Reel Housewives of Topsail Island

Transcript

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Welcome to the Topsoil Insider podcast, where you can hear all about the businesses and events in the beautiful coastal towns of the greater Topsoil area of North Carolina.

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Coming up, get ready for a really fun conversation with Miss Annette Ernie.

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She's the founder of the Real Housewives of Topsoil Island.

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It's a nonprofit that raises money for women who are battling breast cancer and their families.

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Stick around, experience a new level of luxury on Topsoil Island at Saltwater Suites in Surf City, north Carolina.

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Each suite features luxury bedding, full kitchens with dining tables and dishwashers.

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In all suites other than the three ADA suites have full-size washers and dryers.

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And don't forget about those beautiful ocean views.

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24-7 self-check-in provides a hassle-free and seamless experience.

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Saltwater Suites is the perfect choice for your next beach getaway.

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Book your next Topsoil visit at saltwatertopsoilcom or call 910-886-4818.

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Saltwater Suites Topsoil Island's premier luxury hospitality experience.

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Welcome everyone to the Topsoil Insider podcast.

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My name is Krista and I am your host.

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Today.

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I have the pleasure of interviewing Annette Ernie.

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She is the founder of the Real Housewives of Topsoil Island, and that is a real with a R-E-E-L, and I love the name so much.

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How are you doing, annette?

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I am great.

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Thank you so much for having me today.

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I just love what your organization does.

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Thank you, and I want more people to know about it.

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It's very popular already as it is Listeners.

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I think you're really gonna enjoy this conversation because Annette is so easy to talk to and I just I love my phone conversation.

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If I could have recorded that, I would have published that.

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It would have been perfect.

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But we're gonna do it again right here for the listeners.

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Let's do it.

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So tell me how you came up with that awesome name.

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It actually started out back in the day, everybody was watching the Real Housewives I still do, me too, and it was actually funny to me To begin with.

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It was all a bunch of entrepreneurs, women volunteering in their community, trying to make their communities better.

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So when I started this venture I thought this is it Real Housewives of Topsoil Island, even though I didn't want to copy them per se.

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So I decided I was Bell Like R-E-E-L, because Surf City back in the day, when I moved here over 30 years ago, was a small fishing village.

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So I thought I will put that together and I'll see what I can come up with.

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So Real Housewives of Topsoil Island is stuck.

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So clever yeah, I really love it.

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I love it too.

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You also you mentioned in that phone interview reeling in the family.

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We come here, we vacation, we hang out together and you're just reeling people in Absolutely.

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Love it Absolutely.

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So many people who want to get involved.

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That love to get reeled in by the Real Housewives of Topsoil Island Right.

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Yes, absolutely Okay.

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Let's talk about what it is that the Real Housewives organization does.

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Okay, what we actually do is we ride bicycles for families who are going through breast cancer.

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Starting at the south end of the island, we would ride our bicycles 26.2 miles.

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So I thought, okay, we'll do this for get the athletes involved as well.

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We decided we'd start raising money for families who are going through breast cancer.

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The sad thing about breast cancer is it is really a hot demon.

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I guess you could say some people can shake it and some people absolutely cannot.

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There's some people who hang on to this for 10 years, some of them who unfortunately don't come out of it all.

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So what we decided to do was make it accessible for them to have financial help right now, and so my goal was to help these families pay their rent, pay their mortgage, get Christmas for their children whatever they needed that money for right now, because there aren't so many families who actually lose their homes and lose everything because of this disease.

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So we just thought we can help them today.

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I love it.

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Yes.

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So tell me how it all got started.

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I can honestly say it was a God's sin for me.

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God literally laid this on my heart.

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I was sitting there one day and obviously I know a lot of people and I have the gift for gab.

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Even when I was growing up, my mother used to say all the time oh my gosh, your phone rings all the time and I'm like everybody doesn't know what we're doing this weekend.

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So they came up with this thing telephone, telegraph, telenet.

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Oh, that's funny, I get the word out about everything that's happening.

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Say it again.

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A telephone telegraph and telenet.

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Oh, that's so funny, so I do.

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I love to share everything that I enjoy.

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But anyway, this was laid on my heart out of the blue about my gift for gab and what I could do to give back.

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And God tugged on my heart and kept tugging on my heart and I was like, okay, lord, I hear you, but I don't hear you.

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What do you want me to do here?

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But I had told several of my girlfriends that I really wanted to ride my bicycle down the island, because we all go up and down this island all the time but we actually don't stop just to look at the beauty that God gives us every day on this island.

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So I thought if we ride our bicycle, we'll take our time and we can see everything closer to the ground, not quite as fast.

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So that's how it all began.

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And just talking with your girlfriends, talking to my girlfriends.

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So we decided, okay, let's do this ride.

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The next thing I know 42 people said we're in and we weren't even asking anybody, we were just telling them what we were doing About.

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42 people decided that they would ride with us and somebody spoke up that day and said, hey, why don't we do this for somebody on the island?

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So I said that's perfect.

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So I actually put it out on Facebook and said does anybody know anyone who needs some help?

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And so I got so many responses with a girl's name.

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Her name was Renee Callahan and I called Renee and she was a single mother.

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She was in dentistry, just like me, as a dental assistant, and I said Renee, you don't know me, but my name is Annette Ernie and I'm the founder of the Real Housewives of Topsile Island.

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And I said I want to make this ride all about you that day.

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How do you feel about it?

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And of course, renee broke down and cried, and cried.

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We decided we would get everybody who was riding a bicycle to donate 20 bucks right.

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A number of people had heard about this event and the end of this event was going to be held at Sears Landing.

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Hap Alexander used to open his doors for us all the time at Sears Landing and just say come on in, you can have your meetings here.

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We did.

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And so we rode our bicycles that day 26.2 miles and we came back to Sears Landing.

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And when we got to Sears Landing, we were so excited because so many people from our community came just to see if we completed the ride, I'm sure, but they were also willing to give, and Renee Callahan, her son, jeffrey, came and we ended up raising $2,800 for them on that day.

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On the first ride and, to be honest with you, I thought, wow, that's a lot of money.

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That was awesome.

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And shortly after that another friend, rhonda Jones, was diagnosed with cancer.

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So we thought, okay, let's do this again.

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So we rode probably I'm gonna say probably six to eight months later we did it again and we raised $8,000 that day.

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Oh, my gosh, that's a big jump, big jump, and God bless Rhonda.

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We lost Rhonda to her battle of cancer.

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I'm sorry to hear that, I am too, and we just miss her so much.

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She was such an inspiration to this island.

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But we raised $8,000.

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So then we thought, okay, we can't do this every month, we just need to start doing something once a year and just make it a huge event.

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So that's what we did.

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We have been blessed by this community to the nth degree.

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It is not one business owner has ever told me no about having an event at their establishment.

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Shuck and Shack, I mean gill against there.

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I mean there's nobody who's ever said no, you can't have a sign up here.

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We do four registrations before each ride.

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I saw that, yeah, which gives a lot of the businesses.

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Number one we wanted to make sure our businesses were taken care of after the season.

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Oh yeah, so we always try to do something after the season's over so they can stay running and working all year long.

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Nice.

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Yes, very good idea.

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Of course now they're busy all year long.

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Things have changed around here a little bit in that regard.

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Changed dramatically?

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They have, so we do four registrations and it's been very successful.

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Each establishment always hires live entertainment, so it keeps all of our people there all day long.

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We sell all of our swag that day.

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This is the registrations, all the registrations.

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Yes, we do that, probably about a month out before the bike ride.

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So we go ahead and talk about those Sure let's talk about them, absolutely Okay.

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So this year, starting August 26th, surf City Line is gonna do the kickoff for us.

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Okay, so we'll have registration from one o'clock until four.

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Then on September 9th, the Beach Bumps Pizza and Grill that is actually at the north end of the island They'll be doing their kickoff too.

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One to four.

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September 23rd is the trailer bar, who has been there from day one, and then September 30th the Shuck and Shack.

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Okay, they're all from one o'clock until four o'clock, all right, and just so you know, every establishment always has live entertainment for us.

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They also have their restaurants and bars open, so that's our way of giving back to them.

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So people who do come and register usually hang out and listen to some great music, have cocktails, have food and just enjoy a day of celebration.

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I love it.

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That's so great.

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It is great, so let's go to that annual bike ride that you're having.

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This year it happens to be on Saturday, october 7th, it's what?

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The first Saturday of every October?

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Is that how you?

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plan that we used to do it in April actually.

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Oh, okay, covid changed things for us, yeah, and so then the town actually told us what was available after COVID, restrictions were lifted and so October was perfect, because it's actually breast cancer awareness month.

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Oh, we're gonna stick with October forever.

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It's usually the first Saturday in October.

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Okay, absolutely.

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All right, so let's talk about that bike ride.

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Where does it start?

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What's the route?

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Where does it go?

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What time All?

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those good things.

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We do a beautiful opening ceremony and this is to honor all of our survivors and their families, because breast cancer is a family disease, so we get everybody in the circles.

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We have all of our survivors come and their families and we all hold hands around them and we usually have our mayor say a prayer for everybody that day to thank their family members and to pray around them all.

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The bike ride actually starts at nine o'clock.

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The opening ceremony started eight.

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We leave Soundside Park at nine o'clock.

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We ride down to the St Regis, turn around and come all the way back and there's numerous businesses that sponsor water stops all the way down the island, so you can never get thirsty, that's for sure.

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All right, I got a real question right here.

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As someone who is not very active.

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How hard is that ride?

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I've been doing.

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I've ridden every ride and I'm 63.

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I'll be 63.

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So I've ridden every single ride and there's days that is pouring down rain, there's days that the wind shifts and it turns on you and even, like the morning of the bike ride, my phone usually starts blowing up at six o'clock in the morning If it's raining, which it has rained tons of times, really.

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Yeah, and everybody's hey, annette, are we riding today?

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And I'm like did breast cancer stop or something?

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Cause these girls never, get a break.

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So I think a little bit of rain is fine with us today.

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I love that.

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So we have never stopped a bike ride so we have had to stop before because lightning and thunder has been so bad that we were like, okay, we better take cover for a minute.

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But we always complete that ride and I tell people all the time they ask me, annette, what if I don't complete the ride?

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I said I don't care, I got your money and that's all those women need.

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Is somebody.

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We need your money so we can have these families.

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All right, that makes me feel a little bit better, like I'm thinking about it.

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I'm like wow, that sounds like a really long ride.

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It is a long ride, but my granddaughter started this journey with me when she was probably eight and she is now 14 and she has ridden that ride, but I'll never forget one day.

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We were on our way back and her dad, my son Kane, is the logistics guy, so he has his crew, which my husband started with lighthouse marine construction from the very beginning, and they are always on the road in case anybody breaks down or they need to go back or if they just need to stall.

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Or if they have a flat tire.

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So they always pick everybody up who needs help or assistance.

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So there is somebody out there to help them at all times.

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But my granddaughter was peddling she's Gigi, how much further?

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And I was like see that yellow house way up there.

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She'd say yeah, and I was like it's further than that.

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I said Kane, it's okay.

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I said your dad is right behind us, you can get in his truck at any time.

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And she'd turn around and see him and she'd just pedal even harder, trying to know she was not giving up.

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So she never gave up?

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Did she make it all the way through?

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How about that Every?

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single time.

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And her little legs, they were so worn out.

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Kane said that she was asleep by the time they got home.

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Baby girl, yeah, sweet baby girl.

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But our bike ride does start at nine o'clock and it usually takes us probably two to three hours to ride that ride.

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If people are stopping to talk it.

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And I tell everybody all the time, this is not a race, this is a ride to enjoy the beauty that God really puts around us, that we take for granted every day that beautiful ocean, the intercoastal, so pretty, and you get to see all of that as you're riding.

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Then we finish up the ride and this year JM's on the water is hosting lunch for everybody and then we do a live auction and we do a silent auction.

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Now, my live auction is just wild.

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It becomes a bidding war and it's hysterical.

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It's hysterical.

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We have Gail Brent and Dale Pollart where the funniest two that I've ever seen at our event they get into bidding wars.

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Last year, andy Darden and his wife Leslie they owned Darden Farms in Clinton Anyway, they were here and one of my lovely girlfriends, tiffany, her mother passed with breast cancer.

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Tiffany is one of my big supporters and I just adore her.

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Tiffany and Andy got into this bidding war on this Tiki Tour and it went on and on.

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I finally the bid got up to $8,000 and I thought incredible I think the Tiki Tour usually is like $500 a night.

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It went up to $8,000.

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So Tiki Tours donates a tour for this live auction.

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They have donated a tour for us for the last couple years and it has brought in so much money for the Real Housewives.

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That's amazing it is amazing.

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But the year before last the Darden's actually bought it and I think they paid a couple thousand dollars for it.

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This year A friend of mine, tiffany, who's like I said her mother had passed from breast cancer and this is very near and dear to her heart she was like not seeing exactly who was bidding and we're all Bester friends.

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She's sitting there bidding and Andy Darden is over there just raising his hand.

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Oh, that's funny.

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So nobody knew who was actually bidding.

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I'm up the front with our auctioneer and I finally walk over to Tiffany and I said Tiffany, you're bidding against us because our whole group had gone last year, so the Darden's had won it last year and so we did a theme party.

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So last year we did a theme party and we did a 70s party.

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So all of us dressed up like the 70s and there was a group of 40 of us I'm probably mistaken and my husband, daryl, sings in a band and Ernie McAllister is also a performer on the island, so they were our entertainment on the Tiki Tour which was fantastic.

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So we had a big party going on and everybody was dressed like the 70s and it was hysterical.

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So how big is this Tiki Tour boat that you guys can all get 40 people on there?

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It fits 42 people.

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That's incredible.

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I did not know that their boats were that large.

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They go up and down the island all day long.

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I'm going to have to go set up an interview with them.

00:16:25.875 --> 00:16:29.937
You really should, but I have to say that's just one of the many things that we get donated.

00:16:29.937 --> 00:16:33.125
That Tiki Tour was outstanding, but I've had painting.

00:16:33.125 --> 00:16:45.254
Jeff Wetzel, who is now the mayor in Collin Ridge, donated one of his prints, as a matter of fact, that is one of the most amazing prints that I've ever seen and he sold that for $750 and at my event I think it went for $5,000.

00:16:46.075 --> 00:16:46.957
That's incredible.

00:16:46.957 --> 00:16:58.344
And then Jeff was holding the picture and he was like, and there was two people and it was again Dale Pollard and Gail Brent bidding against this and Jeff said, let's do another, I'll give another one.

00:16:58.464 --> 00:16:59.888
And you guys both pay the same.

00:17:00.154 --> 00:17:02.019
Everybody on this entire island.

00:17:02.019 --> 00:17:03.703
They're just all wanting to give back.

00:17:03.703 --> 00:17:10.347
Everybody can't give that kind of money, but everybody shows up every year and they give from their heart.

00:17:13.336 --> 00:17:19.298
I'm really learning as I do these interviews and I hear about the way that the businesses are giving back to the community.

00:17:19.298 --> 00:17:25.162
It's a really beautiful thing and I was not fully aware of how generous the businesses around here are.

00:17:25.162 --> 00:17:25.942
Oh my gosh.

00:17:25.942 --> 00:17:27.527
Yeah, it's pretty incredible to learn.

00:17:28.335 --> 00:17:32.788
We absolutely could not do it at all without our community.

00:17:33.089 --> 00:17:39.144
There's no way, and with our business partners on this island, they have never said no to us for anything.

00:17:39.144 --> 00:17:41.157
I love hearing that about where I live.

00:17:41.157 --> 00:17:44.109
Yeah, and it's so funny because we were all at.

00:17:44.109 --> 00:17:47.080
It's called the Ladies Connect in Hampstead and what it is.

00:17:47.080 --> 00:17:50.855
It's a group of women that the chamber put together and any woman can join.

00:17:50.855 --> 00:17:56.980
They're all entrepreneurs and they all just help each other with any kind of business direction that they need.

00:17:56.980 --> 00:17:58.164
So it was a great little event.

00:17:58.586 --> 00:18:09.104
But today I stood up and I talked about the real housewives for a minute, introducing myself, and I had two ladies afterwards come up and say we're new to the area, but we definitely want to be one of your sponsors this year.

00:18:09.104 --> 00:18:22.367
Nice, Because as big as this island has grown, I can only imagine what it is going to be like on October 7th to see how many people show up and show out and give back and just come together as a community.

00:18:22.367 --> 00:18:25.542
Honestly, this little island just shines all the time.

00:18:25.542 --> 00:18:30.305
I don't think there's anybody who has ever just said we're not sponsoring this year.

00:18:30.305 --> 00:18:36.030
They're like oh no, we're in and we're up and our sponsor this year because they know exactly what the money goes for.

00:18:36.432 --> 00:18:39.222
I have a group of women who sit on my board.

00:18:39.222 --> 00:18:40.929
I could not do it without these ladies.

00:18:40.929 --> 00:18:50.523
I handpicked every single one of these ladies because I trust them with everything and I have to say they are all such leaders in this community.

00:18:50.523 --> 00:18:53.654
Everybody else in this community trust them with everything that we do.

00:18:53.654 --> 00:18:55.878
I have Debbie Pekowski.

00:18:55.878 --> 00:19:07.854
She has been on my board ever since I started Susan Billet, Renee Rose, Neely Williams, Stacy Justice, Desi McAllister and myself and we did have one lovely lady.

00:19:07.854 --> 00:19:12.348
Her name was Kelly Droz and she sat on our board and she died with breast cancer.

00:19:12.830 --> 00:19:14.516
Yes, and y'all don't get paid.

00:19:14.636 --> 00:19:18.829
We all know we're all volunteers and we work on this diligently.

00:19:18.829 --> 00:19:27.922
We're always trying to find ways to better ourselves, to see what we can do differently, and just to see if we can make this event the best there is.

00:19:28.303 --> 00:19:37.819
Tell me about your planning process with these ladies, as you guys are leading up to the ride, of course as, leading up to the ride, we're out looking for sponsors, we're looking for donations.

00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:42.564
We go around to all the businesses and ask them what they would like to donate and so we can put it on the auction.

00:19:42.564 --> 00:19:50.849
We either do smaller items that are on our auction tables or we do the big auction items that are live auctions.

00:19:50.849 --> 00:19:52.193
But we go around.

00:19:52.193 --> 00:19:58.932
Also, we all talk to everybody about our sponsorships, which is $100 up to $5,000.

00:19:58.932 --> 00:20:02.943
And we've never had a $5,000 sponsorship until last year.

00:20:02.943 --> 00:20:07.215
Oh, really, and yeah, I had two last year and I have two this year so far, oh, wow.

00:20:07.405 --> 00:20:14.540
Somebody else told me today they thought they were going to do a $5,000, because, as you know, it's all tax deductible and it all goes to an awesome cause.

00:20:14.540 --> 00:20:18.009
So people are willing to pay it and we're willing to give it out.

00:20:19.112 --> 00:20:23.873
So let's talk about the sponsorship packages a little bit, break that down a little bit for me.

00:20:24.165 --> 00:20:26.576
So we have a silver sponsor and that's $100.

00:20:26.576 --> 00:20:29.707
You get one rider, they get a t-shirt and they have lunch that day.

00:20:29.707 --> 00:20:34.357
The 300 gives you three riders, t-shirts and lunch as well for all three.

00:20:34.357 --> 00:20:37.594
The platinum is $500, five riders.

00:20:37.594 --> 00:20:40.000
Then you get the diamond for $1,000.

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:43.954
You get 10 riders and of course they get their t-shirts and their lunches as well.

00:20:43.954 --> 00:20:47.407
And of course we have the diamond plus, which is the $5,000.

00:20:47.407 --> 00:20:53.630
They get 20 bike riders and of course, the more you donate, the bigger your letter it is on the t-shirt.

00:20:53.691 --> 00:20:58.085
Oh yeah, you were saying that first year you raised $2,800?

00:20:58.125 --> 00:21:00.113
$2,800 and that was my first year.

00:21:00.113 --> 00:21:01.349
What are you up to now?

00:21:01.349 --> 00:21:08.085
Last year we had 716 registered riders and we raised $170,000.

00:21:08.085 --> 00:21:16.135
Amazing, amazing, oh my gosh, I know right, and we praise God for that because I can't say it enough it's this community.

00:21:16.135 --> 00:21:17.298
They give and they give.

00:21:17.925 --> 00:21:20.703
That's a big deal $170,000.

00:21:20.703 --> 00:21:20.825
It is.

00:21:21.707 --> 00:21:23.490
It is when you start thinking about it.

00:21:23.490 --> 00:21:29.189
I have, I would say, on an average, at least two women a month.

00:21:29.189 --> 00:21:34.229
Now there's months that'll go by that I don't have anybody and all I do is thank God for that.

00:21:34.229 --> 00:21:36.076
But then all of a sudden there's four.

00:21:36.076 --> 00:21:41.895
Women has contacted us and I can say this 100% Most of the time women who have breast cancer.

00:21:41.895 --> 00:21:43.520
They never contact us.

00:21:43.520 --> 00:21:54.092
It's always a friend who tells us about them, because the thing about these women are they don't ever want anybody to know that they're sad or they're disappointed.

00:21:54.092 --> 00:21:57.719
They fight so hard to protect their families.

00:21:57.719 --> 00:22:03.657
The only thing our survivors care about is making sure their family lives don't change.

00:22:03.657 --> 00:22:11.173
So that's where we step in and to make sure financially it doesn't have to change so much because that is a burden for a mother.

00:22:12.046 --> 00:22:14.453
We started out, like I said, it was $2,800.

00:22:14.453 --> 00:22:20.159
We gave it to one girl, then we did the $8,000 thing and then we just we thought we were going to do it once and be done.

00:22:20.159 --> 00:22:20.741
One and done.

00:22:20.741 --> 00:22:22.567
I'm like Lord yes, I can do that for you.

00:22:22.567 --> 00:22:24.652
I'm here to serve and here we sit.

00:22:24.652 --> 00:22:33.204
Years later we did have to skip a ride during COVID, but I have to tell you, even though we had to skip that year, our money still came in.

00:22:33.204 --> 00:22:36.416
We still raised $150,000 during COVID.

00:22:36.557 --> 00:22:37.420
There was no bike ride.

00:22:37.460 --> 00:22:39.567
No, bike ride at all, but the people did not care.

00:22:39.567 --> 00:22:45.991
That's amazing, they did not care, even people who had registered, because our registration stays open for a long time.

00:22:45.991 --> 00:22:48.501
The people who registered they were like.

00:22:48.501 --> 00:22:49.948
None of them asked for their money back.

00:22:49.948 --> 00:22:53.925
They were all there for the right reason and that's yeah, and that's what makes it so successful.

00:22:53.945 --> 00:22:55.451
Beautiful, yeah.

00:22:55.451 --> 00:22:56.998
Have people already started registering?

00:22:56.998 --> 00:22:58.743
Absolutely yes.

00:22:58.743 --> 00:23:01.411
I'm going to register as soon as we finish this podcast.

00:23:01.592 --> 00:23:02.433
And you can register.

00:23:02.433 --> 00:23:07.352
You can do your sponsorship online wwwRealHouseWiseTheTopsallIslandcom.

00:23:07.352 --> 00:23:10.397
You can also register for you to ride that day.

00:23:10.397 --> 00:23:13.422
It will ask you the size of your shirt and all that good stuff to say.

00:23:13.422 --> 00:23:15.250
You can make sure you pick your shirts up as well.

00:23:15.309 --> 00:23:16.375
Tell me about the shirts.

00:23:16.375 --> 00:23:17.839
Is there a design?

00:23:18.182 --> 00:23:23.768
There is a design and we've used this design throughout our entire time and all the girls are like, let's change the design.

00:23:23.768 --> 00:23:25.070
I'm like, yes, we can't.

00:23:25.070 --> 00:23:26.233
That's our logo.

00:23:26.233 --> 00:23:28.951
We can't change them Because what it is actually?

00:23:28.951 --> 00:23:32.163
There's six women on the front of us, Six or seven.

00:23:32.163 --> 00:23:38.503
There's seven of us, I think, on there and the middle, just like the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

00:23:38.523 --> 00:23:41.471
We're in the little V, and what are you holding in your hand?

00:23:41.570 --> 00:23:51.198
We're holding a fish and a fishing pole and we have on our sneaks, very sneakers, oh my gosh, that's the cutest thing I love it.

00:23:51.198 --> 00:24:03.589
But of course now I have to say all my girls are just as pretty as they can be so, and all of them we all have on our jewelry and our earrings and all that, but we do have on our sneaks, very sneakers and our fishing rods in our hands.

00:24:03.770 --> 00:24:04.792
That's so cute.

00:24:04.792 --> 00:24:05.934
I can't wait to see it.

00:24:05.934 --> 00:24:08.146
So tell me about the riders.

00:24:08.146 --> 00:24:08.807
Where are they?

00:24:08.887 --> 00:24:09.730
all locals.

00:24:09.730 --> 00:24:18.181
Honestly, I would say most of them are from Surf City, but we do have a lot of people who vacation here just for this ride.

00:24:18.181 --> 00:24:20.390
They will call and say when is your next ride?

00:24:20.390 --> 00:24:23.384
Or even before we leave that day, have you set your date for next year?

00:24:23.384 --> 00:24:25.855
Because they come to vacation during this time.

00:24:26.037 --> 00:24:26.519
Oh gosh yeah.

00:24:26.578 --> 00:24:28.769
Okay, but we do have riders who come from Wilmington.

00:24:28.769 --> 00:24:30.718
I have some who come from Florida, believe it or not.

00:24:30.718 --> 00:24:39.209
Virginia we have a lot of Virginians who come, but I would have to say, mostly local from Hampstead, surf City, sneeze, ferry, holly Ridge.

00:24:39.209 --> 00:24:41.693
Most of us are local, absolutely yes.

00:24:41.693 --> 00:24:46.714
We also have a great group of friends who own bars and restaurants.

00:24:46.714 --> 00:24:51.088
We've had numerous of them contact us and said hey, we're going to do a pink cocktail.

00:24:51.088 --> 00:24:51.690
I'm like.

00:24:52.070 --> 00:24:52.732
I love that.

00:24:52.732 --> 00:24:56.170
If you go to Bochang, they have a specialty their drink is pink.

00:24:56.170 --> 00:24:57.958
They give it back to the Real Housewives.

00:24:57.958 --> 00:25:05.038
So does the Surf City line, the Crab Pot and Loatide, and if you look at their menus they're all on there and I have been.

00:25:05.038 --> 00:25:07.032
It mentions the Real Housewives.

00:25:07.032 --> 00:25:07.896
It does, and it's.

00:25:07.896 --> 00:25:09.845
They're the Real Housewives cocktails.

00:25:10.105 --> 00:25:10.646
I love that.

00:25:10.787 --> 00:25:14.034
And it says on there proceeds go to the Real Housewives.

00:25:14.034 --> 00:25:16.548
I was in there having dinner one night.

00:25:16.548 --> 00:25:18.256
My husband and I eat there quite often.

00:25:18.276 --> 00:25:18.919
Where which one?

00:25:18.959 --> 00:25:19.943
Loatide Okay.

00:25:19.943 --> 00:25:23.015
And I heard this girl say I'll have a Real Housewife.

00:25:23.015 --> 00:25:24.398
But what is a Real Housewife?

00:25:24.398 --> 00:25:28.215
And Tre and Kristen, the owner, said there, she is right there.

00:25:28.215 --> 00:25:28.898
Oh, that's funny.

00:25:28.898 --> 00:25:33.259
So they came up and talked to me a little bit about the Real Housewives and I told them exactly what we did.

00:25:33.259 --> 00:25:38.955
So I think they ended up ordering four or five more drinks just for the Real Housewives to give back it was good that you were there.

00:25:40.224 --> 00:25:49.832
But they're so good to me, they give me additional money after their sponsorships, and when I say sponsorships they're all at least a thousand dollar sponsorship.

00:25:49.832 --> 00:25:56.457
And so then throughout the year, as they want to distribute, they'll call me up and say hey, we got a check for your cocktails.

00:25:56.457 --> 00:25:57.748
Come back pick up a check.

00:25:57.748 --> 00:26:02.868
So they keep us going even when something's not going on when the ride's not happening.

00:26:02.888 --> 00:26:06.218
So I have so many businesses who will just send a check.

00:26:06.218 --> 00:26:11.347
Richard Stroop, one of them, saltwater Sweets sent me a nice big old check and said you know, that kind of thing.

00:26:11.347 --> 00:26:12.250
He also.

00:26:12.250 --> 00:26:13.938
He and I had a conversation last week.

00:26:13.938 --> 00:26:18.852
He is giving a 10% discount for anybody who's staying in his sweets that weekend.

00:26:18.852 --> 00:26:23.010
So he's giving them the discount for coming and supporting the Real Housewives.

00:26:23.010 --> 00:26:24.675
So I thought that was cool, yeah, so nice.

00:26:24.675 --> 00:26:25.468
Absolutely.

00:26:25.749 --> 00:26:34.521
I just did an interview with Richard Stroop and I told him I had a phone conversation with you and he's created a foundation that gives back to the community as well.

00:26:34.521 --> 00:26:35.384
That's what I mean.

00:26:35.384 --> 00:26:38.761
I just I love hearing about all these businesses that are doing this kind of stuff.

00:26:38.942 --> 00:26:43.016
There is some good nonprofits in this community and it is all about taking care of each other.

00:26:43.016 --> 00:26:46.338
All the businesses, like I said, they're always trying to find something great to give back.

00:26:46.338 --> 00:26:48.166
Sears Landing my friend Ray.

00:26:48.166 --> 00:26:49.289
I just love Ray Ray.

00:26:49.289 --> 00:26:51.074
We call him Ray Ray because we love him so dearly.

00:26:51.074 --> 00:27:00.951
He got Budweiser, who is a friend of mine, jane Jeffries, her family, owned Budweiser and he contacted them, said hey, is there anything you can donate to the Real Housewives?

00:27:00.951 --> 00:27:02.213
So she brought us a bike.

00:27:02.213 --> 00:27:05.468
It was a dilly dilly bike.

00:27:05.468 --> 00:27:06.009
What is a?

00:27:06.028 --> 00:27:06.932
dilly, dilly bike.

00:27:07.011 --> 00:27:10.890
It was really nothing but a bicycle with just dilly dilly written on it.

00:27:11.452 --> 00:27:18.386
So Ray got on there and he started adding things to it, putting stickers on it, the Real Housewives stuff Just made it so darn cute.

00:27:18.386 --> 00:27:23.912
That bicycle sold for five $1000.

00:27:23.912 --> 00:27:24.653
Oh my gosh.

00:27:24.653 --> 00:27:27.960
Then it came they were like donated back.

00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:31.051
They donated that bicycle three times.

00:27:31.051 --> 00:27:33.278
It brought in $15,000.

00:27:33.278 --> 00:27:34.984
Oh my gosh, how nice is that?

00:27:34.984 --> 00:27:39.540
Yeah, same thing happened when year we were at the trailer bar doing our auction.

00:27:39.540 --> 00:27:42.029
Again it went for $5,000.

00:27:42.029 --> 00:27:43.114
The guy said give it back.

00:27:43.114 --> 00:27:46.426
It happens all the time and then we get to redo it.

00:27:46.426 --> 00:27:49.675

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