An Army of Normal Folks - Belinda Leto: Throwing Birthdays for 6,000 Kids! (Pt 1)

Episode Date: August 13, 2024

Belinda never dreamed of starting a birthday charity, until she was asked to provide a birthday party for a boy who wouldn’t otherwise have one. And only 5 years later, Celebrate Birthdays and their own Army of Normal Folks, have provided birthday celebrations to over 6,000 kids.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

That was our goal when we started to just give 25 kids that maybe were in need or had a hard time a birthday and we just celebrated our five year anniversary and have served a little over 6,000 now. Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, a father, an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach in inner city Memphis. And that last part, it somehow led to an Oscar

for the film about our team. That movie's called Undefeated. Y'all, I believe our country's problems will never be solved by a bunch of fancy people in nice suits using big words that nobody ever uses on CNN and Fox, but rather by an army of normal folks. Us, just you and me deciding, hey, maybe I can help.

That's what Belinda Leto, the voice we just heard, has done. Belinda never dreamt of starting a birthday charity until she was challenged with the opportunity to provide one for a boy who wouldn't otherwise have had one. And five years later, Celebrate Birthdays and their own army of normal folks have helped to provide birthday celebrations to over 6,000 kids. I cannot wait for you to meet Belinda right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hi, I'm Molly Conger, host of Weird Little Guys, a new podcast from Cool Zone Media on

iHeartRadio. I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives of people you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask. I've collected the stories of hundreds of aspiring little Hitlers of the suburbs, from the Nazi cop who tried to join ISIS, to the National Guardsmen plotting to assassinate the Supreme Court, to the Satanist soldier who tried to get his own unit blown up in Turkey. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy.

And you can laugh. Honestly, I think you have to. Seeing these guys for what they are doesn't mean they're not a threat. It's a survival strategy. So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the Weird Little Guys trying to destroy America. Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all-new podcast There and Gone. It's a real-life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished. Nobody hears anything. Nobody sees anything. Did they run away?

Was it an accident or were they murdered? A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. It was definitely murder for hire for Danielle, not for Richard. He's your son. And in your eyes, he's innocent. But in my eyes, he's just some guy my sister was with. In this series, I dig into my own investigation

to find answers for the families and get justice for Richard and Danielle. and get justice for Richard and Danielle. Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, host of Womanica, a daily podcast that introduces you to the fascinating lives of women history has forgotten.

This month we're bringing you the stories of athletes. There's the Italian race car driver who courted danger and became the first woman to compete in Formula One. The sprinter who set a world record and protested racism and discrimination in the U.S. and around the world in the 1960s. The diver who was barred from swimming clubs due to her race and went on to become the first Asian American woman to win an Olympic medal.

She won gold twice. The mountaineer known in the Chinese press as the tallest woman in the world. And the ancient Greek charioteer who exploited a loophole to become the first ever woman to compete at the Olympic Games. Listen to Wamanica on the iHeartRadio app, a loophole to become the first ever woman to compete at the Olympic Games. Listen to Wamanica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford and I've spent my career exploring the three pound universe in our heads. We're looking at a whole new series of episodes this season to understand why and how our lives look the way they do. Why does your memory drift so much? Why is it so hard to keep a secret? When should you not trust your intuition? Why do brains so easily fall for magic tricks, and why do they love conspiracy theories? I'm hitting these questions and hundreds more, because the more we know about what's

running under the hood, the better we can steer our lives. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life by digging into unexpected questions. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our iHeartRadio Music Festival, presented by Capital One.

Coming back to Las Vegas. September 20th and 21st, streaming live only on Hulu. Don't miss. Big Sean. Camila Cabello. Doja Cat. Gwen Stefani. Hozier. Keith Urban. New Kids on theulu. Don't miss. Big Sean. Camila Cabello. Doja Cat. Gwen Stefani. Poe's Year.

Keith Urban. New Kids on the Block. Paramore. Shaboosie. The Black Crows. Thomas Rhett. Victoria Monet. And more.

Get tickets to our 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival presented by Capital One right now before they sell out at AXS.com. Belinda Laito. Call out at AXS.com. The Linda Lato. Welcome to Memphis. Thank you so much. You know, Alex usually flies all of our guests in and you're from Tampa. I am. And he made you drive?

He didn't make me. He made you drive. Are didn't make me, we chose. He made you drive? Are we running low on funds? Listen, to all listeners, we need more support because apparently we're having guests drive to Memphis from Tampa. Why'd you decide to drive? You know, when we started this charity five years ago,

it was a little bit difficult. It started right before COVID and then I had my dad ill with me. He wound up passing away a few years ago. So we truly haven't been on a vacation or gotten out of our place for five years. And so I felt like I just needed a break. So this was an excuse to get that. So and so you also brought this dude over here with you, Michael.

Yes. Michael Russell. Michael Russell., Michael. Yes. Michael Russell? Michael Russell. What's the story on Michael Russell? This guy, this guy sitting behind you over there who apparently drove with you from Tampa. He did and he helped. We took turns, but he's been an amazing guy to me. Quick story. We actually dated when we were 17 years old and we were CNAs at the time before we both

went into the medical career. And so we kind of lost touch with each other. He moved his way. He had to leave and go down to Wachula and I stayed in Tampa. And it was the craziest thing because we both got remarried. We both had, you know, children and wound up, I guess, getting back together again about 30 years, 20 years later. And so, yeah, now we're together. It's again about 30 years, 20 something years later. And so yeah, now we're together.

It's been about five years we're engaged and yeah, it's amazing. He must be a good one to get in a car and drive from Tampa to Memphis with you. He's a good one, period, yes. All right, Michael, I get, you give me 20 bucks after the show for plugging you. I got your Venmo for also.

Okay, Venmo's good. All right, and so actually you guys drove past Memphis. You went to Branson. We did, we did a little job. What was that like? Oh my gosh, amazing. You know, they have those glow bugs that light up. We don't get that in Florida.

So I was so in awe of just the peace and the nature of Branson. It was amazing. And Memphis has been wonderful too. Good for you. So you used an opportunity to appear here with us as just a little road trip. Good for you.

So in hindsight, Alex wasn't being cheap. Not at all. He's a great guy. Let's not go too far. He just wasn't being cheap. Okay. All right. So what's your birthday?

September 19th. Really? Yes. Why is it close to yours? I have a, let's see, Lisa's September 18th, my wife. My son is the 17th, and my father-in-law is the 19th. Stop it. Yeah.

We're all Virgos. All of you are Virgos. And I'm 831, so I'm a Vir 19th. Stop it. Yeah. We're all Virgos. All of you are Virgos. And I'm 831, so I'm a Virgo too. Got it. All right. So September 19th. Michael, what's your birthday? November 9th.

11, 9. Alex, what's your birthday? January 17th. What? January 17th. 1, 17. Cassius? January 24th.

January 24th. I'm 824. What is your favorite recollection of a birthday? Yours. Mine personally. I have so many. Most of them. Your favorite one, top one.

Gosh, that's so hard. Okay, give me one of the top ones. I'll give you one of the top ones. I am a huge fan, and don't touch me, of Chuck E. Cheese. I love Chuck E. Cheese. I think it's like the best thing ever. And so, I remember a Chuck E. Cheese party that I had. And I went with him. How old were you? Gosh, I must have been maybe like... 33? I'm kidding. No, you ask him. Yeah, I like to go there for my birthday. And I actually did a tradition with my son

when he was one year old, every day, every year on his birthday, no matter what day it was, we would go to Chuck E. Cheese and celebrate. So I have all the little photos from the photo booth from one to 18 with Chuck E. It was so amazing. Yeah, it is starting to come completely together while you would take a road trip to Branson. But go ahead.

So, Howard, what's your favorite Chuck E Cheese? Yeah, obviously in Tampa, Florida, I go to the one on North Domeabrie Highway. But really, seriously, I think that's one of my favorite places to go. And I remember having a birthday there. So I was thinking about preparing to talk to you, to you, Belinda. And my favorite birthday, I remember in Memphis there used to be a summer twin drive-in, which was a drive-in, you know, we drove in. I don't even think there are drive-ins anymore,

which is a shame for my age kids, but we loaded up a car of six of my friends and mom, back when grocery bags were paper, she cooked popcorn so much that we filled up two huge grocery bags of popcorn. And we went to the drive-in and the drive-in always had two movies and we packed cokes and popcorn and stuff and the five, me and four of my buddies and my mom and we piled in the car and ate popcorn and watched movies and I just remember being a blast.

And I mean, that's really insignificant except that I celebrated my birthday and it was fun. And I get it. And it's funny to see you light up talking about Chuck E. Cheese. You loved it. I did. I do. Right. And isn't it sad

that there are kids in the world who their birthday comes and goes and they don't even hear so much as happy birthday? You know, I've lived in Tampa, Florida my whole life and I never knew that it was happening in my own backyard. Like I just never knew it. I would have done something sooner if I had. So I think I was shocked more than anything when I found out that there were kids that hadn't celebrated. Now we've seen plenty, but yes, very sad and it's something that I feel like should never ever happen.

So spoiler alert, Belinda Leto is the co-founder of a thing called Celebrate Birthdays, which is why we're talking about birthdays. I hope all of our listeners, the whole reason I did what I just did was, you know, I hope all of our listeners are also recollecting about their birthday times and, you know how special it is especially as a kid coming up. I don't know I'm 55 now I pretty much run from birthdays because they're just one more tick closer to death I think if that's not too ridiculous but it's still a day we all get together and celebrate somebody and so they're good. So let's go back because we'll talk about what you do.

But how'd you grow up? Tell me where you came from. Yeah, I had a wonderful life growing up. Honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better life as a child. My parents were amazing. My mom and my dad were together for many years to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and my dad decided that he didn't want to be married anymore. The coolest thing

though about that, and I didn't do well with it, I didn't speak to my dad for almost a year, but my mom and my dad stayed friends after. And so every Christmas, every holiday, I was able to have both my mom and my dad together. And it was the most mature and the most responsible thing that my parents could have done for me as a child growing up. And so I was 16 when they divorced, but I really had a wonderful upbringing. I never had to ask for much. I was actually quite contrary, probably spoiled a little bit and had more than I ever needed

to be truthful with you. And so now I feel like that's why it's so important to give back. I was probably spoiled a little bit and had more than I ever needed to be truthful with you. And so now I feel like that's why it's so important to give back. I wish I would have seen that sooner, learned that sooner, and been able to do more sooner. And I wish the same for me showing my children that. But we're doing it now and I'll always stop doing it for the rest of my life. I feel like I found my purpose. So you grow up, you end up becoming a nurse, right?

Yes. So what kind of nurse? So you grow up, you end up becoming a nurse, right? So what kind of nurse? I'm a regular nurse, a registered nurse. I started school when I was young, when I was 20 years old. Didn't quite know what I wanted to do. At that time I was a single mom with a child and so I just had to make a decision to do a trade. I always knew I liked to help people

and so I became a nurse. And once I did, I loved becoming a nurse. And it's, yeah, I've done it for 20, 22 years now. Are you like a kid nurse or a ER nurse? No, I'm a home health nurse. So we go out to people's homes, we go out to facilities and just treat them there so they can stay as independent

as we can possibly keep them. Is home health nursing, does that serve all manner of people or is it more ended? I mean, what is a home health nurse do? Yeah, it can serve, there's different types. We are Medicare home health, so predominantly what we serve is a lot of our geriatric community, but we also have children in home health that they're at home, they have trachs, what have you, parents are trying to care for them,

and home health goes in and helps them to maintain that level of staying at home. So it encompasses a wide variety of patients and ages, honestly. All right, so you grew up in a loving family. I did. Even when it broke, it was still loving. Yes.

You go on, you become a nurse, you've got your sons, and I mean, honestly, you're living a good life, but largely, really, and I don't mean this wrong, but unremarkable, you're just doing your thing. That's it. And then one day, you and your buddy, Selena Saunders, I think is.

Yeah, I met her in nursing school, believe it or not. I was in the front of the class and I was super excitable. They said, find a partner you can kind of do this project with and Selena was like way in the back in the corner. And I was like, oh, I'll go talk to her. And so I got up and I moseyed on over and I was like, do you want to be my partner? And she was like, okay.

And so that's kind of how we started and we've been best friends ever since. I've known you all of about 15 minutes, but I don't think I would be at all surprised that you just went across the room and said hello to somebody. Michael, it doesn't seem like she has a hard time making friends. Yeah, clearly. Yeah. If everybody could see this, it's just this bright, big, sweet grin on Belinda's face, and it's been there since I walked in. And I don't think it has anything to do with me. I think it's just your normal affect. You're pretty cool too, Bill. So tell me what happened and what called you to action and why.

Yeah, so we were doing a project called Angel Tree through our local church. And you go out at the holiday time and you just serve people who have either a daughter, an aunt, a father, somebody in jail. And on behalf of that incarcerated person, you give presents at Christmas time to their children. Hold it, That's cool.

Yeah. Just, that's not what you do, but hold it. So you're saying if somebody's in jail and they have loved ones outside of jail, you go visit the family of the incarcerated person outside of jail on their behalf. To give them presents, yeah. Well, how do you find the people in the jail?

Well, we go through the church and so the church has these names and who they are and kind of what they need and what the kid wrote to the parent that they would like. And then I'm not sure the relationship between the jail and the Angel Tree people. They're another amazing charity, but that's how I went out and did this project through my church. And so, yeah, it's just an amazing thing. So like you bringing gifts to children of adults. Correct, an incarcerated person.

And the adults are trying to let their children know even though I'm stuck here. I love you. I'm thinking about you, aren't I? Yeah, yeah. Well, that's kind of beautiful in and of itself, isn't it? It's really neat. And now a few messages from our generous sponsors.

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So I hope you'll think about it. We'll be right back. digging into the lives of people you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask. I've collected the stories of hundreds of aspiring little Hitlers of the suburbs, from the Nazi cop who tried to join ISIS, to the National Guardsmen plotting to assassinate the Supreme Court, to the Satanist soldier who tried to get his own unit blown up in Turkey. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy. And you can laugh. Honestly, I think you have to. Seeing these guys for

what they are doesn't mean they're not a threat. It's a survival strategy. So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the Weird Little Guys Trying to Destroy America. Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all new podcast, There and Gone. It's a real life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck, and vanished. Nobody hears anything. Nobody hears anything. Nobody sees anything. Did they run away?

Was it an accident or were they murdered? A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. It was definitely murder for hire for Danielle, not for Richard. He's your son. And in your eyes, he's innocent. But in my eyes, he's just some guy my sister was with.

In this series, I dig into my own investigation. To find answers for the families. And get justice for Richard and Danielle. Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello. From Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, host of Womanica, a daily podcast that introduces you to the fascinating lives of women history has forgotten. This month, we're bringing you the stories of athletes.

There's the Italian race car driver who courted danger and became the first woman to compete in Formula One. The sprinter who set a world record and protested racism and discrimination in the U.S. and around the world in the 1960s. The diver who was barred from swimming clubs due to her race and went on to become the first Asian-American woman to win an Olympic medal. She won gold twice, the Mountaineer, known in the Chinese press as the tallest woman in the world, and the ancient Greek charioteer who exploited a loophole to become the first ever woman to compete at the Olympic Games.

Listen to Wamanica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford and I've spent my career exploring the three pound universe in our heads. We're looking at a whole new series of episodes this season to understand why and how our lives look the way they do. Why does your memory drift so much? Why is it so hard to keep a secret?

When should you not trust your intuition? Why do brains so easily fall for magic tricks? And why do they love conspiracy theories? I'm hitting these questions and hundreds more because the more we know about what's running under the hood, the better we can steer our lives. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life

by digging into unexpected questions. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Gwen Stefani, Hozier, Keith Urban, New Kids on the Block, Paramore, Shaboosie, The Black Crows, Thomas Rhett, Victoria Monet, and more. Get tickets to our 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival, presented by Capital One right now before they sell out at AXS.com. So we went out and we visited several people on a Sunday and Selena was with me and the

last stop that we went to was a 73 year old grandmother. Her daughter had been incarcerated and she was in charge of three grandchildren. They were all under the age of eight and I'll just be very transparent with everyone. They had no shoes on. They transparent with everyone. They had no shoes on, they had boogies, they had... They had no shoes on and what? Like boogies coming down out of their nose, they had diapers, like they just, you know, no clothes, like they were really struggling and it was my first time really seeing that.

Was it just abject poverty is what you're saying? Yes, but I had never really been privy to that. And so my heart was already just full just from seeing this grandma try and take care of these three grandchildren and knowing that she was struggling. And so they were so thankful. I got on the floor. I played with the kids.

And it was just such a wonderful moment in itself. And when we got ready to leave, that grandmother said to us, listen, you guys have done so much and I'm so grateful, but Jonathan is going to be eight in January. Do you guys know anybody that can maybe help him with my help me give him a birthday? We're not going to have money to buy a cake or to do anything. And I remember looking at Selena and Selena looked at me and I said, you know what, I don't, but I'll get back with you and we'll see what we can find." And so in quite honesty, that's the way it kind of started. I made some phone calls on the Monday to our social services in our county and just trying to see if there was a service that could

help with this grandma's birthday. And I realized that there wasn't anything. I called the county, county told me to call the city, called the city, city told me to call a nonprofit. I had no idea what nonprofit to call. And so that's really where I feel like the Lord laid this on my heart because I knew that this kid was not going to be able to have a birthday probably. And I was just like, Gosh, I wonder, does this happen to other kids? Like I literally just felt like God placed this on my heart. And from there, I started to just kind of look around more and research. I remember calling a foster care group home out of the blue, literally, and just asking,

hey, what do you do for your foster kids for birthdays? Do you guys celebrate them? And I remember them saying, well, we don't really have a budget for birthdays. We do the best that we can do with what we have, but we don't really have a budget. And by this time, I was really feeling like, oh gosh, I need to do something. But then I was arguing with the Lord as well. I remember, I remember saying, you've chosen the wrong person. I'm a mom, I'm a nurse, I'm busy, my dad is sick. Like this isn't the right, like you've chosen the wrong person. And I just remember going back and forth in my head. Like I have to do something. Like what if there's more

kids? And the more and more I started looking, the more and more I realized, oh my head, like I have to do something. Like what if there's more kids? And the more and more I started looking, the more and more I realized, oh my gosh, like there's lots of kids. And so I remember sitting around with some friends and family at a table and just saying, like guys, we need to do something. Like should we create a little team? Maybe we can bless 25 children.

And so that was our goal when we started, to just give 25 kids that maybe were in need or had a hard time a birthday. And I'll know you'll go in order probably, but I'll just fast forward. We just celebrated our five year anniversary and have served a little over 6,000 now. And so, wow, what an amazing and incredible experience and journey I have been on. Why do you care? Why wouldn't you care?

I mean, these kids light up with joy. They're happy. They're not your kids. It doesn't matter. They're children. They're God's children. They're all of our children. Really?

Isn't that what community is about? So yeah, I get emotional because it's just something that means so very much to me. And I feel like it's my purpose here to make sure that every child has this experience, that they have this joy, that they know that they're loved. And even if their situation at home is bad, even if they're abused, if they're neglected, if they go through trauma, they still deserve to be loved.

And so if we can bring them that joy and that happiness, even if for just a day, then I've done my job. So one of the things I've said, and I'm being redundant for regular listeners, but I think the, I think the, I think the magic happens when normal people, and when I mean normal people, average folks, not somebody who's been tabbed or not somebody who's doing something for points within their corporation to do their philanthropic duty so that they got that check mark on the next

time they're up for a promotion, but I'm just talking a normal person sees an opportunity and need and Their passion and their discipline meet with opportunity and what I mean by that The discipline meaning an ability, right? So when somebody's passion and ability collide with opportunity is when amazing things can happen. So the first question of why is the passion? And again, you're emotional about it when you talk about it

and you're a mom with two kids, a divorced mom with two kids, who's a nurse. You gotta put food on the table, take care of your own kids, and you have a father who's dying, who's living with you. You're a place fool. So again, why passionate about some kid that you don't even know down the block? Because if not me, then who?

That's how I look at it. What about the government? What about the government? Unfortunately, we have a little bit of a broken system in some spaces, but obviously if the government was taking care of it, I wouldn't have served over 6,000. There wouldn't be such a need. What about these systems? Yeah, systems, like I said, they're broken.

There's lots of flaws and cracks. And I wish we could fix our systems better. And maybe in time, we can work towards that. But for right now, it's just something that I feel that I've been called to do. The joy and the thanks that the kids have given me have been far more than anything I could have given to them. Just the gratefulness and the love that they've given back to me.

It's all my reward just to see them and to know that I've helped to make this day possible. So I've got to imagine most of these places you go are in poverty stricken areas or dilapidated, underserved communities which is a buzzword a lot of people use. And you're going in their homes, right? Yeah, well we go into motels. I've gone to a vehicle. We go to wherever the children are no matter where. Is that scary?

Yes, sometimes. It's not in the best neighborhoods. I mean, I can only imagine your bright-eyed, bushy-tailed self popping out of what I would imagine is a decent car that you're driving with balloons and cake and gifts and stuff in a neighborhood that that is quite uncommon. Don't you become a mark immediately? Possibly. I mean, I have a really great bodyguard that helps me if I need a... You mean your driver from Tampa that brought you to Branson before Memphis?

Yes, maybe. This Michael Russell driver guy? Yeah, maybe. But I've never really had any problems, and I don't think about it like that. I really don't care where they are. I just want to make sure that they know that they matter. That's it. It's really a very simple mission. So five years ago, you go to this grandmother's house with these kids with what you call them boogies. That's pretty funny. Boogies in their face. I get it. Children or a grandmother that was really didn't have any money was

doing the best she could to watch after incarcerated daughter's children. And through this angel, what's it called? Tree. Angel tree. And you find out, well, this kid's not going to have a birthday. So was he the first? He was technically the first, yes. So what'd you do? I went back out and we served the grandma with a cake and just a few little birthday gifts. It was nothing major back then. It was just very humble. We just literally went and got a cake, said, here you go.

And I returned it to her. Did you stay? No, I didn't stay. You gave it to her. I dropped it off to the grandma so that she could do that with the kids. And then our next stop was a foster care group home where we threw our very first birthday party back at the beginning of 2019.

Which you stayed. Which I stayed. You actually stayed and did a whole birthday. I did. So that first kid, was he surprised? I didn't get to see the- No, no, no, the first kid at the foster home. Yes, they smile and they were teen boys.

And so I was like, oh, I don't know how this is going to go. You know, I had a teen boy and sometimes, you know, you get little eye rolls, especially somebody like me. And so didn't know quite how it was going to go. But they were so thankful and they were grateful. And it was just a wonderful time. And I thought, oh, this is like this, it enriched my life just from that one time. And the funny thing about the birthday parties

is you get to keep going every month to a lot of the places. So you get to know all the children that live in the different foster care group homes or in the organizations that you serve. And so it becomes like a big extended family in a way as you're serving them. They see you, oh, oh Miss Belinda, this happened, that happened. And then you not only get to celebrate their birthdays, but

you get to almost mentor them in a way. I have a kid named Jeff that I met at a foster care group home, Teen Boy, and he is now 20 and he calls me Ma ma and he's just a great kid. I helped him get his license. I helped him get his first job at a theme park in Tampa and took him you know places and did things that he didn't really have anyone there to help do so as you get to know some of the children you're able to invest in their lives and it's just such a rewarding thing. We'll be right back. Hi, I'm Molly Conger, host of Weird Little Guys,

a new podcast from Cool Zone Media on iHeart Radio. I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives of people you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask. I've collected the stories of hundreds of aspiring little Hitlers of the suburbs, from the Nazi cop who tried to join ISIS, to the National Guardsmen plotting to assassinate

the Supreme Court, to the Satanist soldier who tried to get his own unit blown up in Turkey. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy. And you can laugh. Honestly, I think you have to. Seeing these guys for what they are doesn't mean they're not a threat. It's a survival strategy.

So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the Weird Little Guys Trying to Destroy America. Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all new podcast There and Gone. It's a real life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished. Nobody hears anything.

Nobody sees anything. Did they run away? Was it an accident, or were they murdered? A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. It was definitely murder for hire for Danielle, not for Richard. He's your son, and in your eyes he's innocent, but in my eyes he's just some guy my sister was with.

In this series, I dig into my own investigation to find answers for the families and get justice for Richard and Danielle. for Richard and Danielle. All that they know. Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, host of Womanica, a daily podcast that introduces you to the fascinating lives of women history has forgotten. This month, we're bringing you the stories of athletes. There's the Italian race car driver who courted danger and became the first woman to compete in Formula One.

The sprinter who set a world record and protested racism and discrimination in the U.S. and around the world in the 1960s. The diver who was barred from swimming clubs due to her race and went on to become the first Asian-American woman to win an Olympic medal. She won gold twice. The mountaineer known in the Chinese press as the tallest woman in the world. And the ancient Greek charioteer who exploited a loophole

to become the first ever woman to compete at the Olympic Games. Listen to Wamanica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford and I've spent my career exploring the three pound universe in our heads. We're looking at a whole new series of episodes this season

to understand why and how our lives look the way they do. Why does your memory drift so much? Why is it so hard to keep a secret? When should you not trust your intuition? Why do brains so easily fall for magic tricks? And why do they love conspiracy theories? I'm hitting these questions and hundreds more because the more we know about what's running under the hood,

the better we can steer our lives. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life by digging into unexpected questions. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeart radioio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our iHeartRadio Music Festival,

presented by Capital One. Coming back to Las Vegas. September 20th and 21st, streaming live only on Hulu. Don't miss. Big Sean. Camila Cabello. Doja Cat.

Gwen Stefani. Hozier. Keith Urban, New Kids on the Block, Paramore, Shaboosie, The Black Crows, Thomas Rhett, Victoria Monet, and more. Get tickets to our 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival, presented by Capital One right now before they sell out at AXS.com. I want to read you something. The way we find out about you is Johnny Griffin.

Do you know Johnny Griffin? Johnny Griffin is an amazing lady, yes. Okay, well this is what she wrote on May 7th. So Johnny, I hope you're listening because we're shouting out to you. Hey Bill, I love your army of normal folks and I like to think we are onward Christian soldiers. I learned about Celebrate Birthdays over a year ago. I'm now a volunteer and I love it.

Started by two friends, Belinda Leto, who's now the executive director. Her service to others inspires me. It's a 501c3 nonprofit now serving foster children group homes and other underprivileged children in the Tampa Bay area of Florida by celebrating their birthdays. Check them out. It's a great story of serving others. What do you feel when you hear that? Gratitude. If you know Johnny, she's really the one that should be here being interviewed.

She has a selfless heart. She gives without question. She just drove, I don't even know how many miles the other day for me from different counties to help make sure that these kids got their birthday boxes and got them delivered in time. And she just, she's just a great person that loves others. But it makes me feel good to know that Johnny, I always say they become part of our family because this isn't me, right? It's not me doing this. This is a community. It's a group. And so I always welcome them to our celebrate family and Johnny's a pretty amazing member of it. All right. So crazy. So you're just a volunteer. You do the Christmas thing, you find out this need, now you find

out there's these kids all over the place that are not getting their birthday celebrated. And how do you begin? I mean, people listening to us, there's people, we interview people who do stuff from all walks of life, all kinds of different outreaches, right? But a lot of people, I think, have a giving, wanting heart and they just don't know where to start. Walk us through how this became that kid's birthday with a grandmother and then you went to the foster home and you were awakened to this uncomfortable truth

that there's underserved children all over our communities who don't have a birthday. That broke your heart. You want to do something. But how do you say, okay, we're going to reach all these kids that don't have birthdays? Yeah, I never intended to reach this many kids. I kind of figured you're going to say that. It's just 2019. We're talking five years ago and you're just awakened to this issue. So unfold, unfold the growth.

Right. Well, I'll tell you that it's not an easy thing to start a charity and I don't want to disgruntle everybody, but there were many times that I cried and just being very transparent. I thought I'm not a leader. How am I supposed to do this? I never was a corporate person. I'm a nurse. And so it was a difficult thing for me to try and even figure out.

We sat down with paper, but a thing about me, if I want something, I'm going to, I'm going to try my best to get it. And I wanted this for these children. And so it was always that fuel that kind of drove me to do it. So, you know, going through all the paperwork of starting this charity, you know, and sitting down and kind of saying, Okay, we've got to make a group, we've got to, you know, do this. It was a lot. It was a lot. But looking back, I don't ever regret any of the things that I did. And those times where I was weak and those times where I was just still, I feel like those are the times that God moved the most in my life, where I kind of didn't know what

my next step was. How am I supposed to do this? And really it was a journey all into itself. And I had amazing friends, amazing family. Now I call it the Celebrate Family because there's hundreds of people and volunteers that I don't know that have helped me to make this happen. I can't go visit every child. I can't go deliver every birthday in a box.

In the beginning I did, and I sure try to now. And I like to put faces with names and know all the people. But the community has really helped in Steadicide. We're a very grassroots charity. And so I like to involve as many people as I can in this opportunity to celebrate these children and to give them their wishes, especially ones that are dying from a terminal illness in their own hospice. And this may be their very last birthday, by crack, either parents are going through it.

They deserve to have the most amazing birthday that they could possibly have. And if we can help with that, then great. So I feel like growth was steady. Sometimes even though we've been around five years, I feel like it's only two and a half because those times through that. Yeah, those times in COVID. I mean, I was working full time this whole entire time. I just recently went as the executive director of Celebrate Birthdays. So we were all just volunteers continuously trying to do our best, trying to work a full-time job, do this full-time, take care of my daddy in my house.

He was passing away. It was just really difficult. And as a nurse, COVID was scary times for people. And that was the beginning of our time as the charity for the first two years. So I feel like growth just unfolded naturally and it was how it was supposed to happen step by step. And-

How did you find volunteers? And how did Word get out about, I gotta believe that Word started getting around that, hey, there's this crazy nurse out here giving people birth date gifts. I want the kids in our home or I want the kids in our hospital or I want the kids in our hospital or I want the kids in in our poverty stricken area to get I mean tell me how that worked.

Yeah, I feel like it was word of mouth. I feel like if somebody came to a party to volunteer a friend or family member then they told somebody else and then we created a social media account and then we were able to post some of the photos of the kids because depending on what they've gone through, you can't post every child. But then people got to start seeing it and then they would interact more and then we created a website. And so it was a step-by-step process of just involving our community.

And then groups would hear about it, like the junior league. And I think it was in 2021, we got our first grant and it was a small one at the time, I think it was like $500, but for us, it was like, oh, this is big. And so we just kind of kept advancing step by step. And the more people started helping, the more I feel like it started to grow.

And then students at high school started to kind of hear about it. And they wanted to help, not only for community service hours, but just to do something good. And so we have a lot of teens helping our teens. And it's just such an amazing thing how it organically just kind of grew.

I love that you said since then you've served over 6,000 kids for their birthdays. I'm more interested how many volunteers do you have? Well we have about 270 on the books but if you ask me how many active I'm probably gonna tell you about 50. That's still phenomenal. So from this little you, you've got 50 people in the Tampa area going out on weekly weekly basis, 200 and something that have done it, but 50 active people on a weekly basis going out to group homes, hospitals with children who are dying.

I mean, I say that, but that's what it is. And disadvantaged communities making sure children have their birthday celebrated. Right. Yeah, we do it a couple different ways. We do birthday parties every month, and that's one pillar of our program. We then created a mobile birthday in a box and that originated from- A mobile birthday in a box? Explain that. Yeah, that's our- Earlier you said birthday in a box, and I didn't want to interrupt you, but what the heck is birthday in a box? Yeah, it actually originated from COVID, because they told us that we couldn't go out to the

birthday parties, which is how we started. And so we decided, well, we still want to bring the birthday to the children. Like that's why we're here. So we put 16 different items inside a 10 by 10 box and we deliver it out to them wherever they're at in our community. That's where we see some of the motels, the vehicles, you know, the not so great areas, and we go and we serve these children. We do probably anywhere from, I don't know, 80 to 110 a month, just really depending on the birthday in the boxes. And then we do 13 different birthday parties

at different organizations every month. And then we have our classroom birthday bin program. We're in our Title I low-income transformation schools. We take in a bin for the teachers, and they have a birthday sticker, a birthday crown, a pencil, a notebook, a teacher certificate, and that way the child can get called up to the front of their class and in front of their peers,

they can be recognized and feel special on their birthday. That is unbelievable. Thanks. So, tell me about a birthday and a car. Yeah. I want to, if I may, tell you about a birthday and a foster home first and then I'll tell you a car. I want to hear both, so you do it how you want to.

One of my favorite memories really, and I'll never forget it, and you may have seen it other places, but truly, truly, I'll never forget it and you may have seen it other places but truly truly I'll never forget it. Her name was Jaslyn and she was turning 17 and she was in a foster care group home for girls that had been human trafficked and so we put three different cakes down in front of three different girls that were there at this community and we sang happy birthday. So the other two girls at the end of the happy birthday song blew out their candle, but Jaslyn didn't. And I remember just looking at Jaslyn and we were kind of like, okay what's going on? She just sat there and we were like, Jaslyn you got to make a wish and blow out your candle. All of a sudden Jaslyn lifts up

her glasses and she literally began to sob. I'm not kidding you, like sob. And I remember thinking like, what's wrong? Like why is she not blowing out her candle? And I went behind her and I rubbed her back and she said, this is the first time that anybody's ever celebrated me and I'm just so happy in this moment. She finally blew her candle and the whole place literally honestly was in tears just watching Jaslyn have this experience. I'll never forget that moment for how it made Jaslyn feel and how special it was for her.

I'll fast forward. I came back to that same facility every month because it was a birthday party. So when Jaslyn turned 18 and she was aging out, she came up to me and I remember her saying, Ms. Belinda, you know what? And I said, what Jaslyn? She said, I'm getting ready to leave, but I want

you to know that I have my candle with all my special things and I'll always keep it. So I wanted to thank you for what you did for me. It's moments and memories like that, like Jaslyn, that's why I do it. That's what I'll never ever forget it. Do you think she didn't want to blow candles out because she felt like when the candles was out, the celebration was over and she just wanted to savor every second of it? It could be, or I think maybe she just didn't even know. I think she was so overwhelmed with emotion that this moment was about her that she didn't even know how to take it all in, maybe. What does it say about a human being's life that at 17 years old, a stranger putting a cake in front of them

is maybe the highlight of the 17 years they've lived. It should never be. These children that we serve, they've been through so much. More than I've been in my 40-something years of life, they've been through so much. And the least they deserve is just a little joy. And it doesn't matter if they've made mistakes or if they've done wrong things. At the end of the day, right, they're human and they just deserve to feel the love and kindness that we all should feel. And so that's what it's about, really. Do you know where she is now?

Yes. Where is she? She aged out and she lives in an extended foster care group home that's not real far from the facility that we served her in. Is there hope for her to normalize into society? Yeah, she's working a job. She does a fast food job now. And you know, there's so many statistics I could probably share about foster care.

And I'm sure you know a lot of them. But we've interviewed a bunch and it is devastating. And there's a lot of really good people working to make it better for 1000% 1000%. So you know, a lot of them go on to, to have not so great lives, but she's really, really trying to make a better life for herself. And that concludes part one of my conversation with Belinda Leto. And you don't want to miss part two that's now available to listen to. Together guys, we can change the country.

And it starts with you. I'll see you in part two. Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast, Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford and I've spent my career exploring the three pound universe in our heads. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life because the Hi, I'm Molly Conger, host of Weird Little Guys, a new podcast from Cool Zone Media on iHeartRadio. I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives of people

you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy. So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the weird little guys trying to destroy America. Listen to weird little guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all new podcast, There and Gone. It's a real life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished.

A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. But which victim was the intended target and why? Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The details go beyond the podium. There's the Teen Table Tennis Champ, the ice skater who earned a medal and a medical degree, and the sprinter fighting for Aboriginal rights. Listen to a manica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our iHeartRadio Music Festival, presented by Capital One, September 20th and 21st.

T-Mobile Arena here in Las Vegas. Stream live only on Hulu. Don't miss Big Sean, Camila Cabello, Togekatt, Dua Lipa, Gwen Stefani, Halsey, Hozier, Keith Urban, New Kids on the Block, Paramore, Shaboosie, The Black Crows, Thomas Red, Victoria Monet and more. Buy tickets now at AXS.com.