The Unexpected Power of Community-Focused Fundraising That Drives Real Impact

[0:16]  Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart and Hustle Lest Art is over. Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart and Hustle Podcast. I'm Ephrain and this is Catherine. Miss Catherine, how you doing today?

[0:27]  Jordan, great. Thanks for having me.

[0:30]  Good. I'm over here flubbing up my words and we just getting started. And luckily it wasn't on camera, but I

[0:34]  I almost just said it's Monday and it's not, so I think we're we're on a similar page. Mm-hmm.

[0:39]  Well, we were just talking about how we can't believe July's almost over. Like that the time has really passed. Let's just kind of start there. We're we're about to be eight months into the year. What are some of the the wins that you've guys been able to see this year?

[0:52]  that is a good question. there have been a lot of wins. I think from a from a business perspective perspective, and I'm the director of development and communications for a community health center in Denver. And we there's a lot of things going on outside of our control that have kind of put roadblocks in our way, but through that I feel like our leadership has been really strategic and just stayed by our community and not wavered from that and with that commitment we've grown our patient population by over a thousand people. We're expecting to serve 9,000 people this year and last year we served 8,000 people. So that's been a huge deal. We've been able to expand my development team to kind of fill some funding gaps that have been caused by some of those external barriers. So we're still chugging along, which has been, I think, a a feat in itself.

[1:50]  Okay, and that's the b big W's, but then you got another

[1:50]  Yeah.

[1:52]  W that you're working on, right? Which is this October event. We just talked about

[6:33]  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[7:34]  raising funds. Like what does that look like for those that may be interested in something that you guys got conversation?

[8:35]  Yeah, so October first we have our Legacy of Health gala. It's our annual gala. it's at the Sewell Ballroom at the DCPA. If anyone in Denver or outside wants to join. it's a really amazing event that just highlights our patients, our staff's commitment to our community, and really the fact that we can't do this without our own community. So bringing folks into the room to just be together in unity. and fundraising, I mean. Fundraising, as we talked about earlier, it's all about relationship building. so it's for me a really fun event because I get to walk into a f room with four hundred of my friends and acquaintances. it's just a really it's a really special event.

[9:36]  Crazy. I think when we were talking about our events, mine's October 2nd and it's called Eagle Legacy Night. so that is very similar. We might have to just kind of partner up and and bounce ideas off each other at this point because we're

[10:37]  my god, this is perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Perfect.

[11:38]  really coming down to the wire. I I I I appreciate it. How did you get into this space? Like this is a very purpose space, a very passionate space that you're you're in. I always say it is never about the money. Clearly it's about

[12:39]  Mm-hmm.

[13:40]  helping your community. What makes you get into the space of giving back?

[14:42]  Yeah, I I mean I feel like this is a pretty classic answer, but I feel like it all started with my parents and my family. I was raised by a family of kind of servant leaders, of teachers and nurses, and folks who just have lived to give back. and within that I also had a grandfather who had inclusion body myositis. It's a disease it's pretty similar to ALS, but it's way slower progressing. So for my entire childhood, I watched my grandfather try to navigate a healthcare system that's really not built for anyone to succeed. so through that and then having just that framework of giving back to my community through my family, I ended up going to school and getting my bachelor's in rehabilitation psychology, which is a degree that basically helps folks with disabilities or new injuries get back into the workforce and find their purpose. through that I found a love for social work, got my master's in social work and just dove in from there. I worked in anti carceral work. I worked in a prison for about a year and that burnt me out really badly. The system is just it's so big and it's so difficult to try to push against. So I took a step back, started grant writing, and through that got into fundraising. So here I am.

[14:42]  Grant writing, fundraising, those are not easy things to do. but they're fun. They're definitely fun when the money's flowing in and you're getting these opportunities.

[14:42]  No. Yeah. Yeah. The highs are high.

[14:42]  when you talk about healthcare just kind of being difficult to navigate, what are some

[14:42]  Mm-hmm.

[14:42]  of the things that you've been able to learn along the way that makes it that difficult?

[14:42]  A great question. I mean, something that we're seeing right now, and it's been kind of a theme across the board, is changes to Medicaid eligibility and just the rules within it. that makes it extremely difficult to navigate healthcare when you don't have insurance from another. And actually, even folks that work full-time jobs end up needing to use Medicaid. So, right now, for example, we have about a hundred thousand people in Colorado that are anticipating to lose Medicaid because of eligibility changes in 2027. So that means finding a new primary care for your kids. That means finding a new pharmacy to get your medications to make sure that your you know chronic disease is managed, that impacts your ability to get you know ramps and walkers and anything that you need for your mobility. So it's a really big deal and it it It just kinda fuels my fire to work for a community health center where we don't turn anyone away. Everyone is welcome, everyone is g given care with dignity and respect and really high quality care, regardless of insurance or ability to pay.

[14:42]  Love And how long you been with this organization?

[14:42]  I've been here for three years.

[14:42]  Okay. What brought you to it? What what made you say yes when they cut when when

[14:42]  Mm.

[14:42]  you know, 'cause that's that's always a thing, right? We could apply for any job, but their job was they got the yes.

[14:42]  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. it's I previously I'd been working as a grant writer fully remotely and I just felt really disconnected from my community. and I found this health center, it's really close to my house. So not only did I feel like I was within the Denver community, but really my own community working with my neighbors. a grant writing role came up and it was in a really exciting time in the organization. We had just moved into a whole new building that had expanded from six thousand square feet to twenty-four thousand square feet. So that we were going through a ton of growth and it just felt like an amazing opportunity to jump in and get involved. And I really I could not turn it down and I'm I'm glad I didn't.

[14:42]  Love it. And you talked about remote work. What what is your

[14:42]  Yeah.

[14:43]  thoughts on remote work? Like, are you are you loving it? Do you are you in office at times? Cause you know, someone nowadays we just do so much remote work, it's almost normal,

[14:44]  Yeah.

[14:44]  but it's sometimes like, do I miss people? Do I wanna, you know, have that?

[14:44]  Yeah. I I was bad at remote work, I'll tell you that. I I just at the time my office was in the basement, it just felt really isolated. Now I work two days in the office and I love that personally. Some people can crush remote work. I just

[14:44]  Yeah.

[14:44]  I need I need some interaction for my social battery. I will say though I actually get more work done at home because I'm able to just lock in and not chit chat.

[14:44]  You're not socializing.

[14:44]  Yeah, yeah yeah, it's which is all me. My my coworkers are like, All right, we're ready to we're ready to work. Can you leave us alone, please?

[14:44]  That is so much that's so much fun. when it comes to grant writer, what what are some of the things for those that may not know anything about grant writing, what are the things that you you do as a grant writer? 'Cause you're not just sitting here writing all day.

[14:44]  Yeah. it's changed a lot in the last few years. Previously you could do a lot more of just sitting behind the computer and writing and submitting and kind of hoping for the best. Now the grant landscape is so competitive because of changes in federal and state funding. So you really have to do a lot of networking, a lot of groundwork on the front end to build relationships with funders, make sure that your priorities and their priorities are aligned. So it's a lot of meetings ahead of time to make sure everyone's on the same page and then building the grant from there.

[14:44]  And do is it that we have to raise funds for these community centers because of what's happening at the government level, so we just have to fill in the gap, or is it something that you guys always do, just being able to raise those funds for the organization?

[14:44]  Yeah, that's a good I mean, so s some nonprofits would always need to be doing this at a really high level because there aren't other sources of revenue. For us, we have patient revenue because we're a health center, so we get paid by Medicaid or private insurance. but we serve the highest percentage of uninsured patients in the state. So over fifty percent of our patient population is uninsured, which means we need we have about fifty percent of our budget that we need to fill from a fundraising perspective. So that's through grants, that's through individual donors through corporate sponsors. So we really could not do this work without our our community partners.

[14:44]  What do these funds go towards?

[14:44]  They go directly to patient care. so that's making sure that we have the medical supplies we need, making sure that we have the medical providers that we need. Medical providers are so expensive because they have they're, you know, they're in high demand. So that's a really big cost that those those funds go to. But through that, we have the highest, some of the highest levels of care in the state. So we're really lucky to have the folks that we do and want to keep them around.

[14:44]  Is it still I know during the COVID and I don't know what it is now that there was just kind of like the the lack of of nurses, the lack of of doctors. Is it still the same?

[14:44]  Mm. Mm-hmm.

[14:44]  Is it getting better over time? I know that we've kind of got into the AI space. Now people

[14:44]  Yeah.

[14:45]  can do more of what they love, less of that you know, repetitive work. Are we seeing

[14:47]  Yeah.

[14:47]  a change in in this industry?

[14:47]  I can't speak for hospitals, which I think is what where they felt it the most in terms of nurses and doctors and burnout. Though for us, there is still really high need for workforce development and work creating those workforce pipelines to make sure that we don't have a shortage. For us in particular, all of our patient facing staff speaks English and Spanish. So that creates a unique challenge in hiring as well, because not only are there not enough, you know, dental technicians, pharmacy technicians, medical assistants. in general, there also aren't enough folks that are Spanish speaking and working in those roles. So we're working really hard with state, the state, and a few other community partners to build that pipeline because long answer long, it is still an issue. and I will say I think people talk a lot about AI and you know that impacting things, but there are still a lot of people that want to be working in community and we're seeing that. through the success of our workforce pipeline programs.

[14:47]  I love it. How many how big is the organization? Do you know how many people about how many people work within the organization?

[14:47]  We just hit a hundred, which is a huge deal. We when I started three years ago we were at about sixty, so we've grown a ton in the last three years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[14:47]  Yeah. That that's really good. What what what helps you guys grow? Is it just getting the word out more, meeting people where they're at? You talked about making sure that there's English and Spanish speaking individuals, like what gets you guys growing?

[14:47]  From a employee from an

[14:47]  Employee and even patient, 'cause you mentioned what, a thousand plus, right? What's

[14:47]  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. from an employee perspective, what helps us grow is our patient population, honestly. Is when we can grow our patient population, that helps us be able to grow our staff as well to then keep growing our patient population. because that just increases our funds to be able to do it. from a patient perspective, a lot of it has has to do with just community need. there are, you know, even with outside of these Medicaid changes that are happening in 2027. We're seeing folks who are declining insurance in general because it's just too private insurance because it's too expensive. And then we're the folks, we're the safety net that people look to. So I think if the reason, unfortunately, that our patient population is increasing so quickly is because of people immunity and need. but that being said, I feel really lucky that we can grow to meet that.

[14:47]  it and and and how does how do we get the word out in the communities? Is it that we are, you know, changing the way that we communicate? I think that's a huge thing, right? Just communication in

[14:47]  Yeah.

[15:26]  general. whether in in the center or out the center, what does that look like nowadays when we're communicating and meeting people out whether at

[16:06]  Yeah, I mean it's a challenge. we've shifted a lot more towards Google ads and things that are online. mostly because we can track it and make sure that we're,

[17:25]  Mm-hmm.

[18:44]  you know, hitting the right people. But I think, for example, we have an HIV clinic and we were able to put out Google advertising that was specific to that and that was really successful and brought folks in. But a lot of it's also through part community partnerships and you know, when we talk about meeting people where we're they're at, we work with food banks and schools and places that folks are already going and then they can refer them, their clients or, you know, their students, their families to us. That's w really where a lot of our growth happens. But outside of that, I mean, we're using social media channels. We have all of our emails going. I mean, you know the drill. It's just how many

[20:03]  Yeah, yeah.

[20:12]  channels can we get through with two staff, you know.

[20:21]  Yeah. That's what I'm trying to focus on now is social. When we talk about this fundraiser is like how do we tap into more social and more storytelling, right? Because we do

[20:30]  Yeah, yeah.

[20:30]  we also want that different audience. it is it is it is a lot of work. Catherine, and I say that because it truly is. I mean, I can imagine you go home sometimes, you're thinking about work, but what does Catherine do to turn it off?

[20:30]  does turn off? No.

[20:30]  I say the same thing, like I don't I don't know that I do

[20:30]  what do I do? I I mean I live in Colorado, so there's the mountains and I mean literally everyone in Denver is gone on the weekends. Edward's in the mountains. Especially right now. It's been so hot. So hiking, camping, skiing feels like a basic Colorado answer, but that is definitely where a lot of my energy a lot of my energy lies. Yeah.

[20:30]  That's good. I mean, I'll tell you what, I went to Arizona and

[20:31]  yeah.

[20:31]  they do not have pretty mountains, first of all. someone

[20:31]  Ha ha.

[20:31]  told me I've seen mountains and I'm like, these mountains are not it. It's like you gotta go to Colorado. That's the best mountains ever. So that you that

[20:31]  Yeah.

[25:59]  is funny. But it was hot as hell in Arizona, okay? It was a hundred and fifteen degrees. So I wasn't no one wanted to hike. Actually, on my

[31:27]  my God Yeah.

[31:28]  way actually my way there, I seen the ambulance and the police out there and you know the police when someone asks us Child asked, like, is everything okay? Yeah, somebody just got hurt. 20

[31:29]  Yeah.

[31:29]  minutes, because we didn't I was with the my young one, so we didn't really go hiking. We just wanted to see the Red Rocks. And as we're

[31:29]  Yeah.

[31:29]  walking back, we're actually seeing them carrying this body bag from the bike of a pickup truck into the SUV.

[31:29]  no.

[31:30]  What it was is someone was hiking, got dehydrated,

[31:31]  Yeah.

[31:38]  and didn't make it back down. And I'm sitting

[31:46]  my god.

[31:46]  here like, holy crap, and supposedly it's just normal, right? Because how hot it is, people go, think they're gonna go hiking, don't get hydrated.

[31:46]  Yeah.

[31:46]  But you're telling me that hiking Colorado is completely different. It's actually good weather to do it. Is that what you're telling me?

[31:46]  I yeah, I mean it's hot out here, but I have I'll say I've personally never seen that though I'm sure things happen. yeah, stay hydrated. It's hot out here. And in Colorado we have we're at elevation, so it makes it even hotter. I was talking to one of my coworkers and she she was in the mountains and it was seventy degrees, something like that. I was like, my god, that sounds amazing. She's like, Yeah, but it felt like it was ninety because we were at, you know, eleven thousand feet, so you're like over a mile

[31:46]  Yeah.

[31:46]  into the sky. So yeah, put your sunscreen on, drink some more water if you're coming out here.

[31:46]  For sure, for sure, for sure. Were you born and raised in Colorado?

[31:46]  I wasn't. I was born outside of DC in Arlington, Virginia. but then I moved to Wisconsin for school and then I moved to Thailand for a year after that, and then moved to Denver. So, you know, classic classic route.

[31:46]  Yeah. Ti I mean, yeah, that all all random, to be quite frank. but

[31:46]  Yeah.

[32:06]  Thailand, how did you end up there?

[32:26]  I studied abroad in Singapore, which is like such an obnoxious answer. You know, study abroad changed for me. but while I was there, I met a bunch of people who s taught English abroad. And I, you know, my friends were all like, Well, you know, if nothing works out when we graduate, I guess we can do this. And I was like, If everything works out when I graduate, I'm gonna be doing this. So I came home, bought a one-way flight to Thailand. my boyfriend now husband was like, I guess I'll also come with you if you're going. So he also got a flight and we lived there for

[32:47]  Love it.

[33:22]  a year, taught English. It was amazing. and then he had he grew up in Minnesota and had come out to Colorado as a lot of Midwesterners do. It's a pipeline I swear from mid the Midwest to Colorado. so we moved here when we came back.

[33:58]  Wow. That's so cool. What what do you think that that Thailand just journey taught you? I can imagine there's always that learning lesson, everything that we do. What are you learning from that experience?

[34:33]  Flexibility, for sure. Things do not run on time in and I love I personally love that, but not everyone does. but it's just a lot of, you know, we always joke that if if you didn't see a car reversing on the highway, you hadn't spent a day in Chiang Mai. Like things are just a lot more chaotic and beautiful and I I love that. So I feel like that helps with nonprofit work because it is chaos. all the time and you're kind of just you know, figuring it out day by day.

[35:09]  I love it. I love that you just kinda love that the challenge of of life per se. Like so many people

[35:09]  Yeah.

[35:09]  want comfortability and it's like, nah, give me the curveballs. Nonprofit gives you curveballs every day.

[35:09]  Yeah. Yes.

[35:09]  would you do it again? Would you go back?

[35:09]  my god, I would go back in two seconds. I wish I could be there right now. I would, I would,

[35:09]  Yeah.

[35:09]  yeah. A lot of my friends stayed there and still live there. So they're still living the dream. I mean, we we got really lucky. We came back right before COVID. So timing-wise, it worked out perfectly. But yeah, if you see me, if you see me on social media on the beaches in Thailand, you'll know that it was time. Yeah.

[35:09]  Made it back. He made it back. No, I one place that I loved and I I would I just feel that people should definitely travel outside of our country. there's so much beauty in it, and I think sometimes

[35:09]  Yeah.

[35:09]  we are giving the wrong side of a lot, right? So I went to South Africa and people were scared f for me and I I was excited to go and to this

[35:09]  Mm, mm hmm, mhm. Yeah.

[35:09]  day I can't wait to go back. Like I tell my wife and the kids like, we got to go. Like I would move there too.

[35:09]  Yeah,

[35:10]  You know, and it's just

[35:11]  yeah.

[35:11]  it it I just love the beauty of it. I love that it was I don't know, it just it just felt different. And they

[35:11]  Mm-hmm.

[35:11]  had the to me so far the the beautiful mountains. I haven't seen Colorado, so I can't compare it yet. But I love the mountains as well.

[35:11]  Yeah. Were you in were you in Cape Town? Yeah, those mountains are epic. That's really fun. Yeah.

[35:11]  I was in Cape Town, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We woke up one morning, it was like five o'clock. I mean, I'm it's like I was at work slash vacation. So I was there for three weeks for work.

[35:11]  fine.

[35:11]  And every day was just like I was on vacation because we were teaching at four PM to twelve in the morning. So during

[35:12]  Totally. Okay. Whoa.

[35:13]  the morning time, my God, the morning time we'll go to breakfast and have I have an even umbr even number situation, so I can't drink odd numbers. So we were drinking

[35:14]  Sure. Okay.

[35:14]  mimosas early in the morning. Yeah, yeah. Three? All right, yeah. I gotta get the fourth one. I gotta get the fourth one. I and I I tell you, the best mamosas I've tried, cause it was just fresh orange juice. I remember

[35:14]  Yeah. yeah.

[35:14]  coming on my way back, stopping at in DC and asking for mimosa

[35:14]  Mm-hmm.

[35:14]  at the airport, and I said, What is this trash? Like, but I

[35:14]  Ha ha ha ha.

[35:14]  no, I truly did love South Africa and I from that those moments of seeing how people just treat us also as Americans, they they care and they have almost nothing. And the way that they still care and love and the passion they have for learning. I I I just appreciated that, you know, and I would love to come back. I would love to go back at some point, probably similar to why you would want to go back to Thailand. You just felt one within a whole new world, right? Like, did you feel at any moment did you feel like nervous or scared or maybe going? You felt that or?

[35:14]  Will say that I am cursed with way too much self confidence. So I went in just ready to hit the ground running, ready to you know, do whatever I was gonna do. But I will say that with that confidence comes situations that then I was like, I'm gonna end up being like dumb American tourists, you know, like got y there was a time where we were actually my family was visiting. And we were going to go on a snorkel trip. It was gonna be amazing. And we turned a corner and we were on this tiny boat. I mean, you can't even, I can't believe it was afloat in good weather. It was so small. And we turned a corner and this huge storm had rolled in. So we were all getting battered by the storm. The guy, you know, running the boat or you know, captioning the boat was I was talking to him in Thai and just kind of being like, Are you okay? And he was like, No, things are not okay. We all had scuba masks or like you you know snorkels outside to

[35:14]  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[35:14]  be able to breathe. It was nuts. So in that scenario, I was nervous, I'll say, but that was kind of self-inflicted. We could have easily just not gone into the storm.

[35:14]  Yeah. So I'll tell you another funny story. I felt great the whole time, but they did tell me be mindful of the pocket picketers. and I'm like,

[35:14]  Mm, mm.

[35:14]  okay, like shouldn't be a problem. And we were

[35:14]  Yeah.

[35:14]  all good. And then one night I remember going out, it was it was like six instructors. So we were all hanging out. It was two o'clock in the morning. You can imagine what we were doing at two, three o'clock in the morning, heading back

[35:15]  Yeah.

[35:15]  home. And everything was walking distance. And I remember this guy, homeless guy, just kind of like trying to walk us. I'm like, nah, bro, we got it. We got it. And I remember him getting so close, but they're so good that I didn't realize this. So I literally just took a picture and send it to my my coworkers. And I told you about Catherine, the one I work with. So it was her and

[35:15]  Yeah, yeah.

[35:15]  Brendan. I sent it to them. And 15 minutes later, my phone got stolen. The picture I said

[35:15]  No

[35:15]  is said, beware of pocket picketers. And 15 minutes later, my phone gets stolen.

[35:15]  my god. Yeah.

[35:15]  And I was just so mad, Catherine. I was walking up and down trying to get this phone. I was like, why didn't they take the work phone? They took my personal phone. Not I should have, I should have left with my work phone.

[35:15]  Yeah. Like like I'll switch with you.

[35:15]  but that moment, I while I was a little upset, it was replaceable. I still had the blast. I still had the time of my life, I would say. The people were really

[35:15]  Mm-hmm. Gun. Gun. Yeah.

[35:15]  great. Catherine, I I really want to know what are the values that Catherine lives by?

[35:15]  Mm. What are the values that I live by? That's a great question. I would say this is gonna sound corny, but there was this book that I my mom would always read to me growing up. it's I'm gonna totally blink in the title right now, but it was something about the lupine lady. And it was this woman who had this goal where everywhere she went, she just wanted to leave it more beautiful than she leave it more beautiful than when she found it. So it

[35:15]  Yeah, yeah.

[35:15]  was like she wanted to leave the world more beautiful, she wanted to live by the sea. and basically just make an impact wherever she was. And I will say that when I was younger, I took that to heart and I felt like I was going to change the world and you know, do something huge. And I think now day to day, it is just about the one-to-one connections and just making things a look a little bit better, a little bit more comfortable, you know, a little bit of a smaller barrier for the people that I'm interacting with day to day. I think my values just really lie in the in the value of people. I I wanna make sure that our community is safe and cared for and you know, especially at my work, how the healthcare is a human right. It's not it's not a convenience.

[35:15]  You're you're pretty much doing the work, as you mentioned. You're probably not living by the the sea, you know, but yeah, yeah, yeah. You're close. You're definitely close.

[35:15]  Yeah, that's I still have that to work with. One day. Yeah.

[35:15]  getting into the nonprofit sector for those that may think that there's no money in nonprofits. I think people would just have this idea of what a nonprofit is until you finally get there and realize, wow, this is a place I should have been in a long time ago. What are your thoughts on the nonprofit world? I guess you probably worked for a for profit sector at some point. What was the difference as well?

[35:15]  My first thought was the difference was like, well, we had lunch provided every day at the corporate

[35:15]  Ha ha ha.

[35:15]  office and now that's not the case. But you know, I think from a nonprofit perspective, there's definitely I think people nail it in some perspectives. There are not all the perks of, you know, the super, super nice high rise office and a lot of the kind of comforts of working for a larger business. But on the flip side of it, I feel like what I do makes a difference and I would take that every day over, you know, the nice view out of my office window. I think that The I will never say there's not value in money because I think that's super f privileged. They you know, in the country that we live in, you need money to have a safe home and to have food and to have all these things. But I will say once those things are checked off. I think that the rest of your life and like your purpose really needs to be filled with passion and that can be found in the nonprofit sector. It can be found other places as well. You can work it for a corporate corporation and volunteer on the side. You know, there's like the time treasure talent trope of, you know, there's a lot of ways to be involved. But I'm I think working nine to five really frequently more than nine to five, in a space where everyone's there because they care is amazing. I love

[35:15]  Yeah.

[35:15]  my coworkers and I love I love the patients in the community that we work within. And I'll also say as a side note to that, you mentioned earlier, it might have been before we started recording, that you need to run nonprofits like a business. And I think that that in many ways is very true. We actually need more people that have corporate experience and more business experience to come over to the other side because they

[35:15]  Mm-hmm.

[35:15]  have there's so much value that can be brought from folks that have you know, accounting experience and people who have are in sales, sales and fundraising can have a lot of crossover. So if anyone's interested, come on over.

[35:15]  Yeah. sales and fundraiser are really the same damn thing, if in just

[35:15]  Mm-hmm.

[35:15]  disguise differently, I would say. But won't you say they're the same thing?

[35:15]  I'll say they would they're the same thing, but I'd be a terrible salesperson. I think I'm only a good fundraiser because I love what I do and I care about it so much. I think it I mean I'm sure you feel that way if you're a salesperson for a product, but I I have no problem sitting down with someone and talking about the organization I work for. you know, with because I mean There's this thing, it's like teaching the people the joy of giving is that's what fundraising is. I think you're really inviting people into the mission, inviting people into that purpose, that sense of purpose that everyone's looking for. So yeah.

[35:15]  I always love me a good story, Catherine. So do you have a story of just the an impact story that you are a part of or that just resonates with you when you think about the organization that you work for, or just the ability to be a servant and give back?

[35:15]  Yeah, I mean, you touched on storytelling earlier. Storytelling is such a critical part of what we do. and I mean there are so many. I think about we because so we have primary care, behavioral health, dental, pharmacy, case management. We do a full array of things and including it within that we also do, you know, actual community health where we have community health workers in the in At events, they go to over a hundred events a year. And one of our community health workers, we use a pro Motora model. So one of our pro motoras was out in this event. She's been with us for, you know, fifteen years. Everyone in the community knows her. And she said she showed up to an event and this woman ran over and gave her a huge hug and started crying. You know, you saved my life, you saved my life. And she was kind of standing there like, What do you mean? How did how? What are you I I love to hear that, but what are you talking about? And it turns out that she had run This class that sh had it was about detecting breast cancer. And the woman, because she'd gone to this class, found that she had breast cancer really early and was able to treat it and just felt really lucky that she was able to have gotten that that education. we also have a story, this one always sticks with me where we have a pharmacy but it's called a 340 B pharmacy, so that we we're able to purchase our medication at cost and then provide it essentially at cost. So

[35:15]  Love it.

[35:15]  it makes them way less expensive. And we had a woman come in, she was in her third trimester of her pregnancy and she had asthma and her the regular pharmacy that she goes to when she went to fill her prescription, it was going to be five hundred dollars. So she couldn't fill it, was terrified to leave her house because she was scared that she would have an asthma attack and that it would imp her baby. So she hadn't left her house in weeks, essentially had become com was suffering from depression because and anxiety because of it. and she came to Tepiak and we were able to give her a prescription for an inhaler and it fill it for five dollars. So the it impact of just being able to access care when you need it, you know, is just life changing, literally.

[35:15]  Yeah.

[35:15]  So I mean I could go on and on, but yeah.

[35:15]  That's why we do it, right? Those are the differences that you talk about in life. You got a kitchen of your own, Catherine?

[35:15]  I don't know. But I just I we my sister in law just had a baby and it's our first nephew. So we now have a nephew.

[35:15]  Okay, not yet, not yet. Just don't worry. Wiff whiff

[35:15]  Not yet. Yeah.

[35:15]  in time. Don't no rush. I got two and I'm thinking like, my God, what what's happening? No, they're a blessing. They're a blessing.

[35:15]  I'm sure. Yeah.

[35:15]  but okay, I'll ask you that from a perspective of an aunt.

[35:15]  Yeah.

[35:15]  When when the the your nep your nephew, was it? Nephew grows up, what do you want him to remember about Catherine?

[35:15]  my god, you're gonna make me cry. I'm thinking about w

[35:15]  Ha ha ha.

[35:15]  my new baby woody. that is a really, really hard question. I think that I would hope that he remembers that I am warm and loving and that I was silly. Like I think a lot about being an adult and just being holding on to humor and making things silly, especially when things feel so heavy. And I would hope that he he would remember that.

[35:15]  Yeah. Are you that person that turns everything into a joke? Yeah.

[35:15]  Yes. I think unfortunately for the people around me, yes.

[35:15]  Yeah, me too. I was the other day, you know, sometimes I always feel like I just probably got on my period and I just start emotionally crying. And I was with my

[35:15]  Ha ha ha.

[35:15]  friend and and I'm like I feel these tears. I'm talking to my best friend. I feel these tears coming in and I just say

[35:15]  Yeah. Yeah.

[35:15]  something off the wall and she just dies laughing. She's like, Why do you do that? Like here you are about to cry. You just say something stupid and and it's just I don't know, it's just who I am.

[35:15]  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[35:15]  so I love it. I I do love that sense of humor. My kids now, I appreciate it. It's probably what's gonna get get them in trouble. Is that they have this sense of humor and that they're so quick on their feet, but it is the funniest thing. And because that's

[35:15]  Yeah, yeah, mm-hmm, yeah.

[35:15]  who dad is. Like they I can tell, I can imagine they get it from dad. But Catherine,

[35:15]  Yeah.

[35:15]  it's it's truly been a blessing to talk to you and learn more about the organization. but I also like

[35:15]  Thanks. Yeah.

[35:15]  to hold people accountable. So I like to always ask, what is that goal for Catherine the next let's say three years? So if we have this conversation again, I could definitely come back to and say, Hey, Catherine, what happened to XYZ? What is what is that goal

[35:15]  Yeah, like did you do it?

[35:16]  you have in mind?

[35:16]  Yeah. my gosh, now I'm in a job interview. I

[35:16]  Ha ha ha.

[35:16]  that's a great question.

[35:17]  Yeah.

[35:17]  I think that in three years, I mean, so much can happen in three years. But when I think about my current position, we're in a phase of growth and change that's really positive, but we're kind of starting this is such a boring answer, but we we don't have our workflows together, we don't have our you know role alignment. totally set and it's making it so that all of us are doing fifteen thousand things at all times. And that makes me really worried about my team. I don't want people to burn out. And so right now we're working really hard to make sure we have those kind of ducks in a row. So I'm hoping in three years I could look back and say, All right, we did it. We have our workflows. My team feels great. We've only been able to grow from here. and then personally I think that I still have so much to learn. I'm I'm really new in this role. and I take growth really seriously. So I'm tur currently doing a certificate in fundraising management. I hope that I will have finished it by then. and I hope that I'll have just been become a stronger leader and mentor through that experience.

[35:17]  I love it. Well, Catherine, it was definitely been a pleasure. Thank you so much for talking about what you guys are doing in the community. thank

[35:17]  Works.

[35:17]  you for just being you. And you said you're just getting started, right? This is just the early days of it all. So I can imagine what it looks like as you continue to just chase that passion, continue to chase that purpose, continue to be a a leader in the community. At some point, someone's running up to you 15 years later and say, Thank you for saving my life. That's the why we do it. We don't do it because

[35:17]  Yeah yeah.

[35:17]  it's a paycheck. We do it because we truly, without knowing. or watering seeds, we're planting seeds. We're making the difference. Kinda to the book that your your mom has read you is how do I leave this place a better than I found it? I love it. I love it so much.

[35:17]  Yeah. Yeah.

[35:17]  My name's E Frain. This is Catherine. If you guys enjoying these conversations, please make sure that you guys do like, subscribe, and comment. I'll see you on the next one. Later.