Transcript:
This podcast was transcribed through a third-party application. Please disregard any misrepresentations.
Brad Caruso:
Welcome to Civic Warriors, brought to you by Withum. On this podcast, we bring the conversation to you, sharing, engaging stories that motivate and build consensus in the nonprofit community. This podcast is about the innovators, the leaders on the front lines of adversity, guiding lights in the nonprofit industry affecting change. And through their stories, we can all join forces to become civic warriors. Hey, warriors. Welcome to today’s episode of Civic Warriors, brought to you by Withum. I’m your host, Brad Caruso, leader of Withum’s not-for-profit practice. Today’s guest is James Corbett, co-founder of Project Refit. Project Refit is a community driven organization that provides peer support programs for veterans and first responders. Their mission is to empower these brave individuals by offering a safe and supportive environment where they can connect with others who have shared experiences. Through their various programs, they aim to improve mental health, foster personal growth, and promote overall wellbeing. So, with that said, James, welcome to the show.
James Corbett:
How you doing? I’m happy to be here.
Brad Caruso:
I’m happy to be here too. And I’m excited to talk about this topic today and excited to learn a little bit more about Project Refit. So, James, I think it’d be great, uh, maybe share with the audience a little background and what was the catalyst behind being a Co-founder and starting Project Refit?
James Corbett:
Yeah. So, uh, long story short, um, and it’s, it’s, this is the question that always kind of gets me. ’cause one, I’m not a veteran. I’m not a first responder, right? So I’m none of those things. Uh, and the reason why I wanted to step into this world and help out, and the reason why I could never become one is ’cause I actually have an injury. I don’t have a inner, uh, adductor muscle in my leg. So I turned on my brain, if you will, and I went to school and I studied real hard. And, uh, I ended up at Columbia University. And, um, I was studying negotiation and conflict resolution. And I ended up learning and coming to the conclusion that the wars between nations and the war within yourself are almost identical if you end up breaking it down to its core, uh, tenants, right?
James Corbett:
Uh, what is your GDP or how much money are you bringing in? You know, what does the food supply look like? How well fed are you? Um, what is your access to such, uh, what are the skills that you have that you can bring to all of these things are actually nations and people are almost one and the same. So then I started to really dig in deeper and go, man, if that’s the case, what’s the side of, uh, the warrior or the protectors or the people that are seeing the worst of the worst? And that’s like their every day or they’re training for that. So they have to be in the head space of that every day. I wonder how down they are. And then it’s no wonder suicide rate is so high, especially when the future coming is going to be a hybrid one.
James Corbett:
And the one way to make sure that people are able to withstand or be resilient towards, uh, the struggles is actually when they’re together and in a society and in a group. So, when I was at Columbia, what I ended up finding out was, uh, and, and really came to the conclusion of is the future’s going to be a hybrid one, there will be a breakdown of, um, society and community, and that’s the very thing that we need for healing the brain. And keeping the brain sane is by having other people being able to, as I say, check each other. Um, and that means, uh, for those who don’t know what I mean by that, uh, when I say checking you, it means I am going to, uh, verify whether or not your thought is correct, right? Like, whether or not your line of thinking and logic is something that falls in line with what is reality around us.
James Corbett:
Um, so that is something that I, I felt like was going to become a huge challenge. And, uh, again, people who see reality every day, and then people who are living in an alternate reality online, uh, were going to collide. And it was gonna cause a lot of, uh, uh, uh, breakdown of what is real. So it’s gonna drive people crazy. Um, and I really wanted to have just a center place where, you know, these vets and these first responders and their families can come, uh, to support each other and, uh, and help out. So, I don’t know, that was a very long explanation, but I think that’s a very good one as to where it came from in my mind. And I just felt like I was audacious enough to go out and do it. And a lot of my best friends, so actually two friends of mine are also co-founders of this.
James Corbett:
Uh, one of them has become a best friend through doing this, uh, Dan Lombard, and he’s one of the main co-founders. The other one is Chris Carr, who’s a brother of mine, like since we were 17 years old. We’ve been friends. He’s actually deployed currently, uh, in Syria. So, you know, say your prayers for him, please. Um, thankfully we have new technology, it’s the first deployment where I’m, I’m like talking to him safely every day almost. So it’s pretty, it’s pretty cool. But still, it’s actually been set and I miss him a lot. Uh, right now it’s kind of weird. It’s weird, actually. It’s the first time. ’cause uh, he was over in like a sand vacation spot every time he deployed before. Um, this is not a vacation spot anymore. This is real life that he’s, uh, he’s witnessing. So.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah, no, I love it. And at the end of the day, the concept of connection with humans is something that, uh, interestingly enough, I don’t know how many people actually do put foresight into it of like, all this AI that’s coming out, all this stuff that’s happening. You know, eventually it’s gonna have a, it already has, you know, COVID forced us in our homes.
James Corbett:
Yep.
Brad Caruso:
We’re not allowed to go meet with people.
James Corbett:
Yep.
Brad Caruso:
All of the technologies that are existing now, you’re right. Like, how do you tell reality from, uh, other than I’m standing right in front of you.
James Corbett:
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>,
Brad Caruso:
um, or, you know, we’re meeting in person. And, and secondly, we’re, we’re human. I think by nature, as you said, and I like being around people. I like having that connection. Um, you know, when we have a bad incident at the firehouse, um, our chief gets us all together right afterwards and says, let’s, let’s just have a conversation.
Brad Caruso:
If anyone’s not, if anyone saw something that makes ’em unsettling, let’s talk about it. Because going home and just dwelling on the negativity or dwelling on some horrible event happening is a, is a real challenge and, and could negatively impact you. And, and it, for myself, I’ll be quite honest, I’ve, I’ve seen a couple things and isolated myself, and I can tell you that I feel a lot worse than I’m, when, when I’m with, with, uh, you know, my group and, and with my brothers, the fire company.
James Corbett:
Yeah.
Brad Caruso:
My brother and sisters, at the fire company.
James Corbett:
Yeah. I wanna make something very, very clear, real quick. Expertise degrees. I didn’t say what I said to lead you to believe that I got that I, I dropped outta Columbia and I started this up. I don’t think you need to have any of that to realize that you have people around you. I actually think it’s a negative. So as soon as I saw that realization of like, okay, so there’s this breakdown of society, right? There’s this breakdown that’s coming. I didn’t know Covid was gonna be the catalyst to hyper put us into hyper speed, uh, of, uh, you know, this hybrid world. But I did develop this, and I called it the hybrid strategy. I now call it the hybrid community strategy, right? So if you look into the history, the historical documents, if you will, of Refit, um, and I don’t mean historical, like, you know, hundreds of years ago.
James Corbett:
I mean, just the literal history of our organization, it started out from the hybrid community, right? Or I’m sorry, the hybrid strategy. Um, and that is with on and offline reaching people, right? So, um, we don’t, one of the most, and I I’m gonna say this and I mean this, and I, anybody can talk to me about it. If they listen to this and they don’t agree, we’ll talk about it. Hit me up anytime. It is evil, that word, actual evil that we are telling each other- You need to have that degree, that we need to be a psychologist or a therapist or psychiatrist to talk to each other. Now, am I, is is it mutual exclusive to me saying that that means that you shouldn’t see one of those people if you need it? I’m not saying that. I’m saying it’s dumb and evil that you’re telling each other that you can’t talk to each other if you don’t have that. Because guess what, how have we been doing it for years? I’m gonna take you through a thought experiment real fast, okay? Definitions. ‘Cause words are your thoughts. We are our thoughts, right? So you are nothing but an amalgam of all of them together. When you break your arm or leg or bone or whatever, what do you put on it? Cast.
Brad Caruso:
A cast. Cool. Yeah.
James Corbett:
So keep that word cast in your mind.
Brad Caruso:
Cast okay, cast. Yep.
James Corbett:
Keep that in your mind. So the next step in this evolution is let’s talk about in a play. Who are the people in the story? In the play? Everybody like the, the, the, the musicians, the actors, the actresses, everybody around, the people building, you know, the sets and everything. What, what are they all, what are they called?
Brad Caruso:
Same word, cast.
James Corbett:
That’s right. It’s a cast. So if we think about that story that they’re telling, and they’re a cast, and then you think about your bone, that breaks, and that’s a cast. And that word cast is a very strong word, right? It actually is people coming together, right? So what’s the cast? What’s the cast to your brain? What’s the cast to your life? It’s actually the people around you that you’re telling your story to. It’s all about stories. It’s all about stories. At the end of the day, it’s all about stories. Who some of the most important people in history were the best storytellers around. The best storytellers, right? Because stories literally help your brain rewire. That’s why telling your own narrative to people that understand you especially matters so much. So why are we telling people that they can’t tell their stories to each other, right?
James Corbett:
Making people-
Brad Caruso:
It’s crazy.
James Corbett:
-uncomfortable. The amount of people that I talk to that go like, oh, I’m not a, I’m not a therapist. I don’t wanna talk about it. Why are you so scared to talk to each other, right? Like, if my boy’s hurting, tell me what’s going on, dude. Like, I want to be there to support you. I am your support cast. I am your supporting cast member in your life. What’s going on, brother? We are a free society, and the way that we continue to be free is when we start to connect with our community members and say hello to our neighbors, right? So I want to know what’s going on with you, and I wanna talk to you about that. So rebuilding that connection piece and community starts with allowing people to tell each other’s stories.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah. And that storytelling is, is integral. Um, and then figuring out, you know, the other, the the important part that I heard from that, that I, I, I resonate closely with is it’s figuring out how to connect with the person so that they do share their story with you-
James Corbett:
Amen.
Brad Caruso:
-I think that’s the other, you know, sometimes it’s hard to-
James Corbett:
Bet your chief does.
Brad Caruso:
-Exactly. Exactly. And that’s a perfect example of a great leader-
James Corbett:
He is a perfect example.
Brad Caruso:
-Someone that says, and he, he brings everyone together and says, I’m not here to, nothing leaves this room. We’re just here to just, if you have
something to say, talk about it. If you need a friend, we’re all here for you. If you want to go home, great. But I’m gonna call you later and make sure that you’re okay. And, and, and he does that. He’ll, he’ll text us after, Hey, I know you saw something traumatic, you know, just wanna make sure you’re cool. Uh, if you wanna talk about it, I’m here for you. And the epitome of a great leader and the epitome of a, uh, shout out to, uh, Chief Kevin Schroeck, the epitome of a person that just really embodies caring about folks, creating a community, bringing everyone together. And then, and then like you said, making sure that people do tell their story how, how they feel comfortable telling it. And, uh, yeah, love, that you said that.
James Corbett:
I love, I love that you have a leader like that. So we have a program in Project Refit. It’s a really cool program. It’s called Aesop, A-E-S-O-P, Aesop. The Aesop program is named after Aesop, the Greek fabulist, right? Aesop’s Fables. So we want to help agencies, in particular first responder agencies, tell their stories and create like a storytelling program that’s identical to what he’s doing. But we want to do it instead of after the call immediately, we want to come in to the, to the first responder agencies every six weeks, or every quarter or every or, or maybe twice a year, right? Every six months, we set a time that works for those agencies and make it a day where you bring everybody in and let’s just tell each other stories. And it could be community members coming in to help you do that,
James Corbett:
Project Refit members coming in to do that. Um, uh, veterans that come in from the community, uh, because they’re people that will understand or want to understand or want to guide you in your storytelling process, right? So the only pathway to peace is through understanding. Understanding is the bridge to peace. That’s it. So if you have someone who’s willing to understand you, that’s a pathway to peace for you internally and even for a nation, right? When it comes down to negotiations and all of that, and if you find something, if you find that thing they’re looking for that can lead to peace that you also can agree with, that’s your bridge. Take it. That’s the bridge you take.
Brad Caruso:
What does Refit mean? I, I, I was looking at your website, I saw it on there, and, uh, I thought it was interesting just kind of sharing ob-obviously within the name, but also in part of what you do. What does, uh, what does Refit mean to you?
James Corbett:
So, um, where it originated from, I was talking to Dan and, uh, we’re going over potential names for this thing and everything like that. And I was like, yo, Dan, do me a favor. Take me through, uh, a mission. Take me through what, uh, you have to do before you go out on a mission beyond the wire, which is, uh, beyond their base, right? Going past their base limit, um, and out into the communities. And then when you come back. So he’s like, all right, you know, bop, bop, bop, bop. This is what we do. We go out, there’s fighting, and we come back, and then we have to refit the vehicles, you know, clean it up, blah, blah. I was like, what’s that? And he’s like, we have to refit the vehicles. So our whole thing is Refit has, we’re, we’re, we’re a base, okay? So, uh, we are a home base for guys to come to, to reset themselves, refit themselves, um, so that they can get that brain not mixed up. They want to know what’s going on in reality, what their reality is, right? What’s happening, um, what is the world like? And then, uh, keep them sane, right? So, uh, in some way, shape or form. And then we send them back out to, uh, their families, communities, et cetera, and they come back anytime that they want to refit themselves.
Brad Caruso:
Awesome. So, so diving, you know, kind of drilling off that and, and, uh, putting a little more context programmatically Yeah. You know, how does that then dovetail into, you know, some of the programmatic activities? I, you know, certainly you have, you have several different groups that you serve, as well as several different verticals of, of mechanisms by which you do that. Maybe, you know, share a little bit with the audience about some of those programmatic activities. And if you have any, you know, specific examples of, uh, an individual you’ve assisted or, or something you feel comfortable talking about. Um, you know, I think that also adds a significant amount of, uh, reference to, and the, and the benefit of the, the organization.
James Corbett:
So, something I’m very excited about is I just got done writing a 50 page booklet for Refit, uh, because we are going to be presenting to a pretty big foundation. And inside of it, I came up with this, uh, basically this analogy, this walkthrough of our organization. We call it a pipeline, right? So we have a pipeline, and the pipeline goes outreach, support, activate, repeat. So the outreach portion is where we build and connect trust, or we connect and build trust. Support is, that’s when we identify the people who need the support and then provide it. And then activate is once that person is supported and they feel confident in themselves, again, we activate them back in their community through our fire teams. Uh, and then they get to, then they get to do the process of outreach, and then finding, identifying the people that need support and send them through.
James Corbett:
And then it repeats, right? So, um, so that’s the three buckets. It is outreach, support, activate are the three buckets, and then all feeds through. So it’s a pipeline. So those are a part of the pipeline. The guy’s isolated. So all the way to the, to the left, uh, in your brain, go to the left and then have a line that goes across for those who are just listening, goes, a line that goes across and at the end of the pipeline. Um, so you have a house where people’s isolated and you have another building. And that’s where the professional is. There’s professionals, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, therapists, there’s people all the way over here who can teach you tools, who can give you tools, right? So, um, we find that guy who’s isolated all the way back over to the left, the guy that’s isolated. And then they, we find, we find him, we feed him into the pipeline where we, through our outreach efforts, and then we find out that guy actually needs a lot of support getting back out into the community again and meeting people and talking to people again.
James Corbett:
So we give him some support by sending him on a retreat or, um, putting him through one of our, um, peer support groups, uh, online or in person. Or he can go to a fireside chat locally. Uh, or another mechanism that we actually have now is For My Life podcast or FML, which usually means F my life, but in this case it means for my life. It’s a really cool twist on words, you know, reframing. Um, and-
Brad Caruso:
People appreciate those puns. <laugh>.
James Corbett:
Yeah. Well, that’s a good refr-. It’s actually, the, the reason for it is it’s a reframing of a negative connotation into a positive one.
Brad Caruso:
Oh, nice.
James Corbett:
That’s actually what it is. It’s not even a pun.
Brad Caruso:
And that’s important.
James Corbett:
That’s very important. Um, I actually have one of my favorite, I’ll tell you a great story, uh, ’cause you want story as well. I’ll tell you a great story of how we supported the first responder agency, uh, recently. That was major in reframing. And it was, you could literally see the guy’s face, the police officer’s face go from like down, and he’s getting definitely disgruntled and, um, till like, I am not a bad person. It was like wild. I’ll tell you that story in a second. But, so then we get them into that, and then, then we activate them. So now they can start their own fire team, conduct their own outreach, have their own local fireside chats, where they get to bring other first responders and families around barbecue, chill, uh, and tell each other’s stories and get to know each other. That’s it, it’s just community. Um, so, uh, the big expenses for us are our mobile base, which is our number one form of in-person outreach.
James Corbett:
Our mobile base is this big, um, uh, uh, truck and trailer, if you will. And it’s literally outfitted like a mobile lounge. So think of it like a mobile community center, like a mobile VFW, American Legion that we bring out to first responder agencies, local towns, concerts, shows, um, sporting events. And we just bring people around to have a good time. We just supported, it was actually really cool, our, one of our peer support programs mixed in with our mobile base program as it should, uh, at a tournament, a softball tournament recently. So we supported a first responder team, uh, of police officers, firefighters, veterans, but mainly police officers to be honest with you. Um, and we supported that team, uh, for a softball season. And then there was a tournament that came up that was, uh, launched called ShislerStrong Foundation. And ShislerStrong uh, is named after Bobby Shisler, who, uh, died in the line of duty.
James Corbett:
He got shot in the leg last year, and he died. He passed away, you know, protecting his community. Um, so the highest honors of death, if you will. Uh, and, you know, that guy is, you know, a warrior that literally, uh, they want to honor and they do scholarships and everything like that. And there was a softball tournament. So we entered it, we came out, we brought the trailer with us, and we were the entertainment, essentially the music and everything like that, and cornhole and the whole setup for the back fields. And our team was able to come and support that organization. We raised money for them, uh, of course raised money for ourselves too, and then provided entertainment for people. So that was really cool. Um, and that was the mobile base and our peer, one of our peer support programs coming together.
James Corbett:
So a part of our peer support programs are, we love to sponsor, uh, you know, first responder or veteran type organizations that are sporting events, right? Going out and doing things together, but also, even if it’s writing right, like literally journaling and writing. We just did a training on this Monday on journaling, uh, for active duty troops, um, and, um, online peer support groups as well, where it’s like basically a Zoom call. We live stream it on Mondays and it’s private on Fridays. Um, and that’s for veterans, first responders, family members as well. Um, and we host literally hundreds of them every year. And it’s fantastic, um, because the, on the internet allows us to do that. Uh, and, and how we help with online. So we actually create online partners, one of our newest partners online, the Roaming Vet, uh, Brianna, uh, she’s actually gonna be on that new Netflix show.
James Corbett:
Um, she just announced it, uh, Survival or something, or out Outcasts or something like that. And it’s her and a group of people that are surviv- surv- uh, surviving in the wilderness and together. It’s pretty cool. Um, and she’s a, she’s an Air Force vet and, uh, the roaming vet. So she is, um, now a partner of ours. We’re taking her and 22 veterans out to Washington for a retreat, uh, in October. Can’t wait for that. Um, and the retreats, I would argue are probably the most insanely impactful. Uh, it’s the insane, most insanely impactful program we have. Like, it, it is amazing. And actually the Aesop program is also pretty freaking and spectacular because, uh, of how grateful and, uh, willing people are to participate in it once they recognize it’s really not scary to share your story and talk actually. Um, and we guide that conversation, which leads me into this story.
James Corbett:
This just happened a month ago, literally a month ago now. Um, so there was a horrific, uh, accident that happened. We’ve been serving this town for over a year, actually at this point, with our Aesop program. And it’s free. We come in, uh, every six weeks and sometimes, sometimes they have to postpone or whatever, or we do. And so it, it has been very consistent though, every six weeks. I think we only canceled twice. We just canceled, uh, this past Tuesday because they’re like, yo, we have, you know, national Night Out coming up. Can you come out in September? We’re like, yeah, no problem. So we go and we sit down with the fire department, the police department, and EMTs in one room all together after this incident. Okay? This is a very rare thing to bring all of them into the same room together.
James Corbett:
Um, and it’s something we’re, we are personally really trying to do is bring all of them together because they are a community. You are a team. So the reason why I’m focusing on that is because we had, we spoke to the officer first, uh, in that event, and as he was going, I ended up pausing, like, Hey, does anybody else, is everybody else tracking this? Everybody good? And they all were like, he needs to talk like he was first on scene, controlled the scene. Uh, he needs to do that. And we’re, I was like, perfect. So we let him continue. He, in that moment, through the healing process, you could see that guy going through how, like he, he didn’t feel lost anymore. He didn’t feel like he was a bad person. It was a genuinely like healing experience to witness. And it all came through storytelling.
James Corbett:
He, he said it, he was the one that was saying it, just told his story. It took, it took maybe two or three hours to get through the whole story. ’cause there was a call that came in that a couple of them had to leave out and came back or, and, and it was four, it was actually four hours. Um, ’cause we’ll stay there. You have to go somewhere, go to your call, whatever, dude, check it out. Like, do your job. We’re gonna be right here till you’re done your story. So that’s something that makes us very different from any other program actually. Like, we’re not in there for an hour. We’re not in there for, you know, a half hour checking boxes, asking you quick questions, like give us the, the overview of the story. No, man, we’re in there for hours. We’re, we’ll be there for you to tell your story until midnight. So that was one of my favorite Aesop experiences yet. And that was amazing.
Brad Caruso:
It sounds amazing. And, and I think that, uh, if I’ve, if I heard you correctly, there, one, one of the, you know, cathartic events that’s going on here is giving someone the opportunity to tell their story, but also giving that person, um, with people around that know them, care about them, the ability for them to say, well, this is something I have not processed.
James Corbett:
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Brad Caruso:
And I didn’t know how to process it. And in processing, you’re giving them the, you’re only looking at yourself negatively. ’cause I think I know myself and humans in general, I think we default to negative. So your point of reframing, your point of, um, getting them to say, well, but what was the positive there or what was the positive part about how you responded here? And then keep that positive part because that, that’s kind of your fuel, that’s what’s gonna keep you going.
James Corbett:
That’s right.
Brad Caruso:
Um, and then process that there are, you know, and my, my brother’s a police officer and, and you know, we talk a lot and yeah, I can promise you that the police force, PD, has the harder of the, the jobs in the world in general because-
James Corbett:
In general. Yeah, man.
Brad Caruso:
In general because of the volume that they see, right? And the fire, like fires are few and far between, at least in our town. But they, they go to, they go to every fire, they go to every car accident, they see all of those things.
James Corbett:
All of it.
Brad Caruso:
And it is extraordinarily difficult to process all that on top of the fact that their schedule, you know, my brother works overnights, like good luck, good luck getting a good night’s sleep when you’re working overnights one week and then days the next week and all that. And that, and that stuff also has an impact regardless. Um, what I, what I heard from all of that is, you know, you’re helping individuals very closely identify the trauma in some way, sharing their story about it, and then giving them tools or conversation and community to help them overcome and get through so that, you know, they’re ready for the next one.
James Corbett:
Project Refit itself is not creating a community, we’re just trying to remind people that there is a community around them.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah. And honestly, like that’s the message I wanted, I want to get across. I, I like that is the message. The message is that reframing the message is how do we get through some of these things? And in certain cases, outside help is needed. In certain cases there’s the community around us, but in certain cases it’s on you. In certain cases, we are our own worst enemy. And I know with myself, I am my own worst enemy.
James Corbett:
It’s always on you brother.
Brad Caruso:
98% of the time, <laugh>.
James Corbett:
That’s right. It’s always on you.
Brad Caruso:
So, you know, lastly, uh, you know, James, as we kind of wind this down, um, you know, how, how can the public support Project Refit, you know, what, what does your organization need from the public? What would be helpful to your organization and yourself?
James Corbett:
You know, um, the quick, easy answer obviously is, Hey man, if you can become a donor, please, you know, become a donor, become a monthly donor. Um, that really does help us out a lot. We’re expanding rapidly, uh, Delaware’s bringing us down, uh, to launch another mobile base down there to launch more fireside chats. Um, which by the way, brings in the next piece. If you wanna volunteer for us, uh, please let me know. We have volunteers all around the country right now. Uh, it’s starting to pick up and we’re looking for people to host fireside chats at local American Legions or, um, at their local, uh, farms or ranches and just bring people together, um, and just hang out, you know, and, and just talk to each other. And if there needs to be somebody who needs to tell a story, let ’em tell a story.
James Corbett:
Um, just create a safe environment for people. Um, another way is we’re always looking for people to help us out with social media and posting and, um, just so many cool volunteer opportunities overall. Uh, and also people who want to host local fundraisers in their communities, like cornhole tournaments, golf tournaments, um, you know, like golf outings, uh, any anything, a 5k, a run, I’m sorry, a walk, uh, a Ruck. Any, literally any, any way to help us raise some dollars and cents to be able to support our, um, you know, we call them targets and target acquisition to, to, to do that, to support the pipeline, if you will. That’s what we need, man. We need, we need definitely a lot of help in that regard. So volunteers and donors and fundraisers, and to host a fundraiser, you don’t even need to have a lot of money. So you can just, it’s your time. Right? Um, and go to Project Refit dot us, uh, projectrefit.us to become a donor or to sign up to be a volunteer and let us know. You can also start a peer-to-peer fundraiser quickly. It’s on there too. You just click into the, uh, fundraise, I think it is, tab, um, and we will show you, or volunteer tab, and we’ll show you. Just click a button that says start a peer to peer fundraiser and you can do it online. So yeah, those are various ways.
Brad Caruso:
Check it out. You know, I, I definitely checked out the website. There’s a lot of good information on there. There’s some testimonials on there. There’s, uh, a lot more information about some of the programs James talked about today as, as well as, you know, opportunities to get involved. And, you know, one of the main reasons we do this podcast is sharing information, uh, to the public about different organizations that, uh, help their communities that they serve. And, uh, yeah, check it out. We, we look forward to look forward to that. And, uh, James, you know, I really appreciate your time today. I think we had a very good discussion, a lot of good information that was, um, you know, certainly relevant to everybody, uh, specifically relevant to veterans, first responders, um, that, you know, may be experiencing a struggle or, or heard something in this and said, I don’t do that. May, maybe I should reach out. Maybe I can, you know, maybe I should check out their website, uh, and see and see if there’s a way that I can get some assistance. But, but really appreciate your time and, and, uh, dedicating that and sharing your wisdom with, uh, with the audience today.
James Corbett:
Sure, man. Yeah, I really do appreciate it as well, having me on. And, um, it was a pleasure, man. This was a great, uh, great time. And uh, thank you for giving me the space to do it.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah, no doubt. And warriors, thanks for listening. Subscribe and meet us right back here for another episode of Withum’s Civic Warriors. Thanks everybody.
