The Boone Show
The Boone Show
The Boone Show - S6 E7 - Julie Bell, WebbCraft Family Foundation
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We sit down with Julie Bell of the WebbCraft Family Foundation who shares how a hometown endowment fuels early reading, arts access, and life-changing field trips. From Disney-level planning to third-grade literacy, we trace how small grants create big momentum for local kids and teachers.
• Origins of a family foundation and mission
• Endowment model that sustains grants over time
• Focus on education, arts, and culture in BHP
• Third-grade reading and coaching as a keystone
• Field trips as first experiences beyond the neighborhood
• Partnership with ACTC and hands-on career paths
• How to apply, deadlines, and reporting
• Teacher development and program impact stories
• Disney superfan quiz and why experiences matter
• Local culture notes and Michelin star news
webbcraft.org
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Thanks for listening! Direct all inquiries to jboone@mypulseradio.com.
Hey everybody, welcome to another edition of the Boon Show on uh MyPulse Radio. Happy to be with you. Coming off our Halloween show last week. That was a good one.
SPEAKER_15:It was a great show, wasn't it? Great show.
SPEAKER_11:I loved that show.
SPEAKER_15:Yes.
SPEAKER_11:So a lot of pressure on our guests tonight.
SPEAKER_15:And I purposely went home and not watched those shows that they told me to watch. I purposely did not.
SPEAKER_11:Other people went home and they did watch. I've had a few comments about that. So uh but it was a great show. Anytime you talk about movies, it's kind of something that everybody gets into in some form or fashion. So it was it was really cool. And then the guests were great. So tonight we have a very special guest with us, as we always do, joining me, John Boone, Holly Harrow, Danica. Not Danica Patrick, but Danica Weller, I almost said it, um, is over there. She's our our senior producer. And uh our very special guest is a is a mother of one of our seniors, but she also does some other stuff than raising a fine young lady, and that is Julie Bell from the Webcraft Family Foundation. Thanks for coming.
SPEAKER_16:Well, thank you for inviting me. I'm glad to be here.
SPEAKER_11:Now, we're gonna talk a lot about Webcraft, but I want to talk about you first of all. Let's get to know you a little bit. So tell us kind of about your your personal history.
SPEAKER_16:Well, I grew up in Anderson. Um, I'm 48 and um lived over in Anderson most of my life, but I did meet my husband in 2000, and um as we got married in 2001, we started trying to decide where we wanted to live, and we looked at some of the school districts and things, and we made Belton our home, and a lot of my relatives lived over here. My mother is from Belton, so we decided to move over this way.
SPEAKER_11:All right, so you're basically from this area, the you growing up and everything. So tell us about um you went to Clemson, right?
SPEAKER_16:Yes, I went to Clemson University after graduating West Side. Um, I was there from 95 to 99 and started out as a biological major, uh science major degree, decided pretty early I wanted to switch that to marketing. So I graduated switch. It was, it was a big switch, um, and graduated with a marketing degree in 99.
SPEAKER_11:Okay, and then uh what'd you do after that career-wise?
SPEAKER_16:Uh career-wise, after that, I took a job with the Anderson Independent Mail. Um, so I worked there straight out of college and um did that for about nine to ten years. I worked in outside sales, so I would go out to different businesses. Um, sometimes they knew I was coming, sometimes just cold calls. But started off selling ads, um, the flyers that you would get in the paper years ago. The inserts. It was the inserts, and we could also do the inserts to certain zip codes, so we did direct mail marketing. Um, so it was really interesting and kind of worked with the graphic team coming up with the designs for the ads and running things back and forth, and I actually worked the O'Coney Pickens area for a while also. So a lot of driving, but it was nice. And then um, when I had Reagan, I decided to be a stay-at-home mom for a little bit, which was very rewarding at the time. And then as she started into school, probably kindergarten or so, I said, I think I want to get back out there. I didn't really know if I wanted to go straight back into sales. So I started substitute teaching at her schools, and that was a lot of fun. And then now I'm currently uh chiropractic assistant, office assistant in uh Townsquare Chiropractic in Belton.
SPEAKER_15:Oh, that's interesting.
SPEAKER_16:Now, is she your only child? She is. So she's a senior at BHP and of course comes out here to the Career Center and is all does does the media broadcasting with the radio and the production side and really enjoys it.
SPEAKER_11:She's very good at what she does. She is a unique person.
SPEAKER_13:Yeah.
SPEAKER_11:In that I think she is uh like a she's not an introvert, but you would call her kind of a select introvert. She can be very introverted when she wants to be and stay away from everything. But once you get her talking, she's got that. She is very energetic. And her show is on the air. She never wants anybody to hear them, which is weird because it is radio. But she does great and does such a high-energy show that you just wouldn't expect it from the Reagan that comes in and is doesn't draw attention to herself like some of the other kids do.
SPEAKER_16:And with her close friends, of course, like you said, she's so extroverted and loves to get out there and do stuff, but she can be a little bit more reserved. She's not gonna be the one that I guess needs the top attention or anything, but she's gonna get in there and help and everything. You okay?
SPEAKER_11:You okay, Holly?
SPEAKER_16:Excuse me.
SPEAKER_11:I know I forget. We finally put them in for you. There we go. Hit the button. Hit the button. Oh, it's not gonna happen this time.
SPEAKER_16:It's that time of year, it's that time of year. Yep.
SPEAKER_11:Excuse me. All right. Um okay, so um again, I'm saving webcraft for a whole nother segment. So tell us this. You have a few very cool interests, things you do on the side. One of which you say you're a Disney adult.
SPEAKER_04:Yes.
SPEAKER_11:Now I have one of those in the family as well. My daughter is, and uh she's at one level. I want to know what level you're at.
SPEAKER_16:Um, I'll tell you this, and this is probably pretty embarrassing for Reagan, because we call it her little brother, but I'm so much of a Disney adult. I have like a four-foot Donald animatronic in the kitchen that I dress in different outfits all year. Oh my! And I'll say, now your brother is wishing you a happy birthday, and she'll go, please. Please don't. That is a different level.
SPEAKER_15:How many times over the year do you normally go to Disney?
SPEAKER_16:Well, we go every year. Um I used to go it twice a year from the age probably 10 to 24, and then we started having to pare it down to about once a year. But we always run over there at least once or twice a year. So is this specifically Magic Kingdom or all you're not you're not right?
SPEAKER_15:We don't care.
SPEAKER_16:I love all the parks. I will say Animal Kingdom. I do love animals, but I feel like I could go to a zoo around here. It's not my favorite. Um, so Magic Kingdom and Epcot, they're probably my top ones. But we try to rotate the different ones. So if we we've done Magic Kingdom next summer, we might do Hollywood Studios. Yeah, so we have a lot of fun going and I collect all the lounge fly, all the ears, all that different things. We go on Disney cruises, and when I say we, I mean me and my husband for our anniversary. Oh, not Disney. Oh my goodness. You and your husband. Oh, just us. That's our like dream anniversaries, is we we already have one book for next year for our 25th anniversary. So my goodness.
SPEAKER_11:Well, don't give don't give away too much more because we're actually going to rate you a little later on as to high how high on the list you are as a Disney adult.
SPEAKER_16:All right.
SPEAKER_11:All right, you've already said some of the things that will be included in that little quiz coming up, which I expected. But uh also you say you're famous for finding deals.
SPEAKER_16:I do. I love a good sale. Like I guess some men love to hunt, and you know, to me, a a great sale is the best thing. Amen. I'm telling you, if I go out somewhere, if I'm at TJ Maxx and I find, let's say, some Disney earrings, Disney type thing, I'm gonna let everybody I know know about it. I'm gonna take pictures, I'm gonna embarrass my daughter again on Facebook, putting up where I found coupons, where I have deals. Black Friday is is great. Me and two of my friends go out at 5 a.m. We still go out. Um, but I had a lot of fun just finding deals, eBay, see type of thing.
SPEAKER_15:Did this do during like social media kind of stuff you put on? Like you're like if I was your Facebook friend, I could see see these deals?
SPEAKER_16:I'm not no, not too. It's here and there to be honest, just mainly for my own. It sounds like a good idea. Right. That's true. I I used to love those shows where you would have the coupon extremes couponing. Yes.
SPEAKER_15:Because I do go on social media and look at like the Walgreens deals this week and the CVS deals these weeks. I do do that. But I don't do much more than that.
SPEAKER_16:And Dollar Tree, I I love the Dollar Tree hacks and Dollar Tree things you can get. It's just it's amazing what they really have now. Sure, sure.
SPEAKER_11:Now, the last thing that I had under the uh the personal stuff was you've met a bunch of celebrities in your in your where what you've been doing, I'm sure, with the foundation and other things, Disney, all that. So who are some of the celebrities you name drops?
SPEAKER_16:Right. Funny thing is, is celebrities I consider celebrities, maybe nowadays it would be embarrassing celebrities, but I would say Donnie Wahlberg from New Kids on the Block. Oh, yeah, yeah. Aaron Tippen, country singer. Yes. Um, Neil Patrick Harris. Oh.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, Dookie Hauser. Yes.
SPEAKER_16:Gina Davis. Both of them were at Disney at Typhoon Lagoon. So in the bathing suits. Hey, how you doing? I was a teenager, so of course we were screaming. And Typhoon Lagoon's not there anymore, correct?
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, they just took it out, right? Just recently. Oh didn't they do something over there?
SPEAKER_16:They did they do shut down either Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon for updates every season, and one stays open.
SPEAKER_11:Um, but there is um The Tom Sawyer Island is what they I think.
SPEAKER_16:Yes, they did. You're right. That is inside Magic Kingdom.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah.
SPEAKER_15:Yeah, you're right. Typhoon Lagoon is still there, and and so is Blizzard Beach, you said.
SPEAKER_16:It is, and both of those are water parks. Yes, yes. Very cool.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah. That that's funny to meet you. And some wrestlers.
SPEAKER_16:I mean, you know, like Jake the Snake. Yeah, and some weird things. Besides at Disney, where else would you meet these? Corey Feldman. Sorry. Corey's holy cow. I was pulling, I was pulling so hard for him on Dance with the Stars. Immediately he was voted off. I thought me and I guess three of my other friends were the only ones voting for him. But yeah, we actually went to see Corey Feldman in some of them. I know we went and saw him in concert in Greer and paid a hundred dollars for in meet and greet afterwards.
SPEAKER_11:How was the concert?
SPEAKER_16:I'll tell you this. He was an inner he he put on a two and a half hours of everything he had. I mean, he danced his heart out, he sang the best he could. It was very entertaining. It it was like you were in a time warp or something, but I don't even know how to explain.
SPEAKER_11:How old is he? I feel a bless your heart coming on. Bless his heart.
SPEAKER_16:Probably 58?
SPEAKER_11:He's got to be up there, yeah.
unknown:Corey God.
SPEAKER_16:But it was great. I had the VIP pass, all that good stuff. I didn't I didn't actually knew he sang.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, oh yeah. He's had a bad long time.
SPEAKER_16:And he went on tour with Fred Durst last year. So that was a huge thing for him to be brought on the Loserville tour. Yeah, he's 54.
SPEAKER_15:So that's interesting.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah. Wow, I didn't realize I never thought you'd drop uh Corey Feldman as and you're a big fan of Corey Feldman. But that's okay. He was in a Friday the 13th and everybody. Part four.
SPEAKER_16:Gri and Gremlin's Standby Me. Well, I remember him in the Goonies. The Goonies. Like that, I think that was my first movie with them. Yeah. Well, somebody I grew up watching as a child. Yeah.
SPEAKER_15:The two Coreies, of course, licensed to drive. Yes. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He was in. Um Dream a Little Dream. Yes, that's on a new.
SPEAKER_16:But it's been a while. They say now his net worth's 30,000. He's having a difficult time, I think. So he tried to get, I think the payday was around$300,000 to do dancing with the stars, so hopefully it was worth it.
SPEAKER_11:He got eliminated the first day. Oh, poor guy. All right. Uh, we're gonna take a quick time out. When we come back, we'll talk about the Webcraft Family Foundation with our guest Julie Bell. You're listening to the Boon Show on My Pulse Radio.
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SPEAKER_10:What happens when the mind breaks free from the rules? When the voice speaks without free? That's when it gets Unhinged.
SPEAKER_03:Don't watch. Experience it. On Monday at 1 p.m. at mypulseradio.com.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, that's Danica's show. Unhinged. On every Monday, 1 p.m. Listen.
SPEAKER_03:It's very loud.
SPEAKER_11:It is very loud. But usually not you. It's your cohort.
SPEAKER_03:That's because she keeps getting mad at the show.
SPEAKER_11:She gets, yeah, she is.
SPEAKER_16:I've listened to your show. It's really good. It is good. There's nothing wrong with it.
SPEAKER_11:But uh yeah, Jada likes to make her opinions known. Which is great. That's why you have the uh the platform. All right, Julie Bell, our guest from the Webcraft Family Foundation. Uh tell us a little bit about how this got started. It's been around for 25 years. I just found out about it last year. Um tell us what uh the reason why it started, some of the history and the mission of the foundation.
SPEAKER_16:Well, my aunt um wanted to have a way to give back to the community. Um so she's been very blessed in her life, and she grew up here in the Belton Honey Path community, uh right next door to this area, and she really wanted to find a way that she could give back to the community that had given and taught her so much, and she was very close to her grandparents, which are my great-grandparents, uh Kathleen Webb and Plumer Craft. And so she wanted to find a way to keep something going with the family that they can be involved in for generations, give back to the community, and honor her grandparents. So she came up with the name Webbcraft Family Foundation, and so it was established in 2000, and then we kind of we got together, formed the board, you know, she had different members and people she wanted to bring on, and then we accepted that and we we did a lot of learning. We had a a lady come in that kind of taught us different things. We came up with a mission statement, what some of our goals were gonna be, and then one of our first grants was in 2001.
SPEAKER_11:All right. So what has been your focus areas? It seems like most of the things you do are with education.
SPEAKER_16:It is. Uh mainly we focus on education's art and culture. And uh primarily for the Belt and Honey Path and surrounding communities.
SPEAKER_11:And uh why was it uh those areas of focus, do you think?
SPEAKER_16:I think from her perspective, uh she saw in this area that a lot of emphasis went towards sports, even when she was growing up years ago, and that there was always some type of sport going on or you could get scholarships through sports, things like that. But she was really involved in art and she loved art and she had a hard time sometimes having as much support with that and she didn't see as as much art in the community. So she really wanted to give towards something that would support people that may have that side with arts or the different culture, just expose people not only to athletics but to other things that they could excel in.
SPEAKER_15:And you y'all have given thousands of dollars. I think it's over three million dollars.
SPEAKER_11:Almost three point four million.
SPEAKER_15:Yeah, and and to us alone, you've given uh I mean I couldn't even I don't even know how much, but I know it's a portion of that. And the so the impact of what you've done with us uh here at ACTC is is incredible. I can't imagine what you've done now for the millions of dollars you've given out to smaller organizations or um you know the district two in general and and just the minor impact that you've made on uh so many children growing up over the years I'm sure has by far exceeded what you guys thought you were gonna get. And uh how long have you you mean you've been doing this for 20 years? Twenty four years now. Yes. How much longer are you gonna be able to sustain this? I mean, this is this is huge.
SPEAKER_16:Well, we hope that it will continue for generations. It's set up um in a way, and we have uh excuse me, Michael Pascusi, who is our financial director, and he is on the board, and he has really set us up with different bonds and stocks and I that you give just a certain percentage so that your total amount stays consistent. So that way it is s supposed to continue for generations. And the impact is really it can be emotional because a lot of times we get back feedback and so some of the kids that go on some of the field trips that we've given to, they'll write little letters or things, and it might be the first time they've gone anywhere outside the community. You know, we can take that for granted, but that can really impact. It's one thing in the classroom and it's a way to reward teachers and the schools when they put these field trips together, when they put the reading boxes together, just different things, just like the media broadcasting and what the Career Center has expanded and they're able to do, uh it's almost like the least we could do is support that with grants. Right. And be able to expose the kids to so much because college is one avenue for children and it's great, but there's so many other avenues and going the technological routes and different things and showing them these could be career fields also to be successful in is very important.
SPEAKER_15:I you've taken away so many barriers for kids who don't realize they even have a barrier. You know, like you said with the arts and and culture and those kind of things. Um so to be able to be exposed to that and um allow teachers and and uh uh people of authority to be able to manipulate the money to make it fit. Because I know that with with with us when we get our money, it it's incredible because we're trying to get our bang for our buck, right? And so we may be put in a hole where we we can't do this because we don't have the funds, and then here you guys give us the money and we can impact so many more people. Right. It's incredible. I mean the volunteer opportunities for our students, going to the elementary schools and and educating those, as well as helping our kids now in and what they want to do after high school. I mean, it's it's just huge.
SPEAKER_16:Right. And just like um with the for example, with the Belton Center for the Arts and also with the museum in Belton, they just um had their the Belton Stampai Festival and they have the different artisans that come out and so they have the school kids that are that come over and have a day of that and homeschool kids, but then also it's open to the community that Saturday where you can go down there and they they show the ways that people used to do things now, and that's part of a grant that we give toward the museum. And then that with the art grant, they have different programs, or if somebody wants to take a summer class but they can't afford it, some of that money can be used. So and my aunt really always has said that another important thing is they used to do the Washington trips, that's kind of changed to different things, but she always has felt like if somebody wants to go on a field trip and they've they're not able to go for some reason, if they can't fundraise, that money should be there for them to be able to experience and do things like that. And we had a big reading grant also with district two, um, that helped fund some of the reading coaches and all that because that was a huge need. Um that's one of the top needs that we see at most schools is just reading by third grade. Being able to read and and if you can get in there early and do that, that really sets people up for so much in the future.
SPEAKER_15:Oh yeah, I mean statistics show if you can get somebody to read on get grain level grade level by third grade, by the end of the third grade, the likelihood of going to prison or jail or being incarcerated is like eighty percent less. Like it's a huge statistic. Right. And y'all must feel good going home after you make these decisions to say, you know what, I've impacted so many people with these decisions.
SPEAKER_16:It really is. And I tell you, the easy years are will we have enough money to do every grant. Some years that it that is a challenge. And you try to maybe, you know, look at all the grants as a whole or do partial or things like that, it can be hard, but we've built back up since c COVID in 2020, so we're getting a lot a lot of grants. But honestly, it feels so good, but we always think to ourselves we could have all the money that we could give, but if it wasn't for the teachers being able to do this, if it wasn't for the programs and all the different things that are in place in this area and that people have come up with and wrote the grants to do, it it wouldn't it wouldn't matter, it wouldn't happen. So we're really blessed in this community and with the people that we have in this community leading the kids.
SPEAKER_15:What a neat like I that is just so what a neat component of your life to be able to do.
SPEAKER_16:It really has been a blessing. It has it could it's it can be hard work to get through some of the things, but I feel really blessed to be part of it. So is everybody on the board um somehow family? Pretty much everybody is family, um, except I would say Mike Pascusy, which is basically like family to my aunt, but he is more of the financial member of the board. So he does all of financials. Yes. Right. That's cool. Yes.
SPEAKER_11:And that's the that's what amazed me about the whole thing we were talking about before the show is just and you kind of referenced it, how how it's put together financially, that it doesn't uh totally rely on people giving money to it. That's right. They have their investments and from an original endowment and it just keeps earning money over and over.
SPEAKER_15:It's not going to go away. There's not a risk of it going away. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_11:Now that it's built up after having a rough time during COVID when everybody had a rough time, um that you know sometimes they are just looking for new ways to help out. Yeah and the fact that it's for commun it's community-based, it doesn't get absorbed into these big companies and you never know where your money goes.
SPEAKER_14:And it's here.
SPEAKER_11:It's yeah, it's where you live, where you work, or your children's difference.
SPEAKER_14:Or your child or your family membership. I mean, this is it's gonna impact them too. Yes. It really has that.
SPEAKER_11:Um I see um well there's uh well why don't you tell us what are some of the things you're working on now with the uh foundation?
SPEAKER_16:Well, we're actually gonna have a meeting coming up um in about two weeks, and then we'll be reviewing all of our grant requests that come in. We have two deadlines, April 1st and October 1st are our grant deadlines. Um if anybody's interested in learning more, you can go to webcraft.org and that's with two B's, W E B B C R A F T.org. Um, and that kind of gives you an outline of what our mission is, um, who can put in for the grants and what the guidelines are. But so I really have not seen our grants coming up this year. They're being prepared and we'll have a meeting to review those grants and approve those grants. And that meeting will be for the first part of next year. Yeah, so I know that we we consistently have grants that we give to the Belton Arts Center, uh, the museum. Uh usually all the different elementary schools have what we c consider the kindergarten reading boxes. Uh we'll usually get those on a consistent b basis. There's a couple of different um eighth grade field trips. Some go to Charleston, Honeypath, and Belton do a trip. Um we have it's just a big variety that we have come in. And we do have some outside ones that come in. Sometimes they're included if it could impact um people in the Belton Honeypath area. Um so we've had a couple of those come in or BEMA, different things like that. And we do have discretionary money um as board members that we can give to things that are on our heart, more specifically if it's a 501c3.
SPEAKER_15:Very good. And you've consistently given us money and you've allowed us to expand, you know, because our population here is all four high schools, the Anderson one and Anderson Two. And it was very difficult at first to try to narrow that down just to that BHP area. Right. But y'all were so gracious to say if it's needed, that's right, do it. That's right. And you've allowed us that uh flexibility in that situation.
SPEAKER_16:And especially with schools and places that we have a rapport with and we see what the what they're doing with the money, and we're like, there's no question that they use this money to to the best benefit and they're not consistent. I mean, you do so much with the money that that we give you. We get those reports back and you can just see how much you do with it that we're like, this is a easy one. I mean, we just get to Anderson Career Center and we're like, yes, you know, every year because we just see the impact. I mean, personally now that Reagan's been out here three years, of course I've seen the impact of it. And from other, you know, um friends, their children, they do cosmetology, they're able to to graduate and have have something they can fall back on, even if they're going into another career, they can work on the weekends and earn extra money. It's um it's really amazing. I mean, how much money they save putting in the little bit of money they put into it, what what it would cost you to go to a cosmetology school. I mean, it's a it's a no-brainer if you're interested in that. So, I mean, we're really lucky to have this in the area.
SPEAKER_15:Well, um, you can come work for us and be our PR person.
SPEAKER_13:Yes, please do. We could use the home.
SPEAKER_15:That's right. That's right. Well, thank you again. It does make a difference.
SPEAKER_16:Well, thank you. And we love to reward teachers too. We have um we have had grants come in where sending teachers to maybe training, or there was one in Atlanta. I'm trying to think of the name of it, where um there was a man that had a place in Atlanta where he would bring teachers and it was a big school. Oprah had him on a couple of times. It's not coming to me, but it's a real fun place, and he would pump teachers up and he had a school up there, but they love to go. But we've sent teachers on things. We don't give an individuals, but if it's a program like that, we love to reward the teachers that are doing a good bit. Um and especially, you know, sometimes people say, Well, I haven't ever well, you just have to put in the grant. You know, you do have to put in the grant. It does take work. It does take work, but if you have somebody that's that does well with writing grants, maybe get some information from them. Um we've got where you can print out the application. And always, you know, call Jessica Jennings, our administrative assistant, she's great to answer any questions. That's right. And even if there's times where we maybe don't have enough information, so we cannot give the grant. And we do have a condition that's just more maybe more information is needed. Or sometimes it doesn't fit the grant guidelines. Um, but we really try to give as much as we can.
SPEAKER_11:That sounds great. Uh, when we come back, we're gonna switch gears and um just have some fun talking about some. things with uh with Julie. But again, not to discount what we just heard, Webcraft Family Foundation is great.
SPEAKER_16:And that website again is it is www webcraft.org.
SPEAKER_11:Alright, so if you want more information on that, um yeah fantastic. Unbelievable. You've helped us out for a couple years now and uh that's you know I haven't heard of anybody like them around here.
SPEAKER_15:I would love to be able to do that with mine. Create a foundation to give money.
SPEAKER_11:Harold Foundation. That's right.
SPEAKER_16:And I just think my great grandparents probably that were outside having to wring chicken necks for for food and everything. Yeah. What they would never imagine. Oh they're smiling down at you. It's really neat to think back. I used to run around the farm out there. And now we have our all the office is at their old house. Yeah. I mean how awesome is that is just must I mean you just go home feeling great legacy.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah. All right Zach can't join us tonight. He's on his way back from Dallas.
SPEAKER_15:That's right. Which is okay because everybody lost this weekend.
SPEAKER_11:Well that's what I was going to say. I can give you his sports report. Dallas lost.
SPEAKER_15:Right.
SPEAKER_11:Clinton lost Wren lost and there's wrestling next week. Right. There you go. Talk to you next week Zach. He is coming in studio next week.
SPEAKER_15:Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_11:So if you've never seen Zach you will have the chance on the YouTube feed next week. Quick break on the Boone Show My Pulse Radio.
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SPEAKER_00:PlaySafe is a local nonprofit organization providing the medical services to keep our high school athletes safe and in the game. Join NMED, Self Regional, and other fund sponsors by visiting PlaySafeUSA.org. Your funding and support will continue the mention of sports medicine services exciting lives within your community. That's playsafeusa.org.
SPEAKER_11:The small and local businesses are the arteries of our communities. Many of these business owners are your neighbors and they reinvest their money into their businesses to bring more products and services to the communities they serve. The Almetto Business Association is comprised of small and local businesses and weapelter and surrounding areas. We ask an association give back to the communities our businesses serve through many community events throughout the year. For more information including a complete list of members and the upcoming events please visit our website Almetobusiness.org Hello sports fans I'm Avery Merriman joined by Isaac Baston and we are the hosts of the Rival Talk Sports Radio Show.
SPEAKER_08:Where we sit down and we discussed sports football, basketball and whatever you guys chat in the comments. Make sure you tune in every other Wednesday on my boltsradio.com or the tune in app.
SPEAKER_11:Wednesdays at noon, the Rival Talk Radio show with Avery and uh what's his name?
SPEAKER_03:Isaac.
SPEAKER_11:Isaac he'll love that I said what's his name. All right right now we are going to quiz our adult our our adult our guest who says she is a Disney adult we're gonna check and see if she is indeed and how she rates. Talking to Julie Bell from uh Webcraft Family uh foundation okay so there's gonna be a series of questions all right we'll just run through them quickly and depending on your answer we'll you'll get a particular score and we'll see where your score is at I'm ready. All right so here we go. How often do you visit a Disney park? Never been well that's not true. Once or twice every few years every year or multiple times a year or an annual pass holder?
SPEAKER_16:Every year.
SPEAKER_11:Every year put down a four for that one. She got a four. All right have you ever celebrated a birthday honeymoon or anniversary at Disney absolutely okay uh is it a life event tradition or just yes and it was magical or just once for fun?
SPEAKER_16:Uh I would say every other year. I don't know how you write that.
SPEAKER_11:Okay, let's see if you missed the scale life events. Well let's see would that be a full I mean she went for her anniversary we go about every every other year on a Disney cruise for her anniversary I would say that's a tradition give her a five on the five okay when you go to the parks do you one just follow the group two enjoy the rides casually three have a park plan and favorite rides four coordinate outfits or five have spreadsheets genie plus strategy and snack rankings I would say I am the map um we do have genie plus going I've already got the Disney reservations already know how we're going to she's a five got it so now she already answered some of these yes yes yeah that's what I meant well we we I didn't want to go too far before but we're getting the official scoring right now okay do you collect anything from the parks pins ears popcorn buckets etc one nope two a couple souvenirs three some pins or ears four I have a shelf of collectibles or five iHunt limited editions online I would say all of the above I have lounge fly I have ears I have pins I have the popcorn buckets I have the cups I have the Starbucks Disney more than just the shelf it it's a pro it's a real it's a real problem do you shop online too do you circle up like the I had to have the ghost Mickey for Halloween popcorn bucket but I wasn't they're a tan or so I've I've got to turn to my Disney shopper and get them to send it to us. All right how much Disney decor or merchandise is in your home or office? Is the Donald Duck I'll skip the nun or a mug or keychain three a shelf's worth for several displays or five my house could double as Main Street US I would say I'm not five level but I'm probably right at a three four put her four okay she has more than the shelf she has a Donald Duck as her son.
SPEAKER_12:I know that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_11:There you go all right now this is more about the things around Disney like how often do you rewatch Disney movies? Rarely occasionally a few times a year monthly rewatches or I quote them daily I'll be honest with you on this I do love Disney movies but I'm probably weird on the fact that I'm not re-watching Disney movies all the time because I'm too busy watching my dateline and Unved Mysteries and true a few times a year occasionally a few times a year. Okay three three three okay okay all right what's your relationship with Disney music only during movies occasionally part of my playlist regularly sing along or I have a Disney playlist for every mood I have a Disney playlist for every mood so we've got a Halloween we've got a Christmas when we're going to Disney we have a playlist I love her she's amazing that's a five my daughter's gonna be jealous because she's working herself up to this yeah I can I've got a Spotify have you ever cried watching a Disney scene never once as a kid maybe a few times still do sometimes every single time I'm not ashamed I would say I I do a lot not every single time but I mean we walk in the park or I look at the castle I'm on the cruise ship I hear the horn there's gonna be tears and it's really embarrassing. Alright what's your go-to Disney Plus behavior a I don't use it or one rarely watch regularly stream movies binge series and documentaries or it's permanently open on my TV? I would say binge series and documentaries four four okay all right favorite Disney era modern remakes pixar generation nineties Renaissance classic Walt era or all of the above it's all magic. I would say I'm a 90s Michael Eisner three three okay all right now we're gonna do a little bit uh and this is I think the last part lifestyle and personality how often do you wear Disney apparel or accessories? Never occasionally sometimes on trips I have themed outfits or I coordinate park looks or Disney bound I coordinate park looks five so I wore Disney ears to work on Halloween day so when you go to the Disney parks you and your husband and maybe your child oh Reagan Reagan is not coordinating. She won't coordinate she may wear some kind of Disney shirt but yes so you and your husband has matching shirts oh yeah oh you must we we even got the matching Mickey hey dudes when we were at the mall not too long ago all right how much Disney trivia do you know not much a few fun facts enough to impress friends I'm the go to Disney expert or I could host Disney Jeopardy I would say I'm a the go to expert we have won that on the cruise ship. Really? And it's a Disney cruise yeah she should get extra credit for that all these people know Disney but you're the winner on the ship. All right how often do you post or share Disney content online? Never rarely occasionally often with friends family or I'm basically a Disney influencer.
SPEAKER_16:I'm not an influencer but I do share a good bit so if anything's going on in life I'm gonna find a Disney meme to express how I feel about that. Okay I suggest five.
SPEAKER_11:Well she says she's not a Disney we can do a 4.5 I'm not quite Tim Tracker so you could be you could be um have you influenced others to become Disney fans no maybe a friend or two my kids or family love it.
SPEAKER_16:I've converted co-workers I am the Disney recruiter of my circle I've I've rec recruited some I think my daughter loved it then she got embarrassed as a teen. I feel like she'll come back around in her 20s 30s when she wants to go on vacation and she'll love it again.
SPEAKER_11:I think you're right that's the way kids are four or three they're not all like Holly's daughter she wouldn't get embarrassed by any of those hit it head on. So four all right and uh this is the final question here if you could live in any Disney world where would it be? None I prefer real life Pixar universe Princess or Castle World Adventureland or Galaxy's edge or I can't choose I already live in one mentally probably I already live in one mentally that's a problem all right so Holly how many points do we have total we're sitting at 64 64 points all right you just missed Mickey royalty you are a super fan all right you've got your Disney ears playlist and countdown calendar ready you live the dream you're only two points away from the you are the magic kingdom you know every churro cart and cry during the fireworks show I've got something to work for so there you go.
SPEAKER_15:Next time we have you back you gotta make up those easy with that that's right we want you to get there.
SPEAKER_16:What would you say would be your best Disney memory I I think the best Disney memory I have is going when I was in high school I was probably in ninth grade it was my mom, dad, me and my brother and then my granny went and a couple my aunt and uncle and a couple the cousins there and their kids it was probably it was I don't know 18 to 20 people on this particular trip. We went a good bit with my dad's side of the family but this was one of the biggest trips and we would hit a different park every day and we we went to a place called I think it was Fat Boys or something like that, Big Boys that had the big statue every morning. And they would they would have these five dollar breakfast so that here would come we would pile in but we had a really good time so much to the fact that my aunt had tried year after year to get us to be in a parade and we actually were uh we got picked and we were in a parade down Main Street one year. So that was a really neat memory.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah that would be that's awesome we got to move on to some other things there's so many other questions I could ask you about Disney.
SPEAKER_03:But I think they should make Disney free that would be yes everything else is more expensive in Disney just give you free free admission and then you gotta pay for everything else.
SPEAKER_11:But that would make the drinks like thirty dollars a piece or something oh probably a hundred dollars a piece they got enough money as is that'll be okay that's how they make their capitalism it is it would be nice it would be nice you need to come up with a foundation for that you almost need to cause a lot of the kids never get a chance to go because it's so expensive.
SPEAKER_16:Or even half off sponsor a kid yeah that's true can we just do a Disney trip let's do well give kids the world I don't know if you know about that but you should look into it if anybody's interested but there's a there is a foundation give kids the world and a friend of mine she actually took her disabled child years ago he passed but um they went every year and stayed at a particular place that um kind of sponsored the trip so they do a lot um for kids who it's a really neat organization funny you mentioned that because when we lived in Florida I used to live in Florida I lived 20 minutes from Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom gates.
SPEAKER_15:And so my parents belong to the fire department the local volunteer fire department and that organization would contact the local fire departments and see if there was volunteers that could come and help with the children. Yes. Um and so my parents always did it every year. So they would get in for free but of course their entire time was taking care of these young um and it wasn't necessarily a a minor like they had people that was you know 30 and 40 years old but of course their mentality um their barrier that um was either it was God given or if it was uh via an accident or something right was always younger and so I remember growing up my parents would always go to Disney um to help out with these children and it was that exact organization.
SPEAKER_16:Yes they do they do so it was so much yeah they really do.
SPEAKER_15:My parents would come back and they would be exhausted obviously physically because they're m helping physically move these people and keep control and you know all the things that go along because it is a lot it is a lot but they kind of give the parents a break and a vacation.
SPEAKER_16:That's exactly what they do and that's what they do that hotel is really catered for that. Yes. And what they do and and they used to have the Osborne light show at Hollywood studios and I really hate that they took it down but somebody said they moved it to an area that now when people go and pay all that money goes back toward um that organization so I thought that was really nice. Yeah.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah that's good because again like Danica mentioned if you are going to take a family there it's it's a thousand bucks before you get in either you walk in the door. Yeah so I mean it it is tough. I mean but families you know we did it a couple years ago and we're saving all year. That's right. That's the big trip. And it was great. I mean you just knew you're gonna spend a lot of money but that's why we just go up four years one day a one day a year.
SPEAKER_16:Right. We stay we stay in Florida for the beach but then we drive over about an hour hour and a half and just go for the day because it has gotten a a good bit more expensive. There was ways years ago where you could go to the gas station and buy if somebody bought a seven day and they had four or three days left you could buy it. The gas station owner would buy those and sell it for a small profit but you didn't have fingerprints you didn't have this fingerprints no you have it right so next thing that we would do is take them people's blood. If the blood doesn't match you the retina scan well they do say the retina scan's probably going to be the next thing it is but um boy um but it is a great thing if you can do it with your family.
SPEAKER_11:It's like uh that is the family trip that everybody wants to do at some point in their life. All right uh three things in the news before we get to our closing segment um just three things that I saw in the news this week doesn't not in any order just they popped out of me. Dictionary.com is named their word of the year. Uh oh what do you think it is don't say anything Danica because I know you know because I told you always what do you think the word I swear that I did see this somewhere. Oh I can't tell you give it away what it the word of the year. It ain't even a word I know that's what uh it's six seven dictionary.com is really losing it now it's not even words anymore but yes 67 is the word of the year for 2025 and uh it says uh why did we choose it as word of the year? Well let's see. Uh because um they saw that most in headlines, trends on social media, search engine results and more to identify words that made an impact on conversations and that's the one they chose that made the most impact and still nobody really knows what it means.
SPEAKER_03:Because life 360 now has a thing you know when you can say like love you or like uh ETA where you at or stuff like that. They have six seven on there.
SPEAKER_13:Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_11:Life 360 is oh my gosh. Oh I'm gonna send that to my wife on the way home.
SPEAKER_16:I try to keep mine because everybody will be like bless you. Everybody says what are these weird weird words the kids are using I don't think to ourselves though we had cornio we do you know we had the 369 and the you know we had um one two three into the four that was all kind of so I try to keep that at psych do you remember psych oh sure so I guess every generation but I don't know numbers it's just kind of weird it's just I don't even know where it came out about 10 four that was big in the 70s right but that's a C B thing that's true right so um I don't know but uh evidently a rapper started it or something and then it just exploded here are the other words that were considered agentic I don't know what excuse me A G E N T I C has been used in psychology and sociology to describe human agency or the capacity to act independently make choices and shape one's environment have heard of the next one though aura farming Aura? Yes A-U-A-U-R-A-L-C about you yes and if you're trying to how is it Danica?
SPEAKER_11:I don't know if you're aura farm you would know that he's giggling uh it peaked in June after steady growth in the first half of the year people are studying these things uh combines aura in the modern sense of charisma style or personal energy with farming meaning cultivation or deliberate effort the term refers to the practice of intentionally developing one's presence or vibe. Oh wow okay so like a vibe vibe check that's a bit more the boat kid meme that's where it came from supposedly I don't know what that is but I have people that have said hey you're aura farming you're just trying to make yourself look better than you are that's I've heard the I've heard the word but I have like literally no clue.
SPEAKER_15:So that's it's it's a negative connotation yeah pretty much it's like you're trying too hard.
SPEAKER_16:Oh yeah it's gonna be a new one that I just use randomly try to use it.
SPEAKER_11:There's a couple others that really don't make any sense in the but there was one that's actually an emoji that's was considered for word of the year. That was aura farming yes doing stupid stuff to try to get attention I really don't know so the dynamite emoji was uh considered as well you know why do you know this?
SPEAKER_13:Which one?
SPEAKER_11:Dan again the dynamite emoji where it's about to blow up I gotta look at that on that I I have no clue. You know what it's it's TNT you know yes they're using it all the uh Swifties to mean Taylor and Travis so they send out a dynamite emoji Taylor and Travis Taylor Swift I've never heard that's I guess I need to start using the dynamite emoji. Oh I'm gonna do it with my daughter too the Gen Z stare surged in pro popularity this year capturing both a generational quirk and a cultural flashpoint the term refers to a blank or expressionless look often attributed to members of Generation Z, particularly in workplace or retail settings.
SPEAKER_03:No it's like people asking dumb questions So people are going to stand there like yes yes I I do that I do that at work. I'm being so for real I caught myself oh guess what else came up on the list?
SPEAKER_11:Kiss Cam. You know why? Because of the Coldplay concert.
SPEAKER_16:Oh yeah that's that'll get you in trouble.
SPEAKER_11:Over tourism was a thing where people talk about too many people going to see places and they're not fun anymore because it's too much tourism. They just raise the prices and that's right to get the people out. Tariff was a big word obviously right uh and then this I think this is the last one yeah trad wife short for traditional traditional wife has renewed attention this this year originally tied to conservative subcultures that idealize a dutiful domestic model of femininity trad wife has since broadened into a label for an aesthetic as much as an ideology. They're on both sides. It's actually more of a negative thing a trad wife because if you have a trad wife then you're not letting your wife go out there and do her own thing. But there's a lot of women nowadays who would rather be a trad wife you know yeah wouldn't you wouldn't you're not a trad wife you like to be out and doing stuff and having your own career and all that.
SPEAKER_15:Oh yeah yeah you're not the traditional staying at home yes right I would love the opportunity to stay at home but that's you're bored.
SPEAKER_16:That's I think I think you always want the other one. Like if you're at home you're like what about being a career mom but if you're a career mom you wish you had more time at home it's it's a hard balance right it is my wife's kind of going through that now that all of her kids are pretty much grown.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah and it's like what are you doing what do you do now it's like you want to start another career so that you're not so you're doing something because being a mom is a full-time job. Uh the word of the year by the way last year was demure uh the year before that hallucinated 2022 was the year of the woman I'm trying to figure out what happened in 2022 that made it such I mean women run the world we all know that um but oh you're saying that because I don't remember Aldi Ship whatever that was 2021 and 2020 pandemic of course all right so there you go dictionary.com I guess they have the right to name the word of the year but it they're not even words anymore. Um all right we're a little short so I'm gonna shorten it to two stories instead of three we're a little long I should say so I'll shorten it. Okay we mentioned a restaurant a couple weeks ago in Greenville called Scoundrel yes Scoundrel was just awarded a Michelin star. I heard that and I wanted to make sure that we mentioned that I think that's cool.
SPEAKER_14:Have you been?
SPEAKER_11:No I haven't that's first I had heard of it. Have you been to Scoundrel Star it's uh it's French right French cuisine yeah and they just got the Mich uh one Michelin star. Um as a matter of fact they just awarded all their stars for the Southeast restaurants and Emeralds in New Orleans I got two star two stars Michelin stars and that's actually run by Emerald's son now. Oh okay not the bang guy but his son I guess he's boom um but anyway do you know these other restaurants there's three other restaurants in the state of South Carolina and this is for Holly pretty much because she's been to like every restaurant in the state I like to eat at all but have you been there's three and they're all in Charleston okay I don't frequent Charleston but it is a good place to go to eat uh Malagone no Spanish place you heard of it Verns nope American Contemporary and Wild Common American Contemporary I've never heard of either all of those are located in Charleston so check out those restaurants and that means we're to the rating point speaking of restaurants of our guest needs to give us some recommendations but first uh we'll do entertainment first um if somebody's listening and they want to watch something that you think is really cool whether you're binging it you have already watched it is it a movie even a book or something what can they do to entertain themselves according to you Julie Bell well um there's a new book called Disney Adult that's out did you write it?
SPEAKER_16:I did not write it but it is uh it's by the uh Disney food blog lady AJ Wolf and so um I've just started reading it I got it from the local library so um I and that's a new book it's that is a it's uh brand new and um I'm watching uh just started watching the new dairy welcome to dairy series if you like it's a prequel right yes it's a prequel kind of how all of that came about we just watched the first episode of it's pretty interesting it's kind of set back in the 50s or 60s and what happened in the town but it's been it's been pretty interesting. What is it called? Welcome to Dairy D-E-R-R-Y that's the name of the town yes and um I I'm always watching new um documentaries so of course the one about the mom I can't think of the name now the number the phone number um unknown number unknown number number if you haven't seen that one um watching the Murdoh the new murd Murdoch that's on Hulu he came out and blasting it yes saying it's all lies it's all lies yes Patricia Arquette's in it as the mom she's doing it is she's done a good job um but and then of course we've we're watching dancing with the stars we watch that every Tuesday my mother in law loves it so we we have her over Corey's gone but now we got a pull for Andy Andy who um is it Andy Richter who was on Conan O'Brien so he's he's a pretty he started really bad dancer. He's improved every week but he's always at the bottom with the scores from the judges but every week he beats out somebody because the people get to vote. So we kind of think that everybody's gonna vote him up so much that he actually wins it. And it's happened before with somebody that cannot dance beats a traditional dance dancer on there. So it's interesting.
SPEAKER_11:You never know and what about food a restaurant you want to recommend?
SPEAKER_16:Um well we like to go eat Mexican and our favorite Mexican restaurant is um let me what was I gonna say I had written it down because I didn't want to be wrong on the name there's so many La Fagata. There you go yes so shout out to La Fagata and Orlando that works there. It is um on 28 Bypass right when you turn from kind of um Whitehall on to eight out that way. Yes but we've we've tried different ones but the man there is really nice and he can tell us what we want to eat. He was like you're gonna get this you want that we're like because we've been going for so many years. So we we like that and of course we go to Logan's we're we're kind of traditional Reagan loves sushi and Chinese and so we go out for that sometimes is there a good place like in around
SPEAKER_11:Belton or whatever that you go to.
SPEAKER_16:Well we just like to get go to the little Chinese drive-thru place that used to be KFC and Belton. They're really nice and they have good fresh food. And then recently we've been trying the place um near it used to be Dragon's Den and it's a buffet. Um but it's really good in Anderson. They actually have all Chinese. All different Chinese and they do fresh hibachi, so you choose your meats and your veggies and rice or noodles and then they cook it for you. Yeah, yeah. And that's part of it. So love hibachi. Yeah.
SPEAKER_11:Yeah, that sounds good too.
SPEAKER_16:And then we try but we try to cook low carb at home on the days that we don't eat out. We try to balance it a little bit. We try to balance it out.
SPEAKER_11:Well, uh Julie, thanks so much for coming in. Thank you. I enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_15:Um we appreciate you all that you do for H. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. It really does make a difference.
SPEAKER_16:Well, we appreciate all the teachers and all the educators and places that put in these grants and educate the kids.
SPEAKER_11:And it's uh webcraft.org.
SPEAKER_16:That's it.
SPEAKER_11:All right. Uh next week, Zach will be here in studio. Uh we're working on uh a couple other guests because we don't want to talk to Zach the entire time. So uh we'll we'll get that together for you this week. Don't forget, catch the uh podcast. It'll be up probably tomorrow on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. And thanks for listening to the Boon Show. Like, subscribe, and share. Have a good night.