Fridays 10:00am - 11:00am (EDT)
EPISODE SUMMARY:
Hopefully raised awareness to the affect that fentanyl is having on our nation.
🎙️ This Friday on Philanthropy in Phocus with Tommy DiMisa #InTheAttic
This week, we welcome Chris Hennessy, founder of The Raven Is Here, a nonprofit born from personal tragedy and driven by fierce compassion. After losing his brother to fentanyl poisoning, Chris dedicated his life to supporting those battling addiction, homelessness, and human trafficking—offering real help, hope, and human connection. 🕊️
Through outreach efforts and his Ending the Stigma podcast, Chris is building awareness, advocating for justice, and showing up for people when they need it most.
🕙 Tune in Friday, April 25th at 10 AM EST for a raw, moving, and ultimately empowering conversation.
✨ Why listen?
Learn the harsh realities of the fentanyl epidemic
Hear how lived experience fuels real solutions
Be inspired by what it means to turn pain into purpose.
Name of your organization: The Raven Is Here
Website: www.theravenishere.org
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#PhilanthropyInPhocus #FentanylCrisis #TheRavenIsHere #EndingTheStigma #AddictionRecovery #TommyDiMisa #InTheAttic
Tune in for this sensible conversation at TalkRadio.nyc
Tommy D kicks off with his signature energy, celebrating the nonprofit sector’s daily impact and highlighting the power of consistency, connection, and community-driven change. Guest Chris Hennessy shares his deeply personal journey from addiction and incarceration to launching The Raven is Here, a Texas-based initiative inspired by Memphis’s Beersheba House, aiming to build sober living and safe houses for vulnerable populations. Their conversation underscores the vital role nonprofits play in transforming grief into purpose, providing post-rehab support, and creating legacies of recovery, dignity, and hope.
Tommy D and Chris Hennessy dive into the challenges of reentering society after incarceration, with Chris sharing how technology had transformed during the eight years he served and how difficult it was to find his footing. Despite those obstacles, Chris found purpose through recovery and service, ultimately launching The Raven is Here to support individuals impacted by addiction, homelessness, and human trafficking. Their conversation spotlights the need for second chances, the power of nonprofit-driven redemption, and the importance of breaking generational cycles through compassion, structure, and advocacy.
Chris Hennessy explains how the name The Raven is Here was inspired by scripture and shaped by a mission to support those society often overlooks—addicts, trafficking survivors, and the homeless—reminding us that every human being is “more valuable than any bird.” He and Tommy D discuss the importance of meeting people where they are, including the radical compassion of not judging someone’s coping mechanisms and recognizing the life-saving power of small acts like a smile or kind word. As Chris honors the memory of his brother Eric, he continues building out sober living and probation support efforts, driven by faith, community collaboration, and the belief that no life is beyond hope.
Chris Hennessy honors his late brother Eric’s legacy through The Raven is Here, a nonprofit rooted in faith, compassion, and the message that everyone is worthy of love and support—especially those struggling with addiction, homelessness, or past incarceration. He shares how their signature “deuces” logo and merch reflect Eric’s spirit, while calling for partnerships with local leadership to create real community-based change in Jacksonville, Texas. Tommy D closes the show with gratitude for Chris’ mission and a call to action for others to connect, collaborate, and choose service over silence.
00:00:48.510 --> 00:00:53.410 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah world. It's Friday morning. It's your boy, Tommy D. The Kid, the one and only the nonprofit
00:00:53.630 --> 00:01:05.120 Tommy DiMisa: sector connector. 2 flights up from the kitchen. I got a lot of coffee running through this body. I might have to break halfway through the show and go get some more of that coffee, though, but that's where I am. 2 flights up from the kitchen, just
00:01:05.160 --> 00:01:30.380 Tommy DiMisa: below the roof in the top of my house. I'm in the attic, baby, and we do the show every single Friday that means like, at the end of every week. There's a Friday, and we do the show, and you know what happens 7 days later we do it again, and that's how you can be consistent. And that's how we've surpassed 200 and some odd. I think this might be 1011, 12. I'm not sure I'm not looking at the count, but we're past 200 and change on a plan of 5,000 episodes, because nonprofits change our world each
00:01:30.380 --> 00:01:58.779 Tommy DiMisa: and every day they make the world a better place. They help people get access to treatment when they're having substance abuse problems. They help people get access to food. When folks are food insecure, they help people get access to housing. Who does it. If it's not for the nonprofit sector. We don't have time for that whole conversation, but I believe it doesn't get done. So thank you to my world. Thank you. To all the nonprofit people I hang out with just this week alone. I got to speak a whole bunch of times, but one was at the Kiwanis the other night locally here.
00:01:59.210 --> 00:02:26.539 Tommy DiMisa: and I was just saying, you know, like everything Crappy is out there. If you want to go find it, you want to go. Stay there, and you want to like focus on that. And everything wonderful and beautiful in the world is there, too? Where's your choice? Where do you want to go. I want to hang out with the people who are the change Makers. I want to hang out with the people who are doing the good work. We're going into community and supporting the people that need that. My new friend, Chris Hennessy, is here from the organization. The Raven is here. What's up, brother? What's going on? Man?
00:02:26.540 --> 00:02:29.259 Chris Hennessy: What's going on, man? Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
00:02:29.260 --> 00:02:52.389 Tommy DiMisa: Absolutely absolutely. So I got to give a little backstory, you know. Sometimes gang. I'm in the attic late night, and sometimes I'm like tooling around on the Internet trying to like, see what's going on. And I was working one night up here and I just catch something go live on Linkedin, and I was like, Oh, man, let me just watch these guys. I don't know what they're talking about. It was a guy called Chris Hennessy, and another guy called Chris Leahy. Right?
00:02:52.460 --> 00:03:20.560 Tommy DiMisa: That was Chris Leahy interviewing that night. So I was just watching you guys. And I was like, it's interesting how life happens because you're the program that you do is is called ending the stigma right? Like that's 1 of the things you're involved with, and I'm wearing my t-shirt called hashtag, ending the stigma together. So I'm like, Wow, so I was like, All right. Universe God, whatever everybody's deal is. But it was like connection. And I was like I got to reach out to this guy. And it's funny how things happen in life, because I'm like
00:03:20.880 --> 00:03:25.640 Tommy DiMisa: yo. Look at Chris, man. He's like a celebrity. He's on Linkedin like doing a Linkedin live right. And then.
00:03:26.062 --> 00:03:30.710 Chris Hennessy: I don't know about all that use that term loosely. Bro.
00:03:30.710 --> 00:03:59.890 Tommy DiMisa: Listen, but it's the same thing. Man, let me tell you a quick story about like all that, because, you know I do all these shows. I'm going to the studio later on. I'm doing an episode of hashtag ending the stigma. All this show gag. If I didn't say it's called philanthropy and focus. We're doing a show ending the stigma. And then I do 2 episodes of Long Island change makers this afternoon and dude. I am far from a celebrity just like you're saying, you know, but like I show up at like a friend of mine's event, and they're like, Oh, my God! Somebody like, thank you for being here, and I'm like, of course, like we're friends like, of course, I'll be here.
00:03:59.890 --> 00:04:04.539 Tommy DiMisa: And she was like, No, no, like this really means a lot. And I was like, Who do you think I am? Like, I,
00:04:06.230 --> 00:04:18.320 Tommy DiMisa: my friend? This is a cool thing. We do stuff together. It's a fundraising organization like, what do we like? Anyway? I do my best. I'm a big fan of the caricature, Tommy D. But the guy, you know, is just a dude man. You know what I'm.
00:04:18.320 --> 00:04:19.370 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, for real.
00:04:19.370 --> 00:04:29.930 Tommy DiMisa: Everybody's laughing. Going, Tommy, you're full of it. You're an egomaniac. No man, not at all. But you know this show for me, you know, Chris, when we get into the topics of discussion
00:04:30.250 --> 00:04:56.739 Tommy DiMisa: around addiction around substance abuse, you know, it's important, for you know, I like to just point out, you know I'm sober now. 14 years going into this September will be 15 years of sobriety. It's a big deal. It's it's like, I never at 32 ever thought at 47 I would be saying, that's where I was, but that's it, that's true, and I don't always say I'm in recovery. I don't always coin it that way. I just say, you know, I quit drinking a long time ago. I put that aside. That's my deal.
00:04:56.740 --> 00:05:12.689 Tommy DiMisa: but I realize when I'm in certain communities it's important to call it out and say what it is, man, because it is a struggle. It is a 1 day at a time thing. And when I had the guys here, from the no matter what foundation, who, I cannot wait to put you connected with them. In fact, there was a little bit going on last night when
00:05:12.690 --> 00:05:40.199 Tommy DiMisa: you were tagging some stuff on Facebook, and I was trying to get these guys tagged in as best I could, you know, late night, just getting Chris. Excuse me, Kenny and Kevin. I wanted them to know that you're coming on the show today. They're out here in Long Island. What they do, Chris, is, they make sure men and women who do not have access to any resources can get into rehab and then get into sober living and vocational and stuff like that, because what I'm learning and and you know, I never went to rehab. I kind of just did my thing and quit drinking.
00:05:40.300 --> 00:05:44.720 Tommy DiMisa: But what I'm learning is, some of these rehab facilities don't always have the best
00:05:45.010 --> 00:06:10.190 Tommy DiMisa: vision for the folks that they're serving, you know. Sometimes they, these guys came on the show and it was on the show. So it's a real thing they talked about. But they said some of these organizations. Will somebody go in for 30 days, and then the rehab will drop them off back in the neighborhood and know that they're going to pick them back up in a couple days like that's not. That's that's not how we do things from a human perspective. That's not.
00:06:10.190 --> 00:06:10.760 Chris Hennessy: At all. Mayor.
00:06:10.760 --> 00:06:31.580 Tommy DiMisa: That's a crappy business model, if you ask me, you know. But so we're you know. This to me is is important. All of my organizations and all the stuff they're doing is important. But when we're talking about people who are really in a bad spot and need support, you gotta you gotta love these types of conversations. So that's where we'll set the stage. I want to talk about you.
00:06:31.580 --> 00:06:48.039 Tommy DiMisa: Your background, you know, when when they hear you talk. They're going to know you're not on Long Island, where I am with the way I talk and the way you talk it's a little different. Jacksonville, Texas, didn't even know there was a Jacksonville, Texas, but I know there's 1 in Florida. So you your background, your story.
00:06:48.350 --> 00:07:07.620 Tommy DiMisa: You know the loss you experienced, and and why this organization exists, and the work you're doing. So, my brother, I'm glad to meet you. It's funny what I said was, I think, because I follow some of your other folks like other guys that you're connected to the husband and wife team that run another organization who I've seen.
00:07:07.620 --> 00:07:10.290 Chris Hennessy: In Memphis, probably. Yeah. Ben and Jess Owen.
00:07:10.290 --> 00:07:25.479 Tommy DiMisa: Yes, Ben and Jess Owen right, so I must follow them on. Linkedin and I saw something. However, it all happened. It was supposed to happen. You and I was supposed to connect late night one time, and then you're here. So without me talking all through the show, I do like the sound of my own voice. But I want to hear your voice, especially today.
00:07:25.740 --> 00:07:26.000 Chris Hennessy: Yeah.
00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.270 Tommy DiMisa: Get away. Chris Hennessy, the Raven is here. Tell me your story, brother, let's get into it.
00:07:30.740 --> 00:07:36.759 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, man. So just I'm gonna touch on something you just said. And then I'll go back and tell my story. That's kinda
00:07:37.010 --> 00:07:50.755 Chris Hennessy: one of the focuses that we wanted to eventually do with the Raven is here, is have sober living houses, because there's nothing in my county. It's a small rural county in Texas, you know. I joke around like you just said about the accent. I sound like biscuits and gravy and sweet tea.
00:07:51.610 --> 00:08:00.556 Chris Hennessy: but there's nothing here for those guys. So what good is it or or women? So what good is it going to do is if we can get somebody to rehab, and in 30 days they got nowhere to go.
00:08:01.130 --> 00:08:04.959 Chris Hennessy: So yeah, I'm glad that to hear there's other people that are thinking like that, too.
00:08:05.990 --> 00:08:07.740 Chris Hennessy: could be a good support, nice.
00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:08.280 Tommy DiMisa: Right. It's
00:08:09.310 --> 00:08:19.060 Tommy DiMisa: we can get somebody, you know. We can get them into a program. We get them clean and get them like on the right track. But if they end up back in community without support and without guardrails.
00:08:19.060 --> 00:08:43.089 Tommy DiMisa: what? We're human, you know it's human nature, man, what things happen. You get back into spots, you got to protect and build walls right around that. So yeah, what we'll do is we'll definitely take another meeting. We'll get Kevin Kenny on the call the 4 4 guys founded that organization. I was just with a whole group of them. They brought like a dozen people to the Long Island. Imagine awards, a couple weeks ago, which is a big award show we have on Long Island about nonprofits.
00:08:43.090 --> 00:08:53.469 Tommy DiMisa: It's a whole nother story, but you and I will jump on a zoom. That's how I mean, let me tell you something, man, if we weren't doing a live show right now, I would call and text them and be like dude. Jump on this meeting like if this was you, me on a zoom.
00:08:53.940 --> 00:08:54.880 Tommy DiMisa: Right! Don't
00:08:54.880 --> 00:08:59.250 Tommy DiMisa: I gotta remind myself, like Tommy did. This is just not some Zoom Meeting. You're actually doing a show right now. So like.
00:09:00.495 --> 00:09:19.620 Tommy DiMisa: But I promise you I'll do text messages and and calls and stuff later on to make it all happen. We'll get that going. But right on. I love that vision that you guys have, because, you know, it's about evolution. Right? It's about okay. So now we're doing this. But now we got to do that, and we got to continue that support. Yeah, so thanks for bringing that up. So yeah, tell me about you, man.
00:09:20.140 --> 00:09:24.158 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, man, I grew up in a really good house my parents are still married.
00:09:24.920 --> 00:09:30.499 Chris Hennessy: really strong Christian household just I mean, it wasn't perfect by any means, but it was a good home. It wouldn't.
00:09:30.690 --> 00:09:32.860 Chris Hennessy: It's not the home you would expect somebody
00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:36.940 Chris Hennessy: to end up addicted to meth and in prison because of it.
00:09:37.386 --> 00:09:41.819 Chris Hennessy: Not at all. I got out of the house, went a little buck while, started drinking a lot
00:09:43.050 --> 00:09:51.100 Chris Hennessy: started doing meth, and it just went downhill from there I spent, and thankfully I didn't spend a whole lot of years out there doing it. It was maybe 3 and a half
00:09:51.410 --> 00:09:57.480 Chris Hennessy: ish 4, but that was long enough, you know. It led to a 15 year prison sentence.
00:09:57.480 --> 00:09:58.950 Tommy DiMisa: 15 year, sentence.
00:09:59.210 --> 00:10:04.539 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, just doing stupid stuff. Multiple. You know, multiple accounts are doing stupid stuff.
00:10:04.540 --> 00:10:05.050 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:10:05.050 --> 00:10:05.850 Chris Hennessy: So
00:10:06.790 --> 00:10:13.609 Chris Hennessy: I didn't do 15 years. I did. A little over 8, almost 8 and a half got out in 2,016
00:10:17.010 --> 00:10:19.620 Chris Hennessy: spent about 6 months just
00:10:19.760 --> 00:10:26.740 Chris Hennessy: regrouping. I didn't go to work. I lived with my granddad here on the land I live in that I'm at now. I have a tiny house on our land now.
00:10:29.820 --> 00:10:35.629 Chris Hennessy: and just kind of regrouped and refocused and got used to being out and didn't jump right back into working
00:10:35.970 --> 00:10:43.970 Chris Hennessy: got out of May of 2,016. In October of 2,016, I went to work for an electronics recycling company. Here in town. A friend of mine
00:10:44.110 --> 00:10:48.770 Chris Hennessy: was the Cfo. Here he still is. He's the Cfo. There, and
00:10:49.040 --> 00:10:55.790 Chris Hennessy: gave him a call and was like, Look dude. I need a job. So he hired me, went to work in the warehouse, checking in computers.
00:10:56.810 --> 00:11:00.379 Chris Hennessy: kind of moved around in some different positions. They moved me into sales.
00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:03.580 Chris Hennessy: was in sales for 4 or 5 years.
00:11:04.020 --> 00:11:12.569 Chris Hennessy: Move me into logistics where I was scheduling trucks, move me into operations, move me into. Now I'm doing supply inventory management. So I've kind of done a little bit of everything.
00:11:13.260 --> 00:11:21.260 Chris Hennessy: little bit of everything there. Fast forward to. Last year
00:11:21.710 --> 00:11:24.579 Chris Hennessy: we lost my brother to Fentanyl poisoning.
00:11:24.790 --> 00:11:31.339 Chris Hennessy: He took an adderall. He bought an adderall off the streets. It was laced with Fentanyl, and it killed him, and another dude
00:11:33.190 --> 00:11:38.049 Chris Hennessy: and, like you said, the name of my live stream is ending the stigma. So I cleared my, cleared my calendar.
00:11:38.260 --> 00:11:39.090 Chris Hennessy: but
00:11:39.320 --> 00:11:45.860 Chris Hennessy: for, like the next 2 or 3 weeks, and you mentioned Ben, and we mentioned Ben and Jess Owen. They were my 1st guests after
00:11:46.770 --> 00:11:57.159 Chris Hennessy: my brother died, and it took me a little while to get them, because they stay so busy, and I didn't know him at the time. Somebody introduced me to them, and I thought, Well, I've got to do them, because if I cancel on them I'll
00:11:57.690 --> 00:12:21.479 Chris Hennessy: I'll never. It'll be 6 months before I get them back, you know. But it was really a God thing! I'm a Christian. So you're going to hear me mention God a lot. It was really a God thing, because they came on the air had an awesome conversation. You know. They work with the Fentanyl epidemic in Memphis is just terrible, man. It's just it's awful. They're dropping, not to sound crass, but they're dropping left and right out there all the time from Fentanyl overdoses.
00:12:21.620 --> 00:12:26.040 Chris Hennessy: So they were very sympathetic to my situation with my brother dying.
00:12:27.530 --> 00:12:32.369 Chris Hennessy: So Ben gives me his number. We text back and forth a little bit, stay in touch, or whatever
00:12:32.530 --> 00:12:34.670 Chris Hennessy: few months. Couple months down the road
00:12:35.150 --> 00:12:38.800 Chris Hennessy: I was sitting there thinking, I thought, man, I would. I'd like to go to Memphis because they buy.
00:12:39.490 --> 00:12:45.620 Chris Hennessy: They they buy old dope houses, houses that they bled in, almost overdosed in
00:12:45.790 --> 00:12:52.159 Chris Hennessy: all this kind of stuff, and they turn them into either sober living homes or they rent them out to people.
00:12:53.700 --> 00:12:57.720 Chris Hennessy: These dope dope House, they say, dope houses into Hope houses.
00:12:57.860 --> 00:13:02.090 Chris Hennessy: So I thought, man, I'd like to go up there and just kind of
00:13:02.760 --> 00:13:05.500 Chris Hennessy: see what they're doing. Help out a little bit, or whatever
00:13:05.650 --> 00:13:10.049 Chris Hennessy: texted, my sister asked her if she wanted to go, she said, Yep, let's go
00:13:11.650 --> 00:13:18.290 Chris Hennessy: So we went up there in July, and we knew by the time it was all said and done. We knew we weren't just going up there to see what was going on.
00:13:18.410 --> 00:13:24.979 Chris Hennessy: We knew we were going up there to find out what they were doing, learn what they were doing, and blueprint it here in Texas.
00:13:25.300 --> 00:13:31.560 Chris Hennessy: And so that's kind of what the vision has been for us is to
00:13:32.750 --> 00:13:39.000 Chris Hennessy: work with the homeless people, work with drug addicts and work with human trafficking survivors, and then we want to eventually have some sober living houses.
00:13:39.150 --> 00:13:59.119 Chris Hennessy: They have an advantage on us where you know they were in in those streets, and knew the houses and all that kind of stuff. You know I've been out of the game for so long. I don't know who's doing what or anything like that. So, anyway, regardless whether we ever buy a dope house and turn it into a hope house. We still want to have sober living houses, safe houses for trafficking survivors.
00:14:01.610 --> 00:14:03.780 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, and that's kind of the focus of where we're headed.
00:14:03.780 --> 00:14:24.239 Tommy DiMisa: I love you. What a great way to sort of set set where we're going today, man, for a couple of things we gotta say, listen, my condolences on the loss of your brother. I've lost family members to an overdose. It was in that other generation before the Fentanyl thing. It was when the opiates were rocking and taking lives, and it was just that, you know, and that was like a timeframe when
00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:37.720 Tommy DiMisa: you know where that was, a situation where you could say, Oh, you know what I lost so and so. And yeah, of course, tell me, I lost my cousin. I lost the Guy went to high school with like that lost this, and I got, you know, my sister, my dad.
00:14:38.560 --> 00:14:56.149 Tommy DiMisa: And that was an epidemic, and that was tragic. And and it's just this, is it? We're now we're in it again. And my condolences on the loss of your brother. I mean, I appreciate. Yeah, of course I appreciate your candor in bringing up that story, and I'll just use this word. I see a lot of organizations.
00:14:56.950 --> 00:15:22.530 Tommy DiMisa: I'll just say the word legacy from the perspective of somebody's legacy, and you know we have a family foundation in memory of my cousin Linda she passed of. She had special needs, and she just didn't wake up, and she was 31 one morning, or nothing drug related. But I just bring it up, because in her memory we have the Lindy Lou Foundation, and all the money raised from that organization goes to nonprofits that are serving the special needs, community or people living with intellectual.
00:15:22.530 --> 00:15:23.350 Chris Hennessy: Nice.
00:15:23.350 --> 00:15:45.609 Tommy DiMisa: You know. So it's just having that legacy I get to go out to. I mean, just I was sending an email about this Baseball League. My friend Christine Fitzpatrick runs called the League of Yes, which is an inclusive baseball league here on Long Island, you know, and we help them with the donation for their concession stand, and just all cool stuff. So it's that ripple effect and the stories that we continue to tell. So you know.
00:15:46.270 --> 00:16:03.390 Tommy DiMisa: I got so many questions about what you guys are doing already. What you want to do. I just want to tell you this. This is the beginning man with you and me, whatever I can do to stay connected. I mean, I watch some of the stuff that you're talking about Ben and Jess doing, and I see them like walking through the neighborhoods and stuff like that.
00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:30.029 Tommy DiMisa: And and to for you to say, like, I want to do what they're doing in my community. I mean, this is what we're trying to do, man, we're trying to make the world a better place. And and the one thing that gets me the toughest about it is like, you know, I started the show saying this today, it's organizations like yours that are on the front lines doing this work, and you know I never make this show a political show, but, like the deal is like
00:16:30.700 --> 00:16:33.349 Tommy DiMisa: those dollars are somewhere those resources.
00:16:33.700 --> 00:16:56.119 Tommy DiMisa: and like it shouldn't have to be like, Hey, man, we're trying to figure this out here, you know, in Jacksonville, Texas. No, it should be like somebody should flood in with the resources, you know. And anyway, that's a whole nother thing. I'll get off my soapbox, maybe later today, and I'll complain about it. But the point is like we. It's about collabs. It's about relationships. It's about connections. And, you know, like standing.
00:16:56.120 --> 00:17:10.679 Tommy DiMisa: I think it was Lincoln. It said something about like standing on the shoulder of those ahead of me, or those who don't like kind of laid it out before. So it's learning and collaborating. So I'm just fired up to know you, man, and appreciate what you're doing. We're going to take a quick break. We come back. I really want to ask you.
00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:22.949 Tommy DiMisa: You know I have a friend. His name is Jeffrey Abramowitz, and he runs a Pd. Green program. Another guy you should know they help when folks who are either incarcerated or formerly incarcerated when they come out.
00:17:23.099 --> 00:17:33.370 Tommy DiMisa: It's all about education, this organization, Pd. Green program. They go into the prisons. They go into the jails. They're educating folks, because, you know, like we kind of said a little bit earlier. If people come out
00:17:33.770 --> 00:17:46.350 Tommy DiMisa: and they don't have. We talked about sober living, if you don't have that support system. I think it's the same thing. Somebody who's formerly incarcerated comes out, and they don't have a support system they don't have, and or they can't read. They're illiterate. Man. There ain't a lot of options left. If you're if.
00:17:46.350 --> 00:17:46.920 Chris Hennessy: Right.
00:17:46.920 --> 00:17:48.409 Tommy DiMisa: If you're not educated, and stuff like.
00:17:48.570 --> 00:17:49.510 Chris Hennessy: So none.
00:17:49.510 --> 00:18:01.579 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah. So I was looking at like your bio that we had kind of filled out some stuff. And it's just like, you know, it says, due to some bad choices in your twenties, you know. Same thing, my friend Jeffrey Bromwood says he says, you know, man, it's not about mistakes
00:18:01.580 --> 00:18:26.670 Tommy DiMisa: he goes. I made some choices, and they were bad choices, and he did. 5 years Federal time. He was an attorney and just bad choices. He didn't call mistakes, bad choices. So anyway, I bring all that up just to say, Man, there's so many connections and so many relationships we can. We can work on, but I want to hear about like you know you came after you did the time you came out, and you said you sort of like how to find out where you're you were away for 8 years, man, that's like.
00:18:26.670 --> 00:18:27.040 Chris Hennessy: Yeah.
00:18:27.040 --> 00:18:40.449 Tommy DiMisa: World changed, man, you know. So I thought we could spend a couple when we come back from break just couple minutes on like that like how you how old you were when you went in, how old you were when you came out, and sort of what the world looked like a little bit different. That's yeah.
00:18:40.450 --> 00:18:41.150 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, for sure.
00:18:41.150 --> 00:18:44.979 Tommy DiMisa: All right. Good. We'll take a quick break. Tommy D. Philanthropy in focus right back.
00:20:25.880 --> 00:20:33.939 Tommy DiMisa: More back your boy, as I like to say, the kid, I tell my kids, yeah, yeah, they call me the kid. My kids go, Dad. No one calls you the kid, and I go.
00:20:34.950 --> 00:20:46.309 Tommy DiMisa: man. They do. They call me the Kid, and I'm like, maybe it's just me, and then I'll just try to drop it into Spanish. I go, El Nino, because I'm like a hurricane baby, because I'm like a natural disaster sometimes.
00:20:47.340 --> 00:20:48.370 Chris Hennessy: There's.
00:20:48.370 --> 00:20:51.960 Tommy DiMisa: Fantasy, man! I see your shirt, your T-shirt, says love. What does it say? What does it say?
00:20:51.960 --> 00:21:01.599 Chris Hennessy: Says, All right, so love it, says love indoors. And this is actually a picture of one of the very 1st times we went out looking for homeless people that we found.
00:21:01.900 --> 00:21:05.509 Chris Hennessy: A girl and her boyfriend were sitting there under a bridge.
00:21:05.650 --> 00:21:12.350 Chris Hennessy: They were both high on meth, tweaking out, and this was graffitied on the column.
00:21:12.350 --> 00:21:12.770 Tommy DiMisa: Good luck!
00:21:12.770 --> 00:21:15.759 Chris Hennessy: Like that. Yeah, just just like that.
00:21:15.760 --> 00:21:16.540 Tommy DiMisa: Wow!
00:21:16.540 --> 00:21:20.299 Chris Hennessy: So I went out there and took a picture of it, and put it on a shirt and put it up in our merch merch.
00:21:20.300 --> 00:21:22.260 Tommy DiMisa: So you got the you that's in the store.
00:21:22.540 --> 00:21:23.350 Chris Hennessy: Yeah. It's in the store.
00:21:23.350 --> 00:21:29.150 Tommy DiMisa: Alright. Shout that out! I'll I'll definitely pick up one of those. Bro. Let me tell you what I'm about. I'm about hoodies, man like. I'm all about the hoodies.
00:21:29.150 --> 00:21:32.170 Tommy DiMisa: hoodies. Every design we have is in a hoodie.
00:21:32.170 --> 00:21:46.149 Tommy DiMisa: It's a good thing, because I can't like. I can't walk past the spot that has like a hoodie from one of my nonprofits without without buying one man I'm like. It's just, you know, and I don't know about you, but I don't know what the weather is annually like throughout the year down in Jacksonville.
00:21:46.150 --> 00:22:11.900 Tommy DiMisa: But I tell you, in Long Island or on Long Island, I like to say, Here we you know, we get all 4 seasons, and the one that comes with all the snow. I don't really dig that one, you know I could do without it if I never saw another snowflake. But like I love to wear the best best outfit shorts, flip flops, and a Hoodie, when it's just a little chilly out like you need a hoodie man. So I rock a lot. There's no more place to put the amount of hoodies I got. So it's it's.
00:22:12.313 --> 00:22:13.140 Chris Hennessy: Good. Yeah.
00:22:13.560 --> 00:22:14.400 Tommy DiMisa: But I.
00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:19.770 Chris Hennessy: Notice you wear wristbands, too, man, we don't have them in the store, but send me send me your address where to send them, and I'll send you some of all.
00:22:19.770 --> 00:22:40.020 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, this one, actually. So this thing I'm wearing right here. This one is like the wristband. It says, Nami, qn, NAMI. qn.org, which is National Association of Mental Illness, Queens, New York Queens, Nassau. So I'm actually going to their dinner. But then all these beaded stuff. My kids buy me days. I love to have this one here. Actually, this one says, unstoppable.
00:22:40.020 --> 00:23:04.639 Tommy DiMisa: It's like a little bit like a little kid like a little girl would wear it, but I actually bought it from one of my nonprofits family children's Association. My buddy, Dr. Jeff Reynolds. He's he's on an episode of. He's been on philanthropy focus. He's been on Long Island change makers, and he's been on ending the stigma. He's a big big time leader here on Long Island, as it relates to nonprofit, it relates to mental health. And just a great guy. So
00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:09.669 Tommy DiMisa: yeah, so I love that just to, I like to. I don't like to blend, man, you know what I'm saying. No like I don't.
00:23:09.670 --> 00:23:10.010 Chris Hennessy: Right, right.
00:23:10.010 --> 00:23:13.109 Tommy DiMisa: Don't really blend in well, which is by design, you know. Yeah.
00:23:13.110 --> 00:23:14.170 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, sure.
00:23:14.170 --> 00:23:29.290 Tommy DiMisa: So we got to get some of this way. By the way, gang, you can go to the website, which I'll share in a little bit, but it's Theraven is here.org theraven is here.org, and then there's a link right up top that, says Merch. And you guys got really cool stuff, so we'll talk. We'll get into some of that, too. As we go through the show.
00:23:29.690 --> 00:23:39.380 Tommy DiMisa: Chris, you made some bad choices. We said right, and you end up getting a sentence. 15. You did 8, I mean 8 years. That's not. That's not a joke, man. That's
00:23:39.890 --> 00:23:42.100 Tommy DiMisa: when you went in, and how old, when you came out.
00:23:42.560 --> 00:23:46.870 Chris Hennessy: I was 27 when I went in.
00:23:47.370 --> 00:23:48.110 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:23:48.300 --> 00:23:49.460 Chris Hennessy: And I was
00:23:49.630 --> 00:23:54.840 Chris Hennessy: about to be 30. I was 35, so I was fixing to be 36 whenever I got out.
00:23:55.240 --> 00:23:58.800 Tommy DiMisa: Mean, and and that's like, had you ever.
00:23:58.800 --> 00:24:01.580 Chris Hennessy: Let me. Yeah, let me put this into perspective for you.
00:24:01.580 --> 00:24:02.330 Tommy DiMisa: Thank you.
00:24:02.770 --> 00:24:05.250 Chris Hennessy: Everybody was rocking the Motorola Razor.
00:24:05.250 --> 00:24:06.203 Tommy DiMisa: Okay. Yeah.
00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:08.830 Chris Hennessy: The iphone had just come out.
00:24:09.730 --> 00:24:10.270 Tommy DiMisa: And.
00:24:10.270 --> 00:24:11.380 Chris Hennessy: Nobody had them yet.
00:24:11.380 --> 00:24:12.519 Tommy DiMisa: When you went in.
00:24:12.840 --> 00:24:20.880 Chris Hennessy: When I went in. Yeah, when I got out, it was the iphone 7. So think how much technology had changed. I'd never even seen a smartphone.
00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:42.239 Tommy DiMisa: So let me ask you that cause I don't understand. I don't have that paradigm in that context. Fortunately, I see I watch TV and you see things on TV, and a lot of stuff is fabricated. But like, is it like, is it really that for lack of a better word, disconnected like, you really don't know what's going on like technology wise in the work. What's going on.
00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:47.260 Chris Hennessy: Really, I mean, all you all you really know is just seeing stuff commercials on TV.
00:24:47.260 --> 00:24:48.550 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, right.
00:24:48.550 --> 00:24:49.220 Chris Hennessy: You know.
00:24:49.490 --> 00:24:50.290 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, right.
00:24:50.660 --> 00:24:51.180 Tommy DiMisa: Because you're not.
00:24:51.180 --> 00:24:51.610 Chris Hennessy: We don't.
00:24:51.610 --> 00:24:58.399 Tommy DiMisa: Physically. Don't see anything it's not in. It's not in your, you know. That's if somebody got a phone in. That's a bad thing, right? So.
00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:01.654 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, yeah, that was, that was, yeah. That was an automatic.
00:25:02.510 --> 00:25:15.499 Chris Hennessy: Actually, while I was my 1st couple months in, they locked the entire state down because somebody had a cell phone and called like a senator or a governor or something called a politician complaining about something.
00:25:15.650 --> 00:25:23.379 Chris Hennessy: They locked the entire, every unit in the State down, and did a search, and then they passed a bill. The next house that it was a felony to have a cell phone inside
00:25:25.470 --> 00:25:31.689 Chris Hennessy: wasn't just, you know, you go to sag for 3 months, you know. No commissary for 90 days or whatever. They made it a felony like.
00:25:31.690 --> 00:25:33.619 Chris Hennessy: wow! So you're I was in there.
00:25:33.620 --> 00:25:41.290 Tommy DiMisa: If somebody's already in, and then you catch a forget about it. Okay, no, that's a game change. But again, you, this is tech right?
00:25:41.290 --> 00:25:42.090 Chris Hennessy: This is Texas.
00:25:42.090 --> 00:26:05.489 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, yeah, wow, all right, all right. So so you come out like, you sort of don't really have context. And you said, You kind of just my words, not yours. But you kind of just chilled out trying to regroup. I think you said, trying to figure out what was next. I mean before, though, did you have? I mean, obviously you were. You're you're into the meth, and you probably got the fact that you went away. You did some things right? So
00:26:05.771 --> 00:26:18.150 Tommy DiMisa: did you have like a career path, or anything like, had you thought about that stuff, you know, with 2526, 27, or was that a like that? You had to kind of make that all happen when you came out.
00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:29.149 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, I was actually a cop when I got arrested. So. And I hadn't been a cop very long just a few months. But I was already like not doing things I was supposed to do like. It was all like
00:26:29.260 --> 00:26:37.979 Chris Hennessy: being a cop was a dumb career path for me because of the stuff I was doing. But so yeah, when I got out, I had no idea what I wanted to do.
00:26:37.980 --> 00:26:38.390 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:26:38.900 --> 00:26:41.450 Chris Hennessy: Like no clue at all.
00:26:43.990 --> 00:26:48.260 Chris Hennessy: And I ended up in a pretty good place, you know. It's yeah
00:26:48.260 --> 00:26:56.589 Chris Hennessy: at all. I mean, I'm out in the warehouse now a lot with my current position. But you know, I have an office job and make okay money from my area. And it's it's it's been really good.
00:26:56.750 --> 00:27:02.219 Tommy DiMisa: That's great. Yeah, I I mean, and that's you know that to me, I think you know.
00:27:03.310 --> 00:27:09.050 Tommy DiMisa: in this country I can't get into the mass incarceration, and how terrible it all is! And you know the.
00:27:09.050 --> 00:27:09.480 Chris Hennessy: Yeah.
00:27:09.480 --> 00:27:13.960 Tommy DiMisa: That whole thing I could. But we don't have the time. I want to talk about all the things, but I just think like
00:27:14.150 --> 00:27:35.579 Tommy DiMisa: you know you did. Whatever you did, you made your choices. You did your time. Okay, now, let's get back on track. And and I think we're getting right in a lot of cases. We're evolving to that. But I mean, even like, you know, even 15 years ago, I feel like you. If you filled out a job. Anybody if a person filled out a job application and said they either did time or they had a felony. It was like they're not even getting a second look. Now.
00:27:35.980 --> 00:28:01.100 Tommy DiMisa: you know, certain organizations are like, listen, we want to pour into those people. We want to take care and look out for those people and support folks who've been in the system. And then, I think, as a society we're like we got, I'll say this, what we should be doing if we're not doing it everywhere is going okay. You did it. Now you're here. Let's get back on it. Let's get after it. Let's get you back on track. So you know, it should be a, you know, a second opportunity, or to.
00:28:01.100 --> 00:28:01.840 Chris Hennessy: Absolutely.
00:28:01.840 --> 00:28:02.550 Tommy DiMisa: Grow, and.
00:28:02.550 --> 00:28:18.777 Chris Hennessy: Absolutely, and that's originally how my show ending the stigma started was I would bring people on that, and I had a co-host back, then met him on Linkedin. His brother actually just died a few weeks ago from alcohol. He was a bad alcoholic, and his body just shut down. But
00:28:19.340 --> 00:28:27.050 Chris Hennessy: That's how it started. We'd bring people on that had anything to do with any kind of justice related, whether whether they were on probation or whether they were a family member of.
00:28:27.280 --> 00:28:37.741 Chris Hennessy: you know, someone who had been incarcerated struggled with addiction. I had a former Texas warden on, and he and I are really good friends now, and he he actually
00:28:39.230 --> 00:28:43.239 Chris Hennessy: He actually is going back to school to get his law degree to become a criminal defense attorney
00:28:43.750 --> 00:28:51.990 Chris Hennessy: 55 or 60 years old, man, because he saw you know he was seeing he was in. He went to work when he was 18, worked death row.
00:28:52.230 --> 00:29:00.859 Chris Hennessy: and retired as a warden. So he saw grandkids of people he had when he was, you know, in his early on in his career, coming through.
00:29:00.860 --> 00:29:04.890 Tommy DiMisa: He just saw. He saw 3 generations so sorry to interrupt.
00:29:04.890 --> 00:29:10.559 Chris Hennessy: Oh, you're good. Yeah. He's seen 3 generations seen the dads seen the grandkids.
00:29:11.120 --> 00:29:15.120 Chris Hennessy: so he he talks a lot about generational incarceration and
00:29:17.290 --> 00:29:22.870 Chris Hennessy: And now what you said about mass incarceration like, I love my State. I love Texas.
00:29:23.180 --> 00:29:29.709 Chris Hennessy: but we are a hang them high State. There ain't no slap on the wrist for nothing. And I that's that's my hang up with
00:29:30.260 --> 00:29:33.590 Chris Hennessy: the justice system in Texas there needs to be a little bit of.
00:29:34.290 --> 00:29:41.710 Chris Hennessy: and Memphis has it right? Shelby County. They have Drug Court there, where, if it's it doesn't even have to be a drug related crime. But if it's.
00:29:41.930 --> 00:29:55.989 Chris Hennessy: you know it may be a felony, but if they realize that this person really needs help versus incarceration, they put them in a halfway house. They have to work. You know, there's stuff they have to do. It's basically like being on probation. But you have to live in a halfway house. You're not living at home. It's a little bit stricter.
00:29:55.990 --> 00:30:05.499 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, well, it goes to it goes to the whole thing about ending the stigma. Because, you know, back to my friend Jeff Reynolds. You know, he said, this is a lot of things like
00:30:05.700 --> 00:30:31.559 Tommy DiMisa: getting access to mental health services isn't like an easy thing. You can't always just get it like overnight or the next day. My other friend, who, I'm thinking, too. Jeff Mcqueen, who goes into the prisons, runs an Organization Mental Health Association, Nassau county, and he's got his own stories, but he goes in the prisons to to speak with folks, and I said, Well, how often you do that! He goes whenever they ask me to. Tommy D. He wasn't like a regularly scheduled, because when they need me I'm there. He's the executive director of this organization, and he told me, you know, Tommy D.
00:30:32.780 --> 00:30:56.169 Tommy DiMisa: We need to stop punishing people for being sick. We need to stop punishing people for being sick, you know, and and I'm not going to go into history here in New York. But you know the Rockefeller drug laws were a thing here in in New York that was, you know, put people away for lifetimes, for drug stuff. You know. I'm not talking about being a kingpin. I'm talking about little, you know, some drug activity, you know, and.
00:30:56.170 --> 00:30:56.870 Chris Hennessy: Right, right.
00:30:56.870 --> 00:31:15.999 Tommy DiMisa: You know, lives are changed, and and that whole mass incarceration is a whole nother show. We should probably get your friend, the former Warden on and talk about that one day, because I'd love to have people drop some knowledge on that. Believe it or not, we got to go to another quick break in a sec here, but when we come back I want to get into the org. What like
00:31:17.790 --> 00:31:32.840 Tommy DiMisa: with your brother passing, your family, comes together and says, we got to do this, we got to make something happen, and I want to hear about what it looks like. Day in and day out the programs. What you guys are doing out there, how people can plug in how people can help. So we'll get into all that when we come back. How's that sound, Chris?
00:31:32.840 --> 00:31:34.169 Chris Hennessy: Okay. Sounds good. Man.
00:31:34.170 --> 00:31:37.650 Tommy DiMisa: All right. Good stuff. Philanthropy in focus right back.
00:33:11.750 --> 00:33:26.930 Tommy DiMisa: World. It's your boy, the one and only Tommy D. And we are here at the top of the house. You know the attic. The whole thing. All right, Fentanyl. Tragic. It is a tragic situation in this country, man. It's tragic situation, and I'm sure it's going on in other countries, too. You know.
00:33:27.190 --> 00:33:39.569 Tommy DiMisa: we're going to talk about the organization. I just shared the website while we were at break. If you're in, listen. Only mode, as they say, go to the website. Theraven ishere.org theraven is here.org. I highlighted this quote.
00:33:39.570 --> 00:33:58.069 Tommy DiMisa: It comes from the verse, Luke 1224, it says, look at the ravens. They don't plant or harvest, or store food in barns, for God feeds them, and you are far more valuable to him than any birds. Why is that a driving force behind this organization? Chris.
00:33:58.680 --> 00:34:01.010 Chris Hennessy: Well, we knew. So
00:34:01.270 --> 00:34:09.379 Chris Hennessy: that's kind of the lead into how we got our name, Ben and Jess. I don't have. Yeah, I do. So Ben and Jess, with, we fight monsters.
00:34:09.560 --> 00:34:28.729 Chris Hennessy: Their logo is a sparrow coming from a similar verse in Matthew, so we knew we wanted kind of a nod to them. You know we're not going to duplicate exactly what they're doing, but just as a nod to them, they're our sister organization. They've taken us under their wing. We wanted a bird for our emblem. So my sister started researching. Biblical birds ran across that verse.
00:34:29.500 --> 00:34:35.980 Chris Hennessy: You know the addicts trafficking survivors, prostitutes, homeless people. Society
00:34:36.179 --> 00:34:38.620 Chris Hennessy: has a tendency to drive by turn their nose up.
00:34:38.810 --> 00:34:47.400 Chris Hennessy: Well, the Bible says they're more humans. People are more valuable than any bird. If he takes care of the birds, and he uses people to take care of people.
00:34:48.010 --> 00:34:49.040 Chris Hennessy: So
00:34:50.100 --> 00:35:10.399 Chris Hennessy: that combined, there's also a story in I don't remember which book it's in in the Old Testament, where the prophet Elijah was hiding out in the wilderness from a queen who was trying to kill him, and God used a raven to take food to him. So like that raven, we're taking hope and light to somebody in the wilderness
00:35:11.460 --> 00:35:15.020 Chris Hennessy: because they're more valuable than any bird is.
00:35:15.580 --> 00:35:21.860 Chris Hennessy: So that's and actually, that's on our wristband. It says the raven is here, and it has the raven.
00:35:21.860 --> 00:35:22.240 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:35:22.240 --> 00:35:26.929 Chris Hennessy: Says the raven is here, and then on the backside it says more valuable than any bird.
00:35:28.670 --> 00:35:32.880 Chris Hennessy: So that's kind of where we got our name. That's the driving force behind it, you know
00:35:34.280 --> 00:35:43.260 Chris Hennessy: a lot of people. I did a post about this the other day. It was a song that really spoke to me, and I posted the song and talked about it for a second on Facebook and Linkedin. But
00:35:43.770 --> 00:35:55.440 Chris Hennessy: you know, when you see the Guy, holding the cardboard sign. How many times have have we? Said man, if he could stand there all day he could get a job. Well, the truth of the matter is, we've never walked 2 steps in that dude's shoes, let alone a mile.
00:35:55.820 --> 00:35:57.029 Chris Hennessy: so we don't.
00:35:57.240 --> 00:36:02.800 Chris Hennessy: We don't judge. We meet people where they're at not where we want them to be. That's also on a shirt.
00:36:03.115 --> 00:36:05.950 Tommy DiMisa: I like. I like you, man, you get it.
00:36:07.020 --> 00:36:08.639 Tommy DiMisa: But is it on a hoodie? Chris Hennessy.
00:36:08.640 --> 00:36:09.899 Chris Hennessy: It is on a hood.
00:36:09.900 --> 00:36:13.030 Chris Hennessy: Yes, it is years. Yeah. We meet them where they're at now.
00:36:13.030 --> 00:36:16.789 Tommy DiMisa: I know a little bit about addiction, and one of my addictions is hoodies, brother, so you know.
00:36:18.006 --> 00:36:20.440 Tommy DiMisa: right? Oh.
00:36:20.440 --> 00:36:27.919 Tommy DiMisa: I like. Meet them where they're at 100%, like, I mean, that's critically important. And I'm guilty of that. I use.
00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:29.289 Chris Hennessy: Yeah. I have been, too, in the past.
00:36:29.290 --> 00:36:42.080 Tommy DiMisa: Because it's just what we do. Come on, Dude, let's go get a job, you know what or you know. Let me. I'll buy you a sandwich, or whatever. So you don't go out and buy a bottle of rum or a bottle of Scotch right? But maybe you know what, and I can't remember who told.
00:36:42.080 --> 00:36:46.999 Chris Hennessy: You know I saw. Let me interrupt you for a second, because I saw Ben do this the 1st time we were in Memphis.
00:36:48.350 --> 00:36:49.860 Chris Hennessy: because he gets it.
00:36:50.120 --> 00:36:58.610 Chris Hennessy: This dude came up and asked for money. We were getting gas in his truck, and he gave him 3 bucks, and the dude said Man, now I can get rid of these shakes. He was an alcoholic, and I don't know
00:36:58.610 --> 00:36:59.410 Chris Hennessy: right? Yeah.
00:36:59.410 --> 00:37:09.560 Chris Hennessy: And when you, if your body doesn't have it. Your body becomes dependent on alcohol, and you get the shakes, and you start feeling bad. And Ben said, Man, I've been there, dude. I understand it. Ben knew he was going to go buy beer with it.
00:37:09.560 --> 00:37:13.300 Tommy DiMisa: And that's all. But that's not. And I'm with you. And that's where I was going to, because you know what?
00:37:13.570 --> 00:37:38.500 Tommy DiMisa: Okay? So the guy is going to go buy. Guess what? It's okay for the guy who had a really rough day, or a woman who had a rough day, or whatever, and goes home and opens a bottle of wine, and has 3 glasses of wine, or half a bottle, or whatever right but like that, what we but that guy lives in a house. So it's all right that he has to take the edge that way. But God, the guy who lives on the street. Who's eating out of a dumpster? How dare? No, no, you. I'm going to go to Subway and get you
00:37:38.500 --> 00:37:45.109 Tommy DiMisa: foot long, you know, in a bag of chips. How how about it sucks out here, Tommy, you know. Maybe I.
00:37:45.250 --> 00:37:51.950 Chris Hennessy: If the dudes, if they're coming down off opiates or off alcohol, and they're sick to their stomach, they're not going to eat it, anyway.
00:37:51.950 --> 00:37:53.050 Tommy DiMisa: Right, and that, and and.
00:37:53.050 --> 00:37:54.939 Chris Hennessy: You know what I mean? Like they can't. They can't eat it.
00:37:54.940 --> 00:38:21.332 Tommy DiMisa: And that goes to meet somebody where they are like, and that thing so so. But I again, evolution man, you know I was a younger guy walking down the street. You just think! Come on, Dude, what are you doing? No, you don't know their story, and if we just found compassion and love and everything, and just meet somebody where they are. You know I have this one quote that I use. I used it the other night when I was speaking at an event, and it's from Robin Williams, and it says,
00:38:22.500 --> 00:38:51.989 Tommy DiMisa: everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind always. That's it. Always. If you meet with love and realize that person there is your brother or your sister, I don't care if they're your brother or your sister Familial, or just your brother or sister, as a race of human beings. That's what it is, man. And when we reach down and say, you know. What do you need? How can I help you, man? How can I help if people ask that more? God, it'd be a better place. Man, you know what I'm saying.
00:38:51.990 --> 00:38:57.339 Chris Hennessy: And even I talk about Ben and Jess a lot, just because they've had such a huge influence on me over the past year.
00:38:57.510 --> 00:39:00.850 Chris Hennessy: But one of Ben's stories that he tells is
00:39:01.330 --> 00:39:06.070 Chris Hennessy: he was on the side of a gas station, no shoes on dope, sick, tired of it.
00:39:06.790 --> 00:39:08.720 Chris Hennessy: getting ready to go commit suicide.
00:39:09.100 --> 00:39:11.379 Chris Hennessy: and a lady smiled on him at him
00:39:11.770 --> 00:39:17.320 Chris Hennessy: and smiled at him, made eye contact, and smiled at him. How many times have we seen a homeless person not even made eye contact with him.
00:39:17.580 --> 00:39:23.079 Chris Hennessy: He said that smile made me thought, Well, I'll live another day, and he ended up not doing it at all?
00:39:23.080 --> 00:39:24.700 Chris Hennessy: How many lives smile.
00:39:24.700 --> 00:39:27.679 Tommy DiMisa: How many lives have been saved, and I have a story about that. I was on the F train.
00:39:27.680 --> 00:39:28.390 Chris Hennessy: It's.
00:39:28.390 --> 00:39:28.770 Tommy DiMisa: Hundreds of.
00:39:28.770 --> 00:39:30.889 Chris Hennessy: They're on upwards of 300. Now, people.
00:39:30.890 --> 00:39:38.749 Tommy DiMisa: We talk a lot. I talk a lot about ripple effect. Right, Chris. What happens if he did take his life that day?
00:39:39.200 --> 00:39:40.300 Tommy DiMisa: That is 300.
00:39:40.300 --> 00:39:44.779 Chris Hennessy: We fight monsters, and we may not have been inspired. We probably wouldn't have been inspired to do what we're doing.
00:39:44.970 --> 00:40:09.999 Tommy DiMisa: So that's that's a negative way. But what's the positive way he does? He's a man who's with us in the work turning dope houses into hope houses and inspiring you and dude. This conversation between you and me doesn't even happen if any of that, because I'm not seeing you on Linkedin. And now all the people listening, a whole bunch of people pay attention. What I'm doing now know about you know about Ben and Jess, who didn't I, and I know they're super.
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:12.000 Chris Hennessy: One smile, one smile.
00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:25.900 Tommy DiMisa: Dude. I'm telling you this 20 years old. I'm going to school in Manhattan. I lived on Long Island at the time. I'm going to school in the city. I'm on the F. Train. I'm having a bad one. I told this on my show, ending the stigma, and I can't believe I've actually told them I'm telling it again. I was really low, really low.
00:40:26.180 --> 00:40:26.800 Chris Hennessy: Yeah.
00:40:27.430 --> 00:40:29.289 Tommy DiMisa: And I'm like 20 years old.
00:40:30.170 --> 00:40:56.529 Tommy DiMisa: And I see this little kid. And on the F train heading to New York City and F. Train means something to people here in New York, and this little girl smiled at me. I'm telling you, brother, she never knows me. She'll never know me. I'll never know who it was. It was just, but it changed the trajectory of that day and changed a lot of things that I was thinking, and I'll just say that period and story. So it's like, that's how impactful we can be on another human. So
00:40:56.530 --> 00:41:08.829 Tommy DiMisa: you know, I look forward to connecting with Ben and Jess at some point, if it's appropriate, and maybe I mean I'm seeing I'm a little. I'm all about getting myself out of my comfort zone because I push all the people out of theirs on a regular basis.
00:41:08.900 --> 00:41:13.459 Tommy DiMisa: Never been to Memphis, you know, and there's more to see, apparently, than just.
00:41:13.460 --> 00:41:14.080 Chris Hennessy: Life, changing.
00:41:14.080 --> 00:41:23.359 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah motorcycle. Elvis grew up right. You know what I'm saying. I would. I think I might make that trip with you one time, and come through and and.
00:41:23.360 --> 00:41:24.150 Chris Hennessy: Well, we need to do it.
00:41:24.150 --> 00:41:32.979 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah. Yeah. And and you know, we cause that to me is storytelling, not storytelling from my brand, but storytelling to just get more people seeing the thing so they know.
00:41:32.980 --> 00:41:33.460 Chris Hennessy: Yes.
00:41:33.460 --> 00:41:40.989 Tommy DiMisa: How you can make impact. So so it just would. This is such a great conversation, man. We could go probably 2 h. What? What are you? What is.
00:41:40.990 --> 00:41:41.550 Chris Hennessy: Yeah.
00:41:41.550 --> 00:41:50.280 Tommy DiMisa: Organization like doing day in and day out, like, how are you? We talk about meeting people where they are. What does that actually mean from a perspective of like programming and things like that.
00:41:50.870 --> 00:42:18.340 Chris Hennessy: So right now we're a little bit on. Hold doing stuff. Let me tell you what we started. Let me just kind of take you through the evolution of what we've been doing. So we started out doing homeless ministry. We really, really like our focus is really on the addicts and the trafficking survivors. We're never going to not help a homeless person, though, if we see them. We were in home cooked meals to them there was 3 different camps. We knew about totaling about 10 or 12 people we were taking home cooked meals to them once a week, and even simple things like.
00:42:18.460 --> 00:42:26.569 Chris Hennessy: you know we bring them ice for their cooler because they'd get the Rejects coming out of the dumpster at the grocery store, or whatever you know, the day old stuff that they're throwing away
00:42:26.840 --> 00:42:45.469 Chris Hennessy: ice for the cooler, so they could have, you know, to keep their meat cold. Keep their eye or waters cold. We take them water and gatorade. We take them sodas and cigarettes like things. Most people don't think about canned goods chips, like all that kind of stuff. It wasn't just one meal a week. We tried to set them up for a couple of days at least. You know
00:42:46.260 --> 00:42:51.850 Chris Hennessy: we did that for a while, and then the the city came through and busted up all the homeless camps, ran them all out.
00:42:54.520 --> 00:42:57.729 Chris Hennessy: We heard where they were
00:42:58.310 --> 00:43:02.449 Chris Hennessy: in some abandoned houses. One was in the hood. One was kind of on a main drag.
00:43:02.870 --> 00:43:06.700 Chris Hennessy: and so we kind of talked about it, and
00:43:07.340 --> 00:43:15.680 Chris Hennessy: we kind of put that the go into them once a week on hold, too, because if they're in abandoned houses and they're safe. Yeah, and they actually have more shelter than a tent
00:43:16.180 --> 00:43:24.809 Chris Hennessy: one, we don't want to draw attention coming in and out of there all the time. Right, you know, roll rolling up 3 Suvs deep in.
00:43:24.810 --> 00:43:32.339 Tommy DiMisa: Right? And yeah, right? And they. And there's somebody seeing all this activity, and the neighbors are going. Whoa! That's an abandoned house. What's going on right. Forget it, and then they're back out on the street.
00:43:32.340 --> 00:43:40.630 Chris Hennessy: And then we didn't want to. And then we didn't want to be trespassing, either. We didn't want to cause problems with the city, because, you know, we we want to work to build a relationship with the city. We don't wanna
00:43:41.010 --> 00:43:52.700 Chris Hennessy: we don't want them going. We all are trespassing. These dudes were trespassing. Yeah, so, and I honestly hadn't even seen them out on the streets lately. So I don't know where they're at or what they're doing, you know, and I drive around periodically and look for them.
00:43:53.873 --> 00:44:10.329 Chris Hennessy: We've made a few trips to Memphis to help them out. The goal, like I said, is is to have some sober living houses halfway houses, and that just comes down to funding, and we're still waiting on our 501 c. 3 to be approved. So I hadn't pursued any. Grants haven't pursued any
00:44:11.040 --> 00:44:17.650 Chris Hennessy: anything as far as funding goes, because I want to have that. I don't want to say I'm pending. I want to have that solidified before we start doing.
00:44:17.650 --> 00:44:25.739 Tommy DiMisa: When we're, you know, when we're having on one of our offline Zoom Meetings, I'm gonna get you sorted out with some connections and things to see about expediting voice. So we'll see we'll talk about that.
00:44:25.740 --> 00:44:29.570 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, cause I I filed it in September. I need to call them it's just
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:31.420 Chris Hennessy: working during the day. It's hard to.
00:44:31.420 --> 00:44:32.080 Tommy DiMisa: Yep.
00:44:32.080 --> 00:44:34.300 Chris Hennessy: Carve that time out to call the irs and.
00:44:34.300 --> 00:44:34.870 Tommy DiMisa: Yep.
00:44:35.510 --> 00:44:38.256 Chris Hennessy: Anyway, that's just like getting a tooth pulled
00:44:39.859 --> 00:44:40.559 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:44:40.560 --> 00:44:46.200 Chris Hennessy: So. And I've I need to set up one of our Board members works for the Probation Department. She's receptionist, and she
00:44:46.820 --> 00:44:52.510 Chris Hennessy: she told the head of the probation department what we're doing, and he was super excited about it. So
00:44:53.450 --> 00:44:56.469 Chris Hennessy: gonna set a meeting up with him and kind of use him
00:44:57.180 --> 00:45:15.109 Chris Hennessy: see what their needs are, you know. Do they need somebody that need? That's on probation that needs a little more intensive supervision other than living at home, but, you know, live at a live at a halfway house or a sober living house, and so he's all for that. So getting that set up. And then, really, it's just getting the funding to to get a place.
00:45:15.540 --> 00:45:20.600 Chris Hennessy: So there's like I said, the 5 0. 1 c. 3. Once that's done, I'll start looking into grants and and
00:45:21.860 --> 00:45:25.860 Chris Hennessy: see if there's any Federal funding, or start looking at all that.
00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:53.710 Tommy DiMisa: You know, I think what you know, and you could get all that sorted out. What I'm hearing that I'm most excited about is the way you're I'm the nonprofit sector connector. Right? So I'm hearing you networking. I'm hearing you talk about the probation. I'm hearing you talk about this former warden folks who are now having the vision of how do we repair some of this stuff? And how do we repair these lives and stuff like that? You know. I mean, I love to hear the probation angle where you know that's a situation where
00:45:54.630 --> 00:46:07.119 Tommy DiMisa: they're digging what that that community now is going to start to dig what you guys are doing. And then they're gonna go. We can be part of the solution. You know, the probation people probably don't want to get guys jammed up and put them back in the system right? They want to get.
00:46:07.120 --> 00:46:07.710 Chris Hennessy: No, they don't.
00:46:07.710 --> 00:46:29.740 Tommy DiMisa: Right. But if you don't have the right resources to for them to make the right referrals, whether it be for mental health services, or, you know, addiction, treatment, etc. Then it kind of like in a spot. But if you can provide so if I let's just put myself in that position. If I was something somehow in connected to probation system. I want to make the right referrals, man. So I know I can. I can get these.
00:46:29.740 --> 00:46:30.200 Chris Hennessy: Right.
00:46:30.200 --> 00:46:35.340 Tommy DiMisa: Over. The Raven is here, and they're going to hook them up with silver living right? So now I know
00:46:35.910 --> 00:46:43.620 Tommy DiMisa: the person I'm working with, who's on probation is going to be better suited to not get jammed up again and not get back in the system.
00:46:43.620 --> 00:46:44.189 Chris Hennessy: All right.
00:46:44.190 --> 00:46:44.570 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:46:44.570 --> 00:46:48.950 Chris Hennessy: Right. And that was actually Ben's idea, because we were going to work to bring Drug Court here
00:46:49.130 --> 00:46:57.599 Chris Hennessy: and then at our. He's on our board. So at our last board meeting he was, you know, we were talking and hashing things out, all of us were, and he was like well as small as your county is.
00:46:58.230 --> 00:47:08.360 Chris Hennessy: and Janet, our board member that's on the probation department, was there, he said. As small as your county is. Why don't you just get Janet to hook you up with the instead of trying to implement an official drug court
00:47:08.520 --> 00:47:09.560 Chris Hennessy: program.
00:47:11.420 --> 00:47:17.602 Chris Hennessy: why don't you just get the Probation department to funnel people to you and talk to them and everything. I just told you so.
00:47:18.550 --> 00:47:24.259 Chris Hennessy: we're really excited to get like, I'm really excited to get that going like, I want that to happen. Really, really bad.
00:47:24.260 --> 00:47:29.610 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, yeah, that you know it's it's, you know, Chris Hennessy.
00:47:30.310 --> 00:47:37.940 Tommy DiMisa: you didn't have to do any of this man. You didn't have to. Right, you know you did. Your time you came out. You could have taken.
00:47:39.010 --> 00:48:02.769 Tommy DiMisa: You could have just got your job. Got yourself sorted out, got your family, you know. Obviously the impact of loss of your brother Eric was was a big part of that, even though you didn't even have to do anything then. But your your decision. I'm telling you this because I'm grateful for you and what you do, because you decided to to take that on as your initiative and your ambition to make things happen. So
00:48:03.297 --> 00:48:09.750 Tommy DiMisa: really, really important stuff. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back. Make 1 point, then we'll take a break at.
00:48:09.750 --> 00:48:13.199 Chris Hennessy: I was just gonna say yesterday would have been his 34th birthday.
00:48:14.230 --> 00:48:19.540 Chris Hennessy: So this is a good time to have it like, I'm glad. This we got to do this on the 9, th the day after what would have been his birthday.
00:48:19.540 --> 00:48:24.049 Tommy DiMisa: Oh, man, I'm glad you're here, Bro. Thanks for everything you do. We'll be right back for a break. Yeah, thank you.
00:50:07.520 --> 00:50:12.099 Tommy DiMisa: Back. We're back cut through the static baby. Let's go. Chris Hennessey is here, and.
00:50:12.550 --> 00:50:27.369 Chris Hennessy: It is here. So that was just sharing. That's a picture of your brother Eric right there that I was sharing. Right? Yeah, so would have been 34, you know. God bless man, my condolences and sending love to the family. I gotta get myself one of those love indoors. Shirts.
00:50:27.370 --> 00:50:28.060 Chris Hennessy: Yeah.
00:50:28.250 --> 00:50:33.630 Chris Hennessy: and that deuces like that was his signature. Move like we have a ton of pictures of him doing that. So on. All our
00:50:33.990 --> 00:50:36.550 Chris Hennessy: the hats don't have it, because I can't figure
00:50:37.070 --> 00:50:42.550 Chris Hennessy: the place we use doesn't let us embroider on the side. But all of our shirts everything else has.
00:50:42.720 --> 00:50:45.510 Chris Hennessy: When you see that deuces on there. That's what it is. That's
00:50:45.960 --> 00:50:50.009 Chris Hennessy: that's interesting. Yeah. You know, I'm gonna actually share that while you're while we're talking.
00:50:50.010 --> 00:50:50.420 Chris Hennessy: Oh, man.
00:50:50.420 --> 00:51:01.340 Tommy DiMisa: I'm gonna go to the the merch spot right now. You know, we had somebody in our family who who we lost, and he he used one finger, and that was his. That was his signature.
00:51:02.230 --> 00:51:04.810 Tommy DiMisa: It wasn't deuces, it was. It was a 6,
00:51:05.597 --> 00:51:14.810 Tommy DiMisa: but that was there is. There's many, many pictures of a very good close friend of mine who always would flash you the bird, as we say here.
00:51:14.810 --> 00:51:15.555 Chris Hennessy: Yeah.
00:51:16.300 --> 00:51:31.019 Tommy DiMisa: You're in New York. So I don't know if I'm sharing. I'm not sharing. I'm gonna try to share the page real quick. I'm getting distracted, Chris. I'm distracting myself, but like here's some of the swag I call swag. We call it Merch, but here's up, and I see it here like on the on the side arm. You got the.
00:51:31.280 --> 00:51:31.930 Chris Hennessy: The sidearm.
00:51:31.930 --> 00:51:38.609 Tommy DiMisa: Every time I move my cursor it moves it, but I want to point with my fingers, but I don't think that's going to help anybody who's watching it.
00:51:38.900 --> 00:51:41.942 Tommy DiMisa: But there's just do that all the time, too.
00:51:42.310 --> 00:51:45.959 Tommy DiMisa: Party. The only times I try to touch my monitor, and it's not a touch screen a lot of times.
00:51:45.960 --> 00:51:46.980 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, right.
00:51:46.980 --> 00:51:50.679 Tommy DiMisa: Yep, yep, so acta non verba. What's that mean?
00:51:51.070 --> 00:51:52.590 Chris Hennessy: Deeds, not words.
00:51:52.590 --> 00:51:54.219 Tommy DiMisa: Needs not words. Do it right.
00:51:54.220 --> 00:51:56.180 Chris Hennessy: Latin for deeds, not words. Yep.
00:51:56.390 --> 00:51:57.950 Tommy DiMisa: Not words. I love it. Man, you guys.
00:51:57.950 --> 00:51:58.740 Chris Hennessy: Damn thing!
00:51:58.740 --> 00:52:23.959 Tommy DiMisa: Super creative man. Just do it, you know. Roll up your sleeves and get it done. What what do you, when you think about in terms of like what you need, type of connections and stuff like that. I mean, you're going to meet the guys from no matter what foundation you know my buddies up here on Long Island. We're going to get that going. But some other connections, relationships like, as it relates to, even just like local Jacksonville local tennis tennis. But Texas like local stuff. What are you thinking about?
00:52:24.090 --> 00:52:30.880 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, I would like my my biggest deal is I'd love to get in with the city manager and the mayor, and just talk to him and tell them what we're trying to do.
00:52:31.860 --> 00:52:34.590 Chris Hennessy: because again, this is Texas, and I love it. But
00:52:35.690 --> 00:52:40.989 Chris Hennessy: a lot of the people here, out of sight out of mind. Not in my backyard, you know. Kind of thing.
00:52:41.341 --> 00:52:50.039 Chris Hennessy: and so I don't know I have. I've never talked to the city manager or the mayor, so I don't know if they think like that. But a lot of the people in the town do.
00:52:50.630 --> 00:52:51.740 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, so.
00:52:51.840 --> 00:52:55.239 Chris Hennessy: I would love to get in with them, and just tell them what we're doing, you know.
00:52:55.710 --> 00:52:59.980 Chris Hennessy: See what kind of support they could offer us, as far as like resources, or you know.
00:53:00.650 --> 00:53:12.280 Chris Hennessy: I don't even know, you know, just. But I want a good relationship with the city, for one thing. And I think maybe working with the probation department might help that. Yeah. You know, we're already working with one
00:53:12.460 --> 00:53:14.130 Chris Hennessy: county county agency.
00:53:15.120 --> 00:53:16.979 Chris Hennessy: Let's expand this a little bit.
00:53:16.980 --> 00:53:17.380 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:53:17.380 --> 00:53:26.140 Chris Hennessy: You know, if if they run across people that maybe you know, maybe they have an officer that has a good heart, and he's like, man. Let's get some help. I know some people that can help you
00:53:26.270 --> 00:53:28.540 Chris Hennessy: instead of taking them to jail, for
00:53:29.440 --> 00:53:40.900 Chris Hennessy: even if they have, you know, hard drugs. I'm like hard drugs. Anything other than marijuana is what I mean. Even if they have hard drugs. Man like look dude. You want some help. You tired of this. I know some people that can help you.
00:53:41.550 --> 00:53:42.300 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, I mean.
00:53:42.300 --> 00:53:44.140 Chris Hennessy: The kind of relationship I want with the city.
00:53:44.140 --> 00:54:02.859 Tommy DiMisa: And there's listen. What what you're talking about, you know may not be exactly what's going on in Texas may not be going on in Jacksonville, Texas. But it's going on in other parts of the country. Man. There are definitely programs like this. So I think you know where I think I could be a resource is connecting you to some folks who are doing this stuff here in New York. So it's just like.
00:54:02.860 --> 00:54:03.210 Chris Hennessy: Yeah.
00:54:03.210 --> 00:54:28.089 Tommy DiMisa: You know a lot of things, whether it leads to mental health or it leads to substance, abuse, or addiction. You know I think a lot of folks who are in the patrol car care and are not trying to jam people up all the time, and they they can make referrals to agencies. I know a ton of that stuff goes on here in Long Island, and it ain't perfect here. By no means, man. There's plenty of people tragically, people dying of Fentanyl. It ain't perfect up here. I'm not saying that, but.
00:54:28.090 --> 00:54:28.560 Chris Hennessy: Right.
00:54:28.560 --> 00:54:47.709 Tommy DiMisa: There's a there's like a track that this is going down, and it's actually working in other places, and that to me is a big part of what I'm about personally as a human. But what I'm about with this show is, people are listening right now. Chris, who never heard of you never heard of this organization. And now they're going to get to reach out to you and or me to make a new connection.
00:54:47.710 --> 00:55:00.449 Tommy DiMisa: And proactively, I'm going to make connections to people up here in New York that I think can impact the work you're doing and go dude. What about this? Here's what we did. Here's the roadmap. Right. Try this. Try that that sort of thing. Mentorship and things.
00:55:02.060 --> 00:55:02.750 Chris Hennessy: Yup for sure.
00:55:02.750 --> 00:55:08.870 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, shout out the website, shout out everything you want to socials and stuff like that. So people know how to connect with you and get to you.
00:55:09.410 --> 00:55:24.159 Chris Hennessy: Yep. So theraven is here.org. You can do everything from here. Our story learn about us. You can grab some swag, you can make a donation. I will say this real quick about our donation page. It's a nonprofit payment processor, and so there's an automatic place to leave a tip for them.
00:55:24.500 --> 00:55:33.540 Chris Hennessy: You can set that to 0. So if you do want to donate, don't freak out about it, or you can give them a tip. They're a great organization. They help a lot of people like us, especially smaller ones
00:55:33.750 --> 00:55:51.130 Chris Hennessy: that are just getting started. Waive those payment processing fees. So Theraven is here.org. I'm on Facebook, Chris Hennessy. I'm on Linkedin, Chris Hennessy. And then there's a raven is here, Facebook and Linkedin Page on Facebook. It's the Raven is here. The here is all capitalized.
00:55:51.380 --> 00:55:53.599 Chris Hennessy: That's how you cause there's a couple other organizations.
00:55:53.600 --> 00:55:57.330 Tommy DiMisa: Always there, and you by capitalizing it. It's like a different profile.
00:55:57.330 --> 00:56:03.770 Chris Hennessy: Yeah, it made it different. When my sister set it up. It made it different. Here was in all caps, and Facebook accepted it as as a name.
00:56:03.960 --> 00:56:05.909 Tommy DiMisa: And not copied somebody else.
00:56:05.910 --> 00:56:06.360 Tommy DiMisa: Wow! Alright.
00:56:06.686 --> 00:56:14.190 Chris Hennessy: I'm also on Youtube. That's where I do. I mean, my live streams are on all platforms. But I'm on Youtube, too. It's
00:56:15.640 --> 00:56:24.119 Chris Hennessy: at hip is live. So I set that up years ago whenever I was doing some live stream production. So it's at hip is live. But
00:56:25.080 --> 00:56:34.910 Chris Hennessy: there's 2 or 3 different shows on there right now. All I do is ending the stigma. It's live every Monday night at 7 Pm. Central 8 Pm. Eastern on Linkedin, Facebook, and Youtube.
00:56:34.910 --> 00:56:38.860 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah. And that's how I found you. Bro, it must have been. What time is it? On Monday night.
00:56:39.260 --> 00:56:41.830 Chris Hennessy: 7 pm. Central 8 Pm. Eastern.
00:56:41.830 --> 00:57:02.900 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah. So I thought it was later, when I was up here, I was just, you know, tooling away. And I found you guys and was totally inspired to connect with you. Listen! I can't tell you how much it'd be impossible for me to tell you how much I appreciate you leaning in and doing the work, because, you know, it's folks like yourself that just just get it done, you know, and and
00:57:02.900 --> 00:57:04.529 Tommy DiMisa: thanks for having me on Bro. I appreciate it.
00:57:04.530 --> 00:57:19.849 Tommy DiMisa: You're welcome, brother. I can't wait to eventually meet you in person one day I know that'll happen, and you know, shout out to some of the folks you drop some names on, you know. Certainly Ben and Jess as mentors to you, and you know some of your board members and things like that because gang, it's about volunteerism. It's about doing service. No one has to do.
00:57:19.850 --> 00:57:20.320 Chris Hennessy: It is.
00:57:20.320 --> 00:57:32.540 Tommy DiMisa: It's a choice. No one has to do this stuff. You guys lean in and did it. So. Thank you. Thank you, Chris, so much. I appreciate you, man, we're gonna connect again soon. Well, I got a we got a whole nother bunch of stuff. We got to do that. None of these people.
00:57:33.300 --> 00:57:34.060 Chris Hennessy: Yeah.
00:57:34.110 --> 00:58:00.180 Tommy DiMisa: If you guys are looking for me, Tommy d dot Nyc. On the Instagram, the nonprofit sector connector on Instagram, ending the stigma together on Instagram and Demisa is spelled DIMI, SA. So you can find me everywhere. Tommy D. And if you want to hit me on email. Tommy D. At philanthropyandfocus.com, PHOC. OS. Chris Hennessey's been my guest. I'm your boy. The nonprofit sector connector make it a great day, everybody. I'll see you next Friday. I'll be waiting here. I'll be right here in the attic waiting for you guys. See you then, later.
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