Trina Rufo: Worth the Drive

In this episode of Cruisin' Long Beach, Michael Farmer takes a drive through the streets of California Heights with one of Long Beach's most recognizable community champions, Trina Rufo.

Born and raised in Long Beach, Trina's story is deeply woven into the fabric of the city. From growing up in California Heights and working in her family's beloved Mario's Pizza Deli to navigating life as a single mother, rebuilding after financial hardship, and becoming a respected real estate professional, her journey is one of perseverance, gratitude, and service.

As they cruise through the neighborhood she has called home her entire life, Trina shares stories of family, faith, entrepreneurship, and the experiences that shaped her commitment to helping others. Along the way, she reflects on the importance of supporting local businesses, giving back to schools and community organizations, preserving neighborhood traditions, and showing up for people when they need it most.

This conversation goes far beyond real estate. It's about what makes a community thrive, why service matters, and how small acts of kindness can create a ripple effect that lasts for generations.

If you've ever wondered what it means to truly invest in the place you call home, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

Hop in, take the ride, and discover why Long Beach is stronger because of people like Trina Rufo.

Transcript

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I always talk about community and how important it is to me. And how we build community through our actions. What we do in the community, who we are in the community, how we help. If you were to ask me, who's one person you can always count on in my community? I would say it'd be Trina Rufo. Trina's always there for a hand up, hand out. She's always volunteering for everything, bringing our community together. I guess it's because of her deep roots in the city of Long Beach. It gives her ability to know everybody and know what's going on in the community and to know exactly what our community needs. Sometimes from notice, not because of our job that we perform, but for the things we do for others. And if there is an award for a giver, a philanthropist, someone who is always there, I would give it to Trina Rufo. Come take a drive with me and Trina as we talk about why she does it, how she does it, and what drives her to continue to help in our community. I was born at Pacific Hospital, which now it is still Pacific Hospital, but they don't do, you know, um I don't believe they have like a maternity board, a normal hospital. I think it's more of a um uh when you have specific need type thing, you know. And I'll tell you a really funny story about this. Of course, you know, years and years later, now that I'm, you know, married and whatnot, my mother-in-law, bless her little heart and God rest her soul, she was a nurse at Pacific Hospital during the time when I was born. And when she found out, she she said that she goes, Oh my gosh, I could have been your mom's nurse. And then even more hilarious after that, when I was six and my brother was five, we had our tonsils taken out together. Same day, you know, so together. At Pacific. She was in the children's ward during that time in the early 70s when we were there. And so it's one it's kind of a joke in the family that she was probably my mom's nurse and probably mine and my brother's nurse. What if it was like you she saw your uh you saw her face at birth and you're like, I like this face. I like her. I like this face. Yeah, and otherwise your husband wouldn't have had a chance. True. True. He fell in love with the face. Yeah, yeah. So your Long Beach threw and through. Threw and through. Day one, long beach. Day one. Born here, yep. And originally, you know, my parents, we had an apartment in North Long Beach, and it was on uh Pleasant Street, which is you know, North Long Beach. Yeah, and so then in the uh towards the mid to almost the late 60s is when my parents bought the house that I grew up in and my mom still lives in today. Which is where? On Gardenia. Wow, okay. So you you didn't go far either. Oh no, because I live, if you make a left turn here, we're gonna go buy my house. Yeah. So and my sister lives here too. She has a house here in the neighborhood as well. So there was never any like, oh, I'm gonna go live here, I wanna go do this. There was a short period of time where I lived somewhere else, but I but it was a very short period of time in my life, if you want to say it that way. And um, so in essence, all five of our children were raised in the 90807. Nice. Um, they all went to Longfellow, they all went to Hughes. That's that's the three oldest girls, first one started at Polly but ended up at Lakewood, then the two others followed thereafter. Uh-huh. But our two youngest, which we only have one son, we have four daughters and one son. This is this is my house coming up here on the right. I can't say that I didn't know that because it's always got the really cute from your yard. Oh, well, thank you. Well, let me tell you something. And those stairs mean everything. Yeah. And then that's my mom's house right there. Right there on the left. Oh my gosh. Right here on the left. This one. This one. That is you could throw a rock. Yeah, and we did when we were kids. Because the house that I live in, I used to play at that one. Like we all did, all the neighborhood kids here on Gardenia. We used to play there. There was a kid in that house that you were friends with? They were older than us. Okay, so there were kids in different houses on the street. And the house that we live in used to be all ivy. Uh-huh. My the people that owned it was the Whitmer family. They bought that land, they built the house, they planted ivy. So the whole side in front was ivy for over 50 years. Oh. And we used to play, we used to have dirt cloth fights, you know, across the street. We'd get in trouble. We would play football in the middle of the street. But it's funny because when we ended up buying the house from the family, um we made a conscious decision to take our time to decide what we wanted to do with the yard. Yeah. And well, you could tell there's a lot of thought to it. It's like before it it's almost like there was no entrance. Yes. And so we made it kind of a more welcoming. Yeah, it's definitely way more welcoming. I love that. But one funny little thing, when we went to tear out that ivy, we found all kinds of toys in there that I that I'm pretty sure belong to us. And it could have been from the owner's kids too, because they were that era. And I have all of them. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. And so my friends that I grew up with in the neighborhood that are still living here, I told them, they're like, What? I said, Yeah, these are probably yours and you know, so and so's toys. Line capsule you didn't know about. Exactly. In our Ivy. We had this in this car, the air conditioning vents were in here, and I pulled it out, and there's those little uh lead toy soldiers. Oh. So, and I remember when my grandpa could give me a lead toy soldier making kit. Yeah. So there's probably something going on up here because I a lot of melted lead. Just like just like so you had an all-American childhood here in Long Beach. Pretty much, yeah. Which is pretty exciting. Yeah. I mean, when we were young, um, my dad worked for the Long Beach Water Department, emergency services for 16 years. Was it right there? Right there. So he would walk. He would walk. We would sometimes wait for him to walk, you know, home, but he had the truck, you know, and back then it was blue and white. I know they're different now. They were blue in the whole the the you know the 1960s style. Um, pretty much, I don't think that they converted to you know newer trucks till later. Uh-huh. And uh, so he had that, and my mom she stayed home and she actually babysat for other people's children. My brother and my sister and I, we all went to St. Barnabas. Yeah. And then there would be what they called yard duty. So my mom would come and do help, like certain moms would come during like recess and lunch and do yard duty, and they would she would bring whoever, whatever child she was babysitting with. And then that all changed, you know, right before 1978 when my parents decided to open our restaurant. Yeah. Which it's holy moly now. Yeah, I'm glad you I'm glad you brought it, because that's all in the neighborhood. It's all here. So, like when you're talking about you and community, your family is entrenched in what was here. Very much so. So both my parents worked for the city of Long Beach for many years. My mom, after that, we my dad retired and the restaurant was sold off. Um, she worked for the city of Long Beach in the city clerk department and she retired from there. So both my parents have that. Um, my sister has stayed here. My brother is the only one that didn't remain in Long Beach. He lives in Northern California. Um, we don't talk to him. No, we do. I don't talk. But with his career, you know, but Okay, he gets he gets a pass. Yeah, but he's here. He comes here multiple, you know, times a year. He was just here actually. I mean, just he was just down. So tell me about the restaurant. Tell me, like what what age were you at? Uh let's see. If it was 78, that meant that I was going on 13. What an extraordinary because I I turn my birthday's in August, and I was born in 65. So um, but but I think if I remember correctly, it probably took at least a year. So probably in 77 is when my parents started the process. And they really honestly probably didn't know what they were doing. No, really. They I think they kind of winged it a little bit. I've power, you know, my dad and my mom have kind of shared some stories. I think all small business does that at first. Yeah. You gotta think it till you make it. Really? And you know, it was it was it was a lot, and we all worked there. All of us did. I mean, I scrubbed, I washed dishes, I I mean, I folded pizza boxes, I made sandwiches. And this is what else is kind of funny. Back then, Boeing was McDonnell Douglas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And my parents made a decision that we would never do home delivery. Okay. Uh-huh. I know, sounds weird, but this was this was my this was their thought. God forbid, because we hired kids from the neighborhood. Yeah. If something were to ever happen to any of these kids, who some of them were our friends from, you know, St. Anthony, which is where we went to high school, um, they they just could never deal with my parents wouldn't feel for it without that. So um how it's like that feeling of being a 13 year old, because that's a very impressionable time, right? Yeah. 13, you're worried about what everyone else thinks and stuff. Yeah, it was like, you know, I I thought, well, cool. My dad and my mom made a decision, and this is what it's gonna be. And but we did deliver to McDonnell Douglas. Oh, yeah. And so we had to learn the gates because we would get these enormous orders. And my parents had this yellow Dodge van that was the van for the we called it the deli, Mario's Pizza Deli. I love it. And so we would have these huge orders. Most of the time they came in on Fridays, people would be lined up. I'm not exaggerating, out the door. We had people lined up out the door. It was crazy. I just remember those years. And so even there were times when I had to go make the deliveries, and this is back when there's we're not taking credit cards. My parents took cash and checks, which they learn checks sometimes to get out of that. But that was that they were old school in that way, you know. And so we did that for for many, many years. And uh I think that's something we need again. I need Mario's back. You can I tell you a story? Yes. So there is a magazine called LB908, which I'm sure you're aware of. And recently they did this, it was almost like a March Madness thing that had pizza, yeah. So I contacted them because I advertise in there as well. Anyway, and I said, Hey, it would be kind of fun for me to kind of put a picture of my family from our restaurant and wish everybody the best of luck. And so I did. Well, I ended up getting an email from a customer. Oh wow. From our, I haven't even told my mom this. Oh man. Um, a customer from the restaurant who didn't know that my father had passed away. It'll be almost on the 26th of the month, this month, it'll be a year since my father passed. But he just shared with me one of the sweetest stories. And it just, it was so emotional for me when I got that eat um message from him. And um just talking about, you know, when they came here and it was their place to go, and they moved by Somerset Park, and they always loved it, and they were really bummed when it wasn't Mario's anymore, and my dad would sell them these great bottles of wine and all of that. And then after I had emailed him back, he sent me a card to my office because he didn't know my father had passed. Like a it was just so sweet. So it shows that businesses become family, right? And like just going to a restaurant, like I go to my my restaurants. It's funny how few of them I go to. Yeah, I just repeat the same ones because it feels like family. Yes, and it feels like, hey, me coming in here to spend some money is is me helping my friends. Yes. And I mean, and I can't eat tomatoes, so I always have to go to a certain pizza spot. Sure. And uh Dutchess, shout out to Dutch's and their white knife pizza. Yes. Because I can eat the white sauce. And eat that, yeah. That's fantastic. But it can't it goes to show that you're not just a business in a community, right? You become more than that. Right. You become an essential part. You become memories. We do. And it's funny, I have people that to this day beg me for our um Italian dressing recipe. I have one friend in particular, and when he sees this video, he's gonna know exactly what you're doing. You do know that I need this now, right? Like If that's my go-to, Italian dressing. Like, I so now you're gonna have to make me some, and I'm gonna have to we're gonna have a problem. We're gonna have problems. We're gonna have problems. We're gonna have problems. So you work at the uh the restaurant. I worked at the restaurant, and and during the time the restaurant was open, I also worked at Gemco, which is now Target. Yeah, yeah. And so people remember Gemco and the membership cards and you know, all of that. That was the first one of that kind. I believe now we have the membership. Yeah, and you know what's funny is Gemco was, I believe, well, there used to be a Lucky's grocery store within Gemco. It was kind of an all-in-one thing, just like Target is now. But I worked there for several years, and then I ended up um in the mortgage lending business. What a jump. Big jump. What a jump. Yeah, yeah. Well, let's go back to the restaurant first. When did the the restaurant come to an end? It was over a little over 20 years. So after 1978, so I think my dad finally retired, I want to say 99, 2000, something like that. Yeah, so that's 20 years, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So it was like a little over 20 years. And um, you know, it was the end of that. It was a long road progress. And you know, when you own a small business like that, you're married to it. Yeah. When you want to go on vacation, you gotta shut down and all of that. And we would be closed. The day we were closed was Mondays, and then we would open at four o'clock on Sunday. So um, my brother usually would work Sundays. He would, so my dad, and I if I remember correctly, you know, my parents would kind of take Sundays off, and my brother and a couple other people, and I would be there too. Um, my brother would be the one, you know, making pizza and whatnot. Um, but yeah, we all did different things there. That reminds me, I go to a mom and pop pizza place, and uh I only order from them and they're a little out of town uh for my kids for our pizza Fridays. Oh but it's one of those places where you go in and the kid is working on his homework at the table in the front, yes, and the other kids playing video games and the dad's just working. Yeah. And there's something about that type of business that I'm just drawn to because you can see the impact of your dollar like immediately. Immediately. And I think that's what draws me towards community is the aspect of you can see the results. I haven't shopped at a Target in four years. Me either. I haven't shopped at a Walmart in over ten years. I don't even remember the last time I've been there. Because I don't see my impact there, right? Right. I don't see I focus with my dollar. I don't see my impact there, so I'm not gonna go there. Whereas I'm gonna go and I'm gonna see the owner of a place, like walk in and see your dad at that place, I would spend more because I know where that money's going. I think that's that's important. That's what kind of drives my community. Right. And so you have always been in the community here. Yes. What was your next step after working at working at your dad's shop? Yeah, I mean, there was a period of time I was, you know, previously married to somebody else. And um that was I'm not over it yet, though. Oh, it wasn't yet. Oh yeah. And that family, you know, had had a restaurant as well, um, a different uh genre of restaurant, and so I owned a different restaurant for a period of time in Long Beach. And but after all of that was said and done, and um that's you know, my life changed dramatically. Um I became a single mom with three little girls for seven years. But during that time, you know, I was in mortgage lending, and my sister, believe it or not, was the one that referred me to the people where I got my start because she had been working for them, doing, I believe, administrative things. And then she said, Listen, they need somebody, they're gonna train you, they're gonna teach you everything, and they did. And I did, I worked started with them, it was here in Long Beach also, and then I ended up going to another mortgage company in Cerritos and then one in um Orange County. But I did mortgage lending for 20 years, different jobs in that industry. And you know, through that, I also, you know, my husband, my real husband and I met at our church, and um we dated for five years before we got married. Yeah, you had to get to know him. Had to get to know we did yeah, we had five years, but you know, and then all three of the girls were were in the wedding. Wow. Yeah, and it was really special. And uh he's really he really took on a lot, you know, coming in and marrying somebody that had, you know, children. It was a lot. And he's been the most present father uh for all five of our now. We have five because we had two more of our own. Anyway, um, and then you know, I transitioned. He's the one that really encouraged me to do the real estate side. And I think for me, I was a little afraid at first to do it because, you know, when you're in the mortgage industry in many different positions that you have, you have a salary and your insurance and all of those things. And when you jump over to be commission only, it's a huge leap of faith. And I did it. And you know, hindsight's 2020. Like, I should have done this sooner, but it is what it is. It all has worked out the way that it should. And I absolutely dealt with a bunch of people on the real estate side. I'm sure that at some point where you're like, oh god, I don't want to be like that. Yeah, yeah. You know, even clients from when doing mortgages, they're from friends to this day, and even people in the industry. Yeah. Yeah. And uh, you know, I will say this about timing. You know, timing is everything. Um, my husband, he uh worked for Southern California Edison and he did land services, kind of a real estate type thing. And in 2016, unfortunately, he was in an auto accident that um has left him permanently disabled. At work, he was on his way to work, was on the 710 and got rear-ended and suffered a traumatic brain injury. But being in the industry that I am in, it worked out perfectly because had I had like a nine to five, I'd have been fired because of all the medical appointments, all of the appointments that because he couldn't drive for six and a half years. And here we have kids that are still in school, you know, drive out, you know, drop off, pickup. I'm a full-time realtor dealing with all his medical stuff, you know, all of those things. So it all worked out for me to be in this industry. And I it really is I love serving other people, and this is my way to serve people. Yeah, because stream work. Yeah, street work, streak work, here's a long answer. Love it, love it. I yeah, so that's uh well that that those struggles and those trying times. I mean, I find with me, uh all those struggles made me better human. Yeah. And the idea of I was on the streets at 13, I didn't have anything, I was fighting so hard to survive that now that I'm at a place where I'm not fighting to survive, I'm actually thriving. Yes, I find I still have that fight in me, but it's for other people. I like that. Did you notice because of I mean the trials of that? I mean, you give so much to this community, and literally everyone knows you. Like I told I was bragging, I was like, Trina's gonna be on the show, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, Oh, I love her. She does so much for us. And it's not that you need the praise for that. Same with me. It's I don't need it, I don't look for it. But you do do it, you do show up for people. I think the reason I do is I know what it's I'm gonna be frank with you. I know what it's like to be on welfare and food stamps, yeah, and to not have a car and have to walk everywhere. Yeah. Uh, this is when I was a single mom, okay? Yeah. I know what it's like to not have enough money to pay my electric bill. And what I can tell you, a little cute, funny story, but it it was such a blessing for me. There was some a friend of mine from the church that gave me a car. It was an it was an older Camaro and it drove, but it didn't have reverse. So I had to make sure when I was going places that I could drive and park in a way that I could just go, like just get out of there. You know, and it's just little things like that that I I look at life and I I understand struggles and I know what it's like to be hungry and to go to bed and not eat so that your kids can eat. I know what that's like because I've done that. And I'm not saying that to I I'm just saying telling you this is the truth of the world. No, but I think people need to know this because a lot of people think that we started off doing what we do now. No, like we have it, it's easy for us to do it. And I think a lot of people don't realize, like maybe some people listening right now that are in a struggle right now, they don't realize where they can go. Correct. I mean it it it is so different for me now, and I never for one minute take for granted the opportunities that I am afforded to support other people and serve other people in what I do for a living. I know for a fact that, you know, this is not this is not because of me. This is because I believe God's opening up doors of opportunity for me. And I don't take that lightly, and I appreciate that, and I recognize it, and I know that, you know, when you're when you're working with people, it's a very emotional time in their life, and you're dealing with one of the biggest decisions that they're gonna make. Oh yeah, and you become a lot of things. You become a marriage counselor, a talk them off the wall counselor, you become a project manager, managing, you know, getting things ready to be this and that. You're a constantly juggling and I call it spinning plates. You're a cheerleader, everything. Yeah. You know, like in the circus when your spinning plates are spinning, that's what I kind of liken it to be kind of spinning plates, make sure everything's, you know, there. And I don't think folks realize that behind the scenes, there's so many other things that go into helping somebody attain that dream of finding where they wanna where they want to have their life spent. You know, and it's not, it's not, and like tell people it's Time. It's not the bricks. It's not the sticks. It's the heart that's gonna be in that family. It's not that home. It's the potential children. It's the potential, it's a it's safety. Yeah. And it's like you're giving them way more than the opportunity to buy a house. Right. Which is which is I I mean I I the person that sold us our home, we bought a short sale way back in the day. Yeah. And she was like another mother to us. You have to do that. You really do. It's it's the especially, you know, with folks that are in with dealing with a short cell, it's a different animal than a straight sail because there's so much more to it, and it can essentially take a lot longer. But I'm glad that she walked you through that process. It's a lot. Heather Rayfield. Oh. Amazing. She was very um My wife's family's Jewish. So she's a very Jewish mother to us, and she's like, oh, let me take care of it. Yes. I'm like, I have no other person. I need a bulldog at that time. And that was perfect. Yeah. But when it comes to community, do you find that you feel like you owe this place? I kind of do. In this way. I mean, okay, so all of our kids went to Longfellow and Hughes. Yeah. I could have just probably put a sleeping bag because I was at those places for suck. Same, I'm still in it. And I was on PTA, and I actually was, for many, many years for Longfellow, the business and community liaison for the school. And they now call it Ways and Means. That's the name. And I loved doing it because I was interacting directly with the small businesses. Because we would have obviously fundraising events like Harvest Festival and different things. And you know, you know, having the community join in and support, you know, Longfellow or Hughes. And um, I still to this day support those schools. Yeah, you'll see our banners right next to each other. Yes, there we are. We're friends. Yeah, we're talking about that. We're neighbors. We're right there. Except mine blew off a while back. They put me somewhere else. I was like, where'd it go? It's it's lucky our neighborhood, you know, like this tight knit unit, they brought my sign back because I was in their front yard. So I was like, thank you so much. Can you read Aing Map? Yeah. They put it back up there. Fresh zip ties. Fresh zip ties. Fresh zip ties. What it is, is I've been sponsoring so long. Yeah. They kept the same sign. Uh so those zip ties dried out. Yeah, they do. They dry out. Which is not the way to go. I think mine are about ready to be replaced. So I'm not sure. So please replace my zip ties. Not just that, the signs, because they get weathered, you know. And we've even had some of the kids draw mustaches on us and stuff. It's kind of funny over the years. Whatever. It's fun. Yeah, that's why I just do the logo. You want this face on that existence? Come on. Come on. Yeah, face. You know what? I have contemplated like after Christmas one year just shaving it. And then I could be incognito. Oh my gosh. And I'll just talk trash about myself and see what people respond. He's just the nicest coach. That guy, Michael Farmer. Yeah. For the longest time, people thought I was my brother. Uh my own brother, because I shave it once a year. Ah. And so half the year I was Michael, and half the year I went by my middle name, Brandon, because that's what my wife calls me. Oh my god. And so she calls me Brandon because every male in my family's name Michael, and even my son, he's number seven, I'm number six. And so, you know, I was like, ooh, I could I could trick people. Yeah. So what drives you in the community to give? Because your mind, your financial needs, your yeah, all of that. It's gonna make me emotional, but it's because people were there for me. You know, there was a time in my life when I needed help, and people were there for me, and I am so grateful to still be able to be a part of this community. Um and see other people have, you know, their businesses thrive. And I'm a big proponent of small business support, you know, we just kind of talked about. And there are certain restaurants here that we do frequently wiping my whole face. Here's me all the time, frequently. Oh, yeah, we're there too. And Lola's. Yeah, yeah. Mima's, yeah, Pita Pataki, Patricia's, yeah. These restaurants that are here and they're they're family-owned. Yeah. And uh in Catalanos, which you know, I did a a big uh video about them, and I did one for Peter Pataki. I also did one for digital installers. You know Rusty Deeble. I love Rusty. I love Rusty. Good guy. He's a really good guy. And he's in the neighborhood, right down the street from your house. He's very close. He's here. He actually, yeah, yeah, he's right right here. But I I I feel that it's important to keep hyper focused on where you live because you want people to know the goodness that's there because there's so much crazy stuff going on all around. And I don't like to focus on that. I like to focus on what's the positive and how how great it is. How fortunate. This is another thing. I realize how fortunate we are to be able to live where we do. Because I'm gonna be frank with you, I have no idea how my parents afforded to have the three of us in you know, St. Barnabas and St. Anthony. While my dad worked at the water department, my mom was babysitting. Obviously, when we got into high school, that's when we opened the restaurant, and that made things a little different financially. But I've never been one to I don't want to live outside my means because I know what it's like to lose everything. Yeah. And I'll be frank, when you know the market crashed, my husband and I were both in the mortgage lending industry in the mid-2000s. Oh, yeah. And our house on Gaviota was for was um, we had to do a short sale. Yeah. And that was a really painful time. Is that 2013? No, that was like 2006, 2008, between that time. Because our youngest child was born in 2006, so I think it was like 2008, you know. And so, you know, going through that, I know what it's like to not have anymore, and I know what it's like to rebuild from the beginning. And, you know, we're real human beings. I'm not I'm nobody special. That's true, though, because I here's the difference between my wife. I was on the streets at 13, I come from a broken off, really hard family. She's her parents are still married. She was raised in on the Central Coast, on a beautiful place, right? We have arguments when it comes to philanthropy and giving. Okay. And I and it's funny because I think it's because I've been nothing. I can go back to nothing, and I know I'll survive. Uh-huh. I don't think she has that. So I think there's a difference there. She is the most giving person ever, but we are strategic with who and how we get each other. Um because we want to make sure that the background of that organization or uh we don't want the money to go to the people sitting on the board. We want the money to go to the people that's gonna be. That it will really, really help. Yes. Yep. Which is hard. Because a lot of people give and they don't realize, oh, yeah, 70% of this will go to the the group, not the people. Yes. And so we gotta look carefully when it comes into stuff like that. Because for me, I I would much rather give it directly to the person, right? Or directly to the group if it's gonna uh help the world. Yeah, it's and it's difficult nowadays because it people hide behind different things. Like that Cars for Kids thing just happened and said I was banned in California because it wasn't going to cars weren't going to kids. Ah, how are you gonna sing a con car song about cars for kids? And I'm sorry, that song was the most familiar song I I would make. I even know the phone number. Oh, I'm not gonna promote them. But I can sing I hated that song. I was like, change it. So we gotta be careful in our philanthropy and stuff like that. And I think that's why I give more community base. Because community, I see it. Yeah, I see exactly what we're doing that's gonna promote those people. Right. And another thing, sometimes it's not cash, sometimes it's our time. Exactly. Giving your time, boots on the ground, being there and helping, doing things. You're doing the video work to promote all the local spots. Yeah, right? Like that is so important because you're putting trying your spotlight on someone that needs it. Right. Because I know what it's like. My parents know what knew what it was like to, you know, you're when you struggle because you are you are it. Yes. So trying to help get them, you know, more more um people in the doors, you know, important and helping. I mean, the other little things like in the community that I that I've always enjoyed doing, like the the um historical home and garden tour. Yes. I have been a docent and a house captain multiple times over many, many of many of the years. Which is coming up. We just need a couple more houses. Ah, I wasn't sure which date it's gonna be because I had it on my calendar and I knew about places. It's gonna be next summer, but we we we're we're still collecting houses. It's a great thing because that gives back to the historic neighborhood, which is phenomenal and it helps all those people that do it other goodness with their heart. Yeah. And people need to understand, you know, what a what a very unique and special neighborhood this really is. I mean, it's a lot of people. And look as we pass Tara Riggy. Hi, Tara. Hi, Tara! Tara. We're good. Look at you. It's our our friend who's been now on three podcasts, Tara Riggy, because she keeps showing up. Hi, Tara. You want to get in the car with us? I know I'd love to. It might be just because we're driving past her house constantly. I know. I'd love, but I think your car drive by us the best. Love you. Bye, Tara. That's all. She's got the boat out too, so I'm really excited. I'm gonna trick her into taking me out on the boat. Go out on the boat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's another thing, is like we know these people in the community, like Tara right now. She's running for city council and we love her. And um, I love everything she does because she's she stepped back, but she is president of the Cow Heights Neighborhood Association. She is. And all that work they do, and that's like one of the groups that I'll support. Right. Likewise, that's what I support. They use my building all the time for the home tour, they use my parking lot to kind of stage everything. Yeah. I become the bathrooms, which is crazy. Oh boy. That's a lot of people going through my bathrooms, but it becomes uh you become more part of the community. Yeah. And the more, and this is what's great, the tighter you get with the community, the more you do. It's true. That is true. You know, being involved as I was at, you know, really involved at Longfellow. When the kids got to Hughes, it was a little different animal. Yeah. But you know, all the moms, and I it's funny, I found that there's this core group of parents which are always the ones that seem to have the time or allow the time, or whatever you however you want to say it, to be involved. And so there was this core group at specifically at Longfellow for many, many years and did a lot, you know, plant planning and helping and fundraising and all of that. And then many of those parents, their kids moved went on to Bombe Chapali, which is where our kids went. And we were involved. Yeah, we were involved with cross-country. Our son ran for four years. Gia, our youngest child, Gia, was also on the team, but because of medical reasons, she didn't run, but she was part of the team. Yeah, yeah. Um, but so we were super involved for all four years, and some of those same parents from Longfellow and Hughes were at Polly, and we're still friends. A lot of us, I've done a lot, I've done business with a lot of these people. And it's funny because a bunch of the moms were getting together this week for dinner. Oh, awesome. Yeah, we actually are. Well, I commend them for cross country because I wrestled all through high school and college. They said I had to do a sport off season. Uh-huh. And I tried cross-country one day. And you said, I can't do it. I said, I I'll turn around and fight. I don't want to run. Yeah. Yeah, this is not the thing for me. It was, and it's great because their program has always been very I'm I'm sure it's this way in many, many schools, but very tight-knit. And then of course they move on to track and field during when the season changes. But we traveled with the team, invitationals, we went to Hawaii, went, we went all over the place with the team. My husband and I, we were kind of like the chaperones many times, the drivers, all that. But it was so fun. And, you know, I it as the kids get older, because my son, our son is actually graduating tomorrow from Long Beach State. So you go through these grieving periods, you know, and we grieved when that ended with cross country because we were it was a family. Yeah. Really, you know, and um our daughter's two years behind our son. And so it was funny that you're in the midst of it right now. In the midst, yeah. And our and our and the coaches were kind of like, do you don't want us to be a part because you know Gia's still like on the team and all, yeah, I you know, whatever. But yeah, she's she's at UCLA, she's a sophomore, finishing up her sophomore year. Oh, come on. I wanted to like her, and then you said UCLA. I'm sorry. She's I look well, let me tell you this, and I'm gonna do a little little thing. So she um she applied to um eight universities. The first one she was accepted to is probably the one that you like the best, which is USC. Yeah. And she was accepted to all eight, but for the major that she's in, she made a decision between it came down to um uh UCI and UCLA, and she felt that UCLA was a little bit more her lane, yeah. So she's there, so she provides. I support state schools, but my first scholarship was to UCLA. Ah and they didn't give me a full ride. If they would have given me a full ride, I would have been UCLA all day. Sure, sure. All day, so sure. Yeah. I uh as a poor kid, you understand that stuff. Yeah, that's right. My favorite, Dave's burgers. Oh, it's been here. I mean, I'm telling you, I don't even know what year they originally opened when Dave was there, but I remember going there as a kid. Um, my dad, when he worked at the water department, they would go and you know right down the street. Right down the street. Yeah, you know. Yeah. You know, I can tell you funny stories when my dad would go out because he was emergency services. So if a if a water main broke or whatever, you know, he would be one of the guys that would be out there. And I just remember there was, I don't know where it was. There was some building here in Long Beach that had, you know, kind of like the subterranean parking. Yeah, yeah. And it flooded down there. And he was on that job for days. I mean days. And I just remember um like, where's dad? You know, and he was he would come home, and but he had to be right back out. I mean, long, long hours. And then funny thing, I don't know how he found all these things, but one day he came home with a dumb ball machine, you know, the kind you put the penny in and turn. And then one day he came home with a pinball machine, and then he came home with a pachinko game. Yeah. And I'm like, what is this? How is he coming home with all this? You know? You find a way to give. Yeah, it's like this fun. I don't know if he like he was on a job and people were selling him. I don't know how it all happened. My dad was a garbage man for a time, and uh, it was the same thing. He came home with these Tonka trucks that uh, you know, families with means would just throw away. The the real metal ones. The real the I scars on my hands. Yes. From them. He probably needed a tetanus shot. I needed more than a tetanus shot. Yeah, I locked y'all will go away, so don't worry about it. Something something happened. But it's those, you know, those fundamental things I'm sure that your dad did for you that in little ways promoted your spirit of giving. It was kind of fun, yeah. You got something going on in the near future, though, that you're doing for the community, right? Yes. So since 2015, I have sponsored a community yard sale for California Heights. And I did like a little polling because people will start emailing me throughout the year. Hey, Katrina, Katrina, when is it? When is it? When is it? Because of you know, scheduling with yes, with our son's graduation and some other things, you know, we kind of pushed it so and I did a little poll uh through the neighborhood on next door and also on the Cal Heights uh Facebook page and asked between a couple of dates. And so July 11th is the date that it's gonna be. Um it's gonna be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. We mailed out these ginormous six by eleven postcards to all the homeowners. And it always gets a little tricky for the renters, and I always have to explain to them how they can still participate. Um there's a I it's all explained on the postcard. So the date coming is coming up for them to all respond, and we're hoping to have, you know, uh a very large group. It looks like we are going to. And I go down and I get a group uh permit for everybody, and I I go and I I hand out all the permits to everybody and all the rules and regs on beach gibbs. Yeah, yeah. So you can do a like a block permit? Yes, you can do that. And there's a lot of information that the city needs. They need a signed copy of the postcard, and then they also want another piece of mail from that person that reflects their name and address and matches. And um, so I turn, I have to I have to draw up a map. They want a lot. Yeah, it's not just go turn these, no. I have to draw a map and identify where every single house is that's gonna be a part of it. And um they need it a few weeks in advance, obviously, with that many homes. And this does go towards the two yard sale per year limit that city the city gives for the so even though you know, and I'm paying for that, they don't pay for that. I pay for that. But it counts towards their it does, it counts toward their two per year, yeah. But it's gonna bring out more people because you've got an entire block with selling stuff. And we've got it having it um advertised in the 908 LB908 magazine, the Cal Heights newsletter. I'm gonna talk to Blair. He usually puts it in the Knowles, you know, in the Knowles little newsletter. It's gonna be all over social media. I always encourage everybody that's participating to blast it and create their own directional signs. But I this is the big thing that I always say every year. Do not take signs to the historic lamp. Yes, thank you. Do not nail them to the trees and make sure you pick them all up and dispose of them after the sale. Yeah. I do that every year. And, you know, for the most part, people comply. There's some that are like, I'm like, come on, you know. It's funny because I've taken things off of our light post. It's almost like we take a little ownership and don't do that. And then I educate. Um, you know, you can put a sign in my yard at the shop. I don't care. Yeah. Just don't put it on my my pole that's right in front of the building. Yeah, we want to protect those, get to spend a lot of money. Yes. What they are. Yeah. And uh they're beautiful. They are, they're really cool. I love I love garage scales one because I like to reuse things. Yes. And one man's trash is on man's. It's not going to the landfill. It's not going to the landfill, and guess what? It's staying local. Yeah. And so we like to keep it that way as well. Exactly. And usually people are getting rid of Christmas stuff, and you know my obsession with Christmas stuff. Yes. Um Long Beach Santa. The LB Santa. See, that's my gift back, right? Yeah. Like, I love the joy that I get to bring people three months out of the year. The rest of the year I'm just a creepy bearded dude. But three months out of the year, I'm the guy. You're the guy. I literally have people stopping me in the middle of the street with my kids in the car to take pictures. I love that. Which is is that's fun. I kind of know what celebrities feel like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For three months out of the year. Um and then, you know, the the tree lighting. That's amazing. I mean, all of that that you I'm assuming you are on the board, if you would, that started this entire wonderful neighborhood event that I love. And I've been to, you know, all of them. But it's great. I mean, your property gets used thankful to Tower Heights Market. They allow us to use their, you know, their um property. And um, oh my gosh, last year was crazy. You guys had a reindeer. I was what? Well, last year it was 2,500 people in attendance. And the start of it goes back to my childhood and not having much and uh not having uh my family. We didn't really celebrate Christmas. We uh my dad was a giant northern man and we'd celebrate Yule. Okay, and seeing the excitement and the joy in Yule, but we it wasn't about presents, it was about experiences. Okay. Because we couldn't afford to buy the presents, but my dad would take us to a Christmas tree farm and we'd walk around and feel that magic with the lights and stuff. Yeah. We'd never take a tree home because those things were expensive. Um they and they're getting crazy now. Yeah, we had a we had a fake tree the entire time growing up. We never had a real tree at our house. Yeah, just the way it was. It was an incredible thing as a kid finding the magic in things without spending the money. Yeah. And so when I moved into Cal Heights and I saw the community and how great they were, but I didn't see an event for the holidays. Right. And so I was like, I want to do tree lighting, and my wife says, You're crazy. You're crazy. And then I talked to every other whole bunch of other people like, okay, yeah, we can do it. So the first year we did it in the front yard. Yeah, we did. And there was 500 people in the front yard of my studio. Yeah. Which was nuts. It was crazy. And um, then the second year we opened it up to the back lot and expanded, expanded it. But with that's my way of giving back to the community at a very special time of year, and it's because people don't have the pay to go. Yes, it's free. And there's a lot of great, which I saw a lot of great neighborhood vendors that come, and it and it, you know, it gets a little more word out about them. And if they have a brick and mortar place, like people will know about it. And if they don't, then hey, that this is a local person that, you know, uh makes, you know, whatever it is. Let's say it's, you know, uh sweaters or whatever, you know. They that that's great. And uh last year when we were there, I was really watching people, and I just it was just smile after smile. People were just excited to be there. And I I know that there's some changes this year, right? We're gonna do a little something different. Is it are we allowed to talk about that or not allowed to talk about that? Well, there's always changes. Um I do want the because I've been running it for what, three, four years now. Yeah. Um I do want The Cow Heights community take more hold of it. And with our friend Tara, we're going to be able to do that. Yeah. Um, because she's president of the uh neighborhood association, so we're gonna be able to mix with them or we want them more involved. We're also gonna change it up so more people can enjoy it. So it's getting bigger. Right. Um what I would like to see changed up is the bureaucracy and red tape that the city uh passed it. It's it's a lot. I do know they're working on if you have a brick and mortar store and you're doing a pop-up, you don't have to get a fresh permit to do thing like that. Oh, okay. I don't know if it's gonna be passed, but as you know, we pay for those all those vendors to be there because through the city, you have to pay to be a vendor at one of these events. Oh, it's usually $150 a person. Wow. So all those small businesses, we want to promote them. Yes, but I don't want them to have to pay to be there. Yeah. Because there's nothing worse than be like, I paid $150 and I only made $150. Yeah. I want this to be there getting out of the red into the black. Yes, in that time of the year, especially. Yeah, yeah. And so we want to really promote them. And what you do for us every year is you help us financially with that. So there would not be snow, there would not be 10 tons of snow, I tell you that, at the neighborhood tree lighting without you. Um, even though other people want to put their name on that. But I'm not gonna say anything. Oh, other people want to say, hey, I want to sponsor something. Like, no, no. Yeah. Um, but that ability to give back comes straight into how you do it, right? That's my way to have this event, which I see gives so much to our neighborhood. And people from other neighborhoods come here because they're like, What? Yeah. They're having that? Yeah. That's great. You know, and all the kids that get to come and play in the snow. And I don't know if you're gonna have a reindeer again, but last year it was crazy. I I was I just kept walking by going, I can't believe there's a real reindeer here. Yeah, that was one of my dreams is to have a reindeer. Right. And I I I I fulfilled that dream. Yeah. That reindeer was very old. Oh, reindeer was up there in years. Oh, she was wonderful. She was wonderful. Just so y'all know, all accepted reindeer are female because they work harder. Um but it actually because the female reindeer don't lose their antlers in winter. Oh, so that's why, okay. So yeah. I didn't know that. A little Santa Terpia for you. Santa Turpia for you. So what what's the date of the garage sales? It's July 11th, yes. And we have a due date for everybody to turn their stuff into me. It is coming up, it's gonna be June 10th. I need everything because the city, they put the the the guidelines that they need all this stuff weeks in advance to have time to sort through, especially if we're gonna have over 50. We're hoping to have way more than 50 homes. It's incredible. So anybody that wants to be a part of it, if you didn't get the postcard, if you live in Calheites, if you rent, you can reach out to me. Um, I can explain to you how you can still be a part of it, what I need from you. If you lost the postcard, whatever, just reach out and I will um help because we want everybody that wants to be a part to be able to do it. And we need you to do it because as we found out this weekend, the city doesn't mess around. And the city canceled a event on Friday. Yeah. Although they worked with those, uh, that group uh until the the last hour trying to get everything in. Yeah. But the city's hands are tied with all the bureaucracy that created. Yeah. Um but I'm gonna put this out there. Hey Rex, you're Rex, but let's make it easier for people. Yeah, definitely. And you need to come in the car, Rex. You need to come with a drive because I got some questions for you. Yeah. Um I I even had to deal with the city when I was uh doing my promoting the aquarium of the Pacific. Yeah. I had to go get my own permit from the filming department, you know, for the city to be able to, you know, on top of there were so many things that were required because it was a city property that normally are not required. And it took um a lot longer, and the filming got delayed by months, I'll be honest with you, because of it. But I was so glad to be able to promote because it's a nonprofit. Yeah, you know. So that was an interesting um, you can't make it, you can't make it hard for people to do good. It was to promote, and that's all the entire video, if anybody has seen it, is all about the aquarium and how people can support because it is a nonprofit and it's such a a little jewel in our city. People come from all over the world in the aquarium to come and see it. Yeah, and so you promoting such a fantastic. So, yeah, that's why I get involved with community, is because we didn't get through all this because it shouldn't cost us an arm and a leg to help the community. Right. I believe that as well. It should just it should just be common sense. Yeah, I mean, if you're doing something that legitimately is, it's not you're not promoting yourself, you're promoting something very special or unique, an event or location. You know, we did the we did the rancho, Los Ceridos, and I I did that. That was great. I learned a lot. I've been there so many times. My kids who went to summer camp there, they have a great summer camp. Any of you guys have kids? They have one of the best. And let me explain to you why I say that. They teach you things and have you make things that you actually will want to keep in use. It's true. That's what I'm gonna say. It's true. My kids have gone two years. It's great. They're taking a hiatus this year because they're working on a bunch of stuff over there. Yeah. Next summer, you'll definitely get the CD some more. Um, that giant tree is phenomenal. Yeah. Our son, and the crazy part is our son did his Eagle Scout project there. Right. He did all the redwood vendor board in the in the largest part of the yard. It was a huge job, but he got it done with community. We had community. Our gardener, I don't know if anybody knows Hirochi that does so many people's yards in our neighborhood. He's our I'm surprised we haven't seen him. I know. He's always he was just at my house yesterday. He came. Uh-huh. He's so sweet. He donated his time to come and help amongst other people from Long Beach Polycane. Probably one of the only ones that actually knew what he was doing. Yes. We all were kind of like, we well, we made it work, and we got it done in one day, which we thought it was gonna be a two-day job, so it was wonderful. Yeah. So this is one thing I like to cover every time, and this is because this is like a direct thing from you. Yes. Give me three businesses that you would like to shout out that need a little more attention that maybe they don't usually get. Okay. I'm gonna say Pete Pataki. Yes. Absolutely adore them. Yeah. Catalano's pizza. Yes. Absolutely adore them. And Patricia's. What's your go-to at Catalano's? Okay, so I like the thin crust. I I'm a more of a thin crust, I'm not a thick crust person. I love the thin crust. You like to fold the pizza? I will fold it. I will fold it from time to time. I like the thin crust. And um uh, you know, we have like a little bit of a history together, our businesses, you know. So that was kind of fun. But yeah, I love we we've ordered their my husband really likes their um, it's the the chicken with the artichopes and the white sauce and the garlic and all of that. There's no there's no tomatoes on that. Yeah, I know. Like that's why I'm like, yeah, I could eat that. Yeah, you can. In fact, we used to have a white sauce pizza at ours, and we had a pesto pizza. Yeah, and so people were like, that was kind of interesting. I was kind of newer. A lot of people have never experienced uh a garlic uh sauce pizza, like a white. Yeah, it's good. People don't realize they they don't, you're missing a whole world. Yeah, granted, I have to, because if not, it's my grand city, and I I turned into Angelina Jolie and my lips get all. Oh no. But yeah, a a white sauce pizza change your world. Yeah, change your cool. So they have it there. Yeah, it's really good. Yeah. See, those small businesses are part of what made our community work. Yep. And I don't think a lot of our smaller restaurants get enough shout-outs, and they need it more than anything right now. And you know what's funny about all three of those? Every single one of those businesses, if you wanted them to help contribute to something, and I'm gonna tell you for a fact because I've been involved with them contributing, they do it. Yep. Without even hesitation. Yeah. I will let me say this to you this is a big shout out to Patricia's. So when our son Jaden was doing his Eagle Scout project, part of it is, you know, because you're gonna be there all day, you're gonna serve your your helpers breakfast and lunch. And so we had ordered um a bunch of um breakfast burritos from Patricia's, which we fully intended to pay for. And David would not allow us to pay for it. Yeah. And I I mean that blew my mind. And here's the thing like you and me, we'd want to pay for it. Yeah, I'm like, no, we need to support you. You're you know, we're that's their gift back. So you can't take their give back away from no. And I I love that. I love that. And I that's what I love about this area, and that's what I love about Long Beach in general. Is it's always others before self. And you would never think about that, especially with the stigma that we had at Long Beach for the longest time. You know, the gangster rap thing. I got friends with the East Coast coming here, and they're just like, oh, are you sure we can go there? I was like, this is the nicest place ever. And by the way, you're from Jersey. Like uh, I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about anything. Yeah, yeah. But I I don't think people realize how community-tripping we are and how beautiful this place is. It it really is. They don't understand that not all neighborhoods have mature trees. Like we have camphor trees on some of these streets. Yes, we have jaccaranda, we have the sycamores, we have you know magnolia trees, we have all this, but everyone knows the bane of my existence is the jacaranda. Yes. Although we drive through this tree and look how beautiful it's beautiful. And I have to say, some of the magnolia trees, I I'm so glad I don't live on Magnolia Tree Block. Yeah, it's hard. It is a mess. Well, can I tell you the kind of tree we had in front of our house? Which there's still some of them in our neighborhood. When we were growing up in front of our house, we had one of those, I think they call them almost like a cacao tree, and they have those pods that turn brown. I can show you the scars on my knees from when we were roller skating or riding our skateboards or driving our big wheels or whatever we were doing, and how many times we ate it because we hit one of those things. I mean, it's gone, it's been long gone in front of you know our house, but there's still a few on our block, and I see those and I go, I don't miss that tree. Yeah, I've got scars on my knees because of those. Yeah. Well, overall, I think this drive was based in community and our love for the community. I agree. And I want to thank you personally for everything you did for the community and the tree lighting and this yard sale and supporting the school that my son goes to. And there's something about finding a like-minded-minded person that makes the community better without people even noticing. Yeah, I'm not I do it because I love where I live and I love my neighbors, and there's there's so many people that live here that I grew up with that still live here. My best friends from There's a reason we live here. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I will pay more to live here. Oh, me too. And we do. And we do, and we do, and we certainly do, certainly do. So I always like to end the drive with um what drives you as a person every day to get up and be you. Honestly, it's my five children and my husband. And I know that probably sounds like a lot of other people what they say, but um, knowing the journey that we've been on as a family to be where we are now, I couldn't be anything but grateful. And I know that, you know, God has continued to open up doors for us, my kids. Um and I just know that it's it's a true blessing to be able to live where we live. I don't I I I say that and I mean it with all my heart. Obviously, I'm still here, and um I just want uh I don't know. I just love where we live, and I I don't want to ever leave here. So, in a world, this is a last question on me where people in churches aren't acting the way they should be. And you're a person of faith. How does it make you feel to know you're doing the work and you're doing what you should be doing? I mean, none of us are perfect. No, absolutely not. But how does it make you feel in a world where people are using your faith as a weapon and not as a tool to help? It's really sad. It really is sad, and that is not what uh it was meant for. No. And um I know that I have to answer. I'm gonna have to stand before God one day, and I'm gonna have to answer for things I did or didn't do or said or didn't say that I should have or shouldn't have. And um, you do things quietly, you're really supposed to do that. You're really not supposed to go, hey, look what I did. Yeah. Um, you're supposed to do things quietly. Supposed to pray in private. Pray in private, and you're supposed to do things quietly so that it blesses people without others knowing. It's not for your glory, it's for his glory. And I don't, I do not do what I do for accolades. I do it because if this is my way to serve others, if this is what I was called to do, then this is what I'm gonna do. And I don't treat people differently. I don't care who you are, where you're from, be who you love, whatever it is, I'm I am who I am, and I um I just want to be a reflection of the truth. And and be there for people who need you. Yes, and I I try my best to do that, you know, in whatever fashion I can, whether it's help helping with my own hands or if I if it needs to be financially, and if I'm able to do it, then I will. Yeah, you know, see, and it's yeah, we get back to the financial side, but I don't even think it's the financial side. Yeah, it's you being there and being a beacon, and when you do stuff, it makes me want to do stuff. And I'm like, Trina gotta be so helpful. Oh no. Now I gotta be more helpful, uh, and it helps other people be better people. Yeah, right? Yeah, if they see you doing great, and I wish people knew what it felt like. If you've never done something for your community that has made an impact, try it. Yeah, it means so much. And then let me say this, because you have children and I have children. They're watching what we're doing. And if I can, if if if anything, through this, if I've instilled in, you know, our five children the the absolute need to be able to give back and serve other people and don't look at yourself and how it's going to benefit you, that's a great gift. Yeah. That's a huge gift to give them that. Yeah. Because they watch what we do, they watch what we say, they watch how we react. Even when we don't, we're not noticing their that block. Even when we do things, you know, and and and I hope that they see that things that I've done, you know, was for for their benefit too. And for my grandkids, because we have grandkids too. Yeah, and it's it's that butterfly effect. It just keeps going and going and going. Yeah. And I mean, it it's something as simple as, you know, the the tree lighting. Yeah. People jump on board and then next year they're like, hey, we want to be involved. Because they felt the magic of providing for the community. And there's no shortage of people that want to help around here. There's no reason that this city shouldn't be the best city on the planet. True. Um, and I think if we just keep our voices raised and the idea of we're doing stuff at the community, why aren't you? Right. It just gets better. It's not that hard. You know, an hour here or an hour there, anything that you can do to help, it makes a difference. And you know, you never know, just that one small gesture that you do, how that can impact somebody else's life in a way we may never know. And that and that's okay. But if it impacts somebody else's life in a way that changes even potentially the trajectory of their life, yeah. To that they say, God, I want to live a life that I can help other people do just by seeing and wanting to be a part of something great like this, you know, the community does. I love it. Well, I think about people that do stuff like every week. Tom Underhill. Oh my gosh, he's awesome. That man is always here. Yeah, he's always cleaning the streets, he's always giving back to the community. He is. He works hard, he comes and gets water to water these trees over here that the city wasn't watering. He comes and gets water and he's asking me and saying, Thank you so much. Like, no, man, you're doing the work. Take it, yeah. Um just an amazing asset to the community. And he does not ever ask for praise. And I will give him praise. I will too. Because it's gonna make an amazing asset to the community. He does he does a lot of different things, he wears a lot of different hats that people don't realize. So and even because if he doesn't live in the neighborhood anymore, but he still does it. Yeah. Because he loves the community so much that says a lot. There's a lot of people like that. I mean, Blair, I love him today because he has the as much patience as a saint, and we're gonna have him on the show as well. Great. But he helps the businesses and he really fights for us. He does. Because individually, we're not much, but when we're together, we stand and um he gets the city to listen to us and our needs, and I think that's incredible. That is incredible. So I think it's like minded people like us. We could take this city and actually make it incredible. Not that it's not great, yeah. But there's little things that we can do. We can imp we can always improve. Yeah. Always have improvement for sure. Well, thank you, Trina. Thank you. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited we got to do this. This was so fun.