Episode 42 - Ron Dunn - Sleep In Heavenly Peace

We've been living in it since so long.

Welcome to episode 42

of Let's Talk Claremont. I am your host, Patrick, and thank you very much for tuning in. And

it might be a little early, but I'm gonna wish everybody a Merry Christmas, and I will continue wishing everybody a Merry Christmas,

for the entire month of December. Because

since having children, I have transformed from a Christmas Grinch

to,

a pretty jolly fellow, I guess I guess you'd say. So I'm really loving Christmas, and I hope the snow wasn't too annoying for everybody.

I got to go out and play with my kids a little bit, so I know it can be annoying for some people. I hope it wasn't too annoying. I hope it got to work safe and and all that good stuff. And, honestly, I think it might be kind of a harsh winter. I've been watching some news reports and weather reports more more accurately,

and I think we might be getting more snow on the way. I'm not I'm not a weatherman. Don't quote me on that. But

I think it is gonna be a cold snowy winter. At least I hope it is because I love winter.

I love the snow. I'm I'm just in a really great mood, and I'm really happy that you're here. Thank you so much for tuning in. And we're getting new people as if the downloads and analytics and all that stuff have have any are right and have anything to say about it. So if you are new, here's what we do here. We're gonna talk about a little bit of news from around the county, then we'll get into our interview today.

And then we are going to

wrap it all up with events around the county, and there are plenty of Christmas events from around the county for everybody to enjoy.

So with all of that said, let's get into the news, and we're gonna start off with Claremont as a whole.

We got some interesting things going on.

So in the last commissioner meeting, which was on 12/01, which I believe was Monday,

they started with a look at the projected 2026

operating budget for the county.

Now their operating revenue for 2026,

it's projected to be about $88,600,000.

Operating

appropriations, the spending authority, is just over $87,000,000,

and roughly 67%

of the general fund is going to criminal justice and judicial functions. That's gonna be things like courts,

sheriff, prosecutor, jail, stuff like that.

They also estimate that by the 2026,

the general fund cash balance will be around $54,000,000.

Now they walk through how this fits with their reserve policy.

The county's

informal policy is to keep about 35%

of annual operating expenses in reserve.

With 2026

operating expenses, the target reserve is about $30,000,000.

That makes total cash

about 54,000,000.

And if you lock up 30,000,000

as the 30% reserve,

that's going to leave rough roughly 24,000,000

in excess reserves

above the policy floor.

This does not include the separate 5,300,000.0

budget stabilization

fund, and that's its own kind of rainy day thing. So they talked a lot about that. They also

highlighted a capital fund problem.

The capital fund is described they described it as having an unobligated

negative cash position

of about $11,500,000.

Now what does that mean? That means if you look at the current capital plan and I'm not a financial person, but from what I understand, capital plans are things like buildings and

stuff like that.

So if you look at the current capital plan and appropriations,

the fund is over committed

by about $11,500,000.

So to keep the current capital appropriation level,

which is over 30,000,000 in capital projects, they would need to do one of two things.

Transfer at least 11,500,000

from the general fund

to the capital fund,

or they could cut or delay projects

to bring capital spending back in line with available money.

On top of that, there are about 7,600,000.0

in additional capital requests still under review

and not yet put into that that 11.5

negative figure.

So the commissioners are gonna have to make a decision. They're gonna have to decide whether or not they use some of the, you know, quote, unquote, extra

$24,000,000

in the general fund reserves

to patch a hole in the in the capital fund,

or they're gonna have to scale back the capital program.

So

I thought that was an interesting kind of look into the county finances.

Hope you found that interesting. I

did.

Moving on from that, still at the county level,

there were there are some new developments with this whole Batavia Village, Batavia Township zoning fight.

Now I'm not

incorporating this into the village or township news because it was brought up at the commissioner's meeting.

What's happening is is there is a 29.884

acre parcel in the Taylor Road area that the village of Batavia

has already consented

and adopted an ordinance

to annex it.

At the same meeting, they also adopted another ordinance,

that says services will be provided to the annex territory and buffer requirements for incompatible zoning uses. So what does this mean? The village has annexed another little bit of land from

the township.

Now the petition was accepted by the county commissioners on 11/03/2025.

So we've got a new annexation battle between the village and the township. And importantly, and we'll get to this in a little bit, it is right by the airport.

So this annexation is a type two annexation. And if you recall

from previous episodes, because we've talked about annexation a lot,

that means it is pretty much automatic

as long as all the type two requirements are met and all the paperwork

is in order.

And a type two differs from a type one where the commissioners

are allowed to deny an annexation if they deem it to be not in the best interest of the county. They can do that in a type one. Type two cannot.

And

if you'll recall, the Baumann Road annexation

up by the airport

initially was a type one, and the commissioners initially denied that annexation

until the village was able to fulfill type two requirements

and push it through.

So

the airport in this meeting, there were there were quite a few people that got up in opposition to it,

during public comments.

In fact, I think there was only one person.

I don't know I don't know if I'd necessarily say it was for it, but he was representing

the people who the landowners that will be annexed into

the village.

So he obviously wasn't against it because he's representing the people that wanna be annexed, but many people got up and spoke against this.

I did want to play

one clip

from the public comments, and this is Chuck Gallagher. He's the president of Sporty's, which is the kind of the pilot shop at the airport. And I think for all intents and purposes, he's kind of the guy that runs the airport.

And I am still trying to get an interview with somebody at the airport. I'm not sure that that'll happen. I'd like to just so we can, you know, dig a little deeper into their concerns and understand

what's going on.

But in lieu of that, I got a little clip here that I'm gonna play, and this is gonna be Chuck Gallagher's public comments at the commissioner's meeting saying why he is against it.

For annexation, which is on the agenda this morning,

I'm in opposition.

The airport is in opposition of this annexation.

It is, located in the runway protection zone.

So the runway protection zone is a trapezoidal

area on the ground at the ends of the airport runway

designed to protect people and property on the ground

from accidents and to allow for safe operations.

The size and dimensions of the RPZ

are defined by the Federal Aviation Administration.

So essentially, the RPZ is essential for safe operations at any airport,

big or small.

And there's some pretty good restrictions on what can be built within the RPZ.

I I produced the information for you. I'm not gonna read it all. I'll I'll go through some highlights here. There's a little bit of history on this property.

So in, 2019,

the current owners purchased this property.

They were told that they're building restrictions,

on this property,

and they challenged that.

The Octavia Township Board of Zoning Appeals upheld it.

It went through the litigation process. It was decided in 2021.

So,

now they're they're coming back around round two, and they wanna get annexed into the village.

I don't know what they've been promised, but

I don't think they're annexing into the village to get public works and police service

two miles away from the village.

So it is very crucial that that we

maintain this runway protection zone.

And I understand it's a type two annexation, and I'm not a lawyer.

I, you know, I know there's stipulations involved with that.

So, a, I'm gonna ask you to deny it just for airport

action to airport safety, people in the airplanes,

operations.

If we can't

deny it, I'm gonna ask you to delay

it because we are currently if you remember in the July meeting,

we had presentations of the new airport master plan and airport layout plan, which I've got some drawings and attached in the back here.

The runway protection zones are called out clearly in these plans.

And, you know, as I point out, they say draft right now.

They'll they'll have final FAA approval here shortly. And I think it's imperative that we wait until the FAA

can stamp this

before we let another zoning authority take control of this property.

I

I'd I'm just very nervous about

losing this to a different zoning authority.

And then, I guess I'm they normally only give us three minutes.

You're like, what else can I say? What else can I talk about?

It's my last pitch. Alright?

Deny, delay,

but also what what I've read on the Internet was a type two annexation of paperwork has to be completed

thoroughly and properly.

The signatures on the copy that I got were not signed right

for what that's worth.

Alright. So that was Chuck Gallagher, and he was I think he did a pretty good job of

it kind of encompassing what what the airport's issue is.

There were like I said before, there were other speakers mostly against the annexation,

and I thought I'd just run through,

at least from what I could tell, the main concerns the airport has with this annexation.

The first is, like you heard from Chuck, the parcels in the proposed annexation lie in the FAA designed RPZ.

And this is a a spot of land where where buildings and people intensive uses are discouraged, not disallowed,

I think importantly, but discouraged

because of an elevated crash risk. And if you think about it, you know, the area in front or behind of a runway,

yeah, that's gonna be where your planes crash as they're coming into

the, to land or to take off, whatever the case might be.

I also wanted to just and I think Chuck explained it well, but an RPZ is a runway protection zone, and he like he said, it's a trapezoid shaped area at the end of the runway.

And it just exists to protect people.

So

that is

a big deal from where I'm sitting, and, obviously, it's a big deal to the airport.

The other thing that some of the other speakers, and I think Chuck mentioned this as well,

moving the annexation,

the zoning authority of the RPZ, moving that to a different zoning authority,

from the township

slash Clermont County to the village of Batavia,

makes them nervous because the village has a track record with Baumann

of approving airport adjacent developments.

Also, because the county has accepted FAA grant money,

people at the airport and people who don't want this,

are also

concerned,

that

the annexation will enable incompatible development in the RPZ,

and they could put the obligations that they have to the FAA

because they took grant money at risk.

The airport is also putting together a new master plan that they've already presented

to the board,

I think the commissioners,

in draft form, and it clearly maps out the RPZ,

and it guides future safety improvements.

Acting on an annexation before the FAA approval

could undercut that planning by locking in conflicting land use under another jurisdiction. So, essentially,

they've got a a plan to do stuff at the airport.

And if this gets looped into the the village's

zoning authority,

that could throw a big wrench in their master plans.

And this is also not unimportant.

Some of the speakers noted that prior aircraft incidents on these specific parcels

have happened,

And they they were arguing that putting more homes or structures there

creates a foreseeable

safety hazard for pilots,

passengers,

and people on the ground.

So we've got

more annexations,

more

zoning fights.

I don't know if the village has said what they're planning on doing or why they want this land.

My guess would be developments.

And my guess would be if they follow suit with their old developments that they would do some kind of tax abatement and,

put a higher density on there that the airport or, frankly, a lot of people around this parcel

probably want.

So,

I thought that was interesting, and we're gonna definitely keep our eye on that and keep trying to get somebody from the airport on,

to talk about it. And I guess we'll keep trying somebody from the village.

Maybe when the new council gets in, we'll have better luck at at getting people on and talking about what's going on.

So, anyway, that's what's going on at the county.

Moving on to Batavia Township, more zoning stuff. The zoning commission is gonna hold a public meeting on Thursday, December 11 at 05:30PM,

Batavia Township Community Center.

This is a continuing,

public hearing on case b ten twenty five z, which is a zoning text amendment.

This case was tabled

on November 13,

so the staff could focus on updates to article 35, which is special overlay districts.

Specifically, the State Route 125 Special overlay District, which is taking more time to review,

while take I'm sorry, while taking more time to review and rewrite article 36,

which if you recall

was

removed

from zoning resolution,

and that means that the township no longer can do planned developments or PDs.

The article 34 amendments, however, that was initiated by the board of trustees

via resolution number 10 dash zero one dash twenty twenty five

and may include minor related adjustments for clarity and consistency.

Proposed changes are meant to modernize and clarify

the State Route 125 special overlay district regulations

by updating development standards, design requirements,

and review procedures to support coordinated site planning,

a better corridor appearance,

and alignment with current developed practices and township

goals. So if you are interested in that and you live in the township,

I would recommend showing up and listen to what they have to say or speaking if, you know, if you've got a position on article 34 or the State Route 125

overlay district.

Okay. Moving on. Let's look at Tate Township.

The Tate Township Trustees are gonna hold a special meeting at 07:00PM

on December 3.

I'm sorry. That

they've already held that.

That was yesterday. I'm recording this on the third. They had this yesterday.

I wanted to bring it up though because the purpose of the meeting

is to meet with the fire department union representatives

to discuss that a fire department union

contract. Union contract negotiations

can get,

they can, you know, they can get a little contentious sometimes. I'm not saying this one is. But if you live in Tate Township, I wanted to let you know that that was going on and then we'll keep our eye on that if anything crops up, if there's any issues with negotiating that contract.

Next up is Union Township, and this is really just a reminder

that the board of trustees is gonna have a public hearing on the ninth

and on the fifteenth,

in a special section. The ninth will be a regular trustee meeting. The fifteenth is gonna be a special session, and they're both at the Union Township Sid Civic Center.

And this is to consider and receive public comment regarding the adoption of a resolution

levying an additional annual license tax in the amount of $5 on the operation of motor vehicles on the public roads and highways in the township for any authorized

purpose. So if you've got an opinion about a $5 license tax in Union Township,

I would mark those dates on your calendar and head over there and either listen to what they're talking about or tell them what you think.

Moving on to Loveland. The city of Loveland is preparing for its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary

and formed

a ses

sesquicentennial

committee to help plan the celebration.

As part of this, earlier in the year, they,

the committee

issued a call for art, asking Loveland artists

to submit up to three original designs

for a new official city flag.

I've received the city received 68

flag design submissions, and after review, the committee selected a winning design by Ariana Wilson. So congratulations to Ariana.

The Wilson, her design,

titled the Heartland,

was inspired by the Loveland Bike Trail and the Little Miami Scenic River. She emphasized the community's commitment to preserving local history

and natural beauty.

The city plans to unveil the new flag design as part of the twenty twenty six, oh, man,

sesquicentennial celebration

and publicly thanked all artists who persist participated. So that's kinda cool. Loveland's got a new flag.

And,

let's see. Yes.

This

is the last city we have for news.

My favorite city to get news from. Good old New Richmond.

We've got an update on the plumbing issues. The village put out a statement on the Indian Ridge Water main break.

All the repairs were completed, and nobody is under a boil advisory. And I believe this was on the November

26

that they put this out.

So, hopefully,

if you live in New Richmond, all the plumbing issues have been taken care of.

Also, New Richmond, they're gonna have some Christmas light recycling

location. They will have one Christmas light recycling location. They're gonna put a box set up at the village hall for residents to drop off old Christmas lights for recycling.

And this is taking place. It started on the November

27,

but it's gonna run all the way through February 1.

So if you live in New Richmond I guess, honestly, you probably don't even have to live in New Richmond, and you got a bunch of old Christmas lights either don't work or you just wanna get the junk out of your house, take it there. And, you can recycle it and feel good about yourself for doing so.

Also in New Richmond, I I don't know what's happened. There's just a whole bunch of stuff coming out of New Richmond.

They said the gate at Short Hill is closed,

and the crews have been working all night to clear the roadways. And they say if you can move your vehicle off the street, that would help them immensely.

This was posted on December 2, so,

hopefully, those issues have been resolved.

That's all I really got from it. I'm assuming it had something to do with,

the snow and clearing off the snow.

We also have some December meeting updates from New Richmond.

The meeting scheduled for December

have all been moved to December 15.

Personnel and finance will be from five to 6PM on December 15,

and the council meeting will be at 7PM.

Safety rules and laws will take place during the council meeting on the fifteenth.

And there will be no shade tree meeting in December,

and there will be only one council meeting a month

through the month through March. So from now till March, they're only gonna be doing one council meeting in New Richmond.

And the last bit we have from New Richmond,

the planning commission for December has been canceled.

That's it. So if you're gonna go to the planning commission meeting in December,

don't bother. They have canceled it.

Alright. So that is all the news that I have for you, which will, bring us to our value for value segment.

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but we are still running a holiday special. So from now until January 1,

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Alright. That's our value for value segment. So

before we talk about who we're talking next week talking to next week, which I'm very excited about,

I do since,

you know, I've got the microphone, so I get to do this. I wanna say happy birthday to my mom.

I think she said she's 50 years old, which she has been for the last twenty years.

So I'm I'm not gonna do the math. But

but, anyway, happy birthday, mom. I hope you're having a great day. Well, I guess it was yesterday, but I'm recording on the third. Happy birthday.

Alright.

Who are we talking to next week? Well, we have a very special surprise guest.

I literally just set up the interview right before I turned on the mic and started recording, and I was really, really lucky to get it.

I don't really wanna say too much. I kinda want it to be a little bit of a surprise. And if the interview falls through, I don't wanna get everybody's hopes up because

this is a very, very, very busy time of year for him.

So I'm not gonna say too much about it because, you know, I don't wanna jinx the interview in case it falls through.

But I will say

that this was the only person that has ever asked to be paid for an interview,

which, you know, I was a little

skeptical about. But fortunately,

his price was pretty reasonable,

and all I have to do is bring him some milk and cookies.

So

tune in next week for our special guest.

But today,

we are talking with Ron Dunn. He is the chapter president of Sleep in Heavenly Peace for Clermont County.

Now Sleep in Heavenly Peace, they build beds for kids that don't have one.

And I

didn't think that was a big issue.

It turns out I was wrong. Even in Clermont County, there's

lots of kids going to bed not on a bed.

So it's really, really awesome awesome work,

that

that they're doing.

Ron is also a a councilman for the village of Bethel.

So we talk about Bethel a bit. Like, stuff like how they're approaching economic development and how they're trying to revitalize their downtown area. A lot of the same stuff that other villages and townships and things are trying to figure out in the county. So it was fun to talk to him about that as well.

And much like all of our guests, it was a great conversation.

Not that our other guests have bad voices,

but I do think Ron's voice is particularly suited to podcast. I was listening back to bits of the interview. I was like, man, he's got a he's got a really nice podcast voice. So,

so

thank you to Ron for sitting down with us, and I hope you enjoy the interview.

So I will start this like I've started all the other ones. Why don't you just tell us who you are and what you do?

Good morning. My name is Ron Dunn. I am the co president of

Claremont County chapter of a nonprofit called Sleep in Heavenly Peace. Nice. So what do you guys do at Sleep in Heavenly Peace? We build beds for kids. Our motto, no kids sleeps on the floor in my town.

Kids from three to 17 years old,

and that's the only requirement.

They have to be in that age bracket.

And you did so do you actually, like, build them beds and then you We build we, build twin beds. Okay. We have

groups of people who will it's called sponsor a bed or a build. Mhmm. And, we and we

leave a home, we provide a a twin bed,

mattress,

comforter sheet set pillow.

When we walk out of a house, a kid has a place to put their head that night. Is there a lot of

I guess, are there a lot of kids that that just don't have beds?

Statistically speaking,

two to three percent of kids in that age range Really? Do not have a bed.

A little bit of background of Sleep in Heavenly Peace. It began in 2012 out in Idaho. Okay.

Pardon me. A gentleman there found out that a boy

in his neighborhood

did not have a bed.

It's 2012.

So he decided, hey. I can build a bed. Yeah. From that beginning, thirteen years later, there are now 400 chapters around the country.

They've built we've built, well over 300,000

beds. In Claremont County? No. In All over. In the country.

Claremont County 300 I'm sorry. I thought you said 300. It's like 300.

That would be a one bed for every person. Well, there are

yeah. There statistics will tell us there are

about,

40,000

kids in Claremont County between the ages of three and 17, three and 18.

Two to 3% of that means somewhere around a thousand of those kids Really? Don't have a bed. That's wild.

You wouldn't think of that I wouldn't. As a need in the twenty first century. Yeah. But I mean, it's such a simple thing, a bet. You It is. Think everybody would have one. Yes.

We

you know, when when we we've started it this is we started this chapter officially in April, May. We had been affiliated with another chapter. Relatively new as well? Yes. Okay. In our chapters. Although we have our core team has been involved with the organization

for almost two years Mhmm. Working with another chapter, doing builds and deliveries and so on and so forth.

We had an opportunity,

as I said, in in April to

go out on our own, and we've gotten pretty good support. We're still

technically, we're still in the startup phase. Sure. We have Which I think it would just say May or something. I mean, that's just a couple of months out on your Not bad. Yeah. We It's not bad at all. We have,

delivered over we've delivered thirty

thirty some beds. Nice.

We have another 20 in the pipeline right now to be delivered over the next couple of three weeks here.

We have a group of people who are we call them

delivery team leads

that put together a group of people, and then they go deliver and set up. And,

it is it's it's a fairly straightforward process. Mhmm. People can, apply online.

They go to, shpbeds.org,

search for Clermont County, and and apply for it. Is there are there any criteria, or do you just say I need a bed? A bed. That's it. The criteria are three to 17. That's it. That's really the criteria. Okay. So it's it's

seemed too simple, but

it works.

Yeah. No. I mean,

simplicity often wins out, I find. You know, you keep things simple. And if you had some, like, long accreditation process or something like that, like, you're not No. It's we we have a we have a vetting process that basically involves

a telephone conversation or sometimes it's a a text or but we we prefer to do it voices, you know Yeah. Yeah. Real person.

And just, you know, a couple questions that just to help us understand

the needs of the family, the child. Mhmm. You know, is it for the younger children, we include a mattress protector. Yeah. You know? So that you don't have to worry

about moisture getting on the bed, you know, ruining the mattress.

An interesting thing about these beds, they're created from wood, two by fours, two by sixes,

a really nice

production system that involves

volunteers to show up. We'll talk a little bit more about that. But

part of the process is it's dipped into a solution

of

steel wool and vinegar. Okay. It creates a stain that gives it a a brownish color. Mhmm.

But it's been found to deter bed bugs. Really?

So Steel wool and vinegar. Steel wool and vinegar. It dissolves. The vinegar dissolves the steel wool. Yeah. Yeah. Gives it its color. Basically, it's rust. Yeah. Yeah. That's what it does, but it dissolves. And,

we filter that, strain it strain it out, and have two dip tanks and put things in. And So you you're like a production

Yeah. Basically. Yeah. We'll we will build,

we started out with a

30 bed build,

then we've we've done a a 50 bed build with a group up in Columbus of all places. Yeah.

Lowe's is a corporate sponsor national corporate sponsor, so we work through them. But Imagine you can get lumber from them and things like that. Yeah. Yes. They have. We have a couple of special programs and some really good quality stuff that they give us.

Well, they don't give us. We buy it. Alright. Yeah.

The

the process is

it's a a production assembly. Yeah. We cut. We have a series of saws.

It goes into a sanding process.

The idea is to involve as many volunteers as possible. Mhmm. Typically,

the one and a half for every bed that you want to build, we recommend one and a half people. Okay. So for a a 30 bed build, if you got 45 people,

very smooth operation. So we go from

cut to sand.

There's a drilling station. Certain

holes get drilled, and then they go to an assembly. Mhmm. We brand them with a a branding iron. Oh, nice. Everybody loves that. Play with fire. I was gonna say, is that the job everybody wants? It's the branding job. Pretty much. Yeah. Everybody gets a chance to brand.

And,

and then it goes into the stained tanks. And

And then you got your bed? Got a bed. Parts of a bed. So how did you get involved with this?

Well, let's see.

Originally, through the church I attend, Mount Carmel Christian Church down on Buck Buxton.

People there,

were already involved, and I've been part of a team that does mission trips, mission work every year, building homes, repairing from disasters, and so on.

A a subset of that group had been involved with this and found out found out about it.

Also,

so we we,

trying to remember if I think the first thing we did was a a build Mhmm. With Felicity School, the FFA chapter down there. Okay.

That's Future Farmers of America. Right? Yes. Right? Okay. Yes. I just wanna make sure I get the acronym right. Although it's I I don't know if they've still

have the farmers part of it or not. It's becoming that it's a huge national organization.

But,

so we built some

the beds there

and then,

became part of a delivery team,

And it just went from there. Just went from there? Yeah. That's awesome. So you mentioned volunteers. If if people wanted to volunteer to help, do they need any kind of carpentry background, or you just None whatsoever. None?

We have

each

in the in the in the

I call it for lack of better term, the production line. Mhmm. There's a series of stations. As I mentioned, we have people at each station

who will show you

how to handle a tool.

The the we use power miter boxes to cut everything. It's nice if you know something about that, but doesn't necessarily mean that, you know, we've had,

kids as young as 13

working. Oh, that's nice.

Not necessarily on the saws. Right. But, Oh, if it's one of those just miter saws, those are pretty easy. Yeah. Yeah. They're yeah. As long as you keep your fingers out the way it's good. And that's a requirement. We always ask that you leave with the same number of images that you showed up with. Yeah. We've been very, fortunate in that

very you know, no injuries of any, you know, a band aid maybe for a splinter. Yeah. Yeah. But,

no no skills, no tools. We provide all the tools. Yeah. That's that's the one of the the major expense for a start up is

tooling up. Yeah. Well, any kind of production. Yeah. Especially that. Yeah. And what do you need more tools? Is it something like, how how what are other ways people can get involved outside of building beds? Right now,

providing the funding for bed build sponsorship, it's called. It's it costs $250

for each bed Okay. That we raise the for that. That as I said, that includes the mattress and everything.

Mattresses

are our biggest single expense after the lumber. Yeah.

It probably 250 actually seems like a decent number for

It's a fantastic number for some of the chapters around the country are probably charging a little more just because of prices in their area. Yeah. But,

our relationship with our local Lowe's,

we've been able to keep the price of the materials for a bed, the raw materials

right around $50.

Really?

Which That's pretty spectacular. It is. It is. So it's 50 and then the mattresses Mattress and the bedding. Yeah. Yeah. Right? The pillow and everything.

And, of course, there's And bedding. I've that stuff is crazy expensive. It is. And, you know, we we have, we've done we do bedding drives where some local churches, organizations

will, you know, buy a bed in a bag from Walmart or Amazon. We have corporate accounts on those big wish list.

People can go on there and,

just, you know, we'll as I said, we've

I've trying to think we've done,

three or four

church

build or church

fundraisers, we'll call it, bedding drives. So we're in pretty good shape with that.

We have a few things in the pipeline right now, but mainly, it's just finding sponsorship

to meet the needs.

We we serve right now, we're serving about three fourths of Claremont County. Things are released by ZIP codes. Okay.

We're down to,

I think, three ZIP codes that we're not officially in yet. Okay. But that should happen within the very near future. Okay.

And if someone

outside of one of our ZIP codes

logs in to try to apply for bed, it may say,

not available or something like that. But there are there's ways of of getting in touch with us that we can Yeah. You know, kind of vet and

work through that process. On the on the website, you can pick, like, where what state you're in, and then you can scroll through all the different chapters. I think there's one in Hamilton

There is County, at least. Hamilton County. There's Cincy East in Hamilton County.

Todd Foreman does that chapter, does a lot of work.

Lot of it even though he's located in the Newtown area, a lot of his stuff is West side of town. Okay.

Doing a great job down there.

There is a chapter in Butler County, one in Warren County,

one in

Clinton County,

Montgomery County,

Cuyahoga.

There's one or two up there.

So there's a fair bit of counties in the state that don't have a Correct. Chapter. Okay. Right. Yeah. That was that was the reason that we ended up going to,

Columbus to do a build with Lowe's up there.

Franklin County, he would've there's not a chapter in Franklin County. Okay. Now I hope that we've inspired someone up there to start the process. Yeah.

But Is it hard to start a chapter, or do you just

Yes and no.

You you have to go through some training.

Pardon me.

The national organization

has training quarterly that you have to go through before you can start up. It takes place out in Utah.

Nice training facility.

Good. Yeah. It's as I said, I've told people it's like three days of drinking from a fire hose. Yeah. You just get inundated with information. But Yeah. They have a great support. Any questions or issues come up, it's, you know, either a phone call or a email away. Mhmm. And, so in in the the country is divided up in regions. There are regional,

what they call chapter support leaders in each one.

Ours is actually located, down near Paducah, Kentucky. Okay. But she covers

Michigan, Ohio,

Indiana, I believe. What's her name? Because I might have actually accidentally emailed her.

Julie Morris. That might have been her. I can't remember. Chapter service.

There was a lady I emailed, and I said, oh, I thought I heard about this thing. And she's like, oh, you need to talk to Ron Dunn. Yeah. So it's probably Julie. Yeah. Yeah.

So no. It's it's

the the hardest part is raising the money. Yeah.

And we've been told, and this hasn't kicked in for us yet, that once

once you're up and running Mhmm.

People search you out, which they have been. They, you know,

and the money

happens. The fundraising,

physical, you know, knocking on doors and shaking babies and kissing hands, all that kind of thing. You know?

That should that that will kinda decrease over time. It's never gonna go away. Yeah. But keeping our name out there, getting we have a web page,

a local

chapter web page that we post our deliveries on and pictures. Mhmm. We try to photograph the kids on the bed. Yeah. That it they they do that is one of the requirements that

the the vetting process is is do you want

to have your child photographed? Right? If they say no, it's like no problem. You know? Not gonna, you know Yeah. It's going over that one. Not gonna force that issue. No. No. But most people are are very much yeah. And and the kids, you know, to show up, and a lot of the kids want to help, which is fine. Yeah. You know? Here, hold this drill. I'll show you how to do this.

We've had some that you could tell their parents had read them the riot act. You know? Like, mom said I can't come in till you're done. I was like, okay. That's fine. You know? You should listen to her.

I'm not gonna bake you.

But they you know, it's

the

the feeling that you get knowing that a kid is gonna be sleeping in a bed for the first time, maybe ever.

That's it still kinda blows my mind that that I mean, two, three percent of kids, that's nationwide. That's a That's a lot. That's a lot of kids. Lot of kids. What I mean, are they just sleeping on sofas? Or Some are on sofas. Some are in

floor. Oh, some are just on the floor. Yeah. Some because of emergency circumstances, you know, domestic situations, they've had to move out right away or a fire That has you know? Now knock on wood, we've not dealt with that much yet. It could happen.

But we've been in places where I've seen a pallet put in a closet, you know, where a child was on the floor there. Oh, man. I mean, there's just there's multiple reasons. We I know

I've gone in places where they had bedbugs at one point in time, and so they had to get rid of everything and he didn't knew. Yeah. Yeah. Which is fine. That's what we're there for. Now do you work because I during the election season, I interviewed people from child protective services, jobs family

services. Mhmm. Do you work with them at all? Or We

yes and no. We have started I, actually,

am scheduled to meet with them in February at their board meeting. Nice. They they know about us. Sure.

They have,

but we've not made presentation to them. Yeah. We work with counselors in those local schools. Okay. They all are aware of us.

As I said, I I was at Grant Career Center for twenty five years, and so I've worked the counselors there meet regularly with all of the local school counselors. So they've passed pamphlets out. And I know that we've received

applications

because of that.

But, yes, we there's so

many options Yeah. Available, you know, and just getting our our name out there. Do you have any other partners in the or anybody you'd like to partner with in the in the county that you're trying to partner with?

We have reached out to Purina. We know that they have a community involvement group.

We I I have

I would like to work, you know, any business that

any any entity

that's willing to sponsor a build.

I know that, you know, we're working we worked with multiple churches thus far.

Bethel has a ministerial

association where the churches meet regularly together.

I've met with them. There's,

in the plan that works for

early late spring, early summer, a like, a community build with all of those churches. Nice.

So, you know, we there's

sounds crass, but we're not gonna turn down anything.

You know? No. That doesn't sound listen. I I beg people for money for this podcast. That that doesn't sound crass at all. You know? Don't worry. And

I am I am not a

I'm not a glad hander. I'm not somebody who's really good at doing that.

But the reality is what's the worst they can say? No? Yeah. That's Okay. Thanks. And also, I mean, you know, it's one thing trying to sell somebody a car. It's another thing, like, I'm building beds for children. Yes. This is a good this is a good thing. It's you do have a leg up that way. Yeah. You know? And

it's it's interesting that,

as you alluded to, the the the reality that that many children

across the country, even local you know, a thousand kids in Clermont County. Yeah. And and it's actually there's more. I mean, because that thousand is only based on the number of areas we're serving right now. So my guess

is that number is probably closer to 1,500.

Yeah. And I imagine that

I don't know this for a fact. My guess is though it tracks with socioeconomic

I don't know. What would you say? Socioeconomic

status? Yeah.

Maybe not. I don't know. Well, because we don't ask that issue.

That's fair. There are I will say that

virtually

every delivery we have made,

the need is evident. Yeah.

I guess that that would be a better way of saying it. You know? Yeah. And There's probably more need and probably in places like Felicity or, you know, rural areas and Well, the the county,

most of

virtually all of Clermont County

is considered low income. Yeah. There's very few

ZIP code or parts of ZIP codes that aren't. Yeah.

And I and I know we have

been trying over the last year or so to work through the,

working at getting a a what's called a a community development block grant Yeah.

Through HUD and so on. But there's some requirements

that we're still working through

that

have not made that

come to fruition yet.

Keep fingers crossed. We're working on it. Grants are tough, man. They are. They are. And we are actually,

just

contacted or been in contact, and I've not sat down and met with the gentleman yet who is a who works for a company that does grant writing. Yeah. And, so

we're working to bring him on board. And and we have at the national level, we have a grant team. I was about to ask what what support you get at the national level. Oh, it it's all you gotta do is ask. Yeah.

There

are multiple levels of support, and they are

very, very much into

chapter success. Yeah. Obviously, you know, as a national organization, you wouldn't wanna see your Right. It's not a good look. Yeah. Yeah. We don't wanna

that one failed. That'd be like McDonald's of trying to, like, ignoring

a McDonald's of failing somewhere. Right. You don't wanna be doing that. Right.

Oh, I'm sorry.

So if somebody wanted to get involved, what are I think we talked about it a little bit. Mhmm.

What are some of the ways they can they can do that? Well,

they can email us, email me,

on our website.

There is a local chapter contact, and

it comes into us.

My email is ron.dunn@shpbeds.org.

Okay. They can email me direct. We get back in contact. And, you know, whether it's some people want to work at a build. Mhmm. You know, if people participate in that, someone would do deliveries and so on. And so we just kinda

fit them in. Yeah.

There are a group of people, a group of women who,

have, I think, are starting to work on quilts for us. Oh, nice. Yeah.

We've had a couple, you know, donate. There's a group of women,

that

contacted me a couple months ago.

They're interested in doing that.

Just multiple ways.

I have people who just want to give money. Yeah. This is fine too. Yeah.

You know, support sponsor a bed. There there is a program

at the national level called the bunk heads Mhmm. Where you can,

for $10 a month,

or $20 a month or whatever you wish to donate, you can, each month, you know, send that in and is to get designated for our chapter. Yeah. And then that that money goes towards making a bed. That's nice. Yeah. Supplying the needs of the kids. That's that's a really nice mechanism. I don't know how many

nonprofits have something like that where somebody can just kinda Yeah. Continuously.

Mhmm. I mean, $20 is what do you pay for Netflix? You know? It's like Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

So what is what have been some of the most

rewarding

experiences you've had since you've gotten involved?

Any delivery is a rewarding experience. Yeah. Yeah. You know, kids that

either have never had a bed or, you know, haven't had one for a while. Do they jump on them immediately? They say Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Is that one of the first things they do? They start jumping on it. Is it one of the first thing about stop jumping off the bat? Please don't jump. Yeah. Mom said don't do that. You know? But,

because we we build now we do both singles and bunks. So, you know, they're they're kind of interchangeable there. But, yeah, kids immediately wanna you know, they'll come in. I'll get the top bunk. Yeah. They fly out. You know, they they claim it. It's all theirs. But You ever have siblings, like, fighting each other? Not yet. No. Not yet. And we we have had a couple. Just the opposite where,

because we bring we have different kinds of bedding. Spider man, dinosaurs, you know, the whole gamut.

And,

at one of the deliveries, one of the boys, like, well, my brother likes this better, so he can have this one. Oh, that's

Yeah. You know, those kind of done that with my sister. Right? No. No. Me and my brothers would have fought over it. There's no doubt. We'd have drawn blood. Oh, yeah.

But just

just to look on kids' faces and parents. Yeah. You know, parents who

are more than thankful. You know, you can just tell in the the tone of their voice, the you know, they just

it's it's hard to put into words. Yeah. You know, it's that warm fuzzy feeling you get, but it's

just the act of doing it. I mean, there's there's a lot of work involved leading up to that, you know, doing a build. You know, we have

six or eight to 10 of our core team at a build, you know, running and everything

and going 17 different directions.

But, you know, when it's done and you realize, hey. Look what we did. You know, you did. You know? We didn't do that. You did. Right.

You know? And and the

I think that's even the volunteers that do a build,

their reactions and their participation

is almost on par with the the look on the kids' faces. It's like, oh, we did this.

Well, I I imagine it's because I've worked in

I don't wanna say I worked in construction. I was basically just I like to call myself a soil relocation engineer.

That's good.

I've done that in, like, college and stuff, but

there's just an immense amount of pride when you work to build something and then you see it. Mhmm. And then I can only imagine

that the work you put into a bed and then you see a child's face light up and they're happy. Right. I mean, that's gotta be just It is. A different level of seeing your labor do something good. Yes. It is. You know, I I've been

involved in the construction industry for

fifty years.

Everything from

soil relocation

up through, you know Go get the shovel. The house.

You know, I was a a cabinet maker. My my

my passion is finish work. You were a millwright?

Not specifically.

Not you know? But yes. Yeah.

I was never designated that. But,

so, you know, the the

assembling things and putting things together and seeing it from start to finish,

yeah, that's pretty cool. But Yeah. Having a kid sleep on the thing that you did from start to finish Yeah. Is even better. Especially since I've never. Right. Sometimes

never had a bed. Right. I mean, that's

do any kid are any kids confused by the bed or do they No. No. Nope. They they,

Immediately get it. They know what they're getting. Yeah. You know? And and we we've heard stories, although this has not happened to me personally.

One of the teams delivered to a child on their birthday, unbeknownst to them. Oh, but that was Yeah. You know, what's the best birthday present you ever got? This bed. This bed.

Oh,

you know, that puts you that that that puts you in a different frame of mind immediately. Yeah. I mean, that just hearing that there are so many kids without beds,

I mean, it is like a world changing perspective

to to know that. Right. You know? It's like something once you know it, you're like, oh, no. Yeah. You can't you can't unsee it. Exactly. Exactly. You know, the

the the positive side of that is it's knowledge

that for the most part, people act on. Yeah. They're like, you gotta be kidding me. What do you need? Yeah. Well, exactly. Yeah. And it's, you know, it's not a simple thing to build things, but, I mean, for $250

and, you know, the labor of 45 people,

I mean, that's Right. That's a very

it it's something that doesn't cost a lot. That means

so much Exactly. To a child. You know, for someone to give up, typically, a bed build for us will

be couple or three hours. Yeah.

The the efficiency that the system provides and the number of people doing stuff, it's like,

how do you fit you know? Right. We're supposed to go this fast. And they're not nobody's nobody's, you know, going gangbusters. They're just working. Working. And,

you know, it's just for someone to give up, you know, a couple hours on a an afternoon or an evening. Yeah. Well, it's a it's a couple hours of work, and it's Right. $250

for a bed, and then a child has something for years. Yes. Like, absolutely years. Exactly. That,

I mean, if I never had a bed and then I suddenly had a bed, that would probably be one of the most special things.

You you would you would think. Yes. Yeah.

That's really awesome.

Well, I think I've I've run out of questions about sleep in heavenly peace.

But I wanna give you an opportunity

to talk about anything I didn't ask you about,

and let people know how to get involved Mhmm. And just kinda run over what you what you need. The the the biggest ways to get involved is go to our website Mhmm. Either the national organization,

shpbeds.org

Mhmm. And look for our chapter. There's it's fairly easy to navigate and find a chapter.

And then there's ways of communicating with us on there whether you would like to volunteer or sponsor.

I do my best to get back to emails,

within a day or so. Mhmm.

Typically,

same day,

unless I'm out of range.

I have a we go to a a cabin up in West Union. There's no cell service out there, so I don't you know? If we're there for a day or so, yeah, I might might not get back to you, but,

that's that's probably the easiest way.

Just the idea of

community involvement

and getting volunteers.

And

right now, things things

tend to slow down a little bit in the winter because most of our builds

tend to be tend to happen on-site at someone's church or their office, their business, whatever it might be. We have,

pardon me, we have a facility in Owensville

that, one of our members has a business there, and he allows you know, we can work inside. We've done one. We're getting ready to do one coming up on the November

22,

with the East River Church.

Oh, I'd I'd, I know these river guys. I lift weights with,

I don't know if he's an elder or not.

John Weiss.

Anyway sorry. I didn't mean to No. No. No. Sorry. Mean to knock you out. I only know a couple people from They're good people. Yeah. It's a good church. Okay. Yeah. I know the some of the people I think founded it. Yeah. But,

so we got that coming up and

just

get involved. Yeah. You know, it's unfortunately, we don't have

a there's a being start up and being new, we're still finding our way through certain things. I know that,

Todd Foreman at Cincinnati East, Cincinnati East chapter, he has started something that's really cool that we can probably piggyback on a little bit later. He's been kind of a mentor of ours. Mhmm. But he has what he calls teen nights where he'll bring in 10 or 12 kids. Mhmm. And they'll do a piece of the thing. Yeah. Yeah. Whether, you know, whether it's cutting some pieces or sanding or assembling something, it just depends on what's needed.

That is you know, we did we did a thing,

in October with Grant Career Center. Every year, they do in October, they do something called the Grant Give Back Mhmm. Where they go out and work in the what are called the four home school districts Yeah. Bethel, Felicity, Williamsburg, and Richmond.

This is second year that we've participated in that.

Students

physically doing the work right there on campus,

have had, you know, a lot of kids really,

this this year, we had a bunch of kids who I mean, they finished so fast. Like, you know?

Yeah. And and they they and they knew what they were doing. Yeah. I mean, in terms of, hey. I'm building a bed for a kid. Yeah.

And, actually, you know,

the probably some of those families that that were there may end up being an applicant. Yeah.

Yeah. But that's

the cool part is it is such a simple process and system.

You need a bed. You got a kid from three to 17. Mhmm.

Apply.

Nice. We'll get you a bed.

That's really awesome.

So did you mind if we switch gears just a little bit? No. Go right ahead.

Because and I apologize because when I I've originally reached out for you, I had no idea that you were Bethel councilman.

So if you don't mind feeling a couple questions about that. Sure.

The first question I have, so I talked to Judy and Susan at the Bethel Historical Society. I don't know if you're know them or have been there.

And as I was talking to them,

they kept talking about

citizens of Bethel that have lived well into their hundreds.

So my question is, what is in the water in Bethel, and why does everybody here seem to live so long?

I don't know if it's the water, but I do know that,

in my own family, I had a, a maternal great grandmother who lived to be almost 102.

That's crazy. My maternal grandmother was 98.

Really?

My paternal grandmother,

pardon me, was

in '96, 97. I'm horrible at at dates. Really?

You know, we Bill Bick, who just recently passed at a hundred hundred

and one. Yeah.

Just Is there a fountain of youth in Bethel, and are you hiding it?

No. There are a bunch of hardworking people Yeah. Who,

have been blessed.

You know, it is just,

you know, on on the flip side of that, I've had family members who didn't make it into their fifties. Yeah. You know? But there are a lot of a lot

of octogenarians

and above.

You know, one of our town I won't you not a founding father, but,

nineteen hundreds is was a doctor here for many, many years. They talked about I can't remember the gentleman's name, but they said he'd like He he practiced? He practiced well into his, like, eighties, I think. His his nineties, I believe. It was crazy.

It was absolutely crazy. They kept talking about all these people. I was like, wait, how old was he? Like, oh, he died, I don't know, about 100.

How many peep that's statistically

improbable

that there is a leading player? And, you know, I think

a lot of families in the area have lived here for generations. Mhmm.

I know personally that

How long have you lived here?

Lifetime, basically. I lived in in Florida as a teenager for four years, but, you know, my the house that I live in now

was, built in the nineteen twenties,

and I'm only the third family to ever own it. My the family that built it sold it to someone.

They sold it to my parents. Mhmm. My parents sold it to my grandparents. I bought it off my grandparents.

Wow. That's yeah. And but there's you know?

And and there's a lot of there's a lot of that around. Yeah. A lot of families that have been here for a long time. Yeah.

And I think part of that contributes to that, you know, the longevity, having family around. Mhmm.

It's just,

you know, we're a small town with small town issues. Yeah.

We have

issues

economically because we don't have a lot of it. We don't have any industry, basically. Right. Which has always been a a a I won't say a downfall, but it's a detriment. Yeah. I mean, I'd

you know,

industry is revenue for a village Yes. Or a township or whatever municipality. And if you don't have that, then it's tough to get revenue. Yeah. And you rely on Yeah. Property owners and, you know, there's And the way property taxes are, I mean, it's a tough sell. Right? Well, and it's it's a very tough sell.

And particularly when you

we live in an area that does not have

high home values. Right. Now even with this recent surge in in value, some of that's come up. But we're still I mean, now you have people who have a let I don't know. What what's the right word for it? A moderately priced home

paying a moderate mortgage,

and now their home is more valuable. Another property tax Yes. Go up. Yeah. Well and, you know, once the thing with property taxes, though, once a once a millage is voted in, that's all you get. Right. Even if the value goes up, still only getting the But the inside millage will stay

will track with home value. Yeah. Yeah. So we have to be careful there. Sorry. I did a whole millage. Oh, yeah. It's It is. Oh, it's I'm not even gonna I can I can get a little nerdy about millage? Not even gonna act like I know a lot about it. You know?

It's a It's kinda wild. It's a necessary evil. You know?

This push around the state and around the country to do with property taxes.

I'm not a fan of taxes, but

how else are we going to operate? Well, I have the same question about it. It's like whenever somebody tells me we're gonna get rid of property taxes, I'm like, excellent.

Where are we gonna get We're gonna replace them. We're like, where You know, the place you know, it's gonna be sales taxes. It's going to be It's gonna be something.

Yes. It's gonna have to come from somewhere. Right. You know, the states that that have,

no

sales tax or no income tax, things like they they get their money. Yeah. And through a sales tax. Yeah. And that's

it's just I mean, a tax is a tax. Yeah. The unfortunate reality is that's how government operates. Yeah.

That's the one thing about,

pardon me, about being

working on the village council here is

very, very cognizant

of the fact that we are,

for lack of a better term, playing with other people's money. Yeah. You know? And and we are It's very much very similar to being, you know, a a nonprofit organization Yeah. That, you know, in with sleep in heavenly peace, we call them the sacred dollars. Yeah. It's no different in a village entity. Yeah. You know, we

you know, are there things that we could be doing better? Probably.

Mhmm.

But I don't think a lot. You know, we are

very, very much aware of our expenditures and trying to keep a handle on them and planning for the future. Mhmm. You know, Bethel, at one point in the

early two thousands, I believe it was,

was in fiscal emergency. Yeah.

And

suffer you know, the village suffered a lot with that. We got some great leadership that came in after that point and, you know, turned things around. And and so we have a legacy to build on, and that's that's very important to me.

So would you

would you classify the citizens of Bethel as community minded? And the reason I asked the question is I talked to the Plains Street Cafe and the, Historical Society. And

it seems like everybody I've talked to in Bethel

has a strong sense of community. Is that a fair characterization

of the town?

Most part. I mean, obviously, that's not universal. Oh, god. Right. Right. Generalizations

are generally, you know. Yeah.

Yeah. But But to, like, Plain Street, for instance Sure. I I don't know.

I I don't know if Donna has a kid in the school system or not, but No. They're very interested with the school sports. Yes. I'm sure you're aware of all that. Yes. The school sports fees, like, she's very involved in trying to help that out, and she's just a business owner. Yes. And and a lot of the businesses are getting more and more involved in that. Yeah.

You know, we have things, the the down home Christmas every year, the first weekend in December.

A lot of businesses involved with that.

Got the America two fifty coming up. Yeah. You know, that's That's a great looking mural, by the way. Yeah. Right there by the Yeah. He's that that gentleman

pardon me. He's finishing one up on Williamsburg right now on the on the library over there. Great work. Yeah.

You know, and and in fact, we have a tree planting ceremony coming up tomorrow afternoon.

The

what's called heritage trees that were given out, the Claremont County Park District. Originally, there was one per county. Mhmm. And in Claremont County, we have

seven of the villages who are all American two fifty. Yeah. I believe Bethel was the first to to to get that designation. But

to the credit of the park district, they said, well, we can't you know, everybody you know? So the district, you know, everybody got one. So we're we're gonna start a have the planting tomorrow afternoon, as I said, and,

with the idea of,

long term creating a little pocket park Yeah. In that area. Nice.

I really like I interviewed,

Chris Klinkman

for the podcast from the parks department.

He was the old I think he no longer runs it, but he's a really nice guy.

So for your

for your downtown area,

because I think there's a well, there's a lot of I mean, this was a contentious issue in Batavia Village, but it's not abnormal for small towns in Ohio

to have struggling downtown areas. Right. Have you guys tried anything, any revitalization

there, or is is there any work being done to try to get more businesses in there? And what approach

have you been trying to take? Economic development is

a

is a difficult

Yeah. Path to hoe for

a small town village, for a small town council. Yeah.

We don't have someone who can devote the time and effort needed to that.

And it it's something that we've talked about. I mean, it it it started

a little history you know, some background for the village. At one point in time, we had,

four or five car dealerships,

two or three lumber yards,

hardware stores,

family owned businesses.

And as those families

dwindled and didn't want you know, that in in addition to the as you know, the big box stuff moving in and so on and so forth. So that

kind of dampened the village for a long time. Yeah. We also went through a period of time

in the seventies and eighties

where we did we had no development because there were no sewer hookups available Yeah. Because some other issues, but that we don't need to go into. But as far as revitalizing downtown or, you know, the downtown area,

baby steps. Yeah. You know, we've got businesses that have come in and started in our art,

not a gallery, but a business of of doing one of our one of the school teachers. Of the artful gathering. Artful gathering. Yeah. My daughter took classes. Okay. Right? It's a it's a really nice place. And it's this is something that I've Which is I did I didn't mean to position downtown as, like, run down it. Oh, no. It's got some really nice There's some cool things going on. There's some really cool stuff going on. And it's the the thing that has to happen

is and I've I've looked at this. My wife and I do good bit of traveling and, you know, you go to historic places or little small towns a lot.

What is that

what's that tipping point? What is it that how many

active businesses do you need

before people start coming to that? Right. I think we're getting close. You know, you've got people like Plain Street Cafe Mhmm. The the historical society, artful gathering,

business the the Ben Franklin store. Yeah. You know, people who Which still blows my mind with that thing. I got I think I mentioned I lived in Felicity for a little while. Uh-huh. And I would come this way through town, and every time I'd see that Ben Franklin five and dime, I'm like, I can't believe.

This has gotta be the only Ben Franklin five a dime in the country that's I think it's the only one in the state, but I don't quote me on that one. But you have people and even some of the newer business owners who are coming in.

Ace Hardware, even though they're outside of town,

Village Hardware on the other side.

All

businesses wanting to to attract more. Well, the, the is it the fee? I always get it wrong. The feed mill? The Bethel Mhmm. Yeah. Bethel Feed? Mhmm. Bethel Feed. I'd like again, when I lived in Felicity, this is where I would come. Yeah. I would go to the Ace Hardware. I would go to the best of Bethel Feed Right. To get whatever it is I needed. Yeah. And, you know, it's

I think we are

getting close Yeah. To that point. I mean, we have there are fewer and fewer empty storefronts in the village Mhmm. Which is a good thing.

But the and the types of businesses those are going to attract are different Yeah. In a small

mom and pop things.

But

we're gonna do whatever we can to make that

not a burden for them to come in. You know? We're we're we're not going to become

someplace like Batavia

that

fights over tax breaks and so on. That's that's not fair to

anyone, and it it hurts you in the long run. It's us in the long run. So you you don't have any designs on CRAs or No. Things like that? No. Okay. No. That is,

as I mentioned before we started it, we have very little undeveloped property. We have Yeah. Individual lots here and there. We have

a a a builder who is doing some infill with residences in those lots, doing some great work there. Yeah. Really nice homes.

People are moving in because of that.

You know, we've got we're working. We have a grant that will happen

in '26

from

really from, Angel Drive here Mhmm. Near the the library

westward that we'll be putting in new sidewalks,

some signage,

you know, with a lot of kids now walking to school. Mhmm. Some safety issues there that we're addressing. Yeah.

And then we, you know, we look

we actually, for the 02:50, we're going to be closing down the center of town and and having the party there. Mhmm. That's gonna be that'd be interesting. When is that? Yeah. That sounds like a fun party. Yeah. It's it will be it it'll be the

the weekend before the fourth of July, weekend before or after. Okay.

We realize and and we're having some

some issues,

with

everybody wants to do it on the July 4,

but the problem will be

attracting

Yeah.

Vendors,

participants Everybody's doing it. Everybody's gonna be doing it.

So we are looking at, you know, maximizing that effort and maybe spreading it out over the whole weekend.

The last big thing we had was the bicentennial

of the village in in 1998.

Okay.

We had we had, the bicentennial

of the country in 1976, I was still I was living here. I still remember those bicentennial quarters that I find every once in a while. Yep. Yep. Yeah.

So, you know and we've got people involved with the two fifty thing that are very, very much into

wanting to make it as as big as we can. Yeah. And, you know, and the council can support them as much as we can. Yeah. You know, it's it's a matter of making,

things,

for lack of a better term, streamlining the process. Yeah. I'm making it too burdensome, but at the same time, hey. You know, we're gonna have police protection. We have to have traffic control. Those kind of things that are in the pipeline.

So

let me ask you about that movie theater. Are there any plans or designs? Because,

man, it certainly would be nice to have a cool little movie theater, like, fifteen minutes from my house. There is there is a gentleman who is interested in,

opening it up. Mhmm.

The people who currently own it,

have expressed no desire to sell. Okay. That's a shame. He's talked with them about maybe, as at least as far as I'm aware, has talked to them about maybe leasing it Mhmm. And reopening. Yeah. There's some grant monies that are available for that. Mhmm. The biggest drawback is

the everything's digital. Yeah. And that upgrade, we it's one of the reasons why

it no longer is is operating. So it still has those old projectors that yeah. Take the The old wheels and everything. Yeah. Yeah. And

far as I know

and then I'm not

yeah. Probably shouldn't quote on this one. I don't even know that those films are readily available. Oh, like on All the distributors. Stuff on that. Yeah. Yeah. No. I don't. They've all gone digital. Yeah. You know, and You might be able to find some, but honestly, it it probably be more expensive than digital companies. Could be. Yeah. Right. And again, so there's

something's happening behind the scenes. Yeah. You know?

Everything we can. Yeah. I just I had to ask because it's a cool movie. It's It is. It's a cool movie theater. It is. I love movies.

And I think about because when I lived in

Cincinnati, I would often go to the Esquire, the Gaslight District, and they would just show you know, there's nothing wrong with newer movies, but It's different. It's much different. Like, when you and I don't think it costs much for a theater owner to show older movies. Correct. So and

I don't know. I think there's just a big demand for that. So it'd be really cool. Yeah. They you know, could be really cool something out. Kind of the, you know, the looking, you know, the the retroactive kind of thing. People looking backwards. Yeah. Well, it's just great films that you don't get in theaters anymore. I think I went

I think wow. This might not have been the Esquire.

I think it was 2001 Space Odyssey.

And then, like Mhmm. Cinemark and Batavia is not or Cinemark and Milford is not gonna play. They might, but

you're not gonna get that everywhere. Right. You know? In movies like that,

they really are meant to be seen in a movie theater where I think a lot of newer movies,

they're making them for your television. Big screen. Right. Yeah. Because that's where they're gonna go. Right. They're gonna go on Netflix. They're gonna go on Amazon. Exactly. That's where people are probably gonna consume them. But

back in the day,

you would

the intention would be is that you would see it in a theater. That's I think the hardest thing that a small town has to deal with is

wishing for the past. Yeah. You know, as much as it's pretty cool. You know, I grew up

the first movie, I I I could walk to the movie theater. Yeah. I grew up a block and a half away. And I think if I remember correctly, the first movie I got to go to on my own was to serve with love. At eight years old. You know, it's like walk up to the theater and go back home in the dark. You know, it's fantastic. Yeah. You know? But the reality is

that's not coming back Yeah. As it was. You know, looking at the past with rose colored glasses is always dangerous. Always. And that's the thing that

that has impressed me the most being on village council and being involved with this is that while we all

recognize that the past and and that where how it got us here and so on and so forth,

then we're also focused on the future without sacrificing that. Right. And and working to

get things to where the next generation can say, hey. Y'all left us a legacy to build on. Yeah. And I think that's really what it's about. So and I think that's

I think it's a problem for a lot of small towns, actually. So I grew up in Middletown.

Very, very similar. It's a city. I think it's got about 50,000 people in it, I think. So it's much larger. Right. But

same kind of ideas. They had this downtown

that at one point was thriving.

And, you know, through the through time and through the kind of deindustrialization

and kids getting out of Middletown and not carrying on businesses, that whole process. Right. The downtown just became run down. Mhmm. And they've tried many, many different things to try to revitalize it.

But I think the biggest stumbling block for any town is

the citizens wanting this,

like a Norman Rockwell

Right. Vision of the Historical.

Yeah. And, like, wanting that back. It's like, well,

you can't get that, but you can have something new and and Do an improved. Improved. Perhaps a little bit better. Like, you can still the core of that, I think, is

the community

and the

just I don't wanna say convenience, but

I think just community. The having that place where the community comes and, like you said, you can walk to a movie theater. Yeah. You can walk to a restaurant and you know everybody.

I think that's the core thing that you solve for. Not you know? I want a soda I want a soda shop that way. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean,

part of the issue is, you know, the types of businesses that that come in, you know, they're gonna fluctuate. They're gonna be, you know, what we have now,

but there can be improvements without a doubt. I've often

thought that if we could somehow work it out that the

Batavia, Bethel, Felicity, New Richmond, Williamsburg,

now New Richmond is doing some really cool things with the grants they're getting so on, but, you know, go together and and fund a an economic development

individual

Yeah. Who would spend time and, you know, and and work on the whole region. Yeah. I don't know that, you know, I don't know the feasibility of that, how much yeah. You always got the politics and the infighting that would happen, but it's something that I think we need to consider because we're at the point

all these villages are we're at the point where

we can't necessarily do it on our own. Right? You know? And it's and it doesn't you know, because over time, over the last

twenty years, really, over the last decade,

the state has taken more and more money away from small towns Mhmm. Small villages and so on.

Well, that's what hurt the schools. Wasn't it the way they kinda started recalculating?

That I, you know, if you wanna yeah. That was that was two that's two separate piles, if you will.

The school system and and the villages are the what they call the the small forget the name of the village fund. I don't know exactly what it is, but,

that was totally separate of education. Yeah. You know?

And that's yeah. That we won't go there. Yeah. I was I was gonna I brought that up in a second. Now you probably don't wanna comment on what the school is doing. Yeah. You know, my my focus is on on the village and and doing what's as I said when I first started on here, I was appointed six years ago. Mhmm.

The only agenda I have and continue to have is doing what's right for the people in the in the village. Yeah.

And I

hope that that's what how people perceive what we've done. Yeah.

The idea is is that, you know, there's there's no egos involved in this. Mhmm. There can't be. The minute that happens, it crashes and burns. Yeah. And that's the same with, you know, the parallels between sleep and heavenly peace and doing this. You know, it's

the lack of egos Yeah.

Are critical. Yeah. And

and every

thing that I've ever been involved with when somebody comes in with with an agenda, with an axe to grind, with a desire to be

king of the road Yeah. Never works. It doesn't work. Yeah.

And and that is some one thing I think with the village council right now.

We have

a group of people who are focused on the village Yeah. And doing what's best. You guys get along pretty well, I imagine.

Yeah. For the most part. Yeah. You know, we have you got six people in a mayor,

plus an administrator and and a treasurer,

that are, you know, totally different personalities.

Yeah. We have some good Which is to say a good We have some good discussions. Yeah.

You know, discussions. Yeah. But

we

we get to a consensus Yeah. In virtually everything we do. There's sometimes it's where, like, I I don't like this, but

that's this is best for the village. We have to do this. Yeah. And so we do this.

And I think that is that is the strength of this. And and we have

trying to think over the last six years,

there's only and and she will be gone. There's only one person that was there

when I started six years ago in of council because we've had people who didn't get reelected. We had a council member pass away, some who moved, and so on and so forth. Various reasons.

But everyone who has either been appointed or won a seat on in an election,

they they come in and

you know, realize, hey. This this group works. Yeah.

Actually, there are two. I take them back. There are two who are there.

But, you know, is is it contentious at times? Yes. Oh, of course. You got six people Yeah. That have different points of view and,

which is fine. Everybody gets to their biggest speak their piece. Yeah. But, I mean, I think the key is is that consensus. It's like, you know, the give and take. It is. You know? It is. And it's as I've said for many, many years, nothing

at any level is ever accomplished

without compromise. Yeah. And whether it's local, state, national,

compromise.

This country's founded on it. Yeah. Look at the constitution.

Exactly. A bundle of them.

Yes.

So what what other,

I guess, you would say issues or challenges

would you say Bethel is currently going through from a a village perspective?

Utility costs.

Really? We we have our own utility department. We, you know, our our

residents, our customers

pay less than

outside entities Mhmm. Because we have,

we buy in bulk

through So So you have, like, a Electric An agreement to Yes. Bulk negotiations. We buy,

we, you know, even something as simple as trash collection. Mhmm. You know, Rumpke

comes in and, you know, we we negotiate a contract with them and all the residents,

you know, get that further. You know, it's cheaper than any place else. Mhmm. A lot of people don't believe that. But when you compare, you know,

but the the forces that are acting on outside of that,

with the generation fees and and everything else that is coming down the pike that are gonna require

the distributors

to bid up. Yeah.

You know, we're we got it. We're preparing for that, laying the groundwork,

if you will,

both for electric and water. You know?

That's that's one of the biggest obstacles we're gonna face in the next Utility.

Yeah. Even couple of years, actually.

Maintaining our police force, our police department.

We have a really good police department.

We've worked really hard over the last two or three years to get it where it needs to be. Keeping it there is gonna be tough. Yeah. You know, we are we are a small town. We can't afford to pay

what others can. Yeah.

We become kind of a training ground. Yeah. But it's on on one level that's something, you know, because they keep hiring our guys away. That means they must be trained well. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And that coin's got two sides. Yeah.

But at the same time, we have to be cognizant that, you know, we can't have the tail wagging the dog. Yeah. Yeah. And that is that's actually an issue that we'll be facing in this coming year as we do our new budgets.

How is that gonna pan out?

Everyone on council is is

very,

at least at this point,

we're not gonna lose our police department. Right. You know,

that's been that was that was a big issue,

really in the last five, six years. It's continuous idea that we should do away with our police department. No.

That's not a good idea. Because who would you have to go to for police services then? Would you It's county sheriff's office. County sheriff. Yeah. And they're pretty far away from here. It's yes. And it it you know, they're they're stretched thin as well. Yeah.

I think a lot of services are are stretched. I talked to,

chief Short with CJ Fed. They just because they had a levy on the ballot, which didn't pass

because, I mean, not a lot of levies did pass this this go around. And I think a lot of departments are just

stretched then. It is. Yeah. They are. And, you know, there will be

again, I think there will be as has happened in the past, there'll be a tipping point

where people will

realize the value

someone's all you know, someone once said, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Yeah. You know, you're not going to you can't have

something for nothing. Yeah. And,

you know, if you want nothing,

you know, be careful what you ask for. Yeah. I I think the chief short's words were like, look. I'll give you the department that that you you pay me for.

That was a crude way of saying words. But it's essentially like, I'm here to do what you want. And if you don't want this levy, then I'm gonna give you the best police department I can or, sorry, fire department I can Right. With what I have. With what I got. Right. And, you know, response times are gonna go up, and Mhmm. We're not gonna get new stations. But if that's what the taxpayers want, then that's what I provide. Right. And that's

that's a never ending battle. Yeah. And my father was on the school board. It was the same thing. Yeah. I love school board. Up and Mhmm. He'd be a big especially even if it was just a

renewal when taxes wouldn't even go up. It's just like we need to renew the levy trying to explain that to people. Right. You know It's difficult. And everybody always

okay. Generalizations

again.

You always hear and it doesn't matter whether school board or,

services levy or the village.

You know, they all have there's there's,

as my dad used to say, they got all the answers. They just don't quite understand the questions. Yeah. You know? And

and education and and by education, I mean, educating the public and for any of those entities is critical. Yeah. You know? And that's what as I mentioned earlier, you know, we have our council meetings are all streamed live.

They're all archived.

The the information's out there. Yeah. You know?

Contact us. If you got a question, show up at a meeting. Send us an email. Yeah. You know, we'll we'll get you know, if we don't have the answer, we'll find it. Yeah. Well, that's what,

I'm I'm sure people realize this, but,

you know, if you want,

you're gonna get the town that,

I guess, should the effort that you put in. Right? So if you don't

interact with people on council, if you don't tell them what you want, or if you don't make those choices or voice that opinion, those choices will be made for you one way or another. And the flip side of that is just because you voice your opinion doesn't necessarily mean

that that's what's going to get done. Yeah. You know, thank you for the input. Yeah. The reality is we have 17 other inputs that we are are dealing with. And, you know, while I may agree with your point of view,

I can't necessarily do anything about that. Right. So, like, you're not king of that.

Yeah. That that's hard. I think that's hard for people to understand, you know, as I mentioned, whether it's for the village,

police department, fire departments.

Especially when you throw your emotion into it, when somebody is emotionally Yeah. Very, you know,

vociferous. Well, that was a Right. Vociferous. Thank you very much.

You know, it it's tough to it's tough. Yeah. It's all tough.

Do you,

I don't mean to go too fast. I know we're running out of time here. Do you worry about

dissolution in 2030

for the village with the,

I can't remember what the bill was.

But every census year,

they look at villages,

and then they there's some criteria that they use, and then then it goes on the ballot automatically. But I didn't even know. No. It doesn't seem like anybody had No. There was a gentleman a couple years ago who was going around the county

advocating for the dissolution of all the villages Yeah. With,

the there was a core group of people who said,

no. Yeah. We're not you know, Bethel is not gonna get dissolved. And because we have our own utilities department,

that throws a whole different

set of things into because there's So you might even have contracts, responsibilities,

and so on,

with with distribution and all this and that and the other.

I just know there was a new law on the books that it's like every census year,

villages are now going to be assessed on some criteria. It's like you have to provide five services. And if you don't,

then it automatically just goes on the ballot. Yeah. No. To be honest, I've not heard about that. I'll do some digging and look into that one, but I don't have any fear of that at all. And it doesn't seem like I think we provide like Bethany's. We provide electricity, water,

street department Yeah. Yeah. Utilities,

public works Yeah.

Garbage collection. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we've we've we're providing for the residents of the village. Yeah.

Is it Cadillac provision?

No. No. Probably not. Yeah. But it's a darn good Chevy.

You know? We get right down to it.

It is. That should be Bethel's slogan. We're a darn good Chevy.

You know, I'm gonna catch grief for that one. But but, you know, the the idea,

you know, all kidding aside is,

we do not have the financial wherewithal Yeah. To do everything as much as we want to do. Right. You know?

I'm chairman of the Parks and Village Property Committee trying to you know, doing things with the park. We have, I don't know if you ever heard of something called the Burke Trust Fund.

Edmund Burke was a village resident who went off to New York City,

made lots of money, and set up a wanna say the historical

society ladies. Historical size part of that. We have Burke Scholarships that we give out, but he provided a fund, a perpetual fund to for the residents of the village

to do things for the village. Yeah. You know, we've done things as,

help buy an ambulance for the for the fire department Yeah.

Provide well, the park Yeah. You know, as an example. And and keeping that up and upgrading it and doing things in there, getting a lot of positive comments about that. I would love to do so much more, but, you know, there's my budget. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can have a wish list, but, okay, well, this is gonna be, like, five years from now. Yeah. But and part of that is the reality of of government. Yeah. You know, nothing happens

quickly.

No. No. Well, and it's because you need that consensus. Yes. I would almost argue nothing happens quickly by design. And that's I like that. You know, it's there are because

experience tells me that things that happen quickly aren't necessarily

the best. Right. Sometimes they work out really well. Sometimes they don't. I would rather prefer government be inefficient

and

well thought out

than hasty and get yourself in all kinds of trouble. Right. You know? Yeah. I just you know, we don't

I want the glare of the spotlight in a positive manner. Yeah. We don't want it because

something has gone wrong. Right. You know, we've all seen how that works. Yeah. Yeah. And it doesn't. No. It's not a good situation to get yourself in.

Well, we're actually because we booked this room, we're actually running out of time. So,

I want to just give you the floor so you can talk about sleep in heavenly peace, Bethel, whatever you'd like. And I just appreciate the the opportunity.

Well, thank you for coming on too. Right? The,

as I told my wife before I did this, it's like, wish me luck. I don't know, you know.

Well, you did great. Yeah. I,

the whole the whole thing with,

I guess, both sleep in heavenly peace and the village, I see both of them as an opportunity to give back

and to

help others. Mhmm. That's something that

my wife will attest to. The word no doesn't usually enter in my vocabulary Yeah. Unless it's to her. Yeah.

Somebody needs help. I'm there. You know?

And that's a legacy I have from my my father and my grandparents,

that you just do what needs to be done. Yeah. And, you know, are they,

you know, elected as an elected official

is mostly a thankless job. Yeah. Don't go into it for the For the fame of fortune or not. And and being yeah. Fortune is kinda like being in education. If you go into it for the money, you're Yeah. You're wrong. You're in the wrong profession.

Find another one. Yeah.

But the the the benefits,

particularly with Sleep in Heavenly Peace and even with the village, the benefits far outweigh everything.

You know, if as as we've mentioned in this podcast earlier,

reach out to us. There's so much that we want to do, so much more we want to do and can do.

The reality is we just need funding. Yeah. As crass as that sounds. I mean That's that's what it is. You know? Yeah. You know? Yeah.

And until, you know, someone

leaves an inheritance to us Yeah. Which, you know, there's always hope for that. I, you know, I can be Wink, wink, nod nod. Yeah. There you go.

You know? As someone once said, if you want a red bike if you want a new bike, pray for the red bike. Okay. Well, you know, here you go. Yeah.

And that's that's really the the bottom line. It's just helping others. Awesome. And and the privilege, the opportunity

that I've been,

that been given to do that,

we're hoping hoping that I'm making the best of it. Well, it sounds like you are.

Well, I'm gonna thank you, especially because I threw in those,

Bethel Village Council questions on you, kinda last minute. So I apologize for for not making you They don't call me wingnut for nothing. They call you wingnut.

But I'm gonna call it a successful podcast.

So thank you very much.

You're quite welcome. Thank you for having me.

Well, thank you again to Ron for sitting down with us. I hope you enjoyed the interview. Like I said in the intro, I enjoyed talking to him, and he's got that really good podcasting voice.

Nice deep and baritone.

So thank you to Ron for sitting down. And I've we're obviously gonna have to have him back on, if not to talk about sleep in heavenly peace just to check and see what's going on in Bethel.

See see how everybody's doing down there. So thank you, Ron. And, hopefully, he'll come back on at some point.

Alright. Let's talk about some events. We have

a ton of Christmas events,

unsurprisingly.

So if if you're in the Christmas spirit like I am, we got a lot of events for you. And we're gonna start off with the Miami Township Community Tree Lighting on December 5 from six to 8PM at the Miami Meadows Park. It is a free magical evening kicking off the holidays as Santa arrives on a Miami Township fire truck at 6PM

to help count down and light the community Christmas tree.

After the outdoor lighting, families can head inside

the cozy Lemming House for crafts, cookies, and cocoa,

photos with Santa, and more festive fun.

Next up, we have Trains of Williamsburg Christmas walk on December 5 from six to 9PM.

It's gonna be a main street downtown Williamsburg.

It's an annual small town holiday stroll featuring model train displays and shop windows,

live entertainment,

food vendors, and open house specials at local businesses.

The village comes alive with decades old holiday charm as residents and visitors

celebrate the season with free treats and festive activities.

Next up is winter wellness

sound bath and hike. This is gonna be December 6 from 11AM at Clingman Park. It is a free outdoor wellness program hosted by the Claremont Park District.

Kim from Soothe by Sound is gonna lead a one hour relaxing sound bath

meditation using soothing tones

followed

by an optional guided reflection

reflection

hike

through the park trails. They tell you to bring a yoga mat or blanket, and you do have to preregister, and there are limited spots available.

Alright. Moving on. Heritage Crafts wrapper wrapping paper printing. That is a that's a lot of p's there. It's gonna be on December 6 from twelve to 2PM at Clingman Park. It is a hands on holiday craft workshop

hosted by the parks district where participants can create their own unique wrapping paper,

registered registrants,

and they recommend

that this is twelve for people 12 and over. So, you know, no, like, toddlers or anything like that. But registrants will man, I'm having trouble with that word. Registrants

will carve linoleum stamps and print sustainable gift wrap guided by local artist, Liz Mash.

There is a $5 material fee, but all tools and supplies are provided with preregistration. So you gotta register for that one too.

Next up is Batavia Christmas in the Village on December 6 from five to 8PM, Main Street, Village Of Batavia.

This is the village of Batavia's annual holiday festival with old fashioned charm.

Enjoy free horse drawn carriage rides through the village,

the lighting of the town's nativity manger scene, and Christmas tree

oh, I'm sorry.

The lighting of the town's nativity manger scene and Christmas tree, and visits with Santa Claus at the historic Armory Building.

Local shops and vendors will offer treats and warm drinks.

The community event welcomes everyone to share in Batavia's

holiday

spirit.

Next, we have New Richmond's River Village Christmas and Santa Paws Parade

on December 6 from three to 7PM on Front Street. This is a riverfront holiday celebration in New Richmond's historic village.

Afternoon festivities include food and craft vendors,

live music, and kids activities, all capped off by the Santa Paws Pet Parade that starts at around 5PM.

Families and their costumed pets can walk in the parade and compete for fun prizes

while spectators enjoy the adorable

holiday outfits.

The event is organized by Renaissance New Richmond and local volunteers.

Moving on, we have Old Milford Christmas golf cart parade, which I will be at. It should be a good time.

This is gonna be on December 6 at 04:30PM.

It is a whimsical community parade featuring dozens of decorated golf carts lit up for the holidays.

Parade participants will line up by 04:30PM

to be judged for the best

decorated golf cart contest.

And at 05:30PM,

the parade caravan led by Santa and a special guest Elvis impersonator

riding an antique fire truck will proceed along a route covering east, south, and main streets in Old Milford.

It is free for spectators.

You can expect music, lights, and lots of holiday spirit. I'm really excited for that. We went last year. It's a fun we've got family out in Milford, and then it's it's a fun event. So if you if you're around, check it out.

Next, we have the Trinity Milford live nativity, December,

from five to 8PM at the Trinity United Methodist Church's church.

Drive or walk up to experience a living nativity scene on church grounds.

This free outdoor presentation features church members in costume with live animals

reenacting the first Christmas in Bethlehem.

Hot chocolate is usually available for guests.

The live nativity is open both Saturday and Sunday evenings, weather permitting, as part of Trinity United Methodist Church tradition

of sharing the real meaning of Christmas.

Next, we have Claremont

Coral.

I think that's how you pronounce that. Christmas traditions concert. This is gonna be December 6 at 7PM

and December 7 at 4PM

at the Milford First United Methodist Church.

This is a joyous holiday choral concert presented by the Claremont Choral and Adult Community Choir, joined by Chromatics, a youth show choir.

The program features classic carols and contemporary holiday music in rich four part harmony.

Each performance lasts about ninety minutes. Tickets are available to the public online and at the door, and all proceeds support the nonprofit choir.

You can enjoy an evening of beautiful music to get into the Christmas spirit.

Next, we have Candyland Christmas open house on December 9 at 6PM at the Batavia branch library.

This is a family holiday event with crafts and treats featuring a balloon twisting elf,

festive snacks, a scavenger hunt, and gingerbread ornament crafts for all ages. It's free, and you do not need to register.

Next is Landowner Conservation Series sustainable holiday crafts. This is gonna be December 10 from six to 7PM

at the Clingman Nature Preserve.

It is a family workshop on eco friendly holiday crafts.

Participants use recycled materials to make candle holders and jump ropes,

learn about low waste gift wrapping,

and may drop off old Christmas lights for recycling. Nice. There's another Christmas light recycling opportunity.

It is $5 per person, and it is only for ages 12 and up, and you do need to register,

which I imagine you can do in the parks website.

This one this one kinda got me excited. They all got me excited because I love Christmas and events are fun, but this one seems pretty cool. Holiday cryptids and hot chocolate, December 12 from six to 7PM

at the Hartman Log Cabin.

Family folklore program with a winter theme. Enjoy stories of local cryptid legends while sipping hot chocolate.

The event encourages creativity with a self serve cocoa bar and a discussion on folkloric

creatures

tied to winter holiday traditions.

It is free, and you do not need to register.

Next is Christmas in Loveland on December 13 from three to 8PM,

downtown Loveland.

This is a free community holiday festival transforming Loveland's Main Street into a winter wonderland.

Attractions include horse drawn carriage rides, a children's train ride, and a holiday trolley tour. Live entertainment is staged on Main Street, and a holiday market

featuring 25 local vendors

offers some shopping opportunities.

Santa visits North Pole activity stations, and missus Claus crafts and photo opportunities

will be all throughout the downtown,

and there is no admission fee. So sounds pretty awesome.

And last but certainly not least, DIY stained glass ornaments for kids. This is gonna be on December 13 from four to 05:30PM

at the Clingman Nature Preserve. It is a holiday craft program for families.

Children with adult accompaniment

create colorful stained glass ornaments under the guidance of a local artist from the Glass Garden Club.

Supplies are provided, and it is free, but you do need to register online. And I imagine that's gonna fill up pretty fast. So

I would register for that if you are interested.

Alright. A quick note on the events. I really do the best I can to find as many as I can, but I know I don't get all of them.

So if you know of an event or you have an event you'd like people to know about, just send an email. Info@let'stalkclairemont.com.

Alright. Time for our last value for value pitch because we are a value for value podcast.

That means you listen to the show, you decide the value that you get from the show, and you give that value back in the form of time, talent, or treasure.

For time, like I said, just tell people about the show. Tell them that you get value from it and that they should listen.

For treasure, go to the website, www.let'stalkclaremont.com.

Click donate, and you can donate via PayPal or Stripe.

And any dollar amount is greatly appreciated. It's gonna help us keep doing this. But don't forget, we are running that holiday special, a $25

donation. We'll get you a special mention and a brief holiday message.

$200 and above and above, you will get an executive

producer credit, which I will vouch for.

And I'll read a note on air, and it can be any kind of note as long as it's not crazy or hateful or,

too weird. I'm I'll read it if it's weird. But

if it's too weird, I I might send it back to you.

And we're on Facebook, Let's Talk Claremont podcast. Connect with us there or on Instagram at Let's Talk Claremont. We got the newsletter with those brand new crosswords.

Go to the website again, www.let'stalkclaremont.com.

Click newsletter. Put your email in there, and we're only gonna email you once a week when a new show is live.

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Whatever it is happen to use for podcasts, it really helps to show up, and it's gonna help you out because anytime we have a new show, you'll be notified.

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if you just wanna get in touch and say hi, info@let'stalkclairemont.com.

You can also send a boots on the ground reports, which are very, very helpful

just to let us know what's going on in your neck of the woods.

Alright. Well, that is

all I got for you today. I hope I didn't sound too tired. I'd I was trying to get through this recording, and I realized

Olive, our daughter, woke me up at, like, one in the morning wanting to cuddle or something.

And I didn't I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. So, hopefully, I wasn't too too groggy for this.

So that's all I got. Merry Christmas to everybody, and I hope you tune in next week because we got that special

guest.