45.920
So as important as they.
941
00:57:45.800 --> 00:57:49.559
Are, we we we really need to strengthen our numbers
942
00:57:49.840 --> 00:57:53.719
out in the community, and hopefully your listeners will.
943
00:57:55.039 --> 00:57:56.360
If they would like to.
944
00:57:56.360 --> 00:57:59.960
Contact us and learn more about SPAVO or Shadow Spava
945
00:58:00.079 --> 00:58:03.119
a mentor this coming school year, that would that would
946
00:58:03.159 --> 00:58:05.519
be most appreciated and encouraged.
947
00:58:06.039 --> 00:58:08.440
Well, listen, I want to thank you all for coming
948
00:58:08.519 --> 00:58:10.760
on here, and I want to thank you all for
949
00:58:10.840 --> 00:58:14.559
the wonderful job you're doing out there for the community
950
00:58:14.639 --> 00:58:15.199
in general.
951
00:58:15.760 --> 00:58:19.480
Paul okay, Well, it was a great show. I really
952
00:58:19.559 --> 00:58:20.119
enjoyed it.
953
00:58:20.320 --> 00:58:26.360
And if anybody out there is interested in in contacting SPAVA,
954
00:58:27.400 --> 00:58:31.159
drop me a line at K S p H Louisville
955
00:58:31.880 --> 00:58:35.880
at gmail dot com and uh I'll connect you with them.
956
00:58:36.840 --> 00:58:39.079
So, I guess we're going to be signing off now,
957
00:58:39.320 --> 00:58:41.760
so please check back in with us.
958
00:58:42.239 --> 00:58:42.679
Thank you,