Fred Yeakey
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Fred: [00:00:00] Is this thing on?

Hey 

Vince: guys. Welcome back to another episode of the Summit's podcast. Thank you for joining us from wherever you get your podcast, or if you are kind enough to watch us on the Harris Foundation YouTube channel. Thank you for doing so. Don't forget, if you're on that YouTube channel and you haven't hit the subscribe button or that little notification bell icon, please do that absolutely free.

Will only take a second. Uh, today we are privileged to be joined by Mr. Fred Yankee. Fred, welcome to Summits 

Fred: podcast, man. I'm happy to be here, man. I've never been in the, uh, studio, so, uh, vamped up. I feel like we gonna go viral. I, I just feel it, it, I just feel it, man. He's got 

Vince: it. He's got it. Fred, why don't you introduce our listeners and viewers to yourself and give us a little background.

Fred: Yeah, sure. Um, Fred [00:01:00] Yake. I'm born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. Uh, married with three kids 13 years in a game now. Um, I'm an educator. I help run a school called Providence, crystal Ray. It's like a national model private school. Okay. Uh, that specifically deals with educating urban youth by eradicating poverty.

Uh, my role there is vice president, and in order to go to school there, students who can't afford the school, they come there and they volunteer. To work one day a week. And my job as vice president is to get all the corporate partners and sponsorships to say, I want students working here at our organization.

Um, I'm honored to serve on the Heroes Foundation Board. Um, was asked by Vince. We were introduced by a mutual friend. Um, Indianapolis community is very small, but mm-hmm. It, I, I, I love Indianapolis outside of other markets because you meet a lot of people who just want to do good. Um, and when I was learning more about Vince and what he's doing, Um, I felt like I had to be involved and I [00:02:00] think cancer is something that does not discriminate.

Mm-hmm. And I see it so often, particularly in the communities that I feel I'm called to serve, uh, the lack of access and the lack of awareness. Are really devastating our, our family. So, uh, that's my born background. Yeah. 

Vince: Well, I'm glad you mentioned Providence Kristo Re so, um, like you serving on the heroes board, serve on the, I serve on the board at Providence Kris Re High School, and I think one of the things that attracted me to the high school was the corporate program.

Um, I'm a big adv. I mean, don't get me wrong. Teachers listening out there, don't take this the wrong way. I was maybe not the most academic kid in the world. I did okay. But like the school wasn't my thing. I'd rather be outside playing. Yep. Sports, whatever. Um, but I think the real world application of the internships, um, getting the kids to, you know, be in the, in the midst of, of a job of what's going on versus having to study out of a textbook.

Huge. Absolutely huge. 

Fred: It's transformational. I, I think when you look at it, [00:03:00] Um, from a, just a realistic standpoint, right? Uh, education is one of the only institutions that has not evolved or changed in which they offer their services in the last 60, maybe 80 years. Mm-hmm. It's still the same industrial age.

Sit down, we regurgitate information. You can't really move and then you are gonna be tested on how much you can memorize something, right? Mm-hmm. Um, every other institution has really modernized. And I think Crystal Ray was really before his time in 95 started on South Side Chicago and how it is implemented, uh, corporate work study, a part of the weekly routine is transformational, right?

Um, like you, I was an average student too. And I think this school, if it was around, I probably would be a little bit further advanced cuz I found my niche in college. Right. If you can find it in high school, it just helps add that more and then, then you just expose the things you wouldn't be exposed to too.

Vince: Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. [00:04:00] Outside of the corporate work study program, what aspects of, um, Providence Krista Ray are you most involved with or are you excited about outside of 

Fred: that portion? Yeah. Um, outside of Krista Ray, uh, corporate work study, um, I. I also love just the regular interactions with, with students, right?

Mm-hmm. That's still my first passion. Mm-hmm. I love people, man. Maybe not kickball wise, but well, listen, lemme tell you this story, okay? This Dr. D, you know, so I, I I love kids, right? Students, we are high school, ninth through 12th grade, and every year we have this thing called the retreat. Every class has to take the retreat where the junior class is the only one that has a overnight retreat.

Okay. And they need something called chaperones. Cause you know, sometimes kids can get a little too happy. Yeah. Long story short, I went south side of Franklin, Indiana and they have a kickball tournament. So I was voted as a captain. Someone else was voted as the captain. And I started to see everyone wanting to go and play for the other guys' team.

And I took it personal. I was like, okay, okay, give me the people who [00:05:00] don't want me. Yep. Um, so we went out there and did they have 

Vince: more n i l money on that 

Fred: side? I think they did. Remember what the, what the guy was. He that was younger, he was taller. Everyone. He was, you know, he was, he was, he was like, you know, I felt like he was Michael Jordan and I was Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

Like, you trying to take the league from me. You know what I'm saying? Uh, so we started off, man, they started out the gate blowing us out. I was like, man, this is gonna be tough. Rally the troops together. Listen y'all, this is gonna be one of the biggest comebacks we ever had in kickball tournament history of providence.

Just the rate we rally the troops back, we coming all way back. It was like 13 to one. We came back 13 to 10 that they get the ball back and I had to play first base start, stop. Yep. You know, I'm little. No, they're not taking this serious. And you know, when you get older you start to play wiser, right? So I kind of position myself in the running lane.

And when someone kicked the ball, I just kind of get in the way, grabbed him and can get back in position. And when I went out to grab him with my right hand, I heard a pop. I shook it off. I must have just cracked my nail. And I started to [00:06:00] kind of shook my hands like, man, this is, this feels different. It's not getting any better.

No, it's, it's tingling. Why is my hand, why is my middle finger turning red? And, uh, she kept shaking it off, kept playing through it. And, uh, we lost. And as we was giving high fives, I gave a high five. I said, man, that still hurts. And um, it got to the point where it was starting to swell up and I made it home last night.

Went to, went, went, went to med check. He's like, he's probably not broken. He's probably got got attending. But why'd you go to Ortho Wendy? Right? To get a, mm-hmm. To, to get X-ray and went to Ortho Hindi. He's like, yeah, it's broken. Oh my God, man. What can I tell the fellas, man, how you hurt your finger? You can't say kickball.

Yeah, I can't say, you know, hanging up a garage door, you know what I'm saying? Cross somebody 

Vince: over. I was doing CrossFit, you know, my Navy Seal workout. 

Fred: So, you know what my, my older brother told me this, and I think it too. He said, when you turn 40, The check engine line comes on, man, and at First Bone I ever broke in my body.

Cheating. Trying to [00:07:00] play kickball. Just grabbed a windbreaker. He won a windbreaker too. A windbreaker. That's what did it. That's what it did, man. 1980s, wind broke. He had a good run. He had a good run. It was good. Yeah, it was good, man. 

Vince: Well, I'm sorry to hear about your finger, but, uh, I'm sure it will heal quickly.

Yeah, thanks. As quickly as it would've if you were 18. 

Fred: He's still spoiled, by the way. Yeah. 

Vince: Well, um, we talked about, or you mentioned being on the heroes board now. Yeah. Um, as a board, as a new board member, what is it about heroes, or maybe I, I twist this in from a broader scope. What is it about battling cancer in the state of Indiana that is most interesting to you?

That's a 

Fred: great question. Um, I wanted to join after you told me about the Heroes Board, um, and the state of Indiana to me. Um, there's a lot of alignment. I have so many of my family members have been impacted by cancer. Um, my [00:08:00] sister-in-law, my wife's oldest sister, Naomi, uh, randomly had a call for perfectly healthy.

Come to find out, she had a rare form of lung cancer and sarcoidosis at 33 years old was gone by 36. Wow. And it really devastated the family, young mother, her nursery degree. It was just like, wow. My mother was stage four cancer. Had the three times, and seeing how it impacted her. Um, and then the countless of other lives and people that I know, right?

Um, and I recognize that not all healthcare is created equal. Um, and in, in and in Indiana there's some unique laws that, that, that can sometimes prevent quality health insurance. I see it so often as an educator when you deal with those families that are marginalized, and I wanted to get off of the bench by just saying, not to [00:09:00] say this is not enough, but saying you in my thoughts and prayers I wanted to add to my thoughts and prayers.

Hey, you're my thoughts, prayers, and I want to be active trying to help find a cure. That was the missing piece for me. Um, and a lot of people would love to get active. They just don't know where to start. Yep. And I thought for me and those that are closely associated with me and my platform, if I can model utilizing my free time for something greater and say, this is what I'm starting to help solve.

A need that everyone's impacted by. Um, I think that's well worth my time. Yeah. Well, we 

Vince: certainly, uh, appreciate that. You know, I've chatted that, as you mentioned earlier, um, cancer is the ultimate non-discriminatory disease. Brother and I, I've said this to people, I think I've probably shared this with you and I said, you know, don't take this the wrong way, but cuz it sounds weird when I say it, but like, I actually respect cancer in a weird way.

It sounds weird to say that, but because of that, because it, it, it doesn't [00:10:00] matter who it affects, young, old. Regardless of race, religion, sex, whatever, it, it affects all of us. Um, so I think facts, brother, from that standpoint, from a sales perspective, a development perspective, yeah. It's, it's a pretty easy thing to sell.

Mm-hmm. Is, again, as weird as that sounds, it, uh, just because we all have a stake. Mm-hmm. Right? I mean, some of us are impacted directly, but. Everyone, you had a room of a hundred people, pretty much, you're gonna see a hundred hands go up. Mm-hmm. Who's been affected. Mm-hmm. Because it was either them personally or a sister-in-law, or a mother or a grandparent or mm-hmm.

Whatever. Um, the, the little bit that you've gotten to know now about the Heroes Foundation, is there any particular aspect of the foundation itself that, uh, is most interesting to you? You know, I 

Fred: was really impressed going to. The, um, gala of the event. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Uh, I had a chance to bring some friends there, and we both looked around the room and seen that place packed out, [00:11:00] and everyone at my table said, how come we never heard about this?

Um, that was impressive to me. Yeah. When you walk in a lot of circles that I'm in, and I'm not saying this to brag just because I'm just, it's part of the nature of the beast of my job. You invited to so many shindigs, you start to see common players. When I was in a room and I only saw just a few people who called my name, I was like, this is a whole new audience that I don't even know of, and that is doing it for a great cause.

To me, that was impressive. Because oftentimes in great not-for-profits and missions, you have what? You have donor fatigue, right? Mm-hmm. You have people who are always there. Uh, that was impressive. And I'll tell you another one that was pretty, that was pretty interesting to me and impressive, is that, man, you guys had some swag.

You know, you know? Yeah. The boats highs were a nice touch. You know, the, and to me, as petty as that sounds, when you work for something great, You want to have things that you can have throwout, life swag. Like I'm not gonna hold it against you that you got the swag on and you got a nice [00:12:00] foot of vest. And I'm over here in a, in a blazer and bow tie.

But that matters because when things are nice, it causes people to ask, Hey, what's that's about? Sure. And I think a lot of times, great missions, forget that great marketing piece that is just there. And my wife walked away saying like, Hey, I wanna support this. And because she was looking and just seeing that appearance, I mean, and I mean, that was great.

And I'll tell you something, man, when I went there for that wonderful gala, that was like my first inviting event. Like, man, I'm a part of something, right? Like I'm in the program. Like, that's me. You know what I mean? I, I also started to think about where is my value add that I can enhance and make this better, right?

Anything that I join, I wanna see what can I do to make it better? And I immediately start going through the circle of friends and influencers like, hey, Um, I needed some more people in here who look like me, who care, and that can make more money on this board go up. Mm-hmm. Uh, Vince said it the best, and that was one thing that got my intention, why I turned down a few [00:13:00] other boards.

I got three kids, so I can't just be on boards like that, so I gotta pick and choose. Right? Yeah. Um, and this one jumped out because, you know, cancer does not discriminate. And then he was like, bro, I need people who represent a community that also needs to know that there's hope. You got me sold and there's so many people out there who were looking to give and they need to know that you can give locally to something to support Indiana.

Not just go for those big, uh, no, knock on 'em, but you don't know where your money's going. How about you can keep your money right here? That's impacting those people that. Look like us, that live like us, that understand Hoosiers, that are Colts fans, Pacers fans, Notre Dame, football plans. You know what I mean?

Yep. You can have that right here. So I immediately start thinking about how can I impact it that way? Yeah, 

Vince: well said. Um, you started touch on some of your personal experiences, some of your cancer stories. Um, if you had to take one that would be your cancer story today, which, what is your cancer story?

Fred: You know what? There's so many to choose from, and I guess I'm [00:14:00] gonna say the one today. Because it just happened. I, um, recently, um, there's a lot of things I'm passionate about, education. Um, obviously being an advocate for the voices, like boards like this and housing is really, really important to me.

Mm-hmm. So many reasons I can tell you. But one particularly is that I believe housing quality housing is the foundation that can lead to everything else that can be great or bad. Right. One thing we have, excuse me, an issue within America. Uh, that we lost neighborhoods, so therefore we don't have communities.

Um, so I got involved in housing and, and I started a development company where I've been building affordable homes. Um, and I'm working with a not-for-profit called Seed of Pope, located here in Indianapolis Local with dealing with women coming off of substance abuse and. Um, they approached me and wanted to co-develop with me as a new developer, uh, to build affordable housing for women and their children.

So when they [00:15:00] come through this program, seeds of Hope, they don't have to grow up their kids. And I met a phenomenal woman by the name of Marvetta Grimes. Marvetta Grimes was the executive director of Seeds of Hope. Um, she once went through Seeds of Hope in the mid nineties and it turned her life around and she said, I wanna stay here to help other women come off.

And she was just transformational and she wanted to build apartments there for women because of a personal story she had when she went through the program. She had seven kids. She had to give them all up to Child Protective Services. And after she completed the program, she had a really tough time getting her kids back.

One in particular, one of her kids. Um, she couldn't get back and he wound up dying of starvation while in child protective service. Very tragic story. And so she wanted to build this affordable apartment for women who never experienced this again. And I had to work really side by side with my veteran and really learned their story and understanding.

My wife and I got close with her, and about three weeks ago, she was [00:16:00] complaining of breathing. She had pneumonia and uh, so she went to the hospital and when she went to the hospital, they diagnosed it then with stage four cancer in the lungs, stage four lung cancer. And after three days of that, uh, we got a text message that she died.

And it was literally so quickly how that happened. Yeah. Um, and it's devastating because when you working on someone's vision and right before it comes to pass, it's like, wow, we, we about to do it and then this happens. My wife and I were just thinking like, so much of this, when you have things, um, that can appear this way, how much helpful would it be for those marginalized communities to have access to prevention?

Mm-hmm. Right? Access to going to get checked out where it's not last minute, right? Yeah. And then she was so sick she couldn't even start treatment. Yeah. Um, so that story really sticks out to me cuz on so many levels, these are good people trying to do good for others. Uh, trying to use their life as a [00:17:00] testimony and now they are impacted by the same disease That so tragically has killed me.

Yeah, 

Vince: that's, I'm sorry. We're sorry to hear that. Yeah. Yeah. Um, our condolences go out to, to everyone who knew her and her family. Um, so what, what would you say is her legacy at this point? I mean, it sounds like it's pretty clear, but is there something that's being done to, um, take, you know, the mission that she started and carry it forward?

Yeah, 

Fred: yeah, yeah. So we met as a team and we decided to rename the project. Uh, it was after her son, her son is from Anthony Grimes. Family center, we're gonna change it to Marta and Anthony Grimes, family center, mother and son. Yeah. And we're gonna make sure that the clinic that we have, we are building this with wraparound services.

We're gonna have a clinic there, uh, to prevent this from happening. We also gonna have an onsite child center. Okay. We wanna make sure that everything that we were part of, I mean, we and her were sitting down talking to the architect. She was right there. And we're gonna make sure everything is gonna be filled out to complete that vision.

So we can make sure that we can support more and more families [00:18:00] coming around there. This is the only one in Indianapolis. Okay. Unfortunately. So we wanna make sure that we do this the right way and make sure that these beds can be filled and every woman there can be supported. So we feel that that's the best way to honor her, is to make sure that this comes to pass, but it's also completed in which she's saw fit.

Yeah. Awesome. 

Vince: Are there 

Daniel: other types of these developments in other states and cities? 

Fred: Yeah. You know, I, um, specifically, I don't know about one like these mm-hmm. But there are other developments that are similar that are being put up Okay. Around the country. Um, the thing is, is that there's so much in need.

Yeah. Uh, that there's so many of them that need to be put up. Yeah. Um, statistically, um, a lot of people who are coming off of drug abuse, Uh, are at a higher rate of having some form of cancer when they're done. Um, and I found that out through research. Uh, there's an area in Indiana right outside of Cincinnati, those town, those, those, those counties rather.

Mm-hmm. Uh, where [00:19:00] in Indiana it's the highest rate of substance abuse. And there's really nothing there cuz you got a lot of meth, use a lot of other things. Mm-hmm. And those things are starting to bleed over into the healthcare and the life expectancy. Um, when I think of developments, I think of what can we do to help provide quality places where we can also have healthcare.

And then also give them other opportunities to grow out and offer other opportunities hopefully to live. So, um, taking that innovative approach and trying to think about healthcare from the inverted angle of quality housing mm-hmm. Um, can hopefully stop the social deterrence of health and at least bring Indiana from being the lowest, hopefully up to one of the highest in the nation.

Yeah. 

Vince: Yep. Well said. Um, what questions can we answer for you? 

Fred: Man, I wasn't ready for that. You know what? Yeah. Yes. I got a good question. Okay. Who do we have that's gonna win the basketball tournament? Who's gonna win the, who's coming out the west? Who's coming out the east? 

Daniel: That is not a good question for me to answer cuz I'm not a, uh, I'm not a big, you're not basketball nba.

[00:20:00] I, I don't, I, I've enjoy watching it, but I don't follow it much. Okay. So yeah, I'm gonna tap out of this conversation respectfully. 

Vince: That's fair. I, I honestly, I don't follow the NBA like I would college. I, I'm more into college basketball, more in college, more okay. Than I'm into pros. Um, 

Fred: I just started watching again this year, man.

Um, 

Vince: I like the idea, and this is maybe showing my age, but this, the old Lakers, Celtics, I mean, we too, we we gotta, it's definitely not the same, but, but Right. There's 

Fred: tradition there. I mean, you gotta have Lakers and Celtics, man. Yeah, I was really pumped to see how the Lakers came out of the dead. I mean, they were horrible this year.

They made that trade and all of a sudden I'm like, oh my God, they a real team. They got a bitch. They bad. Um, but 

Vince: I'm not the biggest LeBron fan, so why 

Fred: not play Susa? 

Vince: I wouldn't say that. I didn't say that. Uh, maybe cuz I, we grew up in the Georgia era. It is hard. Yeah, it is. I mean, don't get me wrong. At the end, whether I [00:21:00] like him or not doesn't matter.

Cuz at the end of the day you look at the, the numbers, it's like, I mean Yeah, yeah. They are what they are like Yeah. He, he's legit has been for years and, and staying power. I mean, how, what season 38 bro. 18th season or something like that. I mean, Yeah, very few sometimes who do that. Yeah. For a lot of reasons.

Um, but I have no stake in them. I mean, the pacers aren't in it, so I, I mean, otherwise I'd root for them, certainly. Mm-hmm. Um, but if it's, if it's Celtics, Lakers for no other reason, I might, I would go with the Celtics just because back in the day, Larry being from Indiana Yep. Was got, was a Celtics fan, I guess you could say.

Uh, you got Brad out there running the show. Yep. So there's another Indiana tie. So I guess if I had to pick, I would, I would side with 

Fred: Boston just for those reasons. But I'm with it. I like that. I think I, I, I wanna go with LA only because I, I want LeBron to get another championship. Um, I'm a Jordan fan.

Yeah. I became a LeBron fan because so many people started hating on him. I'm like, [00:22:00] dang, man. What? Um, but I don't like his game all the time. Yeah. I don't like the fact that he falls and cries too much and other things, but I would agree. Um, but that was just a fun question, but No, but the other question that I have for you is like, where do you all see the Hero Foundation in the next five or 10 years?

Vince: Yeah. So my answer to that is probably the same answer I I I gave you when we were talking or any other, other new board members, and that is, The first 20 years, so we're in year 23, uh, the first 20 years, which is get, getting it rolling. Mm. Seeing if this thing had legs and all that, which I think we've proven that it does the next 20, which again now dates me and makes me feel old saying this.

But the next 20 is all about how does this thing live, live on beyond all of us. Mm-hmm. Even beyond him. Mm-hmm. Who's my 32? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, yeah. It, it has its own identity now. Which you saw at the gala, and, you know, you mentioned the swag, but like mm-hmm. That's all part of the mar marketing piece, right?

Mm-hmm. [00:23:00] Like it needs to have its brand so people become familiar with who, who we are, what we're doing. Yeah. Um, it's not Vince Todd, it's not, you know, Daniel, it's not Fred. It's, it's the Heroes Foundation. Mm-hmm. And, and, and what we're doing, um, and letting it speak for itself based on the actions that, that we're carrying out and we're, that we're, um, enabling in the community.

And so now it's all about, again, like I said, Making sure this thing can carry on whether any of us are here or not. 

Fred: That's fair. Yeah. That's fair. 

Daniel: Yeah. I think tied to that is, that's something that just came to my mind is like it catching fire, if you will, that you don't have to be it, or we don't have to be the ones stoking the flame of the hero's foundation.

Right. And that just will keep kind of moving on its own. So you make that interaction that makes the next one, and then now just becomes, oh, I support the Heroes Foundation. Right. It's just more of a. An Indiana mainstay from a, a charitable organization, like you mentioned, there's quite a few events that, you know, you get invited to that we, I mean, I think all three of us probably get invited to, and there's [00:24:00] a few that are the same ones.

Yeah. All the time. And how do you, how does heroes become one of those staple foundations, but continue to. Separate from the pack, whether it's the swag or the mission or how we're doing it or, or the persona around it, how to make it stand out so it doesn't become just like another one of the big ones or whatever.

Mm-hmm. 

Fred: Right. Yep. I like that. I like that. And, and, and, and for those who, um, may be listening, right, that may not be as involved. Uh, what went into like, distinguishing this to not just be like another cancer research foundation or a fundraiser. Like what's the difference? Like how did you come about the name Heroes?

Like why is it, why is it, you know, so unique versus the other? 

Vince: Yeah. So two-part answer. Um, why heroes in terms of the, the name? Um, certainly didn't want my name affiliated with it whatsoever because it's not about me. It's. It's about [00:25:00] everyone. It's affected by cancer. Um, and a board member at the time when we were kind of getting this thing rolling, uh, had this quote, I think it was from Joseph Cam, or I think it was Joseph Campbell.

Um, and I should, I should be able to recite it. No problem. But something about, you know, a hero is not about themselves. It's about doing, doing things for others. It's about being something bigger than themself. Mm-hmm. And so because of that, because we were trying to, to create this thing that's to help provide and help others, that's kind of where the name came from.

Mm-hmm. Um, the second part, the second answer to that, to your first part of the question was, um, no, I'm blanking. What was, what was the first part? Oh, 

Fred: making it so distinct from the, from, from the other 

Vince: ones. Right. Um, so. You see the three summits and the logo? Yeah, the three triangles there. We call 'em the summits.

Mm. Um, they represent three different things. So prevention, so we we're out there trying to educate the public [00:26:00] on ways to prevent cancer. I mean, sometimes we win the lottery, we don't wanna win, but mm-hmm. You know, it's protecting your skin, especially this time of year. It's, um, Living a healthier lifestyle, watching what you eat, exercise and things of that nature, not smoking.

Um, the another one was support. So when we really started, there was a, a program at the IU Cancer Center that when I was a patient there that was just starting up. It's kinda a pet project, so it wasn't really getting hospital funding, and it was all about providing these support services. So you or I are a patient going through this.

Sure. We're getting the medicinal treatment from our docs, but. You know, we have psychosocial needs. Yep. Our fa friends and family around us might have the same needs. Um, maybe I would, you know, when I go in there, know I'm gonna get infused with these chemicals to kill the cancer. Like, it makes you really sick.

Mm-hmm. And so you have a lot of things going on in your mind. Maybe, maybe doing some artwork while I'm going through treatment would help me have less anxiety. Yeah. And take my mind [00:27:00] off it. Absolutely. Um, for someone else, it might be something else. I had lost a ton of weight. Like I was, I had a six pack, but that was about the only way I, I could get it.

Yeah. I was, I was real thin. And they were like, we need, we need you to bulk back up. Like we need to get you up there. And um, so they had provided dietician as part of that. So, um, these different support services were really key. And now, like it's a mainstay at most cancer centers that have some sort of a support program that was, um, something that we provide some initial funding to.

And then the last piece is research. And what I say about research is, You know, when we were talking about how do we get into the research game? Cause there's so many other organizations that do research, including the government. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, we're not gonna have 10, 20, $50 million to donate to this.

We might have 10, 20, 50,000, which in the world research is like nothing. Mm-hmm. So we said, okay, if we have 20 grand. What can we do with it? Where can make, where can we make the biggest impact in the world of research with [00:28:00] $20,000, which in the grand scheme of things is nothing. And they said, well, actually it makes a huge difference.

I said, okay, educate me Dr. So-and-so has an idea or a hunch. Well, they just can't go out and get a 2 million grant. Yeah. They've gotta prove some stuff out. Mm-hmm. So in order to do that, they have to get lab time, they have to buy supplies. They may have to, um, hire some people to help them. So that 20 grand can come in real good use with, from a seed funding standpoint.

So think of it like a business. In the business world, we're like angel investors, um, providing seed funding for these researchers to do those initial trials. Do those, do that in some of that initial testing to prove some things out? And the cool thing is we've had some program or some projects now where.

We provided seed funding for and they've been able to prove some things out and they have been able to go on and get that 2 million or 5 million grant mm-hmm. To take it to the next stage. Um, that's pretty rewarding. That's pretty cool. Yeah. And that's an easy sellable thing. Absolutely. And the other thing [00:29:00] was, so I had Hodgkin's lymphoma, that's a blood cancer.

To me, that type of cancer is no more important than my mom's breast cancer. Mm-hmm. Or buddy of mine's son who had, um, brain cancer. Um, and all down the line, they all cancers suck in my opinion. Mm-hmm. So we weren't gonna be about one type of cancer. Um, and so I know we can't be everything to every one.

That's very difficult and I get it. Um, but we're gonna do whatever we can to try to attack this on, on multiple fronts. Hmm. I like that. So it's kinda a long-winded 

Fred: answer. No, no, it's great. It's great. It's great. And it's very specific too. I like how the logo's tied to the three things. Yep. The summit.

Mm-hmm. I like that. Yeah. So 

Vince: we appreciate you being a, being on the team and helping us, uh, climb the summit. Ooh, 

Fred: let's go climb the summit. Let's go. I, I, I I, I like that. That's, that's, that's good. That's good. You know what, I'm, I'm happy to be, you know, climbing the summit, man. You know, the air is clear. The air's clear up here, man.

So I'm trying to breathe in more and take in as well as to make sure that we drive it [00:30:00] home. Yeah, we're good. Appreciate 

Vince: that. Thank you for coming on the Summits podcast. 

Fred: Thank you. Oh, man. Listen, anytime I can be on here, this is great. Uh, thank you for allowing me to be on part of something that's bigger than me, um, so I can help share the calls and hopefully.

Continue to help aid, uh, to add to the value that we can have for research. Awesome support as well as advancing our mission. Awesome. Well, thank you. 

Vince: Appreciate it. And thank all you guys for joining us on this episode of the Summits podcast. We appreciate you guys tuning in from wherever you get your podcast.

And for those of you watching on The Heroes Foundation, YouTube, YouTube channel, thank you for doing so. Thank you for tuning in. Hit that subscribe button, hit that notification bell. And don't forget Beat Cancer.