 Thanks for joining us for this episode of Fort Worth Forward. I wanna do something a little bit different for this episode. So we got out of the studio, we're here at the shops of Clear Fork. I've got Santa over my shoulder. Get out and see a little bit more of Fort Worth. And so on this episode, we have Elliot Goldman who's with the greatest gift catalog ever. Two representatives from Meals on Wheels and don't forget to feed me Pet Food Bank who are featured in this magazine catalog. And Suzanne Paul who's the general manager, the shops of Clear Fork and she's got some special gifts to show you as part of the holiday season. So let's go. Welcome everybody. I am here with Elliot Goldman, the founder of the greatest gift catalog ever. He's going to tell us a little bit about the project and so welcome Elliot. Thanks for being on the show. Thanks for having me Mike. You're welcome. Tell us about, you've got it in your hand there. So when everybody knows about this project, this thing you've been working, I call it a project. It really is probably a labor of love you've been doing for a long period of time, the greatest gift catalog ever. So tell us about it. How did it come about? What does it do? Yeah, it's a great thing. I love it. It is a holiday shopping guide for charitable projects for different organizations in the community. So like you get the Lego Big Book at home and the kids flip through it and they find their favorite set that they wanna build. This is exactly like that for adults except it features charities and it tells you all about the charity and it tells you three things that they need and you can find a hundred different projects from organizations that you can fund and help. Wow, so how many charities are in the catalog? There are 22 and there are approximately a hundred different projects that they need help with and so you know exactly where your money is going. You give X amount to help the homeless with this specific project or you give Y for this and so it's specific, it's finite, it's understandable and it's fantastic. That's great. So how did this idea come about? How did you come up with it? Oh my gosh, my wife and I were sitting around one day, I had sold one of my companies and we were sitting there and I didn't need or want anything anymore after I had sold the company and I said, wouldn't it be great if we could find a little holiday shopping guide of things to support? And my wife said, why don't you start one? And this look of horror came over her face because she knew she would lose me for a year and trying to figure out how to do it and so that's how it came about and when we originally started this, we thought maybe we could make $50,000 in charitable impact a year and we're now at around 12 million. So it's amazing how much support the community has had and it's a real testament to the quality of the organizations that are in the catalog. So when did you start it? What year and how long has it been going? Gosh, it's been about 14 years. We have a group of community leaders, as you know, that select the organizations and that's what makes it so great. These are the best of the best organizations in the community and that's what we love about it. That's awesome. And you mentioned this, but I think it's very important to reiterate this piece that because people look and say, how much of my money is actually going to charities? So when people participate in this, how much of the money is going to the charity itself? So that's what's great. So sponsors, we have a bunch of sponsors and so they pay for the printing and overhead of the catalog. So not only 100% of your contribution goes directly to the organization, but we also have approximately $180,000 in matching funds. So if you make a contribution to an organization through the catalog, it's matched one for one up to that 180,000 and all the details are on the pages. So not only is it a great way to give, it's the best way to give because we are going to provide leverage on any donor's money. Wow. And I think there's a way too, I'd like to give or I'd like to give a gift to a friend, but maybe have them choose. Is there a way to do that? Yeah, it's awesome. So one of the other cool parts of the catalog is, is that we have a gift card where you purchase the gift card, you get the charitable tax donation and the recipient of the gift card gets to shop through the catalog and pick the exact thing that means the most to them. So you get to give the gift of giving, which is just amazing. That's great. Well, one thing that we've kind of talked about, you know, just sort of what are you seeing? Cause I know you love metrics and you love looking at these pieces. And yeah, I'm fortunate I serve on your board as part of this project and, but you're seeing it, I think looking at a lot of different ways of what's happened with charitable giving this year overall. Do you have any comments about that? Yeah, so I think that it's really important for your viewers to understand that charitable giving is down this year. We're seeing a metric of about 30% right now, which is a huge number. It's a combination of changes in the tax laws and the cost of goods and services going up with inflation and how it's impacting their bottom line. It's hamburgers, it's gasoline, it's those kinds of things. And unfortunately it's the reverse, it's being whipsawed at the organizations because the cost of labor is going up and all of the other things that they have. So they're getting double crunched. And so it's really, really, if your viewers are going to give, this is the year to give in. It is so important, so needed, and it's really, really important this year. Yeah, we're watching prices, inflation go up, we're watching, I was watching something the other day about the price of meat has gone up. So all these staples that people are used to and how they're looking at it is probably the year they need to give the most because people are probably hurting the most. Absolutely, it is absolutely the year. That's great, that's great. Well, how can people find you? So a couple of things. This catalog is distributed in 500 locations in Tarrant County. So you can go to your local car wash, any Texas health care, any Preva health care. You can come out to the shops at Clear Fork, many of the retailers here have the catalog. You can also go to thegreatestgiftcatalogever.org or tccge.org and that's where you can find it. Great, well I'm excited about this season that we're in now and thanks for all you do, really appreciate it. Thank you. We are now here with Keith Harrison who is vice president of marketing and communications with Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County. Welcome, Keith, glad to have you here. I appreciate that, thanks for having me. Well I am familiar with what you do on a daily basis, what your organization does for a lot of people here, but for those that aren't, tell us what is Meals on Wheels, how do you help people in our community? Well, you know, first of all, we are incredibly fortunate to live in a community that has so many wonderful charitable organizations. I work for Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County, so our primary mission is to serve those who are homebound or food insecure and most people are kind of familiar with what we do, it's that knock on the door every day. Hot meal that you fry, yes. Yeah, and our goal is really to keep people in their homes instead of being forced into nursing homes and other care facilities before it's time. That's great. So how did COVID affect your operations? Well, it's been a crazy year, so right about a year and a half ago, we were serving right here in Tarrant County, we were serving just a little under a million meals a year. Well, that's a lot of food. Right. So what's been interesting about this past year during the pandemic is the level of needs. So we've just seen tremendous growth and keep in mind at a charitable organization, growth for the sake of growth is not a good thing because it represents need. And in our case, it represents hunger in our community. So we went from about a year and a half ago serving right at a million meals a year to now we're serving at a rate of 1.7 million meals a year right here in Tarrant County. So a lot of folks who perhaps had a safety net, maybe they had grown children or friends or family who took care of them, that social safety net has fallen away and those people have really had no choice but to turn to us for help. And we're incredibly thankful for the generosity of people in Tarrant County. We are really the friendly side of the Metroplex and we take care of our own. So it's because of the community support that we received that we're able to provide for those in need right here in Tarrant County. Well, you hit on something. You served a million meals last year. It sounds like 1.7 million meals right now. That probably needs, you need more volunteers. More people picking those meals up and taking them. How are you handling that at this point? So you know what, people are always amazed when they come out and they look at our facility and we talk to them about volunteers. So most people realize that most of our meals are delivered by volunteers who not only just deliver the meal with that knock on the door every day, but they provide a daily safety check to make sure the client's okay. And it's that important social interaction as well. So it's that, hey Mike, how are you today? It's good to see you, you look great. And if there's a need, they can report that back to us. So our volunteers are really important. We could not do what we do without people giving of their time. So what amazes people that here in Tarrant County to deliver the amount of meals that we talked about, we have over 5,200 volunteers, active volunteers right here in Tarrant County. And that's the size of some small cities. And it's a huge effort to coordinate that many volunteers, but frankly, it's never enough. We need more volunteers. We typically ask people to volunteer just one day a week. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to deliver meals to maybe eight to 10 people on an assigned route. And what's kind of fun about that is since you're having an assigned route, you deliver to the same folks. If you're assigned to a route every Tuesday, and they get to know you, they look forward to seeing you, you can check in on them. There's a really special bond that develops between the volunteers and the people they serve. And they would go to your facility, where's your facility located? So our facility's in Hulton City, 121 kind of right at Hulton Road. Yep, so we have a volunteer training center there. We put everyone through it. We do a background check on everyone. And then we put you through a very short training class. And then we send you out to serve those in need. That's wonderful. Well, do you have any sort of special things planned coming up as part of the organization? Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. Actually, this is a great time of year. So one of the initiatives that we do this time of year is our Silver Santa giving tree. And you're familiar with the concept, a lot of times you'll see a gift tree maybe in the mall, so that type of thing. So this is unique to our clients. So our case managers work with our clients to address specific needs. It might be something like a lift chair for someone who's not able to stand up out of their chair anymore. It might be a walker, it might be, you know, gosh, an electric blanket. Any sort of need that someone might have, of course. And so we have a lot of fun fulfilling those needs and they're all fulfilled by people right here in our community. So if people wanna get involved, if you wanna take a look at the wish list, it's online, you can go to MealsOnWheels.org. And there's a big banner right on our homepage and you can click on that and it'll show you all of the wishes that still need to be adopted. That's wonderful. Thanks for being with us today, Keith. I appreciate all you do for our community. I know there are people out there that they rely on you and your volunteers to show up every day and bring their meals to them. So thanks for everything that you do. Appreciate it. You're welcome. Thanks, Michael. I am now excited to have Maria Kogel, who's with Don't Forget to Feed Me Pet Food Bank. Here in Fort Worth, and welcome, Maria. Thank you so much. We're happy to have you. Excited to have you here. So you are one of the recipients. I think your first year was last year as part of the greatest gift catalog ever, is that correct? Yep, this is our second year and we're so excited. Great. Well, so what was the impact to your organization last year with being involved in the catalog? So obviously everyone knows last year was crazy because of COVID, so our need was up at least 30%. So having those matching funds available, we had $11,000 in matching. So we had significantly more donations and that obviously helped us purchase way more pet food, which we needed because people were losing their jobs and it was a really difficult time. So the impact was substantial and it was at the perfect time. That's wonderful. For those that don't know what Don't Forget to Feed Me is, does tell us a little bit about your organization. So Don't Forget to Feed Me is the only pet food bank in North Texas. So we're very unique and we keep our goal and our mission very specific to the pet food to make sure that we fit that niche market. So what we do is we collect the dog and cat food, then we repackage it into manageable and consistent sizes and then we distribute it to food pantries. So when people go to pick up people food, they can get pet food. And for those that don't know, for dogs, it's the number three reason for relinquishing their pet is cost of care and it's the number four reason for relinquishing cats. So it kind of also helps shelters and rescues with their burden on their systems because we're keeping them from being surrendered. I guess people don't really think about that but you think about all the need for someone that is hungry, a human that's hungry. But a lot of them have pets too and so what do they do in that aspect? And so it's really a great service that you're fulfilling for people there. So they are able to afford or get free pet food as part of it. And especially we see with seniors that we've interviewed and we've talked with a lot of time pets are their only companion and they will literally skip prescriptions in their own meals to make sure that they can feed their pet because that's the last thing they're gonna get rid of because they have nobody else. And we wanna make sure that that doesn't happen. That's a good point. You looked at what would the community impact if you did not exist, something like this? Yeah, so like I said, touching on shelters and those situations with COVID, especially we saw that they were overwhelmed and they couldn't keep up and a lot of youth in Asia's were happening. So we wanna prevent that. We wanna keep the animal in their home because that's the best place for them to be. And then it helps everybody community-wide be able to sustain their resources. Great, that's wonderful. Where do you see the organization going over the next five years or so? So we would love to move eastward towards Dallas because as you can imagine this is just a Fort Worth problem, right? That's true. But we are Fort Worth, I'm just saying. I know, no, for sure. But this is a huge issue. It is a big problem, yes. And so we would love to be able to expand but as we look at our mission for five to 10 years and our strategic plans, we really wanna make sure we're the best in Fort Worth and we're helping everybody we can before we try to go anywhere else. We wanna be the best in our own backyard and take care of our community first. That's amazing. Well, how can people find you? So don't forget to feedme.org is our website. If you wanna do the short version, it's DF2, the number, FM.org. And you can also text Give Pet Food to 51555 and it sends you a link to all the ways you could give pet food. And we have tons of locations across the Metroplex that collect food for us. So there's always something close by. Thanks, this is made. Thanks for the work that you do. You know, something that we don't necessarily, I'd never really thought about. Totally. But people have pets and you love your pets sometimes more than you love your own family. Yeah. Hey, you never know. So you never wanna give them up. Yes, for sure. And the relief that you're giving to our shelters, too, so they're not going to shelter being euthanized as you talked about and everything. So thanks again. I appreciate all you do. Thanks for being on here today. Yes, thank you. Well, I'm excited now to have Suzanne Paul, who's the general manager of the shops at Clear Fork with us. And she's got some exciting news about what's going on here as well as some gifts and holiday ideas. So Suzanne, welcome. Thank you. Thank you so much. We are so thrilled to have you here today. And we got Santa in the background here. We do. Look, he's with a group of kids over here. That's great. We're in full holiday mode. Lots of exciting activities, community-based activities going on throughout the holiday season. So it's actually our fifth holiday season. So I was going to ask you about it. This is your fifth holiday season. That's great. Absolutely, yes. So a lot of changes have gone on since the center opened. We're actually, the center's been open for four years, and this is our fifth holiday. But just the amount of changes that have happened in the last four years. Yeah, tell us about some of those changes that you had. It's been amazing. It's hard to believe, but we opened on September 14th of 2017 with 20 stores, no restaurants yet. That's right. I was there. And today we have more than 60 stores and restaurants. We've got a total of 12 restaurants and the AMC theater. So we've tripled in size in the last four years, which is really exciting. And the other thing that's been great is we've really been able to bring in some local Fort Worth businesses. So in addition to the great national brands that we have here at the shops, we've got quite a few local businesses and they really add that unique flavor and flair to the center. So we're super excited about that. And we'll have, in a minute, we'll have some products from some of these stores. But I want to ask you, this is part of district three, like really in the heart of district three. And I spend a lot of time and money here myself and my kids as well. They're over here waiting for us to get done so we can go shopping. But tell us some about the changes, your favorite aspect of managing here. Well, you know, I've been here since the shops was literally under construction. So my first office was in a trailer out there. And so it's just been really amazing to see the whole center evolve. And I think what I like the most about it is just seeing how it's become part of the fabric of the Fort Worth community. So really the most rewarding aspect is seeing how people are now becoming so familiar with the center. They come out here and not just for... Hang out with their kids just out in the city. Exactly. Using the plaza to play with the lawn games, whether it's attending a community event or... Yeah, I did a 5K myself out here and started it into tears. Exactly. And you also helped us kick off our bike share station. That's right, that's right, that's right. So really just seeing the community embrace the center and make it part of their family memories. And that's the whole point of our holiday activities is to really build that community aspect of the center and make people, or allow people to build those special family memories. Well, that is amazing and wonderful. And what's great about this is, with Santa, this is a fundraiser for the greatest gift catalog ever. And so tell us a little bit about how that came to be and that support. Well, it just, honestly, we pinch ourselves that we were so fortunate to become aligned with the greatest gift catalog ever because we wanted our Santa experience here to be very natural and I guess not commercial, but just a very organic experience where people could come and take pictures with their own phones and really just make the most out of their visit. And we saw it as also an opportunity to give back to the community in another way through partnering with a local charitable organization. And when we partnered up with greatest gift catalog, it was perfect because we're able to benefit so many charities and the volunteers have done such a wonderful job, just really working with the guests and making everyone feel comfortable. And of course we've got the best Santa around, so it's a win-win. That's great. Well, I know you have some gifts here from some of you talked about some local stores and other things that are happening. You want to tell us a little bit about those? I do. So of course you can find something for everyone here at the shops, but there are a few things that just stood out to me as just really fun, unique gifts. And first of all, I'll start with this pair of, what mama would not want matching pajamas with her little one. It's true, my wife does, exactly, yes. Yeah, so we've got these matching pajamas from our new baby and children's clothing store, Collins and Conley. And the pajamas are actually made. They're very soft. Yes, they're very soft and they're made by a mom in Keller, Texas. So a local brand offered here at one of our local businesses. So those are wonderful. And then also too, we've got two great gift and home accessories stores here at the shops that are Fort Worth-based businesses, right at home and rare, and they have just such a great selection. I couldn't, it was hard to narrow it down. But some of my favorites, like for the guy, there's these wonderful highball glasses. I don't know if we could see, can we show it here? So this is just the basic bullet and then that's of course a shotgun. Shotgun. And there's also the golf ball. Yeah, the golf ball glass for the golf enthusiast. So you can get one of these glasses and pair it with a nice bottle of whiskey or bourbon. And you've got a great gift for. Or scotch or whatever, for your holiday season, right? You can put Diet Coke in it if you want to. That too, that too. And then another great gift for any woman or in particular, I think the young single woman for her bar cart, we've got this tray here, the Viv Clico, which is just beautiful and feminine. You can pair that with the champagne flutes. This is a great hostess gift. It's a bubbly, like a champagne cocktail recipe book. It's beautiful, it's only $20. This is available right at home, along with the serving tray and the champagne flutes. They've got really cute towels and coasters to match, just kind of the whole set. That's cool. So those again are available. Fun, fun items. Yes. And I think some room spray. Yes. Tell us about this. So Rare has a collection of locally made candles. They have two scents in particular that are super popular. One is the Fort Worth scent and the other is the Texas scent. And so they make candles in these and they've come out with room sprays. So these are a great gift idea maybe for a coworker because a lot of companies don't allow, most companies don't allow people to burn candles. They have an open flame in the office, yeah. So these are great. And for instance, the Fort Worth scent is a combination of worn leather boots, arid ground mixed with blue sky. It's wonderful. And Texas is due on the crop, wide open spaces and dance hall summers. Yes. Yeah, that's very unusual. Exactly. It smells wonderful though, yeah. It does. So a lot of people are looking for just some little extra gift to go along and stocking stuffers. We've got a lot of great things out here and it's just, it's super fun to see all of our retailers having such a great holiday season. Well, it's amazing out here. I love it. You've got Santa here. You've got a lot of activity, restaurants, everything to do. So I think it'll be a great season. So come out and support, everybody come out and support the shops at Clear Fort. Come out and see Santa and bring the kids to see Santa as part of it. And that's a big fundraiser again for the greatest gift catalog ever that will go to support many charities here in Fort Worth. So Suzanne, thanks again for being here. Thank you, Kianzo. And we appreciate you being here. Thank you. Thanks again. Thanks again for watching this episode of Fort Worth Forward. We've been privileged to be out here at the shops at Clear Fort. It's part of this holiday season and here from the greatest gift catalog ever from Meals on Wheels, from Don't Forget to Feed Me, Pet Food Bank and Suzanne Paul that represents the shops at Clear Fort. But our most important guest is Santa. Merry Christmas everybody. Merry Christmas and happy holiday days. Thank you.