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Hello everyone and welcome to the Within Range Coaching podcast. I'm Ranger, certified holistic

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success coach, and in this podcast, I'm bringing down the journey that entrepreneurs face as

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they start their organization, find solutions to the roadblocks in their way, and create

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an impact that lasts. So if you're an entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, or purpose driven community

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member that wants to learn how to grow your impact and develop yourself as the person

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behind the mission, then this podcast is for you. I know you're just as eager to get started

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as I am, so let's jump right in. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, everybody.

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And welcome to today's episode of the Within Range Coaching podcast. Guys, I am on the

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west side of Arkansas. I want to say finally, but I don't know if that is the right word

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for it. It's just kind of like this is just where I'm at in the moment. I made it through

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pretty, I'm only like four miles away from the Oklahoma border, I think. So pretty, pretty

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close to finishing up my what? One, two, three, four fifth state on my walk across the country.

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And getting from Mississippi to Arkansas was one of those things that were kind of giving

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me a lot of grief, I was really confused about and kind of worried. A lot of the routes were

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taking me through Memphis on Google Maps. And I think I mentioned this on the podcast

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before, but when I was in Georgia, I made a post about my route and I got a bunch of

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warning, you know, don't go, I wouldn't walk through Memphis, I wouldn't do that doesn't

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sound like the greatest idea. And I don't know, got a lot of links and articles, things

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like information sent to me that made me go, hmm, maybe Memphis is more of a fly in and

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visit the cool places kind of area and not so much a walkthrough area. And that brought

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me to trying to figure out the next best bet, which would be to cross a bridge a bit further

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south from Mississippi into Arkansas. And while I was making those posts and looking

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at the maps, there was one bridge near an area called, what is it, Helena, but Google

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Maps wouldn't let me walk across it. Ended up getting over there, I met up with the mayor

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of Marvel in Arkansas. And he said, you know, there's not that much shoulder on that bridge,

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but I think it's walkable without your cart. Great. He got me a hotel room right on the

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border, I was able to walk across the bridge just fine. And I started asking him for a

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little bit of help, you know, I was going to be walking through Little Rock in about

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a week or so. And I could use some help and support in the middle of the state. He said,

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no problem. I'll share it for you. Lee and I shook hands, I kept on scooting across,

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heading west through the state. And not more than a day or two later after he shared that

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post, I got reached out to by a woman who works for this is what I was getting at, I

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guess, or what I was getting from the messages. But she is the executive director for a hostel

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in Little Rock. And I've never stayed at a hostel before. I wasn't really sure what to

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expect, I guess. But I figured, you know, hey, if someone's reaching out to help out,

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I'm more than happy to accept the help and kind of just say yes to new experiences. So

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I canceled the hotel room that I had originally had for Little Rock. And I am when I got to

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Little Rock, I walked to the firehouse museum and hostel of Arkansas, where I was eventually

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met by the woman that messaged me. And she they gave me a place to stay for a couple

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nights, showed me around showed me the super cool hostel, we'll get more into the history

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of it later. But no, it was just an amazing little experience. And I was able to convince

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enroll whatever you want to say, the woman that reached out to me to be on the podcast

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for today. So today we are joined by the executive director of the firehouse museum and hostel

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of Arkansas, Miss Anne Ballard Bryan. Anne, how are you doing today?

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Doing great. But like I said, we've had a lot of severe weather come through. So we

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were up most of the night dodging tornadoes.

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Yeah, I will get more into that later. I've been I hate this kind of say, but like I've

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been pretty lucky avoiding the bad weather. I had a couple host families that either let

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me stay an extra day or were able to pick me up, move me around and be on call. But

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I can only imagine a lot more of like the stationary folks like how I don't know, it's

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such a weird conversation topic to jump straight into, I guess. But how how does one dodge

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tornadoes? Like what does that make? How do you deal with all of this constantly?

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Well, you watch the local weather a lot. We have a lot of apps on our phone that every

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time severe weather starts to approach our phone alarms go off. And then you can tune

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into the local weather stations. And we have some phenomenal meteorologists here in the

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Little Rock area and all over Arkansas that keep us really updated on the weather, especially

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during the spring season when the tornadoes are hitting. And you always constantly have

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a safe place in your wherever it is in your house stocked with a charged up cell phone

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charger, water, whatever it is you might need. And in our case, in my house, I live in a

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1908 house in the historic district, we have a basement where the old coal chute was. So

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we just dive down in the old coal chute. When tornadoes start to approach and grab the dog,

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we just head down there and just keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't do any damage

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to anyone, you know, so yeah, that's kind of how we handle it around here. It's just

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a lot of being prepared, being informed, paying attention. Because I mean, I don't know, I've

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noticed on a lot of the weather apps or just the day to day weather. It's not very consistent,

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I guess. Or maybe I'm just not used to, I don't know, weather in the south. But yeah,

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no, it seems like weather, especially right now, it's pretty much all people can talk

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about like, not even just from a Hey, how's the weather? It's like a Hey, are you prepared?

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Like, or do you have this? And that's something that I get constantly is people asking what

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I have, like, preparation wise, which isn't a whole lot. I mean, I have, you know, I typically

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have what a day or two worth of water on me at all times. I think right now, I technically

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have enough for about a week and a half of food. But when you're walking in the middle

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of nowhere, and by nowhere, I mean, not like many stores, not many houses, it's, it's definitely

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nerve wracking, especially when it's not sunny and warm out.

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Right. That's when you kind of keep an eye out for the culverts and the ditches and things

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that in case you have to run go seek shelter. We've been on the road, you were talking about

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Memphis coming home from Memphis and got stuck and just pulled over and hid under the bridge

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culvert until it passed over. So you know, you just constantly when weather's approaching,

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you have to be on the lookout like, okay, where around this area can we go?

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Yeah, no, what was I think there was, that was one of the first things somebody I think

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in Georgia told me, because, you know, they say, Oh, you're getting here around tornado

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seasons, you know, I was like, Okay, what, let's say you were walking on the side of

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the highway. What what happens when one approaches Oh, hiding a culvert, like get in a ditch,

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chase yourself basically, I'm like, that sounds terrifying. And that was something I didn't

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even think of before I really did the walk. Like, you know, I was so focused on the day

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to day stuff, I wasn't really so, I guess, worried about those crazy things that could

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happen.

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And it is terrifying, because like I had mentioned to you before, we had a direct hit on our

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house by a January tornado, which is kind of strange. Several years ago, and we were

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down in the old coal chute. And the noise was deafening, the air pressure changed. So

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it kind of knocked the air out of our lungs. And it all got quiet. And it was pitch black,

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because it knocked out all of our electric poles and everything. It was sort of like,

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when we opened the door to that basement, we thought we're gonna see like munchkins.

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Because we had no idea if the house survived, it was so loud and crashing. And when the

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electric poles were getting blown over the explosions of them and things like that, it

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took our roof. So we had to get a new roof. But luckily, other than that, we stayed pretty

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much intact, considering that our next door neighbor's house was kind of cut in half.

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And diagonally across the street, that house was completely picked up by the tornado. And

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there was nothing left of it except its foundation. So it's just a strange thing you live with

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in the South, I guess.

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That's just how we how people out here talk about it. Like, oh, you know, took the neighbor's

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house like it, you know, we just rebuilt, like, it's just such like a weird I guess,

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the way that it's like a testament to like the human spirit. It's like, well, this is

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what you do with like, we're prepared, we're alive, we're safe, you know, minimal injuries

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other than now, we need a new roof. And I guess we can just go to the roof store, or

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however that works. So but I know that, I guess, to kind of jump into the actual topic,

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I know that, you know, emergency preparedness, like natural disasters are something that

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are very prevalent. I mean, anywhere. Okay, maybe one more thing about the natural natural

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disasters. I was driving with someone and I asked them, you know, that question, like,

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Oh, what do you do if there's a tornado? And he kind of looked at me funny and was like,

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Hey, didn't you do drills in school for tornadoes? I was like, Oh, I had earthquake drills, because

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I'm from California. I don't think we have tornadoes. You know what I mean? So it's just

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interesting how they're kind of everywhere. There's something unique all over. But was

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kind of combined or like, I don't know, brings everyone together is fire safety. Yes, you

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know, fires are doesn't matter where you are, they can kind of hit anywhere and decimate

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and all that kind of nasty stuff. I know that's something that is really big on what the fire

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house hostel does. And, you know, bringing that awareness, bring information, I know

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that's a little bit of what your intention is today. Could you just kind of share what

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you'd like walk or listeners to walk away with this episode with? Well, like you said,

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fire doesn't discriminate. And we actually lost a home to a lightning strike fire. So,

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you know, natural disasters can also cause fires. We've seen all of the fires out west

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that have taken miles and miles of casualties in houses and in lives. And so preparedness

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for things like that, but also a very conscious effort of what I can do in my house to make

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sure that my house stays safe. And since we lost a house to a fire and lost absolutely

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everything in it, except for my grandmother's iron skillet, that was the only thing we found

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when we went through the rubble. And so I kept it. But now I'm very conscious of cleaning

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out the dryer, you know, lint, not burning candles in the house, making sure that your

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electricity is up to date and that your fire and carbon monoxide detectors and all those

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things are working well. One of the reasons our house was a complete loss is the cell

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phone company, it was in the country. And so we had a landline on purpose for alarm

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systems because the tiny town where we lived had a volunteer fire department. And then

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we also had self-service, but the self-service was very sketchy in that area. So the phone

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company was coming in and working on the lines. Lightning struck, hit the house. Because the

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phone company had disconnected that area to work on the lines, our alarm did not get through

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to the volunteer fire department. And luckily, a person driving down the little highway saw

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smoke and got on their phone and called. But by the time anyone got there, the house was

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a total loss. And so going, sorry, it's very emotional that going through that experience

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of losing everything, it makes you very conscious about fire safety and all of the men and women

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that showed up to put out the fire and risk their own lives. It's very emotional. Sorry.

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No, no, you're okay. No, we don't push away emotions on this podcast. Yeah. So I mean,

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and that's the hard thing, right? Is all of us know fires are dangerous. We all know that

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these things are devastating, that they impact people so negatively, but it's not until it

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really, it's just terrible to say it's not until it happens to you or someone close to

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you that you really see the actual effects and what it does. And I mean, despite the

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total loss, you know, if that other person hadn't seen that and, you know, informed the

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fire, it could have been worse. It could have spread. It could have been, it could have

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gone from a house to a town very quickly, I'm sure. And acres of woods, pine tree forests

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all around. It could have been very devastating. And so these brave men and women that when

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they leave for work every day have no idea what's going to happen while they're at work

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that day. In Little Rock, our fire departments are not volunteer. Our firemen and women are

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actually also have to be EMTs. So they're not only responding to fire emergencies, they're

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responding to all kinds of emergencies. And so it just gives you such a great respect

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for those men and women that go out every day and face a lot of danger.

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Yeah, no, my, depending on when you listen to this podcast, my future father-in-law,

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he was a fireman, a fire chief for the counties that my fiance and them all lived in growing

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up. So yeah, there's definitely some, I don't know, good poignant reminders there. And I

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mean, even just going, staying at the Firehouse Hostel, the, what was it? John that does the

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tours?

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Johnny, yes.

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Johnny, yes, sorry. So Johnny does the tours. I mean, he even has some like very unique

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items in the tour that are good reminders of the dangers and the real life implications

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of, I don't know, what these people go through. And the one I'm thinking of very specifically

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is the glove that's melted to a helmet. It's remarkable.

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And that young man lost his life and left behind a wife and kids. And I think he was

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only something like 29, very young.

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Yeah. And it's just, you know, they're out there putting their lives on the line in order

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to prevent others from crossing that line, I guess.

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Right.

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But yeah, we'll get more into the Firehouse in just a moment. But in terms of your background,

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what I found kind of fascinating is now you are the executive director for the Firehouse

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Hostel.

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Yes.

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But you weren't exactly, I'm not sure if you had Firehouse background or if you were a

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firefighter. I know that you had a very unique career before being at the tip top of a museum.

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So can you talk a little bit about what you did?

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Well, when I...

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You're a designer, but when they said interior designer, it's very much not what I was thinking

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of originally. Not HGTV interior designer.

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And that's kind of the misnomer of a lot of the HGTV is most of us don't do anything like

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that. But my first career, I actually went to the University of Arkansas as a chemistry

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major and then went to the University of Arkansas for medical sciences and got a doctor of pharmacy.

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And I practiced pharmacy for about 12 years. And it was rewarding, but it wasn't something

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that I got up every day and just adored doing. And so I decided to go back to school and

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got a bachelor's and master's in interiors. And so I worked for a little while for the

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Department of Arkansas Heritage because I obviously love history. I live in an old house.

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The house that we lost was an 1850s house and always involved in my own family history

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and historical tours and all of that. And so I focused in those degrees on historic

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preservation. And but then Hawker Beach Craft called me and asked me to come interview to

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in design jet aircraft, private jet aircraft. And I thought, that sounds fun. Okay, I'll

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try it. And if I don't like it, I can go do something else. And so I was there for about

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10 years designing aircraft. And then because of all of my historic preservation, I got

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a call from the University of Central Arkansas to come teach historic preservation class

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in their interiors department. And so I just had recently retired from that and started

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volunteering for the Firehouse Museum for a fundraiser. And how I kind of got involved

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with that was my great great grandfather is the first name on our fallen firefighter memorial

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on the state Capitol grounds. And I don't know if you got to see a photograph of it

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when you were here, but it's this enormous bronze sculpture on the Capitol grounds that

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has different firefighters in different equipment. And then there's a wall of names of all of

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the fallen firefighters. And so my great great grandfather was the very first one in Fort

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Smith where you are now. And so his coincidentally his wife after he had passed away, his wife

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died in a fire. And so it's always sort of trickled in our family history, you know,

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this whole firefighting and history kind of thing. And so then they needed an executive

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director and I thought, well, I'm retired, so I can kind of do whatever I want. And so

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I beefed up my resume and I applied for the job and they were crazy enough to give it

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to me. You're like, suckers got them. So I've kind of had a very circuitous route through

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my career. Yeah, I was going to say chemistry, the pharmacy to this to that and just like

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all these different strings kind of led back to I don't even know if that's a circle. Maybe

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it's full circle because of I guess of your own. It's a weirdly shaped circle. Let's go

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with that. It doesn't necessarily make sense in terms of the career, but it sounds like

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that personal, like ancestral history, a lot of other things align with where you're at

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now. Right. And the strangest thing of how I found out about you is the way that I know

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Lee Guest, the mayor of Marvel, Arkansas, is Lee Von Helm, the famous drummer from

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the band that played in Woodstock and extremely famous in the 60s, 70s and 80s. He was born

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in a little place called Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, which is right on the border of Marvel. And

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his little sharecropper shack that was his boyhood home is one of the projects I've been

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working on for years to restore his home and turn it into a home museum. And so that is

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how I met the mayor of Marvel by that historic preservation effort. And so we became

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friends and are friends on Facebook. And so it's very strange that my association with

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that whole Lee Von Helm story kind of connected me to you.

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Yeah. And I think that's something that we kind of like very briefly chat before we started

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recording was just it like the strings that you put out, like you never know who they're

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going to cross with. You never know what, I don't know, unique experience you had five,

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10, 15, 20 years ago will kind of, I don't know, I keep saying full circle, will kind

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of bloom or something will happen with that so far down the road that you didn't even

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think of it anymore. Right. And it'll be something really random.

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Like some homeless guy walking across the country. But yeah, and I think that's such

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an another interesting thing is, I mean, that's something that we've I've seen a lot on this

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podcast too, is people start off in a very different career than where they are now.

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And something that I learned a lot during my financial coach training was there's a

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huge difference between the snapshot and the film reel, or you can take a snapshot of anyone

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at any time, but you can't think that that snapshot that career that they're in is who

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they are the rest of forever. Right. Not to say that that won't affect the rest of the

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movie, but it's it's a piece of it. Hey guys, Ranger of Recordings Pass, jumping

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and grab some purpose driven coffee today. Of those different snapshots from, you know,

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working in the front, working in pharmacy, working here, working in interior design,

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how did those experiences influence you as a executive director for a nonprofit? Oh,

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wow. That's kind of a hard question. I think you take. Kind of every experience you have.

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For instance, when I was a professor for a long time, I would think back on what did

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my favorite teachers do that helped me and then those teachers that were just awful.

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What did they do and how can I avoid ever doing anything like that? You know, because

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I think everyone going through school has the teacher that really helps them and you

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think about throughout the rest of your life. And then you have those teachers that were

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just the bane of your existence. And listening to other people's experiences, like when I

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would when I was designing the jet aircraft. Our clients were extremely wealthy people

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because they could afford private jet aircraft. So, yeah, some of them were private people

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that had just they were just buying it for themselves. And then some of them were corporations

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that were buying it for a business, you know, to get around the country for their various

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business activities. And, you know, I kind of had this preconceived notion of what an

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extremely wealthy person was like. And then I would sit down and talk to them about what

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they needed in this fabulous machine. And they were just really normal, everyday people.

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And they also worried about their budget. Now, their budget was completely different

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than my budget. But, you know, they would say, really, my coffee pots in the aircraft

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is going to cost this or something. And so getting to meet people from all over the world

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that way was a great learning experience. And then when I was a professor, I took my

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students every summer to Florence, Italy and taught historic preservation, history of architecture

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and art there. And so traveling and meeting just random people on the train. And if you

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got lost and you stopped a person on the street and, you know, asked for help, that kind of

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thing. So I don't know that I can say this one experience plugged in exactly to this.

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But I think it's kind of a combination of learning all of that stuff and kind of learning

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what works for me and what doesn't work for me. And trying to assimilate all that information

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and channel it into what you're trying to do now. If any of that made sense.

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Yeah. Well, I think that's the other thing too, right? Is that it's so difficult to say,

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oh, this one experience, if it wasn't for this, I would never be the executive director

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for the Firehouse Hostel and Museum in Arkansas. You know, like that's not what it is necessarily.

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But it's like this collection of experiences. Like, you know, people wear like something

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that we get a lot in startups is you wear a lot of hats, but it's like you wear a lot

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of hats, but there's going to be three or four of the 10 on the rack that you're going

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to get gold plated. Like they're going to be so nice. Like they're going to get, you

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know, built up over time. And it sounds like I'm just kind of spitballing here, but it

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sounds like, you know, budget management, I'm sure is insanely important for a nonprofit

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museum. I'm not sure how much actual design work you do in the Hostel and Museum in terms

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of like what can go where, how to move things around. I know you guys have some building

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projects coming up, like expansion. So I'm not sure how that those past experiences tie

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into, I guess you even just being able to talk to the contractors and know what they're

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saying.

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Yeah, we have an architect and on our board, we have another interiors expert. And so she

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and I can kind of speak that same language with the architect that we're using. And because

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of my historic preservation background, I know a lot about how to preserve documents

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and books and things like that and what kind of cases they need to go into in a museum

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and what kind of HVAC system you need to have to keep all of those things preserved. And

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of course, you know, you have to even a firehouse museum has to be prepared for a fire.

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Even more so.

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And so what kind of system do you need to have in case a fire breaks out in the museum

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to help save the artifacts? You need to have an emergency preparedness policy for anything

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strange, a tornado, a flood, a fire. Also, just how you accession pieces and maybe deaccession

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pieces so they all have to kind of have a registration number and a description. And

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all of that has to be kept kind of away from the museum and artifacts. So in case there

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is a natural disaster, you can go to those documents and say, we had this firehose nozzle

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that was from 1920 from this company donated by this person on this date. Its condition

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was X. Its valuation is X. So a lot of detail oriented things.

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Yeah, that kind of makes me think of a documented history of the history that you're showcasing

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in the museum in case something happens.

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Yes.

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Interesting. Yeah. And like you're saying, just being able to have those, I guess, educated

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conversations with other people, because I would have no idea what any of those words

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mean. You know, who knows what people are trying to say. I don't know. My thing is always

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like, who knows who's trying to pull the wool over your eye. You know, that's always a thing.

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But I'm sure there's also that different level of respect that when they walk in there

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and there's someone like you and the other person on the board that knows what they're

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talking about. And just being able to collaborate more and say, oh, this works better for us

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rather than this or oh, that's a good idea I hadn't thought of. How does this other idea

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play into there? You know, it's like a different level of collaboration with those shared experiences.

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Yes, exactly. And and it's so interesting. Johnny Reap, the man who gave you the tour.

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Well, he comes at it from a whole different angle because he's a retired firefighter.

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So then on the front lines of all of that and seen stuff that I don't even I can't

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even imagine going through some of the things that several of our board members who are

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retired firefighters have been through. And so their whole perspective is completely different

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than mine. And you learn so much of, oh, OK, well, I never would have known how to think about it

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from that angle because I've not ever shared that experience. When my house burned down,

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I wasn't there. I got a phone call that says your house is burning down and I raced there.

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And by the time I got there, it was gone. So there's just a lot of that experience that

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I don't even know how to digest it because I've not ever lived through it.

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Yeah. And it's there's so many different experiences around an event

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that everybody experiences so differently, right? Like even if he was the one fighting

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the fire there, he had a very different experience of this event than you did.

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You had a very different experience from your neighbor who watched it happen, you know, like

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all these different people, one event experienced it so differently so they can walk away with

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different like take things different takeaways that it sounds like in the case of especially

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running and operating a firehouse museum. Like these are all valuable experiences,

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which I guess valuable experiences sounds like a weird way of saying it,

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but it's kind of hard to talk about and almost, you know?

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Right. Well, and they're all very learning experiences because like I said earlier,

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fire doesn't discriminate against anyone. And some of the craziest things can happen that

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you don't even really think of when you're in your house that at any minute now, something

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weird could happen. You can have something going on in your electrical system and have a very slow

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burn. Someone could forget to blow a candle out after a party, a lightning strike that you have

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absolutely no control over. You know, you can practice all the safety you want, but if your

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house gets struck by lightning and catches on fire, you have no control of that. And all of those

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wildfires out West, every time I see one of those, my heart goes out to all of those people because

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you kind of walk away with the clothes that were on your back and all of the things that

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my mother's antique bed was there. Well, I no longer have my mother. So it's these little

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things that kind of crop up over and over again that you think, oh, wow, you know, I don't have

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that anymore. And, you know, it is just a thing, but, you know, we do get sentimental about our

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things. Definitely. But yeah, and it sounds like I know that your intention for today was kind of,

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I guess, spreading that fire awareness and emergency preparedness. Like, is there anything

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else that you wanted to share there? It sounds like a lot of it is just like, oh,

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I'm going to share there. It sounds like a lot of it is just control what you can control,

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have some mitigation measures and effects, but you never know when lightning will strike or

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someone 20 miles away doesn't put out their campfire and causes one of these crazy wildfires. So

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what is there anything else that you would want to share? And I think the main thing is how

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it is just to even have your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors always functioning because

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carbon monoxide is a silent killer. And I think if you're going to just only do a couple of things,

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that would be the top on the list. And to know how to not just go buy a fire extinguisher,

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but actually know how to use it. Because so many times people go buy it and they put it in

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the, wherever the kitchen, which is usually the place where a lot of fires happen is the kitchen.

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And then the grease catches on fire and they get it out and they think, I don't even know how to

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use it. So things like that is, and to kind of your whole family, get out fire extinguisher and say,

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this is how we use the fire extinguisher. Because what if your 12 year old kid is at home by

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themselves and something happens, they need to know how to use those things. They need to know

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how to call 911. If the fire, if the smoke detector, they need to know where to go,

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where to go to evacuate the house, what neighbor to get help, call 9, you know, all of those things.

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So I think it's a big kind of family thing that everybody knows exactly what to do.

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You can't see it, but on my doors, we have little stickers that say how many people live in this

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house, what animals are in the house. So in case something happens and a first responder has to

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come here and we're incapacitated, they know, oh, two people live in this house and there's a dog.

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And so they know to look for those things when they come to the door, because it's already

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labeled on the door. So all those types of little things that you pray you never have to use.

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Yeah. And again, I think that's such like the basic message I feel like is it through almost

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every episode of this podcast is it's the little things that matter. Don't get lazy on them. Like

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you replace the batteries, right? Make sure they work, know how to use the things, do the training,

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watch a YouTube video or two. And it sounds like with certain, I guess like emergency preparedness

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or like the worst case scenario stuff, what I've noticed from other folks is it's almost like

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people don't want to know how to use it because it almost doesn't make it seem so real. Like it's

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not a real risk, right? Right. But by not knowing how to do it, you're making the risk that much

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more prevalent and worse. Right. And you know, since we lost a house to a fire, I know how

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irrational it is, but before I leave the house, I know I check to see if the iron is unplugged at

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least three times, you know, because just little things like that, that are so rote every day.

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Like if you use your iron all the time, you don't think about it's kind of a force of habit that you

384
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unplug it, but then you don't really. So you'd like, did I, was that yesterday that I unplugged it?

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Or did I, you know, and you go back and check, oh yes, I did unplug it. And if we leave for

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vacation, we unplug a lot of things just because you never know what can happen. And we also turn

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the water valves off to the things like the washing machine, because you never know when a water

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pipe is going to break when you leave the house and flood your utility room. So all of those tiny

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little things kind of just have a, develop a checklist of this is what we need to do to stay

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safe in our own house, because heaven forbid that anything catastrophic happen. And it's a lot easier

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to recover from losing a house than it would be to lose a life.

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Yeah. And I think that's, I think that's the greatest way to end the episode really is just

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if these are the risks, this is what happens period, right? How can we mitigate those the

394
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:52,280
most so that worst case scenario, we lose a few things and not someone. Right. Yeah. But yeah.

395
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:57,640
And I mean, that's all that is so poignant and obvious in the museum in the hostel. I mean,

396
00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:05,160
it's a real firehouse, right? Like you see, you see it all, you see all the history and I don't

397
00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:08,600
know, I would just encourage folks. I know you guys have the volunteer program as well, which we

398
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:14,200
didn't really get to touch on, but I'm going to link all the info in the show notes. But if you,

399
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:18,360
people want to stay there for free for, isn't it like a couple of weeks they have to commit to

400
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:25,640
working or being there. Yes. So, I mean, there's so many opportunities and it's such a low price

401
00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:29,880
to actually stay in the hostel. That's what I was surprised about too, for what you guys offer there.

402
00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:36,120
So, but, and if people want to learn more about the firehouse hostel, want to book a room, book

403
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:41,560
up, stay, volunteer, whatever, what, what's the best way for folks to get in contact with you?

404
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:49,800
Um, if they're wanting to book a room, either through the website or Airbnb, we're on Airbnb

405
00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:57,240
and, or you can call the number if any of that isn't working very well for you. So like, for

406
00:41:57,240 --> 00:42:01,800
instance, someone like you, who might be walking across the country and they get to a point where

407
00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:08,040
their cell service doesn't work for surfing the net, but maybe it works enough for them to make

408
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:15,080
a phone call or they get to a little town that has, you know, a tiny little grocery store and

409
00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:19,160
not very good cell service. Well, that person might let you use their landline.

410
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:27,640
We still have a lot of landlines in very rural areas because our state is rural and our cell

411
00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:33,560
service doesn't do well everywhere. There's little pockets where I'm sure you've run into them across

412
00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:42,920
the nation where you think, wow, I have zero bars. Where can I get help if I can't use my phone?

413
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:52,440
So any of those avenues and you know, we love to host people and we were just really thrilled that

414
00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:58,360
you were walking through Little Rock and we got to host you and hopefully draw attention to your

415
00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:05,320
nonprofit causes and how important nonprofits are. And sometimes what people have to do,

416
00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:10,040
like walk across the country to draw attention to them.

417
00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:14,360
Hey, hey, look at me. Hey, awesome. You're looking at me. Awesome. Now look at these guys.

418
00:43:15,240 --> 00:43:17,480
Now look at the people that are doing the real work. Thanks.

419
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,600
That's what it feels like is, hey, hey, look, look over here. Gotcha.

420
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:27,400
Yeah. So thank you for what you're doing to draw attention to

421
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:32,680
nonprofit organizations because it is a hard world out there for nonprofits.

422
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:37,800
Yeah, definitely. So no, I'm definitely glad that I can, you know, highlight those three

423
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:43,800
organizations I'm raising money for and also find an avenue to shed light and kind of

424
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:51,400
expand the spotlight to bring folks like you guys into it. So again, Ann, I super appreciate it. I'll

425
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:56,920
put all the information in the show notes and I will let you know when it comes out.

426
00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:03,000
Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. It was so nice meeting you and glad you got to stay

427
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:05,240
here in Little Rock. Me too, for sure.

428
00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:13,960
And as always, thank you all of our listeners for spending some time with us today. I personally,

429
00:44:13,960 --> 00:44:20,200
I don't know, I get a kick out of hearing all these different stories and how things are just so crazy.

430
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:26,360
Like who would have thought 10, 15 years ago that Ann would end up where she is now? It sounds like

431
00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:31,960
she didn't even think that that was the trajectory her career in life was on. So I think that just

432
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:38,680
goes to show that every experience is valuable in some way, shape or form. And what you learn

433
00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:43,240
today through hardship can be something that you share with the world to prevent more hardship

434
00:44:43,240 --> 00:44:48,120
from happening in the future. So if you want to support the Firehouse Hostel and Museum with all

435
00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:52,440
the amazing work that they're doing and you're in the Little Rock area, consider checking them out.

436
00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:57,080
Even just going there for a tour, I think would be fantastic. And be sure that you leave a donation

437
00:44:57,080 --> 00:45:03,080
for them if you are passionate about fire safety and you want to ensure that they can keep on doing

438
00:45:03,080 --> 00:45:07,960
what they're doing and supporting the communities they support. You can donate straight to them on

439
00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:12,280
their website, which is down in the show notes. You can book a stay with them, check it out.

440
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:16,520
If you've never stayed at a hostel before and you're going to be in the Little Rock area

441
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:23,560
a night, give it a night. Just check it out. I mean, it was far better than I even thought it was.

442
00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:27,960
I don't know what preconceived notions I had about hostels before checking them out, but

443
00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:33,720
it was a fantastic experience. Everybody there was so nice and genuine. I mean, I got to even

444
00:45:33,720 --> 00:45:40,200
meet people from the UK, Australia, other side of the nation. So just the experience of meeting the

445
00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:45,080
people that were staying there was even valuable for me. So I'm going to stop singing their praises

446
00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:48,120
for now. Check them out on social media. Check them out on their website. I'll leave it all in

447
00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:53,720
the show notes. And as always, check out our sponsor for today's episode, Cold-Buddied Caffeine Company.

448
00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:59,480
You heard the ad read halfway through, but check them. If you're a coffee lover, if you drink coffee,

449
00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:04,680
tea, I don't know, you like conservation, check them out. All their information is also in the

450
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:11,240
show notes. And if you use the code ranger at checkout, you'll get 10% off. And if you listen

451
00:46:11,240 --> 00:46:16,200
to the episode that I had with Cold-Buddied Caffeine, there's a secret bonus code that you

452
00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:21,400
could use for some extra goodies. So, um, I don't know if there's a plug to watch or listen to

453
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:27,720
episode one, but as always, thank you guys so much. I really appreciate your time. Um, stay tuned for

454
00:46:27,720 --> 00:46:32,440
next week's episode. I'm not sure who it's going to be with yet, but it's going to be another banger.

455
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:38,680
We'd love to see it. Uh, thanks guys. And as always make some good happen in the world, make

456
00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:55,080
something happen and have fun, stay safe and be yourself. Bye now.