Childhelp COO: "I Walked Away from Surgery to Manage an Orphanage for Free" (Life-Changing)

[0:00]  [music] Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart and House of Podcast. Our next guest could have been a surgery, could have had the salary, but he said, "No, I want to mar manage an orphanage in Guatemala, and he'll do it for free." Michael, I mean those words, man, most people chase stability in their 20s, but you truly chase your purpose. I mean, you didn't really know that, but what did that decision cost you and what did it actually give you so early on in your life? Um, at the time, it felt like it cost me a lot of um expectations that people had on me that I was trying to live up to. It felt like it cost me opportunities that I thought I'd been dreaming of my entire life. But it blessed me in ways that I never thought possible. It enriched my life in ways that I never thought possible and it truly made me the man that I am today. Um what transpired in my life started again um my my parents were blueco collar workers out of Brooklyn, New York. And you know when I was born they made the sacrifice to move from New York to California to give me a better opportunity at life. And they did. They gave me every opportunity. I went to private school my whole life, participated in every sport that my heart desired to. had friends, had opportunities, and they did it at working two jobs each um in order to provide for that as well as for my younger sister. And my maternal grandmother um came on out to kind of help raise me um with my parents and her and I were very, very close. And uh the five of us just had the most amazing, loving family anybody could ever desire and want. Um my parents are both Catholic. They're still Eucharistic ministers in the Catholic church today. They raised me in the Catholic church. And uh I felt very much called to uh to serve at a young young age. I always knew that that was something that was important. But for the cath the Catholic church and and and mass didn't feed me um in a spiritual way the way that a Christian non-denominational service did. And it was during my high school years that I was introduced to a a Christian non-denominational service really opened up my eyes to the idea of having a personal relationship with the Lord that sent me to a private university in in Washington, Seattle Pacific University where again I was on track to be kind of the great white hope for the family. We are going to be doctor because our family saying was we never met a poor doctor. So I was going to go math scientist came natural to me. Um I was going to go and be a doctor. I was going to be a surgeon. I was going to make a lot of money um and still serve and help people in that way. And as I was studying in college, I was passing tests. I was doing well in school. But I literally did not want to know any of it. I was like, I don't want to know this stuff. I had an opportunity to go overseas um based upon how well I was performing in school. Um we did a a student exchange and I went to Kenya and Uganda, Africa. And I spent four months working in different orphanages and different health clinics. And uh as I was on that journey, um I fell in love I I I fell in love with serving people that couldn't give back to me in the same manner with which I was giving to them. I fell in love with uh communities of people that cared for one another more than they cared for themselves. Um and that shaped me in a in a way that I didn't expect. And when I came back to the States from that experience, I dropped study in premed. I I redirected my focus and my attentions to how I could help serve a youth-based community in in a different environment. And when I graduated college, I uh I moved to Guatemala and I ended up caring for 33 orphans as the director of an orphanage there for two and a half years um at no cost. And that was because audibly, brother, I was sitting in Africa. I was driving in the back of a truck. I was smelling garbage being built on the side of the street. I was covered in in in dirt from the day's activities. And all I could remember saying to myself was, I do this for free.

[4:07]  I was like, this is what I want to do. I want to be a part of this. Um, I don't want Michael.

[4:14]  I I cut to you real quick, man, to to say you really learned early on and what a blessing, right? God had a different plan. You said, uh, I'm not going to chase the paycheck. I'm truly going to chase purpose and passion. that was your passion at the moment and you felt the purpose of it and needed. How did that four month trip you talk about going back to Africa? How did that trip to Africa really crack something that school really never could?

[4:36]  It touched passion. Um that that that's the best way I think. You know, we talk a lot Simon Synynic actually says this a bit in some of his his talks. You know, when people are are chasing after and working for things that they don't care about, that's stress. But when people are chasing after um things that they truly care about, that's passion. And what I was doing in school was stress. I I was chasing after the expectations that others had on me. I was chasing after what I thought I needed to give back to people that had sacrificed so much for me. I was chasing after experiences that others had lived and ambitions that they wanted for themselves that they were hoping were going to be created through me. And that created a lot of stress on me. um that I wanted to fulfill. I just didn't feel excited about. I didn't want to do it.

[5:25]  But when I was in Africa and I was spending day and night, you know, around we were working 12, 13 hour days. Um but it didn't feel like 12, 13 hour days. It felt like 12 13 minutes. I mean, it it felt quick because I was passionate about it. I cared about it. It's what I wanted to do. I woke up every day being excited about whatever that day was going to have in front of me. And I honestly didn't know what I was going to have in front of me. I was going to be meeting different groups of children. I was going to go to different clinics. We were going to have different health issues that we were going to be facing. I had no idea. And it was exciting and I loved it and I wanted more of that. And I knew at the end of the day that whatever I gave that day was going to be meaningful not just to those that I was with, but to me. And that passion is what I started chasing then and I'm still chasing to this day. Um because

[6:14]  you're so passionate you're messing stuff up in your office too. You're so passionate. You just knocking things over, bro. I did.

[6:20]  No, I uh I love that, man. I do sense the passion. I sense the passion the first time that I talked to you and your cupage just was being filled, right? And and and ideally, so many people don't experience that. I I think the nonprofit space, the healthc care space, when you really get to change somebody's life, it's so amazing. It's so fulfilling. It makes us, it allows us to sleep good at night and know that the the time that God has blessed us with while we're here that we're doing right, you know, for others. Um, but I ask you, man, that was then and now you're still in the space of giving and now you're a part of a different organization here. Uh, well, not here because I'm not in Arizona, but kind of not just in Arizona. Talk to us where you at today. So, right now I'm the I'm the chief operating officer for a national nonprofit organization called Child Help. And Child Help is arguably one of the nation's largest and oldest nonprofit working in the space to eradicate child abuse. So, when I left when I graduated college and I moved down to Guatemala, I spent two and a half years caring for orphans there. I only came back to states. I thought that was going to be the end. I thought this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to build this. In fact, I was there when Hurricane Mitch eradicated um all of Central America. The first business plan that I ever wrote was for the Queen of Tagalpa of the Honduras um in which I was literally writing business plans to develop other orphanages throughout Central America that were like the one that I was deleting in Guatemala for the to address the children who had now been orphaned as a result of the storm. That was really where I thought my life was going to go. my grandmother had fallen ill. Um, and I came back to the States to help care for her till she passed. And that's when I gave up that that chapter of my life and said, "Okay, what am I going to do now?"

[8:08]  And my parents and and my grandmother were living in in San Jose, California, Silicon Valley, and everything in Silicon Valley is computers. And I don't know anything about computers. I know nothing. In fact, I remember going on up there and they were talking about C++. And I was just like, unless you added something new to the academic grading scale, I have no idea what you're talking about. Um, and I didn't want to. It was just wasn't my thing. And so I I hopped on a Greyhound bus and I I moved to Arizona where I have a cousin that that lived down here. And the first job that I got was in the nonprofit world and it was working with Easter Seals. And I started developing programs and services for children through Easter Seals. Um, and then from there after about eight, nine years, I moved on to be the executive director for an organization called Project Cure, which is the world's largest distributor of donated medical supplies to impoverished hospitals in in developing countries. Um, and after a few years of doing that, I was then brought over to Childhelp, where I've been for the last 13 years and been working to develop this program's ability to serve children and families across the nation who have been impacted by child abuse. And so, everything that I have done has been dominantly in the nonprofit world. And it was such a a a road to go on, so much different than what I I thought originally um I was going on. But I get to be able to bring that same level of interest in caring for others, specifically children, but for caring for others in a way that they are unsure of how to care for themselves or unresourced to be able to care for themselves today, which is so reminiscent of what it was like when I first started this journey in Africa to be able to go back, enter into a community, and explore what can we do to make life better. And uh and that's what I do today. Michael, I ask man and I always feel you mentioned you were in college, you learned about nonprofit about just giving in a sense, right? Why are we not talking about nonprofit at the high school level that people can actually go and do that? It bothers me, man. I think when I hear people like yourself that are so passionate and so excited for the hell for what we do, right? Then I I speak to a judge and the judge says, "Hey, man, I was so tired of putting kids away. I realized I had to do something different." you know, walks away from being a judge to go and lead a nom lead a nonprofit and he says, "I wish I would have done this sooner." Like, why are we not setting up kids to to feel this to really be able to fill up their cups by doing just the right thing? I think it's just doing the right thing to be quite honest with you.

[10:30]  It's doing what what you're passionate about, what the Lord put on your heart um to to do down here. I think honestly because early on in life, we define success wrong. Um, we we talk about success in dollars and in fame and in status. And you know, if you're if you're going to be successful, you're going to have seven figures. You're going to have a big house. You're going to have a nice title. You're going to drive a nice Those are are things that we tie success to and we tell younger generations that that's what you need to have to be quote unquote successful. And then when we get older, we realize it's just stuff. Um and and often times that stuff owns us, you know, depending upon the way that we got it. Um you know, but it we discover that it's the things that you can't buy that really are are the true definitions of success. It's time. Um it's passion. It's the ability to to do what you want to do when you want to do it, where you want to do it. You know, it's it's that type of stuff that is the true measure of success. It's not all those things. When I was growing up, again, never met a poor doctor. Michael, you can do it. I mean, oh my gosh, we're gonna give you private ed. We You are going You're gonna make it. I mean, and make it was we're gonna see you with a white coat and it's gonna say Dr. Michael Maduro on it and you're going to be coming out of a surgery and you just saved a life and you made a lot of money and you're going to drive off in your bends and you're going to go to your that was that was success. And um I'm so grateful I'm so grateful that God created opportunities for me to understand success differently than that. Um, and when I was growing up and I told my parents, you know, I'm coming out of college and I was like, you know what, hey, I'm moving to Guatemala. I'm gonna go manage an orphanage. My I literally think that my dad's head was about to explode. I mean, my dad was like, what? That is so not the direction that that we were it could not be more opposite, Michael, of the direction that we were going in. And then when I came back and I told him, yeah, I'm getting into the nonprofit space. My father literally looked at me and he was like, "Michael, nonprofit. It's literally in the name. There's no money."

[12:37]  Yeah.

[12:38]  In in this. What are you doing?

[12:39]  Um but now fast forward um a number of years and if you met my father, my father would tell you

[12:46]  Michael's doing the Lord.

[12:47]  A proud dad.

[12:47]  Michael's passionate about this is what Michael was. And I don't live hand-to-mouth. I make a nice living. I have a beautiful family. I live in a nice community. I'm not without um but I I I'm happy and I'm successful in the manner with which I believe he wanted me to be and and in the way that makes a difference. I go to bed every night with a smile. I go to bed every night satisfied with the work that I put in that day and excited about whatever the next day has in store for me. Um I'm surrounded by people that have the same passion. It's great.

[13:21]  Hey, real quick. Have you enjoying the podcast? We first want to say thank you and we also just want to give you a little insight of what we're up to at Francis. Some don't even realize that we're working with organizations to help them use AI to create that real human communication experiences where that's actually supporting your your families, those patients or the entire community. We're actually creating tech that connects. Check it out. Francis.ai. But Michael, if we go back, man, that there's people like yourself that are very, this is what I want to do and I'm going to chase that dream. I have friends right now in their 30s, uh, maybe early 40s that are still chasing the dream, as you mentioned, of the family, right? H how did you feel walking away from what the family wanted you to do? You know, that you're walking away from, as you mentioned, the highpaying career to do it.

[14:13]  People guilty. Um because again I felt like there had been so much sacrifice by others, so much investment from others. Um and I have an element inside of me that desires to to please those that that give so much especially if I'm benefiting from their generosity and their gifts. And so when you see all of that work and sacrifice, my dad my dad delivered bread during the day. He would wake up at three o'clock in the morning and he had a bread route and he would deliver bread in the morning. He would come back home. He would take about a 30-minute nap and then he would go sell real estate at night. My mom would get up in the morning, she was a registered nurse. She would teach or she would um be a nurse during the day on her feet all day, come home, have dinner with us, and then she would go out and teach lamas or asthma classes at night. That was what my parents did. My grandmother had a third grade education and she was the one that was at home. She was the one that greeted me when I got home, made sure that I got fed, made sure that I did my homework. I was there. That that was what I grew up in. Everybody sacrificed from the moment they got up to the moment they went to bed for one another. And from my younger sister and I, we were the true benefactors of that sacrifice. And so when you see how hard they're working and you, you know, my dad's driving a bread truck and he's going down the street and those doctors in those Mercedes are driving past him and he's looking at that and he's sitting there saying, "My son's going to be that guy one day." And he sees them pulling into the hospitals. He's like, "One day our name is going to be on that wall." and you grow up with that and then you come home one day and you're like, "Yeah, no,

[15:44]  I'm Bolton. I'm I'm I'm gonna go into the nonprofit world. I'm gonna work for Peanuts, you know, to to to that salary type of a thing." And they're like, "Really? Really?" Cuz really, um that feeling, you at first guilt. It was maybe I shouldn't maybe stay the course. That's a good life. That guy looks happy. That guy doesn't look unhappy. I mean, he's he's doing great, you know, and maybe that's what I'm supposed to do. You ask questions of you start challenging, is this right? You you feel elements of guilt. That's the best word that I could think of to use that until

[16:19]  you see the lives that you're touching with the work that you are doing. until you go to bed at night and you feel the reward intrinsically of what you committing yourself to. And then you that guilt goes away and it's replaced with joy and fulfillment. And that that not every one of those surgeons can buy. You know, I'm sure there's some surgeons like, "Yes, they're as passionate, happy as I am about my stuff." Um, but those people that that that drive around and and they're going to a job, I've never felt like I've had a job. Never. I've never had a job. I've always felt excited about what I do.

[16:56]  I'm going to say that I'm a little jealous that you had Aba's, you know, cooking almost every day. Ain't nothing like Aba's cooking. Oh, Lord Jesus.

[17:03]  Oh my gosh. Brother, [laughter] she passed a number of years ago and I miss her cooking. Oh my gosh. I used to tell her when I would travel, when I'd come back home, I'd be like, "Cook this now." You know, so that I would have a menu of things. I was like, "Oh my gosh." And

[17:18]  she was an amazing woman, an amazing cook. Well, there there's there's things that you're taking from all family members you make, you're mentioning, right? The your grandma sacrificing staying home, the sacrifices your mom, you know, your dad also had. Um, what are the sacrifices you felt that you've had to make in your life to to be where you're at today?

[17:39]  Um, you know, I think obviously there's been a number of opportunities that have been presented my way. Um, I've not been, you know, without opportunities to go back into the for-profit world or or to explore opportunities that could make more money and and use I've got an MBA. I've got a masters in digital education. I'll be completing a doctorate next year. Um, so I've got a lot of education. I've got a lot of experience. And you get courted um often, you know, when you when you carry some of those credentials. Um, and you always take a look at is that the right fit for me at that time? And I have a wife, I have children, um I have responsibilities that would be bene benefited from some of those uh more lucrative financial opportunities. Um but at the end of the day, you know, you want to make decisions that um that are right for you um that are are are supportive of the direction you're supposed to be. And so that would be the first thing.

[18:33]  We're about to get deep here. I'm going ask you a question, right? So I'm a big believer that money doesn't change everything. To me, money makes it a little easier, right? So, when things are good and things a little easier, what else are you working on? Because it's not just about the money. To me, I think mindset is such a a big factor as a leader. We have to be in tune with ourselves, right? Show up as ourselves. Um, learn how to continue to pour into ourselves while we're pouring into others. But what are some of the things that come to mind, man, outside of money that you really need to focus on to be at this level as a leader?

[19:11]  You you said it right there. You've got to continue to learn. Um you got to continue to invest in what can I do to grow in the space that I am in to be as impactful as I can be in the space that I'm in. So I just recently about a little more than a year ago got my masters in digital education. I did that purely for myself to be able to grow because one of the things I've identified in the space that I work is that we don't do a great job in this field connecting and collaborating with one another and we don't use the digital technology and devices that are available to us to help advance our collective interest in our collective best practices to make the deepest impact that we can make in communities across America. And so I wanted to be somebody that can help start to change that. So I went to go and get my masters to learn how can we apply digital education and digital technology to bring the world together, to bring our country together, to bring communities together so that we can be more impactful in the work that we are doing together. And then how could those same forms of technology help youth be able to find their voice to remove themselves from a situation that may be dangerous to them, unsafe for them, or dangerous for a loved one or unsafe for a loved one. Um, and then I'm expanding that into my doctorate for the same purposes to be able to do some more research and talk about this in a way that can allows us to grow. These are all things that I'm doing for myself in order to help advance my ability to serve in the space that I operate in. I'm not getting paid any more money to do this. That's I'm paying it for it out of my own pocket. Nobody's paying me to do this. Um I don't get a promotion or or anything greater from this. I just get the ability to be stronger in the space that I'm in. Um and be more impactful in the manner with which I want to be impactful. And I think as leaders, that's what we should all be called to do in our respective fields, in our respective space. Make a difference. Be a change maker in the area that you want to be a change maker in. And that requires constantly learning, constantly challenging yourself, constantly growing, constantly looking to understand other sides, other perspectives, other work that's being done in the space by other people. And how does that apply to your knowledge base and application forward?

[21:24]  You meant digital, you meant techn You mentioned technology. Um, what's that look like? Now, when we're we're talking about nonprofit, we're saying AI. Nonprofit to me sometimes falls so behind on scaling because we don't adapt to technology. And now AI being here, I think it's a a resource, a tool in our toolkit, but so many people are still seeing this this sphere that is is taking opportunities away. What are your thoughts on that, man, now that you have this background in it as well?

[21:55]  So, AI is just that. It's it's a great tool. Um, and I think if used well, it could really help expedite the pace with which people work. Uh, the resources and the thoughts behind how people work. You know, anything from predictive AI to kind of help um, leverage um, information and resources to generative AI to to being able to help us brainstorm and think on on how we approach problems, approach situations, um, can collaborate with one another. I think it's an amazing tool when used. I think a lot of people especially in um in nonprofit organizations that are like in mine behavioral health type services that are very people focused um there becomes this fear that you're going to take out the human element to this. You're going to take out the human touch. AI doesn't have the empathy that's needed for this job. Doesn't have the connective relationship skills that are necessary for this job. And I don't think AI is ever going to be designed to do that. U at least not anytime in the immediate future. I think AI is there to kind of help support those people in those skills and in the development and application of resources and tools being used. Examples, simulation software I think is fantastic. In my space, we have forensic interviewers that get trained and these interviewers are trained to speak with children on the trauma that they've experienced to be able to help navigate a case if a case needs to be investigated, support services if they need to be delivered to that child or to that family. But how can we help that forensic interviewer def refine their skills, get better at conducting those interviews, respond in a traumainformed way that is sensitive to the child, simulation software is a great way to do that. Every time that a forensic interviewer uses simulation technology to run through, here's how I would respond to this situation, that software learns and can start adapting to, well, how would you respond if it was presented this way? How would you respond if it was? and they can practice and learn and grow. That's the way I see AI in in using MySpace as an example to be very beneficial. Now, you're never going to put a child into a simulation technology um room and let simulation technology take their uh their impact report. No, a human's always still going to need to do that, but we could keep working on helping to improve the way that that human goes into that environment and serves. So nonprofits need to be more open to how AI can be a tool. But tech tech is tech is is is a crazy area where you've got so many people that use tech for wrong purposes and to damage and to hurt and to steal and to cheat. And in in my space, you know, we've got a lot of the bad guys are are are using technology to prey on children and and and use children and hurt children in ways that we're just not equipped and we're not paying enough attention to combating. Um, and I think I've shared this before, you know, bad guys are are playing chess. We're playing checkers. You know, they are way ahead of us in how to use technology to prey on children. We need to be stronger at how we use technology to combat that. Yeah, man. I think you're really dead on a lot of those things and and just using from a personal level like myself that I use Chat GBT every single day, right? How more creative I've become. I mean, I've created automations for myself, never in a million years would I thought that I'd be the guy creating automations, but when it's so easy to access by just prompting it to do exactly what you need to do,

[25:25]  you're like, man, I'm a force to be reckoned with now,

[25:28]  right?

[25:28]  You know, like I'm good, you know, right? Uh, and and I think that people are just not utilizing it to

[25:35]  the best of their ability because of the word fear. I'm telling you, anytime you say AI, people's like either that or they just overwhelmed with all these AI tools. I don't know what it is, man. But there's something along those lines, but this is good, man. You you remember the moment that or pretty sure there's been plenty of moments, but a moment that just brings you back to like, man, this is this is why I do this. this is why I've gave my career to nonprofit and to helping others. There's a moment that comes to mind.

[26:05]  Yeah. Um and it was it was an emotional moment for me. Um, I was the executive director for Project Cure and I was sent to Moscio Mexico um to assess a hospital that was there and the the intention of the project was to determine what they lacked in equipment and supplies in order to be able to care for the clientele or patient that that would come on in.

[26:29]  And I I pull up and government was funding a a container of medical relief with these supplies and equipment. And there was a lot of government with me. There was a lot of media with me. Everybody was kind of following me as I went into this hospital to really document what I was doing and the change that was going to be made to this hospital. And from the outside, this hospital looked beautiful. Um, just immaculate. When you walked in, it was empty. There was no equipment. There was no supplies. They were reusing suture. They were reusing gloves. Um, and I happened to walk into a room that didn't have a door on it. It had a curtain um, covering the entryway. I moved the curtain back and I walked on it and it was a big hospital room, but all that was in it was a crib with a little girl laying inside of it that was dying from brain cancer and she was hooked up to some heart monitoring machine and nothing else in this room. on the other side. Her father was pacing in a circle and his eyes were red red from just tears and crying and he was begging begging for anybody to help his daughter cuz his daughter was about to pass and we all knew that she was going to pass in moments. And when I came in and I had media with me and government with me to him I looked like Jesus himself. Oh my gosh, you're the guy that is going to bring the the tools and the equipment that these doctors need to save my daughter's life. And all I had was a clipboard and a pen. And I'm just documenting, you lack this, you lack that, you need this, you need that.

[28:01]  And this father was just looking at me with such desperation. And then his daughter passed. And when his daughter passed, his h his knees hit the floor with the biggest thump that I have ever heard in my entire life. and he wailed in just pain and agony. And all I could do was look at him and comfort him and then promise to him that I was going to do everything in my power to try to make sure that this same situation didn't happen to the next little girl and father that came into that hospital. And it broke my heart because he lost so much in that moment. It broke my heart that he had to be in that moment with me and with all of the cameras and the and the and the entourage around me in that moment, which is such a dark and and and dismal point for him and his life. But it reinforced for me why it is so important for all of us to work together to understand what we can do to lift one another up and care and serve one another in ways that may not necessarily have to directly affect us, but directly affect the livelihood and the lives of each other. and in one another. And so that moment,

[29:11]  oh Lord, that was a story, Michael. Um, being a father, you know, that that is nothing we ever want to experience, right?

[29:18]  You never outlive a child.

[29:19]  Our own kids.

[29:20]  Yeah. Yeah. Jesus, Michael, why did you take me down that road, bro? All I can think of it it's it but it is it is the things that it is reality. It is the things that we experience in this field of helping others, man. We hear all types of stories and that's why I always say the mindset to me is so important man because we take on these stories and easily could make them ours but instead we we make them the reason we fight and we wake up every day cuz we don't want others to go through those. I mean I was a individual that was sexually abused and adopted and to me it's I just want others to know that I'm a testimony of what it looks like of being sexual abused and adopted. Statistics say that we wouldn't be here, you know, that we were repeat cycles.

[30:05]  I am I I I show everyone that I took the pencil, I started to write my own story, you know, and there's so many ways of life, man, that we show up. I mean, you telling that story, right? It it inspires people to think differently, to put themselves I mean I I recall going to South Africa and I'm pretty sure you could probably recall some of these moments as well is when I go to South Africa man and realize that these people are living in dark right they have no electricity that they turn off the electricity for 4 hours at a time sometimes two hours uh two times a day so that's eight hours with no electricity that means they cannot cook that means that their phones are dead they cannot charge it but you know what these people were still so grateful they were still so kind to me. They like the respect that I receive from these people and then I come back to America and feel like golly, man, we're we're really ungrateful.

[30:55]  Oh yeah.

[30:55]  You know what I'm saying? Like I I feel that everyone should experience that Michael moment of going to Guatemala and see what it looks like

[31:03]  at that young age. I think we'll be more grateful, man.

[31:07]  Absolutely. No, it was when when I was in Africa the first time, very similar experience. You know, I I was very reluctant to go to Africa. Um the very first time if I'm being completely honest with you um same I thought that I was gonna die. I thought that that was death over there. I had a lot of biases that I didn't realize I had. I had a lot of false thoughts that I didn't realize I had. And when we arrived, the first place that we stayed was on a farm. And when we were staying on this farm, electricity was going in and out. We were cooking and eating dinner by candle lights. We were handwashing dishes. Um, and at first I was just like, I don't know if I'm gonna like all this. But it didn't take very long for me to see the beauty in that. The beauty to be able to sit down there and commune and converse with one another and share and talk. We weren't distracted by a television or a radio that was there to entertain us. We had each other to bond and connect with. Electricity was off, but the beauty of the candle light glow made just enough light for us to see the beauty in one another and and talk and share with one another. It's a matter of of of choosing to take a look at your situation in the in a way that is either a positive and what you can take from it or in a challenge and a negative and what you're losing from it. I loved eating by candle light. I loved handwashing dishes. I loved listening and laughing with each other and one another about what happened in our day. Um I love that. Those are family values that I grew up with as well. We had electricity. We didn't have to eat by candle light and we had a dishwasher. But I love being around the family dining room table and talking and sharing and laughing. I do feel that today with technology and how people are glued to their phones and been glued to screens and how people are overworking themselves in order to provide for those tangible things that they use to define themselves as successful takes away from some of that communal time and some of that family time and that time to really socially connect with one another. And I believe that the lack of that social connection is hurting us. it's harming us. Um, and we need to get back to more social interactions with one another that are genuine and pure, not false stories on on on social media or or technology dopamine rushes. Um, we need uh we need that time to connect and bond.

[33:23]  Man, this has been a good conversation to be quite frank. I knew it was going to be good though before we we we got started as I look back at um our previous conversation. What what would you say to someone though, Michael, as we start to wrap it up? What would you say to someone who's feeling pulled towards that wanting to give back, that mission missiondriven work, but probably too scared to really walk away from security comfortability? Is there any anything that just you you can share with that individual? I mean, somebody from experience that could do both if really wanted to

[33:54]  embrace the fear and do it. Um and and in real I promise you nobody nobody has ever felt loss from giving back. Nobody. You've never felt loss. I don't know a single person that has ever given back especially in service to others and has felt loss. You won't lose. You'll only gain. Promise you.

[34:17]  And the last question, man, before we put you in the hot seat for that blind question. Um, you've led, you've served, obviously been a father through some heavy realities. What's that truth you know now that maybe you didn't understand when it all started or you got started?

[34:35]  Service above self. There is nothing greater in this life than serving above yourself. Um, if we could choose to serve each other and put each other before ourselves, I promise you will experience a happiness and a passion that is unlike any other. I am a happy man. I'm a I'm a passionate man because I wake up each day looking at how I can serve others before myself. That is my my main mantra to myself. My main mantra in life is is service above self. Um, that's what I would encourage people to explore for themselves. That's good, man. That's good. The blind question was from the last uh leader we had here is, "What three values do you live by as an individual in the nonprofit world?" What three values do I live by in the nonprofit world? Um, so value number one is honest. You need to be honest in everything that you say and in everything that you do. Um, sometimes that honesty feels risky. um because you're afraid that you're not going to look as desirable maybe to a donor or to a constituent, but you need to be honest. Um number one.

[35:49]  Number two, um you need to be visible. Um so you need to allow people an opportunity to see what it is that is important um that your cause is that your mission is, what it is that you're you're trying to address in a very visible way. um when people leave it up to speculation or ambiguity or or it's too vague, then it feels like a scam and then and it feels nonreal. Then it feels like you're making something up. So, you need to be very visible. So, I would say honest, I would say visible. Um and then I would go all the way back to service. You know, the nonprofit world should be a community that is designed to serve. Um, so before you say we're going to do it my way, I would take a look at who else has a similar passion, a a similar concern, a similar desire, and is operating in that space already, what could you do to help serve that direction. Now, if they're doing it in a way that is not honest, is not visible, um, is is a compromising of integrity and character, then by all means, find someone else. Um, but if somebody is making an impact in that space, try to help serve them through that space instead of creating something that would be in competition to them in that space.

[37:02]  And what's your blind question, man? What is your question to the next leader we have here on the hard hustle?

[37:06]  I think a lot of what you know we focused on wi with with me centered around everything looked like you were going in one direction and you went another direction and it shaped who you are today and very little knew about the former. So, I would ask, you know, what's a moment in your life that changed you, but most people wouldn't know it by looking at you?

[37:27]  Okay, you're getting deep here, Michael. That's a good question. That's the question. No, I love it, man. I truly love it. If people want to find you on uh LinkedIn or social media, not just yourself, but the organization to find out a little bit more of what you guys are doing. Um, give us the socials, give us the websites, where can we connect?

[37:43]  You can find me on on LinkedIn at Michael Maduro. Um, and you can find us online. com at childhelp.org.

[37:50]  Love it. Well, thank you guys. If you guys are still watching, don't forget to like, subscribe, make sure you guys comment, but also tag a leader that just may be able to take some gems from this because it was totally gems. Um, hearing some of these stories on why we do it. Sometimes we forget. Sometimes we just do the dayto-day and forget why we do it. And if you forgot, today was definitely a reminder by Michael on why we do it. So guys, we appreciate you. My name's Benny Fra. This is Michael. We'll catch you guys in the next episode. Lers.