An Army of Normal Folks - Adrien Lewis: The Ultimate Care-Sharing Network (Pt 1)

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

Adrien and his bride felt called to foster and adopt three boys. And then came another calling of building a technology platform that connects families whose kids shouldn't be in foster care, but are at-risk because they can’t afford basic needs, with churches and individuals in their area who want to serve those needs. CarePortal has helped 265,000 kids to date and they're just getting started! Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's not a new idea to empower neighbors to see and serve other neighbors. Using technology to connect kids and families in crisis with churches and people who care in proximity that want to help, that was the thing. And how can we take the six foot barrier of taking a kid into your home and bring it down to six inches where you might be able to help a mom keep her kids if you could provide some things she really needed for that to happen. Or you might be able to help kids get out of foster care if you could provide some things that they really needed to make that happen. That's a six inch bar. And so if I ask you, Bill, would you be willing to receive an email about a single mom who just left an abusive

relationship? And she's got a new place now, but she needs some beds so her kids can get back with her. It's the last thing that she needs before she can have them back. Would you be willing to see an email about that need? Not only would I see the email, I'd buy the damn bed. You buy the damn bed. Not only would I see the email, I'd buy the damn bet. You buy the damn bet. Welcome to an Army of Normal, folks.

I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, a father, I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach at Intercity Memphis in the last part. It accidentally led to an Oscar for the film about our football team. It's called Undefeated. Guys I believe our country's problems will never be solved by a bunch of fancy people in nice suits using big words nobody ever uses on CNN and Fox but rather an army of normal folks, us, just you and me deciding, hey, I can help. That's what

Adrian Lewis, the voice we just heard, has done. Care Portal is his technology platform. It's this creative idea. It connects families whose kids should not be in foster care, but those kids either are or at risk of being in foster care because they can't afford basic needs. It connects them with churches and individuals and their area who want to serve those needs and them. I can't wait for you to meet Adrienne right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Now let's get you up to speed on what else happened around the NBA today. We talked to all sorts of people I interacted with from Dr. J to Charles Barkley and recap iconic moments. Yes he's got it. Here he comes. Way rock the baby to sleep and slam dunk. As well as some of the wild stories behind the scenes. We were like what? What are we in for?

The scoreboard crashes before we even tip a game off. Today, the NBA is a global sports and entertainment giant. Players are multi-millionaires and cultural icons. Igadala to Curry, back to Igadala, up to the layup, oh blocked by James! LeBron James! And these stories are about how we got here, both on and off the court. And what's next? Listen to NBA DNA with Hannah Storm on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. More Than a Movie is back with season two of the award-winning film podcast and this time

with a lot more movies. I'm your host, Alex Fumero, and each week I'm going to talk to the people behind some of my favorite movies. From the Godfather, Andy Garcia. He has the smarts of Vito, the temper of Sonny, the warmth of Fredo, and the coldness of Michael. To the OG spy kid, Alexa PenaVega. You had Carlo Gugino, who's the coolest mom ever. You had Antonio, who's handsome, amazing, charismatic, and then Carmen and Juni. I felt like a lot of other kids felt like this could be me. To the legend behind La Bamba, Lou Diamond Phillips. When I walked in, I didn't think I had a shot at Richie because John Stamos's picture was already

up on the wall. Every episode will feature interviews with the biggest actors, directors, writers, and producers behind your favorite films and tap into the history of Latinos in film. Listen to More Than a Movie as part of the MyCultura Podcast Network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Johnny B. Goode, and I'm the host of the new podcast,

Creating a Con, the Story of VidCon. Over this nine-part series, I'll explore the life and crimes of my best friend, Ray Chirpanney. I always wanted to be a criminal. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme. You see, Ray has this unique ability

to find loopholes and exploit them. They collected $30 million. There were headlines about it. His company, Centratec, was one of the hottest crypto startups in 2017. It was going to change the world until it didn't. I came into my office, opened my email, and the subject heading was FBI request.

It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. You can only fake it till you make it for so long before they find out that your Harvard degree is not so crimson. How could you sit there and do something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world? Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

["I'm So Happy To Be Here"] Adrian Lewis, welcome to Memphis. I'm so glad to be here, brother. Where'd you fly in from? Kansas City. That's home, right? Yeah, Kansas City's home, a long time. Where were you, I know you went to, you went to the University of Kansas, right?

Yeah. Where'd you grow up? Yeah, to university at Kansas, right? Yeah. Where'd you grow up? Yeah, so I was born in Leavenworth, died and got out of the military. Born in Leavenworth, you were born in jail? You could say that. Or you could say my dad was in jail. You could say something like that.

But yeah, he just came from a military family and Leavenworth is where they were. So was he a military guy? He was, yeah, Vietnam. No kidding. Yeah, Vietnam. Yeah. Wow. guy? He was, yeah, Vietnam. No kidding. Yeah, Vietnam. Wow. But I grew up in Massachusetts.

Okay. My mother is an immigrant from Armenia. From Armenia? Armenia. Wow. Yeah, from Armenia. Yeah, off the boat, didn't speak English, all the things. Really?

Yeah, yeah. And your father was? Black guy from Leavenworth, Kansas. Black guy from Leavenworth, Kansas, and a non-speaking, non-English speaking mom off the boat from Armenia.worth, Kansas. Black guy from Leavenworth, Kansas and a non-speaking, non-English speaking mom off the boat from Armenia. And where did they meet? Yeah.

Uh, so more detail. Yeah. My, in high school, my mom was dating a black guy. Okay. And when her parents found out, they put her out of the house. Right. So, and from their perspective, Armenian girls don't date black guys.

Okay. And she goes to college in town. This is gonna be a weird question. Yeah. And it shows my complete ignorance. But what does an Armenian person typically look like? Armenian person could look Greek or Italian. Armenia is just north.

Olive skinned. Olive skinned, just north east of Turkey. Okay. And so there's a Middle East slash Russian kind of blend a little bit. Okay. But yeah, I would say olive skin. Okay, so almost for the uninformed like me

Southern Mediterranean kind of southern Mediterranean and my what my mom is on the lighter side of it Right, so I saw her you think maybe she's Jewish or Italian. Okay like that All right And so she stayed in the black day Dean black dude, which is not not no go on our meridian rules And they put her out and they put her on Iranian rules and they put her out? And they put her out. Yeah, they put her out. She ended up living at a WMCA.

You remember those places? Well, they still got them. WMCA? Sure, there's WMCA's around. Okay. Yeah, that's YMCA for women. Yeah, that's right. Right. That's right.

And they had residential programs back in the day. Okay. She's living at one of those places. She breaks up with this guy, but she's still living there. My dad gets out of the- Well, hold it. Did the parents say, okay, you can come back now? No.

No. No, that was like, not paying for college, not coming home. Wow. Yeah, no, it's, you know, and everybody has a story of how they got to how they are. My grandparents were wrong. Zero question about it. No doubt.

I also understand how they got to be wrong, right? And that really matters. Because of the culture they came from? Absolutely, yeah. This is not a new idea. They didn't make it up. You know, it came with them and the people who they lived with.

And it was just the way it was. Wrong as can be, but they didn't start it, right? just the way it was, wrong as can be, but they didn't start it, right? So that, so I have some compassion for how they got to where they were. And I'm grateful that when I was 15, they came through it, right? And so we ended up okay on the other side of that. There was healing and restoration.

But when my mom's, you know, 19 years old. A lot of grace on your mom's side then. Oh my goodness, brother. Right? You know, 19 years old. A lot of grace on your mom's side then. Oh my goodness, brother. Like, my mother overcame so much adversity through the power of love and forgiveness. And she wasn't even a believer. She just had it in her. Love and forgiveness will rule the day.

But then she found another black dude because you just told me your dad was black. That's right. So what happened? Yeah. So he gets out of Vietnam. OK. And he ends up living at the YMCA right next to the WMCA.

Of course. That's right. And they start dating. And this is a true story. One day, my grandpa, who is all Armenian, like full everything, didn't speak hardly any English still, he decides he's gonna come visit my mom.

And so he comes and he sees her sitting on the steps with this guy whose name is Robert. Your father? My dad. My dad-to-be, right? This is before. Yeah, ultimately. Yeah, my dad, yeah.

And dude, he attacks my dad to be, right? This is before. Yeah, ultimately. Yeah, my dad, yeah. And dude, he attacks my dad. Attacks physically? Physically. My five foot six Armenian grandpa attacks my six foot three dad who just got out of Vietnam. Are Armenians overly brave or just stupid? Well, where's the line? That's what I'm looking at.

Where's the line? The line on that'm looking at. Where's the line? There's a line on that's blurred with a lot of people, but present company included. That's right. That's right. If you asked me if he was stubborn, I would say absolutely. So he really is toxin.

And he, in his warped mind, defending his daughter's virtue. That's right. Yeah, this is wrong. Dead wrong, but that's the way he's doing it. And he's thinking, this is wrong. So I right. Yeah, this is wrong. Dead wrong, but that's the way he's doing it. And he's thinking, this is wrong. So I'm going to make it like, this is not going to happen under my watch, right?

And they get into a fight, and my dad goes to jail. Well, of course, he's the black guy. Of course, that's right. And this is 1970. Right? He's really going to jail. He's going to jail. Probably got his ass whipped on the way to jail.

Could be. Just served our country. Now he's getting thrown to jail. Probably got his ass whipped on the way to jail. Could be. Just served our country. Now he's getting thrown into jail because of straight up racism. There's no other way to look at it. Again, I understand. Where is this? This is in Springfield, Massachusetts. Got it.

Yeah, this is where they came off the boat to. He went to jail a couple of times because of being with my mom. There was a walking down the street, why are you with that white woman kind of thing? And so and so that's, that was his experience. But I'm gonna tell you something about my dad. And this is, this is part of the fabric of who I am. My dad taught me that you are nobody's victim. You are nobody's victim. If you have to work twice as hard as the next guy, you do it, but you are nobody's victim.

And my mom taught me love and forgiveness is the fuel for life. And those things, for all the warts in my family, those things are deep in this guy. This has absolutely nothing to do with you being the founder of Care Portal, which we are getting to. But it's cool to establish not only what amazing people,

like normal folks like you have done to help the world, but I think perspective of where somebody comes from really helps even understand why you got involved in the first place. But as I'm hearing your story, how do you identify? Oh, man, I'm so glad you asked. I'm at a because people aren't looking at you.

Yeah, yeah. I'm going to describe you for you. All right. I don't know how old you are, but take a number. You know, like that, but 48, 47, 49, 49. Wow. Next're not gonna make me mad. But 48, 47. 49. 49. Wow. Next week, you're right on. I was pretty strong.

That's right. All right. We're looking at a guy who by all intents and purposes does not have a full on dad bod. He's in pretty good shape. He's in much better shape than I am. He's got a really good looking salt and pepper beard. His head is basically bald, shaved bald.

And honestly, if I were to just look at you coming down the street, I'd say you were from, maybe Greece. You look ish like that. And I would, I mean, so growing up with an Armenian mother and a black father and having dealt with all of that and the way you look, I just wonder where you fit. So as a kid, I didn't.

I didn't. I had so much insecurity. Because if I'm with my black family, I'm not like them. If I'm with my Armenian family, I'm not like that. Was your hair straight? Nope. I had a fro. You had a fro? Yeah. But you weren't like them? No, I mean, not like them, like them.

You know, I was very, if you look at the family picture of my dad's family with me in it, it's a very different me than everybody else, right? And so, or with my black friends or with my white friends, there was an isolation just because of outward appearance. Like we're human and humans see the thing they see and they- And we're clannish. And we're, yeah, tribal, right?

No, for sure. And so I had a lot of insecurity as a kid, a lot of insecurity, anxious a lot. And I overcame that by making other people very comfortable around me. So my strategy. Compensation. Compensation.

Like I'm gonna make you like me and we're gonna be okay. Cause if you like me, then I'm gonna feel okay. All the while harboring lessons that I'm not gonna be a victim and I'm gonna have a graceful affect toward others. That's right. It's a good combination for being successful in life, but it doesn't make your insecurity go away.

No. And I know what it's like to be in a room full of black people and not be black enough. And I know what it's like to be in a room of white people and be too black, right? That was how I thought of myself and wrestled with. And it wasn't until really, I became a believer and Jesus began to reshape my identity, that I was able to start shedding the things of this world, including what is

your race based on the color of your skin, because I don't actually have to fit into a box. Like my identity is secure in the Lord and I'm okay. This is such a bad joke, but you probably look more like Jesus than most people do with your skin and your hair. I mean, if you think of where Jesus came from, you probably resemble that more than anybody

else. Maybe, maybe. Yeah. And now, a few messages from our generous sponsors. But first, I hope you'll follow us on all your favorite social media channels where we share more powerful content from the Army. Search for at Army of Normal Folks on every channel. We'll be right back.

I'm Hannah Storm and my podcast, NBA DNA with Hannah Storm, digs deep into the history of professional basketball, along with my own as one of the first female sportscasters. Now let's get you up to speed on what else happened around the NBA today. We talked to all sorts of people I interacted with from Dr. J to Charles Barkley and recap iconic moments Yes he's got it. Here he comes. Way rock the baby to sleep and slam dunk. As well as some of the wild stories behind the scenes. We were like, what? What are we in for? The scoreboard crashes before we even tip a game off.

Today, the NBA is a global sports and entertainment giant. Players are multimillionaires and cultural icons. Igadala to Curry, back to Igadala, up for the layup. Oh, blocked by James. LeBron James. And these stories are about how we got here, both on and off the court. And what's next? Listen to NBA DNA with Hannah Storm on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. More Than a Movie is back with season two of the award winning

film podcast and this time with a lot more movies. I'm your host, Alex Fumero, and each week I'm going to talk to the people behind some of my favorite movies from The Godfather, Andy Garcia. He has the smarts of Vito, the temper of Sonny, the warmth of Fredo and the coldness of Michael to the the OG spy kid, Alexa PenaVega. You had Carlo Gugino, who's the coolest mom ever. You had Antonio, who's handsome, amazing, charismatic. And then Carmen and Juni.

I felt like a lot of other kids felt like this could be me. To the legend behind La Bamba, Lou Diamond Phillips. When I walked in, I didn't think I had a shot at Richie. Because John Stamos' picture was already up on the wall. Every episode will feature interviews with the biggest actors, directors, writers and producers behind your favorite films and tap into the history of Latinos in film. Listen to More Than a Movie as part of the MyCultura Podcast Network, available on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Jonny B. Good, and I'm the host of the new podcast, Creating a Con, the story of VidCon.

Over this nine part series, I'll explore the life and crimes of my best friend, Ray Trapani. I always wanted to be a criminal. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme. You see, Ray has this unique ability to find loopholes and exploit them. They collected $30 million. There were headlines about it.

His company, Centratec, was one of the hottest crypto startups in 2017. It was going to change the world until it didn't. They came into my office, opened my email, and the subject heading was FBI request. It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. You can only fake it till you make it for so long before they find out that your Harvard degree is not so crimson. How could you sit there and do something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world? sit there and do something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world. Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts. So you grow up in this interesting place, and when I say place, I mean your reality place. And you're in Massachusetts. Yep. What makes you go to Kansas to school? Parents split up when I was young, that's part of the story, both remarried. And when I-

Do you think the social pressures against them were part of the component in that? No, that wasn't it. That wasn't it. No, that wasn't it. I'll spare the details. Doesn't matter, they split up. That's right.

All right. And, but when it came time to go to college, we had no money, and I could get in-state tuition at KU because my dad was in Leavenworth, Kansas. And I was like, well, I can spread my wings a little bit. I can get to know my dad's family more and I can afford to go somewhere. And that's how I got to KU.

Did the insecurity do any better at KU? Cause you don't look anything like folks from Kansas. No, not at all. I mean, even in the dorms, there was the black table in the dorm. I know, I get it. You know what I'm saying? And it was a very hard time.

From that perspective, I did not find myself in college. I didn't find my faith in college. I didn't find my identity in college. I wasn't rooted in college. I was still trying to grow up and work through my stuff. You know, we all have stuff, bro. But your stuff is different for sure than most people's reality, especially

given your age, because, you know, the late sixties, the end of the early seventies, the civil rights movement and Armenian mother, a set of grandparents that hate her choices, a black father. I mean, all of it had to have been just a lot. Yeah. But I mean, whatever your stuff is, it's your stuff. It's your stuff.

And I don't- But you were taught not to be a victim to it. That's right. Which I love. I have talked on this show a lot about a story that I will spare you and our listeners cause they've heard it more than once. But basically when I was in the middle of a lot of trauma and insecurity of my own time, I had one of my greatest mentors tell me,

you can be a victim of those circumstances, or you can be a rock that dysfunction breaks itself on, and it really is a choice. And if you want to be a victim to it, nobody can really blame you because of where you came from, and everybody can excuse it. But let me let you look at what 40 years old looks like growing up a victim versus 40 years old looks like growing up being a rock that dysfunction breaks itself on and it's a simple choice that leads to misery or some opportunity at happiness. And I gotta believe you were different words, but you were figuring out the same thing.

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And even in my insecurities, I still didn't see myself as a victim, right? The thing that my dad deposited was deep and I'm super grateful. I mean, super grateful. And I don't even judge people who can't get there because I wouldn't have got there without the deposit. Somebody put that in me, you know? Now I received it, I kept it, I could have let it go,

but I didn't put it there. And that's a blessing, man, that was a gift. Well, one of the other things that your mom's teaching is about forgiveness and grace is, first and foremost, you gotta be able to forgive yourself for the things that you know that you've done that have unraveled some of your healing. And I had to do that too.

For sure. I kind of get you. So you leave Kansas and I think you got like a degree in sports science or something and went into the business world. Tell me about that. Yeah, so I started off as a personal trainer, got into the business side of healthcare,

did that for a long time. Always found myself loving to move the needle, to galvanize, to get people to take action that mattered, and that's kind of what sales is, business development is, get people to take action that matters. And develop relationships. and and develop relationships totally develop relationships. And so my career was really in that line of things. And so my last job five or six years there, it's a company called ATI. We created a software

and a curriculum package for colleges, mostly nursing colleges, who had to get people to pass their boards in order to be licensed, right? And there's a nursing shortage, there's a shortage of nurse educators. It was the sweetest market. I mean, who's better than a nurse who's also a teacher? Right?

I mean, just think about what goes into becoming a nurse or a teacher. You care deeply about other people. And I got to work with nurse educators all across the country and build the business and- All the while developing a software to help grow their ranks. All to grow their ranks, say that a different way.

To, I mean, wasn't the software designed to help people get through nursing so you can grow the ranks of nurses? That's right. That's right. Yeah. So passing the boards as a college, the higher your pass rate, the better school you have. Oh, now that's interesting. That makes sense.

Yeah. And we were really good at helping schools get board pass rates high. And so it was a thriving business. Um, got bought by a company, became a part owner in that just a little teeny part, but a part. And, but you're on your way. I mean, you're what? Seven, eight years out of college at this point.

Let's see. I was probably a 10 years. Yeah. 10 years when I left there. So yeah. Yeah, but you're on your way. I'm on my way. Have you gotten married at this point or?

Yeah, married, got kids, have been through a divorce, have been remarried, have a blended family, trying to figure out. What's a blended family? Your kids, her kids, now our kids? My wife's son was 18. My kids were four and three. And we were trying to figure out how you make that work. My kids went back and forth to their biological mom's house for a

week at a time initially, and things got real hard. And she ended up becoming not able to care for them and by God's grace my wife was already caring for them and so since my kids have been five five four years old my wife has been mom and so she's she has given herself three times now, I'll get to the third time in a little while, but three times now she has started over as a mom caring for young kids. And most of the kids that she cares for are not biologically hers.

Did you marry Mother Teresa? I'll tell you what, my wife is Cuban. I'm so- Hold it. Of course, of course she has to be Latino Hispanic looking. So now we've got Armenian, Black and Latino. That's right. All balled up into the Mutt syndrome that is your family.

That's right. Which is actually leads into a lot of what we're gonna talk about, candidly. That is crazy. She's Cuban? She's Cuban. Yeah, off the boat. Her family's off the boat.

She was born here, but her older siblings were born there. Yeah, it's pretty special. Yeah. I mean, honestly, the only people that aren't your family are some white folks. I mean, that's about it. Oh, well, maybe you got one of those that came along,

which we'll talk about. Yeah, here you go. All right, so I'm gonna let you take me through this. I'll just lead it in and let you run with it. You graduated, you kind of grew up with this insecurity that's understandable and this weird family trauma with your grandparents and everything and this mixed race deal. And they are many an influence and you go to Kansas of all places and you graduate and you're on your way and you're having success professionally. You have one tough marriage it sounds like, but you got a new marriage and you're blending this family

and you're kind of on your way and you're somewhere around young thirties at this point, if I'm doing the math right, 32. And somehow you say, let's check out foster parenting. So get me to that. How do we get there? Yeah, that's, connect that dot for me.

So early in my marriage with my wife, Cynthia, we got invited to go. You know what, we needed, is Cynthia? Cynthia. Cuban Cynthia? Yeah. There's a Cynthia in? Cynthia Diana.

Okay, perfect. Galvis. Of course. Yeah, right. It and Diana. Okay. Galvez. Of course. You're right. It's awesome. So Cynthia and I are married. I get invited to go on a mission trip, which was new to me.

I mean, like I said, I didn't become a believer until I was 27. There was nothing like that in my past. Didn't have a clue what that meant. And- Armenia, I thought Armenians were fairly religious people. Yes, so if you ask my grandma, Armenia was the first Christian nation,

which really means that as a culture, Christianity is bacon. That happens in this country too, for lots of folks, but culture and relationship are not exactly the same thing. And because my mom ended up marrying a black guy, that whole church thing, it was fuzzy. So we went a few times, but that was it. Okay, so it was a cultural Armenian Christianity

more than a practicing faith. When it got to my mom, that's where it was. Got it. So my mom wasn't a believer growing up. I got it. Yeah. So we go on this mission trip. My wife comes.

I'm sorry. You're all good, man. Well, no, I mean. I like your curiosity. Well, I mean, why, you know, I'm sitting here thinking through it, but if you have parents that denounce you because you happen to fall in love with somebody that looks different,

that doesn't feel very faithful or Christian, so I can absolutely understand why your mom would say, you know, that's not for me. No doubt. Yeah. Tons of, tons of hurt there. I mean, tons of hurt there. I get it. It's, it's, it's the difference in being faithful and very overtly religious.

And there is a difference there. There's a massive difference. And I can't tell you my grandparents' heart. And I'm not talking about your grandparents. I'm really just speaking culturally. I think the church, the Christian church, has done itself a horrific disservice over the last church, the Christian church has done itself a horrific disservice over the last however many decades with dogma first action. And this feels a lot like that. Yeah.

And it's not a new phenomenon. No, your grandparents certainly didn't invent that either. Yeah. I mean, you go all the way back to biblical times and you had the Pharisees. All of it. All of it. Right. So there's nothing new under the sun. I mean, this go all the way back to biblical times and you had the Pharisees. All of it. All of it, right. So there's nothing new under the sun. I mean, this is human condition.

But I guess I'm just saying is I can understand why your mom was like. For sure. I'm out. What's this for? Yeah, I'm out. This is nothing but painful. No, yeah, she's out.

So that's how you were raised. That's how I was raised. That's right. I get it. And my dad's family was fairly religious and there were some people who really loved Jesus. And there was others who were going through the motions and that's how it was. But I was never rooted in that either. And so I didn't start getting rooted until my 20s and didn't come to faith house 27.

But this mission trip that we went on, it was a life altering experience. Where'd you go? Haiti. Wow. To you go? Haiti. Wow. To the south of Haiti. I know it's in the news a lot right now. Things are super bad. It was bad then, but it's even worse now, right?

We're in the south of Haiti and the organization I went with was called the Global Orphan Project. Their mission was to really transform lives through orphan care, trying to empower churches in these really impoverished countries to care for the most vulnerable kids where they were. All right, so we were going as a vision trip, really, to just love on some kids who were there and some families who were there, to see what was happening, to dream about what could be in the future.

It was exposure. It was like, get out of your own bubble for a little while and go be. Was this sponsored from your congregation? From your church? No, we paid for it. Well, no, when I say sponsored, was this a group of people from your church

or just your area? It was a group of people invited by the hosts. Got it. So lots of different backgrounds. So it's a belting pot in and of itself. Totally, 15 or 20 people, five, six days. And one of the days we're on a field. And so try to picture, it's in Haiti, right?

And so it's an island, there's mountains all around, we're in this valley, and it's beautiful, it's simple, and desolate at the same time. And the vision was that one day there would be homes on that land for the kids in that community who are parentless, who are destitute. And my wife and I are walking in this little valley holding hands. And Bill, we have a supernatural moment where I saw purpose in my life like I had never seen before. I believe that we went from being believers

to being followers in that moment. And God's grace to let us do it as a couple. And so the sense of purpose bigger than ourselves, something beyond us that we're here for, that's the moment where it happened. And I have this, I'm just grateful for the gift of multiple times in my life. Or God has just been so good to show me something

that is transformational for me, just a moment in time. There's a before and there's an after. And that was one of the big ones. So we came home from that trip. We made some radical changes in our life. My wife became a stay at home mom, which prepared her for when she needed to be a full time mom. Cause that was coming down the road.

We didn't see that coming, but that was coming. And when she took in our, my two little ones, she became mom to them and it was just sweet. It was just all sweet, right? But that experience led us down this path of hanging out with that ministry, going on trips with them, leading trips, giving to the organization.

And so we were invested in this organization to help these kids in other countries. And that was my entree into this whole world of ministry. Has nothing to do with foster care, by the way, right? We're like- We have nothing to do with foster care. We're so fucked up, wait, what's this about? We're talking about Haitian orphans.

We're talking about Haitian orphans, right? Yeah, which by the way, an update for long-time listeners, the generator arrived at, what's his name? Well, it's Place of Hope in Haiti. Place of Hope in Haiti, have you ever heard of this thing? Not by name, no. So, Pastor... Andre Forges.

Andre Forges. John Anderson. Andre the John's his nickname. Okay. Haitian born, had a dream of starting a orphanage in Haiti in his Place of Hope, and they care for 60 or 70 kids. And the exact circumstances that you are right now talking about.

And he was a guest some months ago, and he became a guest because another guest who is sleeping in heavenly peace builds beds for children who are bedless in the United States. You're shaking your head. I'm familiar with them. Okay, well, And Andre decided his orphanage

that had a workshop was gonna, the orphans were gonna build beds for children who had parents but no beds. Wow. In Haiti. Wow. And they're currently doing it. And their generator crashed,

and they were the only place that had clean running water and electricity and they couldn't run their machines to make beds. So some people from an army of normal folks raised $25,000 and literally this week the generator was delivered to their orphanage and they now power. True, true stories connecting three different guests, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, you and Andre Forges

with orphans being cared for in Haiti now making beds under the guise of Sleep in Heavenly Peace for non-orphans who are Haitian children that are so poor they don't have beds. Does it get any better? Not much. I mean, when someone who is used to being

on the receiving end all the time has the opportunity to be on the giving end, what changes inside of them? Everything. Everything. Everything does. Talk about dignity. You talk about purpose. You start seeing value in yourself in ways that you didn't see before.

I'll tell you something else that'll do. It'll quickly strip away all of those insecurities you have because you start to understand who you are and what your purpose is and in whose image you were made. That's right, that's right. So, go ahead. Sorry to interrupt your story, to interject a little Army of Normal Folks stuff.

I love this. But that's the story. But anyway, go ahead. It's good. So, we are, so you come back and you and your wife keep going and you're just like all in about helping kids in Haiti at this point, orphans. That's right. Yeah.

And other parts of the world, but Haiti is where our heart was attached to. And so I've become good friends, my family becomes good friends with some of the people leading that organization. Geo-Kin Connecticut is one of them. And the organization one more time? The Global Orphan Project. The Global Orphan Project, okay. I guarantee you people listening,

there are people who know it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so Joe calls me one day and says, I can't remember where I was standing. I was at my kid's school at a basketball practice and he was like, hey, this organization is growing and we need someone to help with development. And I think you're the guy.

Will you join us? And that's what you had been doing. Development. Right. In the business sense. In the business sense. That's right. Right. Yeah, so the transfer skills could be there. Define development, raise money.

Raise money, that's right. Donor development, donor relationships, those kinds of things. I had never done any fundraising, but I certainly understood the process of engaging. Relationship building, sales, getting people around. And not being hesitant to make an invitation. Like, do you want to be part of this, right?

So I hem and haw, I say, I'm gonna pray about it. I talked to my wife who's a mother Teresa. Well, she's like a sassy mother Teresa. She's cute. She's like a spit fire mother Teresa. My girl's got some power. She's, I talked to her about it and she says, you know, Adrian, God has provided for us before. And if this is what he wants you to do, then we're in.

Like he'll provide, it'll be fine. Would you have to quit your job to do this? Yeah. Then this is definitely a financial step down. For sure. Absolutely. But your wife is go for it. She's like, if this is what you think that God wants you to do, I'm in. Wow. So we scared because of the money.

Well, I'm almost there because there's a moment. Like I told you, God gives me these moments and there's one coming. I talked to three guys who I feel are elders to me. I asked them, what do you think about this? And Bill, one of them says, Adrian, I don't think you should pray for clarity. I think you should pray for conviction. Wow.

And I didn't really even think of the difference until that moment. So a few weeks later, I'm at my kitchen table and I'm meeting with my accountant. I've got to fill out K1 stuff and you know, do all that. And I am overwhelmed with this thought. Well if you're figuring out filling out K1 stuff, you are in an ownership position and some S corp or something. You're making money. Yeah, yeah.

So you're about to walk from money and probably future money opportunity and everything. There were things on the table that I had to wrestle with. And in that moment, what came over me was, Adrian, you are comfortable and you are afraid to give up your comfort. That's hard to do, bro. But you did.

But I did. Because I know better. I've watched provision come. I've watched being taken care of. I know better. I know that comfort's a trap. And when you talk about an army of normal folks, sometimes I believe that the barrier for everyday people to do the thing they can do is fear. Fear of losing something. Fear of being taken advantage of. Fear of not being

comfortable. Fear of being laughed at. Fear of being laughed at. Dude, when you're leaving a company to go to a ministry, and I don't even know how much money I was going to make at the ministry, we haven't even talked about it. It wasn't even in the cards for making the decision. It sounds dumb. It does sound a little dumb, bro. What are you thinking? You know? And I just- And it's not just you, you got a wife and kids. I got a wife and kids, yeah, no, it's a decision. But I'm telling you, when you see purpose bigger than yourself, when this is not about me so much, things change.

I say almost every show, and I'm gonna keep saying it until people get to where they say it. But I think the magic happens or passion and ability meet opportunity. And this sounds like that point for you. You had a passion, you had the ability and development and you saw an opportunity and that's when the magic started for you. It did in a way that was truly bigger than myself. And I'm not saying everybody's got to leave their job and go join some nonprofit. Get it. That's your story. It's just my story. Yeah. It's just what I was given the opportunity to do.

And so we said, yes, I went to my wife and I was like, hey, I think we're supposed to give more money away and I'm supposed to give more money away. And I'm supposed to quit my job and join this ministry. And you know what she says? So little Cuban mother, Teresa. But. That sounds exactly like God to me. Wow, dude. We'll be right back. I'm Hannah Storm and my podcast, NBA DNA with Hannah Storm, digs deep into the history of

professional basketball, along with my own as one of the first female sportscasters. Now let's get you up to speed on what else happened around the NBA today. We talked to all sorts of people I interacted with, from Dr. J to Charles Barkley, and recap iconic moments. Yes, he's got it. Here he comes. Way rock the baby to sleep and slam dunk. As well as some of the wild stories behind the scenes.

We were like, what? What are we in for? The scoreboard crashes before we even tip a game off. Today, the NBA is a global sports and entertainment giant. Players are multi-millionaires and cultural icons. Igadala to Curry, back to Igadala, up for the layup. Oh, blocked by James. LeBron James.

And these stories are about how we got here, both on and off the court. And what's next? Listen to NBA DNA with Hannah Storm on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. More Than a Movie is back with season two of the award winning film podcast, and this time with a lot more movies. I'm your host, Alex Fumero, and each week, I'm gonna talk to the people behind

some of my favorite movies. From the Godfather, Andy Garcia. He has the smarts of Vito, the temper of Sonny, the warmth of Fredo, and the coldness of Michael. To the OG spy kid, Alexa PenaVega. You had Carlo Gugino, who's the coolest mom ever. You had Antonio, who's handsome, amazing, charismatic, and then Carmen and Juni.

I felt like a lot of other kids felt like this could be me. To the legend behind La Bamba, Lou Diamond Phillips. When I walked in, I didn't think I had a shot at Richie because John Stamos's picture was already up on the wall. Every episode will feature interviews with the biggest actors, directors, writers, and producers behind your favorite films and tap into the history of Latinos in film. Listen to More Than a Movie as part of the MyCultura Podcast Network available on the

iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Johnny B. Goode, and I'm the host of the new podcast, Creating a Con, the story of VidCon. Over this nine-part series, I'll explore the life and crimes of my best friend, Ray Tripani. I always wanted to be a criminal. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme.

You see, Ray has this unique ability to find loopholes and exploit them. They collected $30 million. There were headlines about it. His company, Centratec, was one of the hottest crypto startups in 2017. It was going to change the world, until it didn't. I came into my office, opened my email, and the subject heading was FBI request.

It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. You can only fake it till you make it for so long before they find out that your Harvard degree is not so crimson. How could you sit there and do something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world? Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So now you are the newly tapped development director and what's life look like? So I'm traveling. There's an earthquake in Haiti. I spend the first three months in Haiti. It's crazy. Then we start going to Africa and that earthquake, by the way, I would argue

is the beginning of where we are right now in Haiti because nothing got got fixed. And it just, society continued to downgrade from there little by little on the road. Do you agree with that? Well, Haiti has been under, what's the word I'm looking for, man? It's just been so hard, so much oppression in Haiti for hundreds of years. I mean, if we had time, I'd tell you the backstory.

Maybe he did, the Andre guy, but it's been way back into the 17, 1800s where this got really tough. Yeah, the French left in a mess. Yeah, and they just never climbed out of that hole by design, right? It was hard. And so there have been peaks and valleys along the way,

and we're in a valley right now. The earthquake had some upswing because there was a tension and then things faded off. There's no one person to blame. It's just lots of circumstances. But it is a mess. It's a mess. It's a hot mess, right?

So figuring out what our role is is a question. I forgot where we were though, Bill. Well, I'm sorry, it's a well, we were, you are now the development director of this thing. And somehow you decide, well, orphans aren't enough. Let's find out what's going on in the foster system. It's another moment, man. So we're at church one day and my wife gets approached by this lady, older lady, grandma. And the woman comes up and says,

thank you so much for your help the other day. I couldn't have done this without you. Well, my wife had seen her trying to help some kids like check in or do something at the church. And she just stepped up to help her. Her found out that the grandparents had taken in their two grandkids and they were fully overwhelmed. I mean, 70 something years old, got eight and 11 year old

kids now, they're not prepared for this and all kinds of baggage, right? And so when the woman comes up to us at church, I was like, well, we can help you some more. Just came out of my mouth. My wife can tutor. Again, I'm volunteering my wife. And so she did, you know, she just started tutoring

the kids and then we took them to practice and then they joined our sports teams. And so we were just walking alongside of them. It's the first time I had gotten anywhere close to foster care personally. I didn't get it at all, right? The ministry wasn't doing foster care. That wasn't what our jam was.

We were all international, but that's my backdrop. And then I go to Uganda in August of 2010, and I'm in this little round hut behind a pastor's house, grass, roof, and just simple, you know? And a very concrete thought crosses my mind. That was not mine. Take the foster care class. I'm in Uganda, Bill, take the foster care class. Why? Great question.

I don't know, but it did say. So now it's put on your heart to take the foster care class. Now what does quote, take the foster care class, what is a foster care class? What does it mean? Yeah, so to become a foster parent, you have to jump through some hoops. Some of them are really important hoops to jump through. For example, your home has to be certified

that it is fit to bring kids into it, right? You have to go through 10 weeks of training. It's about 30 hours, something like that, where you understand the circumstances from which these kids might come and how you might deal with things when they do come. You're really preparing yourself to bring in children who come from somewhere else the best way you can.

And I gotta tell you, Bill, I was in that second foster care class. Mind you, I had been all over the world. I'd given up my job to serve orphans. I'm in that second foster care class and I have a broken heart for the first time for the orphan. For the orphans or the foster kids? So what's the difference?

That's a really, really good point. And this is also where I wanna stop for a second and set up what happens next. I think numbers are important, demographics help, so does data. This is what I read when researching you and I want our listeners, everybody out there, hear this. Every year, more than seven million children

are referred to Child Protective Services. Seven million. Consider that is like every single breathing soul in Minneapolis as a child, referred to child protective services. Just consider the volume of human beings. And those seven million children are often teetering on the brink of entering foster care. More than 400,000 children are in foster care, and most are for preventable reasons, which we're going to get to in a second about what you've done. Here's the other thing.

Roughly 80% of children in foster care have mental health issues versus 20% in children not in the foster care. And over 50% of children foster care have experienced homelessness. And 60% of the girls and or women from foster care have been rescued from sex trafficking situations or being the daughter of a mother being trafficked and 75% of the people Incarcerated in prisons today have been in the system at one point in their life Those are all correct numbers, right? It's a crazy crazy crazy phenomenon, so

Alex the producer, and everybody that listens to his regularly knows that Alex, you know, I was tongue in cheek, I obviously like and care for Alex or I wouldn't be doing this show with him, but he's also a producer, which inherently just makes him a pain in the ass. One of the things he has said to me since before we ever went live was that there are

400,000 kids in foster care. There are 400 or so thousand places, houses of worship in the United States. If every single house of worship adopted one kid, there would be no more foster children. So when you think that and you hear the demographics of seven million children in child protective services, 400,000 in foster care, 80% of the children in foster care have mental health issues.

Now understand, the 80% of kids that have mental health issues, they weren't born with those issues. Those issues are a product of the environment and the dysfunction that they've grown up in that has borne them to have mental health issues that they can get over with proper care. But when they don't, 50% of them end up homeless,

60% of the girls end up in sex trafficking, and 75% end up in prison. This is not just a moral obligation. If you don't even care about children and foster care from a moral standpoint, think about the pragmatic. Think of what we could do to our prison populations and the most underserved in our country and the people not adding to our tax base

if we simply cared for foster children. And if we simply prevented kids from coming into foster care. In the first place. Some have to go, right? Like some have to go. Right. Right? Like some have to go. But you're gonna explain to us what you found out

and what you've learned and what you've done about it, which is phenomenal. But first, you and your wife, of course, I mean, I don't think it's any surprise to anybody you decided to be foster parents. We did. After the class. After the class, we believe this was an assignment for us.

And so we said yes. We actually put ourselves in a position to foster or and adopt. And I gotta tell you just the fullness here. We get our first phone call. We're driving down the road and the caseworker says she has a four and two year old boy that are sitting in her office.

They need permanency. They need to be adopted because their parental rights are already terminated and their grandma is no longer an option. Something fell apart. So I'm driving down the road with my sassy Cuban wife. That is not even fair to say to a person. I'm sitting here thinking of you driving down the road.

If you say no to that, you wanna kill yourself. It's not easy, like, it's not easy. I mean, if somebody says that to you, your heart is breaking for people you've never laid eyes on. So I'm driving and we pray, and my wife says what comes to mind for her is the verses in Matthew 25. When did we see you?

Hungry, thirsty, naked, a stranger. When did we see you? And Jesus says, whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me. And that moment, wow, that moment a seed was planted inside of me that has birthed all of what we've been talking about. The seed of what it's like to care for the Lord of the universe while you're caring for somebody else. What it's like to be that close.

So pivotal that a few months ago, I was with some guys who did spoken word and I was inspired by them. And I was like, I'm supposed to do this. The next day I get home from the conference and I'm walking my dog and it just comes. This seed that's planted deep inside of me. But I think I want to be planted inside of everybody else

from Matthew 25. Do you adopt these kids? We took those kids in, seven months later, a judge decided that another relative who was not supposed to be an option became an option. Oh gosh. You're building a bond that is now... Imagine... Stripped from you.

I mean, imagine going to adopt a kid from another country and they're with you. And seven months later, somebody says, now we're taking them back, right? Like that's what it was for us because from day one, we plan to adopt them. And this is why people are afraid because they don't want that to happen to them.

But I need to tell you, Bill, the human I am today, even going through that pain, is a human who's capable of doing the things I'm doing today. You understand? Yeah, I understand. It doesn't, oh, I understand cognitively, but there's the heart and the head and the heart part.

I mean, it had to have been hard for the kids part. I mean, it had to been hard for the kids too. Oh, of course. And they loved their grandma. They loved that relative who, who now could care for that conflict. It's hard, but it's okay. So did you go back to the till? Yes, of course. So we brought in two girls and they stayed with us for a year and a half and they went to be with their dad. That was great. Then we got a phone call for three boys,

Jacob, Jalen and Isaac. Who? Jacob, Jalen and Isaac. They were seven, three and one and a half brothers. They were separated, had been in foster care for a year and a half. And parental rights were close to being terminated. So the system was looking for a family

who would take all three of them. And my wife and I got the phone call and we prayed on it. And I had some sweet moments where I was just sure this is what we were supposed to do. And so we said, yes, we'll do this. That was 2014. Took a couple of years for the adoption to be finalized, but it was 2016.

And now these are my youngest three kids, Jacob, Jalen and Isaac. And you know, they're three white boys. Finally, we got some white kids in this family. Finally, I was starting to think this dude might be racist. I mean, he's got Armenians. He's got he's got Cubans. He's got black folks. Finally, these white kids show like is show there goes the neighborhood. Dude, your

Christmas photo the list look like a shot at the United Nations. It's beautiful. It is beautiful. I love that. Mother Teresa says, God makes families in all kinds of ways, right? And this is the way he made our family. And that concludes part one of my conversation with Adrian Lewis. And you do not wanna miss part two

that's now available to listen to as we dive in to this extraordinary platform that he's built called Care Portal. Together guys, we can change the country, but it starts with you. I'll see you in part two. I'm Hannah Storm and my new podcast NBA DNA with Hannah Storm chronicles my six decades in professional basketball from growing up in the sport to becoming one of sports TV's first female broadcasters.

Join me as I dig deep into the game's history, unearth some wild stories, and talk to my friends from the world of basketball, from Dr. J to Charles Barkley. It's been a wild ride, and now I get to take you with me. Listen to NBA DNA with Hannah Storm on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

More Than a Movie is back with season two. I'm your host, Alex Fumero, and each week I'm going to talk to the people behind your favorite movies. From the Godfather, Andy Garcia. He has the smarts of Vito, the temper of Sonny, the warmth of Fredo, and the coldness of Michael. To the legend behind La Bamba, Lou Diamond Phillips. When I walked in, I didn't think I had a shot at Richie because John Stamos' picture was already up on the wall. Listen to more than a movie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. Welcome to season nine of Next Question with me, Katie Couric. I've got some big news to share with you in our season premiere featuring the one and only Kris Jenner. Oh my gosh, congratulations. That is very, very exciting. And that's just the beginning. We'll also be joined by podcast hosts,

Jay Shetty, Hillary Clinton, Renee Flemming, Liz Cheney, and many more. So come on in, take a break from the incessant negativity for a weekly dose of fascinating conversations. Some of them, I promise, will actually put you in a good mood. Listen to Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts.