Common Good for the Common Wealth: From Crisis to Collaboration: Strengthening the Community Safety Net

On this episode of Common Good for the Commonwealth, host Nancy Grayson sits down with Andy Brunsman, Executive Director of Be Concerned, Northern Kentucky’s largest and longest-operating free food pantry.

Andy shares his remarkable journey from a service-learning student in Cincinnati to becoming one of the youngest nonprofit executive directors in the country at just 25 years old. Together, Nancy and Andy explore the history and mission of Be Concerned, the importance of preserving dignity while serving families facing food insecurity, and how innovative thinking has helped the organization grow from a small pantry into a regional lifeline serving more than 50,000 Kentuckians each year.

They also reflect on the power of collaboration during moments of crisis—from the COVID-19 pandemic to SNAP disruptions—and discuss how communities can step up through time, talent, and treasure to support neighbors in need.

This conversation is a powerful reminder that creating common good starts with showing up, finding a way to “yes,” and believing that service can change lives—for both those receiving help and those giving it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

This is Common Good for the Commonwealth, where we feature uncommon advocates for Northern Kentucky who work every day to make the community more vibrant. I'm Nancy Grayson, your host and president and CEO of Horizon Community Foundation of Northern Kentucky. And I'm so excited to welcome today Andy Brunsman, Executive Director of Be Concerned. Thanks for joining me today, Andy.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Yeah, Nancy, thank you for having me. It's a long story, but it's it's a west side story. So I was born and raised in Cincinnati on the West Side. Um, went to Elder High School, Mount St. Joe University, then the college of Mount St. Joseph. My mamma was from Harlan, County, Kentucky. So my great-grandpa was a coal miner that died of black lung before he was 50. And so Kentucky's always been a big part of our family story. As my mom said, her and her sister are the only ones that made it north of the river. The rest of our kinfolk are all over here on that side of the family.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

In God's country.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Correct. But I was that typical Westside guy. I wanted to go to college and I wanted to play football, and that's all I really cared about. So I went to Mount St. Joe and I loved it. And then after playing football for a little bit, I was in the med school track. So I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to help people. That was kind of my goal when I went to school. So I started as an athletic training major to get my soft science out of the way. And then I transferred to chemistry and physics to get my hard science out of the way because the mount didn't have a straight med school track. You had to kind of add junk it all together or ad hoc it all together. And then it dawned on me that I was not going to go professional in football at all. So I quit playing football. And when you quit playing football, you lose your NCAA credit. And as a Westsider, we don't like to lose stuff that we're getting for free. So it's like there has to be a way to replace this credit that I'm losing, that I'm getting. And so I went and I talked to the nuns at the college. And the only other way outside of playing sports to get a free credit was to do the service learning plus one experience.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

I didn't realize you did that.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Yes, so I actually maxed it out. I think I may have the mounts record for most service learning.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

All the service learning.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

So I maxed out service learning. But when I started that, I I went down and I was a leader of the bodies exhibit when that was at the museum center. And it's like I started realizing there's this nonprofit sector that could really use young talent now and you know, top of the class talent. Not not, I couldn't do anything else, so I'm gonna go do this. And I led the bodies exhibit as one of the volunteer guides, and I was like, that's great, but that feels like teaching and medicine. So I got another service learning placement at Santa Maria for their after school program. That's where I learned 100% I'm not a teacher. I am not an educator, I could not deal with the children. It was driving me nuts. So after that, I sat back and thought, there's gotta be a cherry that really needs help. And at that point, USA Today had ranked over the Rhine 45202 in Cincinnati as the most dangerous zip code in the country.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

What year was that or era?

SPEAKER_00 2:58

That would have been 2008.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

So 2008, I believe, is when the press came out that declared 45202 as the most dangerous zip code in America with a one in three chance of bodily harm or physical crime occurring to you should you go there.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

That is incredible.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

What I said is that sounds like a place where I need to go. So Sister Marie Books are in the program from the mount. She assigned me to our daily bread soup kitchen right outside of Fidley Market and over the Rhine. I went and volunteered. After my first day, I saw a whole bunch of people my age in the line and a whole bunch of people my grandparents' and parents' ages serving them. And it dawned on me who's gonna take care of them next. And that day I went back and talked to my college advisor and I transferred out of the medical school track and I became a communications major with the goal of running a direct service nonprofit one day.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Incredible.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

The nuns found out that I was maxed out for service learning, that I was gonna have to go pick up more bar shifts and stop my service. So the SC Ministry Foundation actually funded my summer employment for two entire years at the mount so that I could continue to work in the sector. My junior year, Ronald McDonald House hired me because they saw some press about this junior at the mount doing good stuff, and they hit a third shift opening and who needs to sleep. So I worked first shift at our daily bread as the volunteer coordinator and third shift at Ronald McDonald House of Greater Cincinnati as the guest services manager overnight. Made those work as a full-time gig combined for a while, and then my big opportunity came to come across the river. So Paul Miller was one of my friends from Our Daily Bread. He came in as development director when I was an intern. So I actually helped train Paul at Our Daily Bread.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

And this is he does Reiki too. Yes, so he does.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Yes, he is, he is, and he bikes and he runs and he does all the stuff I should be doing, and I don't do it, you know. But he came over and accepted a job at Wellcome House at the time. And so Paul was their operations director at Wellcome House. Me and him had a conversation about finding full-time work, that it was great at our daily bread and it was great at Ronald McDonald House. By that point, I really realized I think I can be the executive director somewhere. And so Paul gave me a call and I applied for the development director position at Wellcome House, actually. And I did not get selected or called back, which happens. You know, I was 22 years old. But there was a case management director at Welcome House named Amy Sootter who gave me a call out of that circular interview stack and said, Hey, we need case managers. Would you come be a case manager or interview? And I did, and I accepted the position. And at that point, it really started the balls rolling of I want to learn how to run an agency from the lowest job. So at our daily bread, I started as like a janitor all the way up to the highest level of the job. So stuck around with Welcome House, learned Northern Kentucky, really made good connections with community partners. And then I knew I wanted to be an executive director. Be concerned, had a posting on the SafetyNet Alliance website that their executive director was going to retire. I applied, and it's one of B Concern's favorite stories they like to tell, is I was told no for an interview.

unknown 5:44

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Well, I went ahead and picked up the phone because that didn't sit well with me. I want to know what I can do to be more competitive. At this point, I'm serving on boards. Yes, don't give up. Find a way to the yes. We'll get to there later. But at the end of the day, I called, I called Paul Gottbreff, the executive director of Be Concern at the time, and said, Paul, I'd really like to know what more I can do to make me competitive. And that's what Paul said. Well, you know, resumes have come in. We've scheduled our interviews, so there's not really any more interviews we can schedule. And I just accepted that answer. And Paul said, Will you sit by me at the next safety net meeting? About 20 minutes went by, and Paul called me back. And Paul said, Do you have 20 minutes to talk? I said, Sure, I'll have 20 minutes in 20 minutes, actually. So talked to Paul afterwards. Paul said the board would like to give me a practice interview because it's important to give young people a chance to learn from executives and how to act in that space. So I went and I interviewed at Rudler, CPA firm at the time, where the board oncoming president was working. I had the best interview of my entire life. It was terrific. It was conversational, it was fun, it was business related. I remember calling my dad in the parking lot afterwards and saying, Man, I wish the real interviews went as well as these practice ones because this was great. And then 48 hours later, I was putting an air conditioner at my house in Shivade at the time, and my wife said, Hey, that guy Paul is calling your phone. So I had literally had an air conditioner in my window. Steph had to hold the phone to my ear, and Paul surprised me by telling me they had their board meeting the night before, and unanimously the board had selected me uh to become the next executive director.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

What a great story.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

At which time I think was the youngest one in the country. Yes. I think that's at least what they had told me.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

How old were you when that happened?

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Twenty-four.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Twenty-five. Incredible. Twenty-five, I think.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

I had not heard that story before, Andy.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Yes. So yeah, I was 25. I was about to turn 26. I came in August of 2013.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

So, and that's that's how I came to Be Concerned, and on the promise that for me, these aren't stepping stones, these are anchors. And if you believe in me, I'll believe in you and we'll grow this thing together. So Be Concerned had a great foundation and a great bones. And I have just been challenged to grow that, you know, grow it up into a full-grown grown-up. That's my story.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

And it's it's incredible what you've done to date. And I think for those who maybe are joining us who don't know about Be Concern, give us a glimpse into what you do on a regular basis. Sure. Yeah, your mission and where you're going to.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

So Be Concerned is Northern Kentucky's largest and longest operating free food pantry. So we started in 1968 as a Christmas program out of a request by Covington residents. So in 1968, some Covington residents were having a hard time coming up with Christmas gifts and food for their families that year. So they went to Mother of God Parish and they asked, Father, can you help with a Christmas program? Well, that's never been requested before. So priests do what priests do, and he asked a nun to help, and nuns do what nuns do, as they say yes, but then made rules. And so Sister Donna Kenny started the first ever Christmas store on the guideline that we weren't going to give white families white baby dolls and black families black baby dolls, that the family was going to come in and pick out what was best for their family. Because nobody knows the kid better than the parents. And a lot of times when you ask for help, your dignity is already not intact. It's hard to ask. And if your kids don't eat green beans and they just give you a box of green beans, it's not helping and you feel bad. So she created the first ever choice model in a Northern Kentucky nonprofit. Low-income families could come and they could select their items. The program grew steadily. In 1971, Betty Zimmer came as a volunteer and started running it after Sister Donna kind of got reassigned out of the region. And Betty Zimmer and her family and team really grew the Christmas store from kind of 30 families the first year to maybe 60 the next and then hundreds and hundreds. As time went by, it became apparent to Betty from community feedback that it's terrific that you're helping families at Christmas. But like what happens when my husband gets laid off of work in June? Yeah. You know, like who's helping us then? So Betty's team had the wherewithal that Covington needed a year-round free food pantry. In 1985, Bill Butler bought the old Sears Farm and Garden at 714 Washington Street off the auction house steps, donated to Betty. I think they paid a dollar a year for the lease on a restricted lease, and unleashed her to open Be Concern. And in 1987, the year I was born, is the first time Be Concerned opened its doors for a shoppable food pantry. And then Betty passed away in 1989 of lung cancer. So Betty got to see Bee Concern become what it was, but she did not get the chance to see it grow. But her daughter is still on the board and runs our thrift store, actually, still very active. That's how Bee Concern came around. What we do today, we have a once-a-month choice food pantry that family schedule an appointment for and get about $125 to $150 worth of marketable groceries. That's what would have cost if they went and got it off the shelves. That includes canned goods, shelf stable items, diapers, hygiene products, cleaning supplies, meats, eggs, kind of everything we get at the grocery store. We try to make it as efficient for our families as possible. With post-COVID and really food security being an issue in northern Kentucky and greater Cincinnati. What do you do when families say we need more food?

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Well, we opened our lobby. So the lobby for two years now has been open Monday through Friday from one to three, and that's where we put all of our rescued food.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

So all of our donated food for the most part goes out there for families to get with no appointments just to walk in, and then they know we're guaranteeing them the big level stuff when they come once a month. What do you do when families can't get to you?

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Right?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

We've had families that have used our pantry for 30 years and they stopped coming. Well, when you call to follow up with the families, it's because they don't drive anymore. Maybe they had a medical emergency. Maybe their spouse died and they were the driver. So we started senior home delivery nine years ago. So we deliver to about 350 seniors direct to their door. They fill out a menu, we pack it, and then we take it directly to them. And then we also deliver to about 200 people direct home bound. So people that live in a private home, a private residence, but they can't travel, they place a menu, we deliver it. Looking at areas like Silver Grove, Walton, Erlanger, we can't build B concerns in all of those areas. So we've partnered with those local governments or like local charity groups like the Lions Club in Erlanger to do mobile food pantries once a month. So in the city of Silver Grove, there's a once a month Beaconcern food pantry at one of their baseball fields in the little concrete building behind it.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Walton, right behind the city building and the senior center, once a month there's a food pantry for participants in that area to go. And so if you take a look at it, the services last year that Be Concern provided positively affected over 50,000 Kentuckians.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

That's incredible. Thank you for what you're doing. I know just because we worked together, um, Horizon Community Foundation was very young when the pandemic hit. Um we all were trying to scramble and figure out what the heck we were going to do. Hollywood Square's kind of Zoom was new to all of us. You stepped up to the plate in a very big way. Um there was a lot of collaboration, and we can talk about that in a few minutes. But how did that change things? How did the pandemic shift how you delivered your services?

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Well, to focusing on safety, right? So when we take a look at the delivery model we've always had, it's how to how to respect people's dignity, how to make them feel good about asking for help. And then COVID hit this whole new thing where it's not cans falling off safety, it's not a slip, trip, and fall safety that we normally deal with. It was like an unseen virus safety. So it was changing the entire model to a model that the state would let us run and that we knew would keep our staff and our volunteers, and well, there are no volunteers during COVID except for a couple, um, but the recipients safe. So we flipped to a whole car hop model for be concerned. And then the problem was we were really lucky. So when the pandemic struck out, the building that we're in now at 1100 Pike Street used to be Health Point. And Health Point left some nice stuff there when they had kind of moved that we found like rubber, like some gloves and hats, masks, and hand sanitizer from our old building. We brought that with us. But we happened to have three of like the hardest things to find. And then I think February of that year, we placed the last bulk order that was released for cleaning supplies and lifestyle wipes just to buy a year's supply. So when COVID hit, we happened to have everything that no one was allowed to get, and it was literally just luck.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Yeah, that's incredible. Well, and and and again, thank you. You stepped up during our pandemic relief fund that Horizon launched. We were really trying to address um meeting needs for neighbors and partnering with nonprofits. And Andy, I mean you you served as the quarterback. You stepped up and said, we can do this together and work with the other food pantries. I'm not the expert in this space, and my task force isn't either, who was working on that fund. Talk a little bit about how how you got to marshalling everyone, working together in real time when we had a million different things and hurdles that we had to overcome during the pandemic just to provide these really critical services and resources to people in need.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Yeah, I mean, over that eight-week period, what we did together, I believe was $135,000 in direct resourcing that benefited over 40,000 Kentuckians at the time. Wow. And I love that you said quarterbacking that that's the term Bill Butler's used before. And believe it or not, I don't look the same as I used to, but I did play quarterback for the Mount Ann Elders. Yes, as you can judge, I like to be in control. I do like to have the ball. But at that point, that's what is challenging is when you're faced with adversity or when you're faced with those kind of like none of us had ever seen anything like that before.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Not in our lifetime.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Is it takes it takes some person willing to make a larger sacrifice than most people think they can make. So to be honest with you, feedback professionally I got from people was to tell you no.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Because nobody can do that. You can't do it. And the honest answer I gave those folks was it's an old wrestling line because I'm a hillbilly, but I'll give you a show like you've never seen before because I can. And so when we rolled that project out, I actually lived at Be Concerned for an entire month because we didn't know how COVID affected my kids or my wife at home, who was a homemaker with two little kids. And I knew the only way to get all of that done was to one model the behavior that it was important. And two, when people were losing jobs at their bars and hospitality jobs at three, four o'clock in the morning, they needed somewhere to go. And that was the promise we made at Be Concerned. When people kind of saw that behavior that we were going to get this figured out, everybody needed help with resourcing, but none of us sourced that largely.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

With the exception of like Free Store and Master Provisions doesn't do a ton of procurement. You know, they rescue a ton of food. Sure. That was a challenge for all of us of how do you take what you do over a year and do it in three months. And so it was trying to open the pipeline and finding how we got that. Meals on Wheels was a terrific partner with us to be able to get a lot of stuff that none of us could get otherwise. But we literally sent canned goods from Asia. We I was trying to track all of our food. It was coming on boats, it was coming all up from everywhere you could imagine. But the partners were also very appreciative and extremely willing to do that because we were able to just consolidate our model and basically say, these are the 50 food items that I think we can get. Tell me how much you need, who you're serving, and we will deliver. And that was it was a way that made it efficient for all the partners because it let them just focus on what they needed to do. Well, it let be concerned team, and we were able to hire two part-time folks to help, but it helped those people just focus on that. So when you have a singular focus, you have efficiency, and you have willing partners, it is hurting the cats, but that's the blessing Be Concern's given to me is already having a powerful reputation with the food providers from the Safety Net Alliance. And Paul did such a great job of that human capital, like being important to be there for each other. And Nancy, at the end of the day, it's not hard to get people to say yes if you're gonna offer to give them free food to help them with their thing. That's true. And and it's finding a way to the yes. So that was one of the things that we talked about is finding that way to the yes, one no is the easy answer. Um and and that was probably the shining star of my career all the way up until recently.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Because we did not think it would happen again.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Well, and and let's do talk about that since it's it's kind of the elephant in the room. Um, of course, last fall the government shut down temporarily, SNAP benefits were paused, uh, we scrambled, and there were people in the community who stepped up and provided some money quickly. Um, not quite as much as during the pandemic, but this was a more focused effort, which has been incredibly meaningful to our community. The money that we raised, of course, is not horizon-specific money. This is the generous money of all of the community to perhaps donors like you who contributed to this cause. And and we know that uh these dollars are important and they're going to be long-lasting. We're we're using them. There is a trickle effect. How can people help if they are hearing for the first time maybe that there's still an increased need? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

So it'd be concerned. We talk a lot about the three T's. I mean, a lot of us do, but time, talent, and treasure. Your capacity to give changes over the course of your life. You know, a lot of times when you're younger, it's easy to come down and give us some of your time.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

A lot of times in the bulk of your working world, you know, time is is a premium. So a lot of people serve with their talent as board members, as consultants, as people to help me with bigger level things that I don't know how to manage. Uh, and then other folks give with their treasure. You know, they will send donations in. At Be Concern, we accept monetary donations. A lot of groups do food drives, which are still really, really important. So we're really bolstered by food drives throughout the community. And then people bring their non-food to us. So our thrift store program is a large component, too, of bring us your old clothing, bring us your old household goods. We run a voucher program where our families get that for free. So, like 90% of the stuff out of our thrift store is no cost to families. You can still come shop if you want to find some vintage clothing. Um, but learning, I think that's the biggest thing that I've learned throughout all this is asking people to learn about being concerned, uh, learn about who we are and what we do. And what we say is whether it's for a day, a week, a month, or a year, give some experience at a nonprofit because you don't know it unless you try it. But my job is to tell you we always need revenue to run. But at the end of the day, it takes bodies to run the programs. And right now, human capital is probably one of the biggest things that we need help with. So a lot of our volunteers are older and retired. But as we know in the modern economy, people don't retire at 62 years old anymore with 20 years left to come and volunteer every day. Our people are retiring in their 70s, late 70s. They got a few good years, but they start to get sick, they start to age, and they can't physically do it anymore. So trying to pay attention to the human capital that beyond the money, beyond the donations, it does take people to come down and actually pack the grocery orders and sort the food. And just reminding people that as our staff has grown, we still have a huge need for volunteers to come down. And it's a great corporate place to volunteer. So we've seen more and more corporate groups come. I think we have First Financial Bank coming Friday. Oh, they're wonderful. Shout out Mike Eubanks and our team from Fort Wright. But they're all gonna come out and and and volunteer. I think 10 of them. But we've had a lot more volunteers from the corporate setting, just so letting businesses, specifically in Covington and Northern Kentucky, know we we want to see you. We just don't want to ask you for your stuff. We want you to be part of it.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

That's incredible. And you you've been pretty, I would say, inventive and innovative on how you're addressing needs either financially or with human capital or whatever it is. Talk a little bit about some of the creative ways that you've walked around and tried to help keep things moving forward because it is it's a hard business.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

It's amazing what fear does to a person when it comes to innovation, but you bring up an important part. So, you know, the nonprofit sector gets lumped in as the nonprofit sector. Well, nonprofit is a tax status, not a business model. And that is one of the things that I tried to bring when I was younger is always knowing what we do and who we do it for is the most important, but running it as a business to make sure it's here for generations later and to be a serious player in like the chamber space with you guys, everyone, you have to take it seriously as a business. So a B concern, we run a charitable service with a business mind. When I was hired, our agency budget in 2013 was $130,000. That seemed really big to me at the time. That was, you know, those are big dollars for someone coming out of college. Um, I believe our budget this year is $3.3 million.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

Incredible.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

So the need is there. Yes. We've been able to grow with it, but when you grow a program that big that quickly, there's not enough charitable money in the area to be able to support that kind of growth and the next steps we need. Like in the future, B Concern needs a bigger building, right? Like we need a more efficient way to distribute food that includes partners, that has a one-stop shop. There's not enough people I can ask for that money. So what do you do? Well, you start looking at what the state allows for revenue generation. So B Concern started doing bottle raffles when bourbon was huge, like eight years ago. So we did a bourbon raffle of like all eight bottles of blends, and we sold that bourbon raffle out in a week of all the tickets. We made $15,000. That's like, okay, yes, this works.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

High demand for blends. I know. Yeah. Following all the rules, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:33

So that's important. That's where you learn like local ABC laws, state ABC laws, temporary licensing.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

Office of charitable gaming. All of this stuff I never thought I'd have to learn. But we made a sizable amount of money at the beginning of the bourbon boom, especially during COVID when you couldn't run a fundraiser. And then the Bengals went to the Super Bowl. And then we started doing enough fundraising to where we got over the $20,000 or $30,000 straight threshold. So we had to become an organizational license. ORG, not an exempt agency in the U.S. Gaming at Peacock's and Independence. And we've added five more bars and restaurants over time there. And as such, we netted about $700,000 last year from that fundraising. It's been well over a million since we began.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

And it's been a lot of compliance, a lot of work, a lot of now working in Frankfurt with our elected officials trying to make sure that house bills go or don't go that are good or bad for it. But it has been one of the innovative answers to how we've been able to grow, how we've been able to not over ask people, you know, to send letters every single month to people asking for donations. And the money's not coming off the back of anyone else other than people that want to play the machines. And the 40% rule people play the machines because they know that that win or lose, four of their $10 has to go directly to be concerned. Now we do a little bit better than that with our team. So we try to maintain like 55 to 60%. But throughout the Commonwealth, 50 million charitable net dollars were raised last year doing that innovative fundraising. So we're just a small drop in the bucket with much other larger ones. But what local budget, what local agency, what state budget line item could they give us to replace like $700,000 a year in that innovative fundraising? And it's hard to find. And you can't. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Very creative. Quickly, we're pivoting before we wrap up. You're creative. You dress creatively sometimes too. You have what I have always fondly recalled a love of very unusual belt buckles.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Belt buckles, that's correct.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Yes, socks, like my husband has quirky socks too. You both are lovers of Star Wars. But what got you into loving these belt buckles?

SPEAKER_00 23:35

Well, I mean, I'm a kid from the 80s and 90s. So originally the belt buckles were just an extension of my toy collection that I have. So I'm not saving the world, feeding people at be concerned. I'm going to yard sales and estate sales trying to find all the plastic gold for my childhood.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

In your spare time. In my spare time.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

My kids like to do it, so it is, it is fun. But one of the things that I saw when I was in college is that people get out of college and they become this grown-up so fast that they forget the kit that made them want to do it in the first place. And one of the things I decided a long time ago was you're never going to forget, like that 10-year-old kid that cared about people. And the best way to do that was well, let's find some stuff that I can wear, the Metropolitan Club and the Chamber events. What can fit into a regular attire? When I got the executive director job, it was belt buckles. Belt buckles are my thing. I took a lot of flack about that for quite a while from people, and now they've realized it's kind of become my trademark.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

We we love your commitment to northern Kentucky, and I'm proud to call you a friend and a partner.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

You can thank my mamma for that. So she's been gone for a while, but she's the reason. So we're grateful to her too. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Thank you for joining us. Until next time, this is Common Good for the Commonwealth.