1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,400 Welcome to the Why Not Today Podcast where we celebrate courage, determination, and the 2 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:09,160 power of saying, Why Not Today. 3 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:14,080 I'm your host, Leslie Cain, and in each episode we dive into inspiring stories of individuals 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:19,200 who have taken bold steps, face their fears, and embrace the possibility of today. 5 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:24,800 From entrepreneurs to dreamers to doers, we explore the moments when they set enough waiting. 6 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:25,800 Why Not Today? 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,880 Join me as we uncover the heartwarming, the audacious, and the transformative, whether 8 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,960 it's pursuing a lifelong passion, overcoming obstacles, or simply choosing joy. 9 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,760 Our guests share their journeys and inspire us all. 10 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:43,360 I started this podcast in honor of my father, Patrick Cain, who often said, Why Not Today? 11 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,960 And remember, you're just one decision away from changing your life. 12 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:52,240 So my guest today is Jennifer Seyfert, and she's got a really cool, it's a nonprofit, 13 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:53,240 right? 14 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:54,240 Yes. 15 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:58,120 And I'm looking for pics, which those of you listening or seeing the description, like, 16 00:00:58,120 --> 00:00:59,760 what the heck is that? 17 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:01,960 And so I always like to see, talk about how we connected. 18 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:06,960 So I have heard about you because a good friend of mine goes overboard with her decorating 19 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:08,800 and pumpkin's in her yard. 20 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:12,960 And at the end of the Halloween season, she puts them in the back of her pink Cadillac 21 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:14,720 and would take them somewhere. 22 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:18,200 So I heard about you, and then I went to a networking event the other day, and you were 23 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:24,640 standing on the street corner basically, we stood out there for 15, 20 minutes before 24 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,880 we even entered the event. 25 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:31,520 And so I don't really know much about your story, except we're going to do a preliminary 26 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,280 column like, you know what, I think this is a great cause. 27 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:35,280 And let's just do the call. 28 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,800 So I'm going to learn along with the listeners today who Jennifer is. 29 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,880 So let's start with first welcome. 30 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:44,320 But who is Jennifer and tell us a little about you. 31 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:48,600 And then also a fun fact that people might not know. 32 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:53,840 Yeah, so yeah, my name is Jennifer Seyford and I've been in the DMV my whole life. 33 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,520 And I have a tech now. 34 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:58,600 Sorry, I did not know that. 35 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:00,600 Where'd you go to high school? 36 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:02,440 out in Bel Air. 37 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:04,360 So yeah, in Maryland. 38 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:09,360 So I guess it is DMV, but it's not. 39 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:10,360 Yeah. 40 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:11,360 Sorry. 41 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:12,360 It's not going to Virginia now. 42 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:13,360 Over the river. 43 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,960 Yeah, I mean, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, right? 44 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:18,280 Yeah. 45 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,280 So yeah, I have a technology background. 46 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:26,040 My focus has been over the years, large transformations within organizations. 47 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,600 And that included everything from program and project management, risk management, things 48 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:30,600 like that. 49 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:36,880 But also how do we get organizations to be able to realize their investment by getting 50 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:42,120 people to go through the change journey of actually adopting whatever technology they 51 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,640 decided to implement to support a business objective. 52 00:02:45,640 --> 00:02:49,000 And so that's what my day job is. 53 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,440 And then I have this nonprofit that I started. 54 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:53,440 Yeah. 55 00:02:53,440 --> 00:03:00,800 So what's a fun fact about Jennifer? 56 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,400 So I have driven across the country round trip three times. 57 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:06,400 Wow. 58 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:07,400 Yep. 59 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:08,400 By car. 60 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,400 So I am a car enthusiast. 61 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:12,960 No, exactly. 62 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:18,880 So I'm a car enthusiast and my husband and I have had many coupers and many USA used to 63 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,440 do a many takes the states every other year. 64 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:27,480 And so we would, you have to meet on one coast or the other. 65 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:29,520 And then you drive in the other direction. 66 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:33,800 So, you know, we were able to do that three or four times. 67 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,360 So that's, I've seen a lot of the country and it's just, you know, I encourage everyone 68 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,320 to take time out of their day and take some time off and do that. 69 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:42,520 It's a lot of fun and you'll learn a lot. 70 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:43,520 That is pretty darn cool. 71 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:44,520 Yeah. 72 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:45,520 Yeah. 73 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:49,840 So my bucket list to do that and kind of talk about my little in the end of my dad connection, 74 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:51,840 which you just fed into immediately. 75 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:52,840 So yeah. 76 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:53,840 Oh, okay. 77 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:58,960 So I always ask how people know my dad and most people have never met my dad, but I always 78 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:04,640 find a connection of something that my guests talk about that relates my dad and you already 79 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:05,640 hit it. 80 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:07,640 So we'll talk about that in a few minutes. 81 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:08,640 Okay. 82 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:09,640 Yeah. 83 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:17,920 So, um, you have this nonprofit pumpkin for pigs explain what the heck that is and how 84 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:19,640 you got there. 85 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:26,560 And, um, did you have before you, for explain it, did you have a why not today moment within 86 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:31,800 this starting this nonprofit, like you had that moment you were doing something you were 87 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:36,640 knew where you were, what you're wearing almost and you're like made that decision. 88 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:37,640 Yes. 89 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:45,160 So we were out picking up eggs one evening in the fall in 2017. 90 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:50,760 And you know, by that time, I mean by picking up eggs, I got the grocery store pick up eggs. 91 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:56,680 So we're going to, you're going to a local farm to pick up eggs. 92 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:01,840 And it was getting late in the season and I said, Hey, you know, I have these pumpkins 93 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:07,520 on my front step and I'm going to be putting a wreath on my door here shortly. 94 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:09,560 They're in great shape. 95 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:10,760 I don't want to throw them out. 96 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:12,440 It just, there's something wrong about that. 97 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,160 There's inherently something that just doesn't feel right about that. 98 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,160 I said, I've lived here in the county for over 10 years. 99 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,480 I still haven't figured out like, is there, you know, what are my options? 100 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:29,400 And he said, bring them by that would be considered a sweet treat for the animals on my farm, 101 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,280 the pigs, the cattle, the chicken. 102 00:05:32,280 --> 00:05:34,520 And I suddenly dawned on me. 103 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:36,680 Well, I have two or three. 104 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,120 I have a neighborhood of over a hundred houses. 105 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,520 What if they all had two or three? 106 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,560 Are we putting all of that into the landfill? 107 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:49,200 And maybe they would be willing to go out to a local farm and drop them off when they 108 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:51,920 go to pick out their holiday tree. 109 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:56,760 And so I got on the phone and started calling all the farms that were on the farmers market 110 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:02,040 list that we get every year and said, Hey, would you be willing to try this out? 111 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:04,280 And I was just so impressed. 112 00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:09,840 I had nine or 10 of them that said, Yeah, and I had a animal sanctuary in Maryland and 113 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:15,520 I had these, you know, eight or nine farms here in the county and they were all willing 114 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,000 to give it a try. 115 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:22,840 And then it was literally the old school printing up flyers with a little tear sheets because 116 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:27,360 they didn't have a website yet and saying, Hey, you know, if you have these pumpkins 117 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,600 here are 10 different locations you could take them to when you go out to pick out your 118 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:35,320 tree or, you know, you go out to buy Christmas gifts at one of the local farms and they'll 119 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:36,960 take them and they'll use them for feed. 120 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:42,600 And I was just so overwhelmed at how much people were willing to do that when that time 121 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,080 of year is already so busy. 122 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:49,240 You've got kids games, you've got holidays, you've got football. 123 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:52,120 This area and I don't, you know, I've lived in rest of my whole life. 124 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:56,120 So this is the area now, but they're willing to help and they want to help. 125 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:58,280 They just don't know how to help. 126 00:06:58,280 --> 00:06:59,280 Right. 127 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:04,560 And especially over the holidays and I want to get kids involved, but they don't know 128 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:05,560 how. 129 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:09,120 Yes, exactly. 130 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:14,800 And so, you know, the second year we doubled in size and then the third year we doubled 131 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:19,960 again and then the pandemic hit and it, you know, and I started doing some things online. 132 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:22,640 This is still an outdoor activity that people could do. 133 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:28,440 Our name got into a homesteaders group and it just exploded from there. 134 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:33,480 And then we started getting picked up by National Geographic and I Heart Radio and all these 135 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:34,720 different news outlets. 136 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:39,920 And it just, it really took on a life of its own that I couldn't have imagined. 137 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:40,920 Yeah. 138 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:45,040 Did you, was it a non-profit from the beginning or? 139 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:50,080 No, I didn't start it out that way because I wasn't sure, you know, is this something 140 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:52,800 that's going to sustain and last, right? 141 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:57,320 And then, you know, how, you know, legally, how can I accept donations and then, you know, 142 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:01,080 who do I go to to get the paperwork done and just the mechanics of getting it done? 143 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,680 And then finally reaching someone that said, oh yeah, I know someone who could help you 144 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:06,760 get that set up. 145 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:10,200 And so, and then eventually we've done that. 146 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:11,840 That's awesome. 147 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:15,600 So okay, so tell me what is the pumpkins for pigs look like today? 148 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:17,600 How does this work? 149 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:18,600 Yeah. 150 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:24,600 So our original plan was you take your fall decorations, your pumpkins, your gourds, 151 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:30,600 your corn stalks, your hay bales, all of those sorts of things that are still usable. 152 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:35,960 And you take them to a farm or an animal sanctuary that can use them, whether for feed, you know, 153 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:37,440 it gets really muddy in November, right? 154 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:41,040 With the rain and, you know, those things are very helpful and they're still viable. 155 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:44,040 There's no sense in sending them to the landfill. 156 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:46,760 And that's how that meme, what came about, right? 157 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:47,760 Pumpkins for pigs. 158 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:53,720 Now, obviously we understand now that it, that lots of animals eat them. 159 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:58,000 But then from what I know, I have a dog and I've never had to do this, but I've heard 160 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,640 that if dogs set up stomachs, give them pumpkin. 161 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:06,280 But I don't see them pumpkin, but do you, can you give them real pumpkin? 162 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,360 You need it to be cooked for them. 163 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:15,800 So the large animals and chickens have a different stomach system than you and I do. 164 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:20,080 And so for jack-o-lanterns, you and I might be able to pull out the seeds and roast them 165 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,520 and they're fantastic. 166 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:29,400 But we would not be able to digest in most cases a lot of the jack-o-lanterns and different 167 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:31,200 subspecies of pumpkins. 168 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,360 Now some people do make soups out of them. 169 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:39,000 Oh, no, every day is a learning day. 170 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,480 Every day is a learning day. 171 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:42,480 So, all right. 172 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,800 So you start to say lots of animals eat pumpkins. 173 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:46,800 Yep. 174 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:47,920 So lots of animals. 175 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:53,680 So we had folks with cattle that joined us and that kept growing and then we said, oh, 176 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:55,000 hey, winter's coming. 177 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:02,320 Everyone has a place to, you know, there isn't always a curbside pickup of Christmas trees. 178 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:08,480 And we found that some of our donation sites were using them for goats and the goats would 179 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:10,600 eat them and they love them. 180 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:11,960 Other places were using them. 181 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:14,920 I had one that said, we're going to submerge it in the pond and we're going to create an 182 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:20,520 aquatic environment, which I had no idea that that was even a thing. 183 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:22,800 And so every year it was something else. 184 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:27,120 And then, you know, a couple of years back, I think during the pandemic, I was visiting 185 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:31,920 one of our new donation sites and she had a lot of foul. 186 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:37,320 And I said, could you use the blue pity pools that, you know, use for toddlers that folks 187 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:38,840 throw out at the end of the summer? 188 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:40,680 They usually don't keep them. 189 00:10:40,680 --> 00:10:41,960 And she said, oh, absolutely. 190 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:43,160 That would help me out a lot. 191 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:47,640 And so that was a whole nother sort of effort outside of food. 192 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,240 We have since added two more programs. 193 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:54,400 One of them because of the pandemic, we added backyard extras program. 194 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:59,400 So a lot of people had these massive victory gardens and they weren't able to take them 195 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:00,640 into their office anymore. 196 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:03,680 They could only give them out to so many people. 197 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:09,640 So if they didn't give them back to a food pantry or something like that, you could give 198 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:11,600 those to farms. 199 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:18,240 And then lastly, we've added on and last earlier this year, we added on working with food pantries 200 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:24,080 and kitchen food kitchens to say you have extras that you can't always get out to the 201 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:25,680 population you serve. 202 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:27,240 So where does it go? 203 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:32,960 Well that also can end up in the dumpster and it might still be viable, but it may not 204 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:38,760 be human consumable based on whatever laws or regulations or standards you're following, 205 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:40,240 but it's still viable food. 206 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:44,320 And so we've now added that on and we're trying to figure out how we create those networks 207 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,560 to enable them to avoid that. 208 00:11:47,560 --> 00:11:49,560 That's awesome. 209 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:52,200 I mean, and there's so much waste. 210 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:58,480 An episode I did with somebody else, we were talking about square footage waste in this 211 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:05,680 area, like how many houses and have, you know, she's like, I lived in a 7000 square foot 212 00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:08,960 house and she goes, it was way too much. 213 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:13,840 And she's like, now I'm in an apartment with less than a thousand square feet. 214 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:15,720 I'm happier than ever. 215 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:21,800 So it's, you know, but what I love is that you took an idea and ran with it and let it 216 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:22,800 grow. 217 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:26,680 And what I found with my guests on podcasts is we start here and we end up here. 218 00:12:26,680 --> 00:12:34,040 You have no idea, you know, when you started picking up eggs, where it would lead to and 219 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:38,200 food and food and helping and there's such a need. 220 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:44,800 Especially the food pantry and helping, you know, help from that end to then be able to 221 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:46,000 take that and use it. 222 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:50,920 And there's so much waste of food and like at events and things. 223 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:55,960 Like if you don't know, you don't know, like my mom used to work for catering or a business, 224 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,840 a training business and they had lunch catered every day and she'd forever call me, are you 225 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:03,320 in the area going to pick up lunch because we have way too much. 226 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:09,160 You've been to all these events and you can't, they can't resell the food and you know, in 227 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,920 rest and there's a homeless shelter and luckily I know it. 228 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:17,320 My mom and my mom used to take things to the homeless shelter or to the fire department. 229 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:22,320 And there's a domestic violence shelter also in the area that I know because I used to 230 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:23,320 be on the board. 231 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:26,880 So I've taken extras over there and they're like so grateful. 232 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:30,320 But there's so much waste. 233 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:32,960 40% of food is wasted. 234 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:35,000 That's a global problem. 235 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,640 We actually produce enough food to feed everyone on the planet. 236 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:46,560 Plus some, some estimates are as high as 40% more than what we actually need, which would 237 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:49,440 indicate an 80% overage of waste, right? 238 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:54,640 Between what's what we actually produce versus what we're utilizing and you and needing. 239 00:13:54,640 --> 00:14:00,520 And I think there's just such a massive opportunity for us to make small decisions every day to 240 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,840 try to reduce our impact in that way. 241 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:07,760 And it could be as simple as I'm buying less this week and if I need something more, I'll 242 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:14,000 make a quick trip to the grocery store or the farm market to buy that one item that I forgot. 243 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,120 And it could be just that simple. 244 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:20,760 And so hopefully the, you know, donating pumpkins, which is truly just one item, we 245 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:24,320 we grow 2 billion of them in this country every year. 246 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:28,840 And you know, for decoration and no one's actually eating it. 247 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:33,040 1.6 billion will end up in the landfill every year. 248 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:34,520 Wow. 249 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:38,040 So have you moved outside of the Northern Virginia area? 250 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,400 We are now in 600 locations across North America. 251 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:42,480 Wow. 252 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:47,120 So how do you, okay, somebody gets in wants to get involved in resting or somebody wants 253 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:49,520 to get involved listening to this in Idaho. 254 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:51,160 Like what is the process? 255 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:54,200 How can you be in other areas? 256 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:55,760 So there's a couple of different ways. 257 00:14:55,760 --> 00:15:00,880 If they are a farm, animal sanctuary, someone like that that wants to receive, they can 258 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:05,040 just go to our website, pumpkinsforpigs.org and register. 259 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:06,040 It's that simple. 260 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:07,160 It's a free service. 261 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:09,680 We do the advertising for them. 262 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:13,320 And once they're vetted and up on the site, they can manage their own, you know, their 263 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:16,600 own profile, what they get, what they, what they need. 264 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:21,640 And we're always looking to grow because we, I got a call yesterday from someone in Ontario 265 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:26,240 that said, Hey, you don't have any locations here. 266 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:28,160 And I said, I know I really want locations in Ontario. 267 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:29,720 I don't have any. 268 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:34,000 I said, but if you would be willing to go out to your farmers market and talk to any 269 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:38,280 of the folks there and see if they would be interested, I'd be happy to talk to them further 270 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:41,040 and just, you know, make that connection for us. 271 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:42,520 If you're a donor. 272 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:46,880 So, you know, I'm Leslie, it's now Thanksgiving time. 273 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,640 I'm ready to get rid of the pumpkins that are sitting in my house. 274 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:51,080 What do I do with them? 275 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:55,000 You go to our website and you say, Hey, I'm looking, you know, I'm going to click the 276 00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:00,480 button that says donate food and you're going to look for a location that's near you. 277 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:03,080 And you're going to decide, I want to look in Virginia. 278 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,040 I want to look for someone that accepts pumpkins and gourds. 279 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:08,920 And you look at the list and you say, okay, I'm going to be in this area. 280 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:11,280 I'm going to drop it off at this location. 281 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:12,480 And then you take it out there. 282 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:17,320 And then hopefully you'll consider patronizing that farm when you go out. 283 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:18,840 Yeah, that's awesome. 284 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:23,280 So I know you do drop off locations and neighborhoods and stuff. 285 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:24,280 How does that work? 286 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:27,520 Do you have somebody that's a captain for it? 287 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:28,520 Right. 288 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:34,280 So what we do is if an HOA or a corporation and any type of group is interested in doing 289 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,280 a collection, we help them set a date. 290 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:39,680 So for example, we have several that are coming up. 291 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:42,160 It's, you know, I have one on November 3rd. 292 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:46,240 It's going to be a four hour block of time, 12 to four. 293 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:52,920 You have someone manning the station, have everyone bring it to a single central location. 294 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:57,760 And we help you get the advertising to your team. 295 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:03,040 And then we actually help you identify a farm or donation site that will accept it. 296 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:06,840 And the big challenge is always donations, excuse me, is transportation. 297 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:13,240 So in a lot of cases, there are enough individuals with large pickup trucks if they got a lot. 298 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:14,880 They're, you know, it's pretty easy. 299 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:19,280 You just fill up your pickup trucks and you go on out there and you drop it off. 300 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:22,000 In other cases, we have a big event that's coming up. 301 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:23,880 We have someone that's donated their services. 302 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:28,640 So we're always looking for organizations that have that and are willing to do in a few 303 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:32,160 hours to, to the effort to transport it from point A to point B. 304 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:33,160 All right. 305 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:35,440 My wheels are turning. 306 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:40,800 If you see me just like, oh, I know all kinds of things. 307 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:43,360 Because where are you located? 308 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:44,360 You personally. 309 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:47,080 Me personally, I'm in Percerville, Virginia. 310 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:51,600 So are you, do you have a lot of connections and people doing things in Reston, Herndon 311 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:53,640 area? 312 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:54,640 We don't. 313 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:59,600 We used to have a location in Reston and they got so overwhelmed. 314 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:01,080 And this was before the pandemic. 315 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:02,280 They actually called us. 316 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:03,520 This is the only time it's ever happened. 317 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:04,960 They said, we are so overwhelmed. 318 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:07,080 You've got to take us off the website. 319 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:11,320 And what happened was people knew of them and the next year they were still getting them, 320 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:13,120 even though we completely removed them. 321 00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:18,640 So the closest one to the Reston, Herndon area these days is Sterling. 322 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:22,800 We have a bunch of Leesburg, but a lot of them are Percerville, Lovitzville and further 323 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:24,680 further west. 324 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,360 But you know, we have 120 locations in Virginia alone. 325 00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:29,880 All right. 326 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:31,400 My wheels are turning. 327 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:37,880 That, you know, because I'm thinking like it's a great partnership for other businesses. 328 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:43,400 So I know a real estate agent and she does backpacks for kids. 329 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:45,840 And so she does a Saturday event. 330 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:46,840 She did this year. 331 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:52,680 She had somebody with a donut truck and she just did shredding at the same time. 332 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:56,800 So like what the partnerships you could do with so many people. 333 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:01,040 I know a lot of real estate agents give away pies for Thanksgiving. 334 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:06,280 Like give away Thanksgiving pie and bring your pumpkin and a win-win. 335 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:07,280 That's right. 336 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:08,280 Exactly right. 337 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:11,080 We're always looking for people who are willing to partner. 338 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,440 We'll help you get it all set up. 339 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:18,120 You provide the labor to run it and we'll be there to do everything we can to make it 340 00:19:18,120 --> 00:19:19,120 go smoothly. 341 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:22,960 I'm supposed to be saying no to things in my life, but you're getting me this thing. 342 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:23,960 Why not today? 343 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:24,960 Right? 344 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:25,960 Why not today? 345 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:27,960 You could plan it for three weeks from now. 346 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:34,280 I don't have pumpkins in my house that need to be recycled or fed to the pigs because 347 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:38,680 years ago I lived in a townhouse community and we had squirrels. 348 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:42,480 Squirrels love pumpkins and they devoured my pumpkins. 349 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:48,120 So I saw online somewhere and I have a Mary Kay business which is all about pink. 350 00:19:48,120 --> 00:19:50,520 I should have brought my pumpkins out to show you. 351 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:55,120 But I went to Michael's and bought paper mache pumpkins and painted them. 352 00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:58,800 I have three pink ones, ones with pink and white polka dots. 353 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:03,640 And so every fall I bring them out and put them out and then Christmas comes and I put 354 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,360 them in my bag and put them back here. 355 00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:06,360 So that's right. 356 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:10,480 The only problem I have is I'm on the ninth floor of a balcony and if it gets too windy 357 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:11,480 they blow sometimes. 358 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:12,480 Yeah. 359 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:13,480 Yeah. 360 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:15,800 Never gone off but blow around the balcony. 361 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:16,800 Yeah. 362 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:17,800 All right. 363 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:26,520 So any really fun stories around this that you know that are things you had to do that 364 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:32,120 took a little extra courage or you know I always hope this podcast inspires people to 365 00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:34,080 do things themselves. 366 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:40,720 You know they have that idea the thing that keeps them up at night or that just moment 367 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:43,920 like that why not say moment when you thought of something. 368 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:49,720 You know talk to how if you have any stories or things to encourage other people if you 369 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:51,920 have an idea run with it. 370 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:52,920 Yeah. 371 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:57,120 I think I'm someone who I'm a process person. 372 00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:01,800 So when I think you know someone comes to me and they say I want to do X my brain immediately 373 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,920 goes into problem solving and I think oh you got to put this together and you got to pull 374 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:06,520 that together and you need to do this. 375 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:11,520 And what happens is I end up oh my god that's just way too much and I end up sort of backing 376 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:12,680 out right. 377 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:18,360 My brain says have an idea and it's in place the next day. 378 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:23,800 Now I haven't thought through the process often like just like this I'm like all right 379 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:28,440 how can I partner with Jennifer and do this and I'm like I really shouldn't but I probably 380 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:32,640 will but you know that's interesting how our brains are different. 381 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:36,200 So you're the process you're going to figure out all things and you're going to be overwhelmed. 382 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:42,120 Yeah and then I'm overwhelmed and I what I would say to people is delve it and find 383 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:47,440 that I can do this much only think about it is a single step. 384 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:52,320 And I think it's why not today message like just you know why not today what can you do 385 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:54,480 that one little thing. 386 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:55,480 Yeah. 387 00:21:55,480 --> 00:22:01,960 And that's just one thing and so have it start with that one action and and then figuring 388 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:03,360 out what it looks like. 389 00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:09,880 So maybe your one thing for reducing food waste today and this is the day you go shopping 390 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:14,280 is I'm going to do meal planning for breakfast lunch and dinner for my family for this week 391 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:20,960 so that I'm only buying what I need a year or two ago for me it was I'm going to commit 392 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:27,920 to having a composter come and pick up what I can't use and that was the one thing that 393 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:34,400 I committed to and it has totally changed how much I buy where I buy it and our trash 394 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,760 is half of what it was before we started this process. 395 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:43,880 So I'm single I'll have kids and my meal planning can be all over the place and like 396 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:44,880 Sunday online. 397 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:48,120 All right I'm going to go to the store and I'm going to get the stuff to do all this 398 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:49,120 stuff. 399 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:54,240 Well and then I found myself I'd go to the store and had all these meals planned but 400 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:58,240 I didn't look at my calendar and all of a sudden I'm like I'm lunch lunch here like 401 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:02,600 last night I was at my mom she's like do you want leftovers I'm like no I have lunch plans 402 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:07,240 I have dinner plans I have leftovers my refrigerator from two nights ago. 403 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:10,760 Next you know I have something Saturday I'm like I'm not going to be here so being able 404 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:16,920 to say what I'm going to be here and another thing that's helped a philosophy is if we 405 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:21,000 have an abundance of something we're more wasteful. 406 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:27,160 That's right toilet paper or paper towels if you're down seriously not even yeah but 407 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:31,320 if you're down to the last two rolls of toilet paper you're a little more conservative right 408 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:39,040 but if you just went to Costco and you have three million like who cares you know and 409 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:46,040 so you know living from a different mindset of and I try I've been trying instead of you 410 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:47,920 know you want that extra there. 411 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:52,840 Yes toothpaste or things that are running out I'm going to wait till it's gone and then 412 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:53,840 I'm going to get it. 413 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:54,840 That's right. 414 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:58,920 And you know I bought toothpaste thinking oh it's almost gone and three months later 415 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,800 it's you know cut the tube off that's what I always tell my mom. 416 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:03,800 Right. 417 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,240 I mean yes foundation and I have weeks left. 418 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:11,200 That's right it's my husband makes fun of me because my grandfather always used to cut 419 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:16,720 off the bottom of the toothpaste tube and that's where I learned it from and I still 420 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:21,720 do that now and he's like that's so funny and I'm like no really I get like two or three 421 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:23,840 more weeks out of this thing. 422 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:29,480 I was at a friend's house the other day and their ziplock bags are all like wrinkled and 423 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:30,680 not so clean. 424 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:35,240 I mean they were clean but they weren't out of the package you know if you don't you put 425 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:41,520 something in it for a couple days there's nothing that smells bad or is bad crackers like why 426 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:43,520 can't you reuse it. 427 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:44,520 That's right. 428 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,320 All those things I'm trying to do more of that. 429 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:52,200 I used to have an argument with a friend of mine he was all about the paper towels and 430 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:57,640 paper plates too and I'm like what a waste and he's like well you're wasting water to 431 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,760 wash them I'm like not as much. 432 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:02,760 Right. 433 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:03,760 It's funny because I even. 434 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:09,960 Yeah I carry around with me in my work bag when I was going to the office these travel 435 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:14,480 they use them for hiking the plastic fork knives and it comes in like a little kit and 436 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:19,360 you can just leave it in your bag and that's what I would use at lunch and everyone's like 437 00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:24,200 are you going camping I'm like no this is just I'm not going to use a plastic fork. 438 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:25,720 I'm just going to clean this. 439 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:27,760 To get to go food and they give you. 440 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:28,760 Right. 441 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:32,400 I'm like I don't need any more of these I have several where in my house and they just 442 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:34,080 assume and they put it in there. 443 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:35,080 Right. 444 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:41,200 And then all these events we go to like yeah and they give you the little chachki things 445 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:45,280 like yeah a bunch of calculators recently I'm never going to use a calculator. 446 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:47,800 I have a phone. 447 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:48,800 You know. 448 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:49,800 Right. 449 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:50,800 Right. 450 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:51,800 Yeah. 451 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:54,120 So I love what you're doing and how you're making a difference so do you have any fun 452 00:25:54,120 --> 00:25:56,200 stories and I asked you that. 453 00:25:56,200 --> 00:26:01,040 Yeah I think you know one of the stories that always sticks with me is in the in the early 454 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:09,040 years we had it was an animal sanctuary that reached out to us and said hey you know do 455 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:13,760 you ever collect bread and pastries and things like that and I said well we haven't anyone 456 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:19,680 asked for that could help me understand like how you how would you use it because it's 457 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:24,200 it's you know I'm always asking like what can I learn about what I don't know and she 458 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:32,440 said well you know we just took in several malnourished horses in a less than ideal situation 459 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:36,520 and we just need to get weight on them and we would just love to have as much bread and 460 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:42,120 pastries as possible just to get them to some normal weight as we add in all the other healthy 461 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:47,360 nutrients that they need and it just dawned on me it was you know it was sad to me to 462 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:53,120 think that that's that's what we need to do but on the other hand it gave me hope that 463 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:58,640 we had a we could create a solution for it we could really help the animals I'm such 464 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:04,200 an animal lover that you know it just it has stuck with me that story has stuck with me 465 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:10,000 for you know all this time that there's always another creative way that you're not thinking 466 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:14,280 about until someone asks you a question and then all of a sudden it's another light bulb 467 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:21,320 moment about taking this idea whatever your idea is and making it better because of someone 468 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:27,320 else asking right I love that and we just need to say why not today and act on these 469 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:33,120 things or ask the questions just thinking about a nonprofit I ran into recently and it's 470 00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:39,760 cakes for kids have you heard of that you can if you like to bake you can bake cake 471 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,720 cakes and they give it to underprivileged children that wouldn't necessarily have a 472 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:51,680 birthday cake but special because I love to bake but I don't need it in my house right 473 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:58,720 and so you know bake it and then it's like gotta give it somewhere and so I'm just thinking 474 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:04,040 to an example my mom has a neighbor and she goes to a store and buys chicken salad and 475 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:07,760 they give her whenever you buy a thing a chicken salad they give you a thing or croissants 476 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:13,480 and she doesn't eat croissants so she gives to my mom and my mom is 83 and you know raised 477 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:18,000 her parents are raised in the depression so she yeah waste food and so you can't get 478 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,840 in her freezer because there's croissants and this woman gives her bagels but she's not 479 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:26,800 going to throw them away until they stay in a freezer long enough and they go bad and 480 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:35,400 freeze it burn away yeah yeah yeah and and yeah and those pastries and bread products 481 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:41,800 are actually the most wasted food on the planet because we they have such a ceremonial value 482 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:46,640 and they're so much produced over the course of a day and their shelf life is so short 483 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:51,640 right you know we try to refresh them in the oven but there's kind of a limit to what you 484 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:58,680 can do with that before it turns and so most of that ends up getting tossed which is not 485 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:03,400 the best use of our resources it's adding more to the landfill 24% of our landfills 486 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:11,280 are food and so that's creating methane and CO2 as it breaks down and and these are the 487 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:16,280 things these are the impacts that we're having and so for us to divert even the pumpkins 488 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:20,560 on your front step you you are making a difference and I think we need to start thinking about 489 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:27,440 it in those tiny habits way yeah you're making me definitely think different thoughts I went 490 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:33,000 through the leadership Fairfax program a couple years ago and one of their projects you had 491 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:38,480 to have work on a project's nurse was on food insecurity and I live in Reston and you know 492 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:44,200 Reston Fairfax County Loudoun County most expensive counties in the country and I can't tell you 493 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,960 how many people when I said food insecurity and rest and I like rest in what are you talking 494 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:55,000 about like yeah there's a big problem and people don't realize it and you know and you 495 00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:02,360 get busy as a mom a single mom with kids and it's much easier to grab McDonald's which 496 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:07,360 is not good but you don't have time to cook dinner and so there's actually they open the 497 00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:14,200 food pantry on a South Lakes high school and they really work on getting fruits and vegetables 498 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:19,240 and different things and then people from other ethnicities they might not be used to 499 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:25,320 that so they include a recipe card and I was at a gala the other night and somebody started 500 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:31,160 nonprofit called Better Better A Life another food pantry and helping kids but they do its 501 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:38,240 cooking class for kids and to teach them to give them the tools so they know how to cook. 502 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:42,960 Yes and we've been as we're building our partnerships with the local food banks and food pantries here 503 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:48,000 we're learning those same stories and one of you know something else we're learning 504 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:55,800 about that is they give them a you know a pre-made bag of food and if it isn't culturally 505 00:30:55,800 --> 00:31:00,840 appropriate for them they may not know how to use them and they end up in the trash anyhow 506 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,320 and so how do you find that balance? 507 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,440 Or people donate expired bad food. 508 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:07,440 Right. 509 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:08,440 Right. 510 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,720 Do they have a green bag program? 511 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:11,920 I've not heard about that. 512 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:18,600 No this isn't a great program I actually interviewed the guy that started it is so basic they're 513 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:23,520 all over the country and they do have one in Reston so basically they have green bags 514 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:30,520 like you take to a grocery store and they have people that pick them up so you fill 515 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:36,400 your bag and they give you a list of things that people need so you know you have it once 516 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:43,760 a month or every other month whatever it is but so you know that people need pumpkin and 517 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:52,680 they need rice and they need whatever their list and so you have that in your ahead of 518 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:56,520 time and so when you're going to a grocery store and they have three for one or four 519 00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:00,520 for whatever and you know a lot of times we buy them because we don't want to waste money 520 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:06,160 but we don't want them and so you fill your bag with the things they're asking for a volunteer 521 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:12,640 comes and picks up the bags whatever Saturday it is and then drops them off at food banks 522 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,840 and they get that's awesome so many thousands of pounds and they have people volunteering 523 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:21,600 to sort it and pull out the expired stuff but things too and I work on totally on a 524 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:26,600 tangent here that aren't covered by food stamps and I've done an event around this is feminine 525 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:32,480 feminine hygiene products are not covered by food stamps. 526 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:34,480 That's incredible to me. 527 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:39,880 Yeah and so you know we've done tampon drives and be able to give back so I love being able 528 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:47,320 to you know awareness I remember just telling somebody about food insecurity in Reston they're 529 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:50,520 like it's not in Reston I'm like yes it is. 530 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:55,920 It is and you know we work I actually have been invited to attend a monthly discussion 531 00:32:55,920 --> 00:33:00,040 or bi-monthly discussion with the food banks in the county and one of the things that's 532 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:06,840 been so shocking to hear is we you know over the course of this year the amount of need 533 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:13,600 for food has gone up astronomically and it's one you know it's gone up I believe they were 534 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:19,440 saying it's one in three or one in four of every person you meet is food insecure they 535 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:24,200 may be able to buy part of their grocery list but not everything they need they may not be 536 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:29,520 able to buy any of it and they're really fully dependent on on a food bank and you know this 537 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:33,280 is you know there's a variety of reasons for that some of it is because of the pandemic 538 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:37,920 money coming to an end and the impacts finally being held felt now and then the increase 539 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:45,840 in inflation has really driven this down and I think it's really interesting that we live 540 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:51,000 in a county of such wealth and to suggest that this isn't happening in our community 541 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:57,320 is incorrect it's happening everywhere and we have the option to do something about it 542 00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:02,920 and you know what does a Best Buy date really mean does it just mean that it's not maybe 543 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:08,720 as flavorful but it's still fine and so there's a lot of discussion around what do those dates 544 00:34:08,720 --> 00:34:13,240 mean how do you use them and we have a link on our website so that people can go out and 545 00:34:13,240 --> 00:34:17,120 learn well what do those dates mean and how do you use the food in your pantry that you 546 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:23,400 already have yeah and so I think a lot of its awareness it is yeah I remember one time 547 00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:28,240 as a kid we had an extra freezer there were six of us kids and the freezer was and this 548 00:34:28,240 --> 00:34:33,680 is just a memory ingrained in my head that Fraser was jam packed and I went through it 549 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:38,720 with my mom and we made a list of what's in there like okay what can we make from here 550 00:34:38,720 --> 00:34:45,080 that's right and we do that now my husband and I a couple of times a year will go through 551 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:49,320 and say we're pulling everything out of the pantry we're going to go inventory it we're 552 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:54,080 going to use everything that is getting close to expiration and we're going to figure out 553 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:58,200 how to be creative for the next however many meals we need to be creative and then we're 554 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:02,800 going to be buying less because now we have a better sense of what we've been shoving 555 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:03,800 in the back. 556 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:09,320 Well I was at something this morning we were talking about down on the subject organization 557 00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:14,560 we are really going on tangents here but there's a company or some women that started business 558 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:21,360 called home edit oh yes I love them so it's all the organization so I read a friend of 559 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:26,920 mine had the book I looked at it and came home last summer and literally took everything 560 00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:32,200 out of my pantry and put it in the fancy containers with the stickers and so we were talking about 561 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:36,480 it and somebody's like oh what do you do with all the extra I'm like why are you buying 562 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:42,200 all the extra you know I don't have a small condo so I don't have room for all the extra 563 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:47,680 but even those some of those Facebook groups there's one in resting called share nothing 564 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:53,160 or okay thing or something and the other day I'm like my cinnamon jar was almost empty and 565 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:57,280 I'm like I need to buy more cinnamon and then somebody posted when you buy the Costco you 566 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:02,440 get these two big things you're just like who wants one of them I'm like well hadn't 567 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:09,120 them been open I knew the person too I'm like that cinnamon so yes you know and living because 568 00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:13,680 I live in a condo and there's other people here like you need a cup of sugar you need 569 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:19,280 this like you don't want to buy the whole thing for a recipe you just need a little bit and 570 00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:23,200 somebody else might have it like the old boron egg from a neighbor we don't do that we go 571 00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:28,320 to the store because they're two seconds away and then you buy 25 things you didn't need 572 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:32,280 that's right that's right and I think you know that's something else that we're hoping 573 00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:36,800 is that we're going to reconnect communities back together because you know we think about 574 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:42,040 coming together to have a meal but we don't think about the making of the meal together 575 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:48,640 and you know going to looking to your neighbor for that one cup of sugar and there's that 576 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:53,560 this again this is a tangent there's something there's a discussion going around where this 577 00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:59,240 little girl asked her mom well why did you ask our neighbor for eggs we have eggs and 578 00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:03,800 she said because whenever she needs something even though we don't she won't always feel 579 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:09,720 like she's asking us and it's more of a give and take you know equal where she feels like 580 00:37:09,720 --> 00:37:15,680 she can help us even though we know that you know it's more of us helping her so I think 581 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:21,960 it's I think there's a there's a humanity in it that maybe will come back yeah yeah 582 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:26,400 lots of things we need to think about and encourage people to do like let's be better 583 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:32,040 humans and take care of this place and everything around it and while you're doing it you're 584 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:38,360 building community and connection exactly fun with it that's exactly right yeah whether 585 00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:43,600 it's extras at a school where they have like a table of you know the kids get apples in 586 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:47,040 their bag and they don't want them and they put them on a community table and then other 587 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:51,680 people who need or want them can take that and so I think there's lots of ways to do 588 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:58,440 it and and respect people's dignity in that process and just another tangent but I'm 589 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:03,600 going to throw it out there which I've talked about doing and I think I need to do is to 590 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:11,160 do a jewelry or a bag per swap there you go I did do this a holiday swap one time and 591 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:16,120 it was during covid so it wasn't as effective but I might add it to one of my lunches but 592 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:22,000 you know especially holiday decorations they don't go bad and we only use them for a month 593 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:27,880 and then we pick away then you get bored with them and so right everybody bring their holiday 594 00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:32,080 stuff they didn't want and then you could grab something trade it and then whatever 595 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:37,960 we had left we took to a shelter perfect do that again that sounds like a great idea 596 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:44,320 all right yeah I'm mad at you Jennifer because you make my brain think of too many ideas 597 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:49,560 your brains on fire now yes so all right so how would you so to get involved go to your 598 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:53,840 website that's the best right yep that's the best place we have a place if you want to 599 00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:58,360 volunteer your time if you want to schedule have us help you run an event if you're looking 600 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:03,760 to donate food on your own if you want to help us find additional donation sites lots 601 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:08,080 and lots of ways to get involved all right so I'm gonna look at that and check it out 602 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:11,320 and of course we'll share all your info on the show notes but it's just pumpkins for 603 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:19,600 pigs that work pumpkins for pigs just pumpkins for pigs that work okay love it so anything 604 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:26,000 oh so I always connect back to my dad and yeah you didn't know my dad but talking about your 605 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:34,040 cross-country travels he was broken California was supposed to play football for USC got 606 00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:38,640 in a car accident and didn't wasn't able to so he traveled all the way to East Coast 607 00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:45,120 to start college so a travel but when I was 16 he got this grand idea my parents they were 608 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:52,880 gonna buy RV and we are gonna travel cross-country now remember I am 16 years old at that point 609 00:39:52,880 --> 00:40:00,520 there were five less kids my youngest sister when we left was five weeks old so at 16 you 610 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:06,000 don't admit your parents let alone parents are good things they would have a baby yeah 611 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:09,200 and I want to spend I just got my driver's license so what we were gone for five weeks 612 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:13,760 and I went all the way across the country and then back looking back oh my gosh I treasured 613 00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:20,000 that and the memories and the fun and the sacrifice my parents did to take us my dad 614 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,920 worked for himself so he'd stop at campgrounds we pick him out and he'd get on the pay phone 615 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:31,480 and do his work so that's been a dream of mine to do a cross-country just work work my way 616 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:37,800 across the country I can't recommend it enough I've even told people find a Minneapolis rent 617 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:45,560 a car drive west go on the north side go through North Dakota and Montana and in the summer 618 00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:50,560 mind you and just keep going west that's what I did I was able to take one of the legs from 619 00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:56,520 east to west solo in my convertible and you know checking in each day hey this is where 620 00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:02,920 I'm at and it's all good I can't recommend it enough it's just spectacular I need to 621 00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:08,400 do that so there was a podcast episode I had her name is Mary I think her last name but 622 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:15,960 she started something it's do more good I think it was and she took her mom passed away 623 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:20,960 she took her mom's car and just started traveling and just would be like I'm gonna be in this 624 00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:26,200 state who wants to host me who knows somebody that I could stay with yeah I met someone 625 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:31,600 through one of these other networking events and she is seeing all 50 states she works 626 00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:36,000 for herself she does she's a coaching business and so she can do a lot of it remotely and 627 00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:40,880 what she does is she spends a month up to three months in any one location she rents 628 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:46,360 an Airbnb and she just decides you know what city or town she's going to be in for the 629 00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:51,440 next three months so that she can you know live in these areas and really get to know 630 00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:56,080 them instead of just sort of passing through I did that a lot during COVID I worked from 631 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:59,760 other places like goes into Florida a couple times for two weeks I was at Smith Mount like 632 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:05,160 a lot so much that I joined the chamber you know and it was interesting to see other areas 633 00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:12,480 and other people and because I'm from here you know we live in a bubble very eclectic 634 00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:16,840 though I think what's really great about living here is there's so many different cultures 635 00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:22,840 and different experiences but yeah it's it's good to actually then go see it for yourself 636 00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:27,000 yeah so well this was wonderful and thank you so much I didn't realize we could talk 637 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:32,480 this long about pumpkins and pigs thank you for being my guest and you know if people 638 00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:36,760 are interested they will go to your website and if you want to reach out to me I will 639 00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:40,240 probably be doing something in the rest area I don't have a pickup truck though I got to 640 00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:45,480 find someone with a truck but I'm sure two phone calls we can figure it out yes well 641 00:42:45,480 --> 00:42:49,480 thank you for this opportunity this is a lot of fun I'm so glad we did this and thank you 642 00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:53,000 everybody for joining us on this inspiring journey remember every day is an opportunity 643 00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:57,840 to take action chase your dreams and make a difference and remember and I want to add 644 00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:02,600 to if you're listening to this and you're feeling overwhelmed kind of like you're spinning 645 00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:09,360 too many plates have too many balls in the air and are wearing too many hats simultaneously 646 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:15,800 from my 30 years of experience leading people helping businesses I am here to give you assistance 647 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:20,080 and help get rid of that overwhelm that chaos so I'll put together a coaching program and 648 00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:24,120 if you want more information feel free to reach out and let me share in the show notes 649 00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:28,640 a way to contact me with that too so thanks again Jennifer and make sure you share this 650 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:37,040 podcast and let's save feed some pigs this season and give them some pumpkins thanks 651 00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:56,720 everybody and remember say why not.