Keith McKeever 0:23

Hey, welcome back to Mission 309. I've got a great guest on today, we're gonna talk about grappling for gifts. And before we start, I just want to say make sure that you follow like, subscribe, share, not only my vlog here, but what Ryan's got going on. Make sure you share his mission as well, because that's the whole point, right sharing the mission. So, got Ryan proud to hear from grappling with grappling for gifts. Mm hmm. So welcome, Ryan.

Ryan Prouty 0:48

Hey, thanks for having me.

Keith McKeever 0:49

So go ahead and just just, we'll start off with what what are you doing with grappling for gifts?

Ryan Prouty 0:54

Okay, I came up with grappling for gifts in 2016. Basically, as a way to raise money to buy gifts for the kids of the Children's Hospital of Illinois here in Peoria. Up until the last couple years, obviously, they had a thing called toy drop off day, which was always the first Saturday in December. And that's where people could come in from the public, and bring in new toys to be given to the kids in the hospital, you know, specifically for Christmas. But you know, we kind of shoot for a whole year round thing here with grappling for gifts. So

Keith McKeever 1:30

awesome. And how did that get started? What was the spark?

Ryan Prouty 1:35

In 2013, my daughter Catalina was born. We kind of got a heads up through sonograms while my wife was pregnant at the end of 2012 that a couple things might be wrong with the pregnancy. So they sent us over to the Children's Hospital to some specialists. And once my daughter was born, she was she's born with a few different defects, I guess, a duodenal atresia, which affected her lower intestine, heart, malformation situs and vs. If you look up, I've marked syndrome. She kind of shows all the symptoms of that, though not specifically diagnose for that, but all the symptoms explaining the heart malformation, etc. So she started off life, her first month in the children's hospital. And after, at four days, she had her first surgery to fix some intestinal stuff. And, you know, so like I said, we spent the first month there, and it really made such an impression on us. Not only did they, you know, save our little girl, but you know, this was me and my wife's first daughter, our first child, you know, and we had no idea what to do. You know what I mean, as far as how to handle all this pressure of assure of a baby that's, you know, stuck in a hospital and having surgeries already and everything. And

Keith McKeever 3:02

there's no rulebook for any of that. Not everything in general. But to have a child with some issues.

Ryan Prouty 3:08

That's a learning. Yeah, it's a learning experience. And, you know, but when we got there, you know, we knew we didn't want to be there, but we knew this was the place to be, you know, the, the Children's Hospital is a is a 1% hospital worldwide. I mean, there's kids from, you know, different states and countries in there all the time. And we knew we didn't want to be there, but this was the spot to be. So they fixed her up. And it was such a good experience, not only for my daughter, but for me and my wife, you know, like I said, we're just stressed to the max, we, you know, having trouble even taking in everything that's happening. And, you know, and the nurses and the staff, not only are they checking on my daughter all the time, but they're checking on us, you know, coming in, how are you guys doing? You know,

Keith McKeever 3:52

it is it's a lot of stress on you guys, it was navigate the unknown?

Ryan Prouty 3:56

Yeah, you know, we're just, you know, for those first that first month, you you know, you gotta pass somebody to get her out a little, the little that we call that her Cadillac, you know, the little plastic bubble type thing that they open and

Keith McKeever 4:10

she was in the NICU there she was in the NICU and

Ryan Prouty 4:13

then eventually moved up to the, to the upstairs to the, to the PICU. And, and, you know, it was just a good experience. Everybody was great. Every, every every nurse, every doctor surgeon that we came into contact with was awesome. So, uh, you know, just made a good impression on us. So, she gets out after her first month and, uh, you know, in within the, the her first year we went back a few times, you know, there was always issues coming up, or, you know, her getting sick. And even to this day, you know, we're still making trips back every once in a while, but they're getting a little easier, at least now, but, you know, when we were in there, again, you know, everybody was so great. I thought to myself, you know, once, catch is out of the hospital in the clear living life. You know, I got to do something. I know nothing about medicine, I don't have you know, anything like that, you know, so I kind of sat on it for a while brainstorming. And then in 2016 OSF started their 12 Days of Giving Program. And one of those 12 days was toy drop off day, boom, there. So I'm like, okay, I can do this, I'll raise a couple bucks. You know, buy some toys, drop them off, you know, how cool would that

Keith McKeever 5:31

be? Yeah, it makes some good, happy.

Ryan Prouty 5:33

But now I'm thinking, Okay. How do I how do I do this? Now? You know what I mean? I don't have unlimited funds. I wish I did to help out. But so I thought, Okay. I've been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for, I don't know, at this point over a couple decades. And I thought, Oh, here's what I'll do. I'll offer some private lessons to the guys at the Peoria Athletic Club. This is pure Athletic Club has been my second home for you know, since I think 2000. I walked in there. Awesome group of people. I thought, well, I'll get some of the guys that don't have so much experience. Give them some private lessons in jujitsu, you know, 100 bucks for four people for an hour. You know, if I get $300 or so great, you know?

Keith McKeever 6:16

Yeah, same for toys. Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, that's, you know,

Ryan Prouty 6:21

so, you know, ended up doing that. And then, you know, people caught on instantly friends and family and stuff. And I'm like, Well, can we just give you money? And I'm like, Yeah, for sure. You know, why? No, no, I say no to that. Yeah, I'm not gonna turn it down. So, you know, the first, that first year, you know, I was expected to make two or $300 and ended up making, it's on our website, 2500 or something. So I was absolutely blown away. And you know, before COVID hit, they would actually have a reception for Toy drop off day where you physically bring it in Santas, there, elves cookies, they got craft stations for the kids, if they started back up, anybody that's listening, you got to check it out. It's really awesome. You can watch Santa, take your gifts, head straight to the elevator and take them upstairs and just start handing them out to kids. It's awesome. So cool. You know, so today would

Keith McKeever 7:14

bring them in, I take it already wrapped and all and

Ryan Prouty 7:17

you can we didn't just the sheer amount, you know, I wanted to buy more toys, and I wanted to buy wrapping paper. So you know, you can I guess I guess they're asking for unwrap, but now go on. To on that said, you know, yeah, we're talking two weeks to wrapping it. Yeah, you're

Keith McKeever 7:35

already wrapping enough every year. Right?

Ryan Prouty 7:37

Yeah, yeah. So you know, it just and that got the ball rolling? And, you know, every year, except for 20, for 2020, you know, we've made a little more, you know, we went from 2500 to 2700. And, and, you know, a couple years ago, we, we did I think $12,000.19, which was just mind boggling to me that you know, and, you know, and I'm doing everything I can, I'm calling in favors on begging for money, you know, and now we're to the point where I'm traveling, you know, to different martial arts schools, and giving seminars where people just show up and I say, you know, give me whatever you can, and they donate, you know, I do three hours of my favorite stuff, you know, and, and that's a great way to collect, I've been doing you know, fundraisers specifically at the pure Athletic Club, we've got three locations, and I'm, you know, I did to you know, cookouts where I buy the food and the grill and everything, and everybody shows up trains and just throws money in a bucket, you know, and, and also, you know, through PayPal and Venmo, obviously, and, and then it, you know, it got pretty serious to the point where I thought, you know, if I, you know, try and get a 501 C three status, I can take this to the next level now, I can start working with, you know, corporations and businesses and stuff, and it's a tax benefit to you to other people also. So, as of last four months ago, November, I think we got our 501 C from the IRS. So, now I'm in the process of getting the bank accounts lined up and making everything you know, as easy as we can to donate straight into the fund. Before is more of a donation. Well, it was a donation just to me, and you know, but me and my family would still physically take that money and go out and buy the toys. And we usually did it on Black Friday, which I'm not a huge fan of Black Friday.

Keith McKeever 9:45

I don't know if anybody really is

Ryan Prouty 9:48

but for the kids, I made the exception because we got such great deals, you know, so we get up on that. You know that Black Friday we'd go out. Catalina would go with us. You know, after a couple years She's got a younger brother Victor, who is going with us now and, and it's been pretty awesome, you know, and we're getting to the, you know, to the point now where we're getting donations from different countries. People that I don't know about their don't know personally, you know, I got a blade Smith in Pennsylvania that raffles off one of his custom knives and gives me the money like just people. I mean, it's really brought out people, you know, I guess expose me to people that are completely selfless. They hear about something, and I'll just get an email or a phone call and say, Hey, man, I'd like to help you guys out. And I'm just like, you're not even close to us. You're not close to Peoria, you know, we don't know each other personally. And now here's this guy wants to do this for me. You know, I've got State Police in Maine that send it sent me teddy bears the handout the kids had, like, they're the teddy bears are made out of their old uniforms, and, you know, stuff like that. So I'm getting, you know, these donations from from San Diego to Maine and everything in between. And, you know, it's just been pretty awesome. So 2021 was our biggest year for sure. And we raised 14,500 bucks. Now, last year, and since I don't do the drop off day, now, the Children's Hospital puts a wish list on Amazon. And I just go in there and just buy it, buy everything and send it straight to the hospital, which, which is super easy. You know, you know, since since we really don't have the option of showing up and going to the reception and doing all that, but I really gotten to know people within the Children's Hospital, they will reach out to me, I'll reach out to them. And you know, we're really making sure that we get exactly what the kids need, you know, from toys, to games, to clothes, you know, just whatever they need.

Keith McKeever 11:58

You know, I was gonna ask that to like, you know what, like, when you're shopping in person, you know, what do you go for? Because when I shop for like, my niece, your own kids is one thing, but like my nieces and nephews for their birthdays, you're like, What? What are they really into? You gotta know what you don't know. You know, it's like other kids like, what do you buy him? Like? Well, here's an age appropriate toy, what I don't know if they're into transformers, or Legos or teenager is a turtle.

Ryan Prouty 12:25

Yeah, and that, and that's what we did you know, before, before they gave us such a detailed list those first few years, we would, we would just break it down by age group, you know, the the teenagers, lots of video games, or board games, you know what I mean? Now, the hospital really wants controllers, because those magically end up missing all the time. So they're always asking for the Xbox controllers and stuff. And then we, you know, just that the different ages. And then we go by and just, you know, buy a stack of a cart full of Barbie dolls, and then a cart full of superhero, you know, action figures and just different stuff, you know, so, at the beginning, it was kind of just up to us. But now, I mean, they're really putting on a specific list that includes, you know, some of these kids will come into the hospital, in bad situations where they don't even have clothes to wear, you know, besides what they came in on. So we're buying clothes from, you know, onesies for the babies up to, you know, extra large sweatpants for the for the bigger kids, you know, so

Keith McKeever 13:25

it definitely makes sense. I, you know, I guess you don't, you don't really think about the children's hospital being nervous, you don't really think about the vast difference in age range type enjoys, you don't think about the fact that some people have the means to give their kids toys others don't. Or clothes, like you said, Gosh, I would have never really thought about that. But you know, there's a lot of people that can barely afford to, you know, to keep the lights on in their houses, and, you know, their children get sick, too. So, yeah, we

Ryan Prouty 13:55

always say that, you know, we're kind of in the business of making smiles because, you know, like you said, some kids get in there, you know, their parents might be in California, they might not even be able to afford to come see these kids. So, you know, as a parent, when my daughter's in there, you know, they obviously don't want to talking and doing, you know, communicating with with kids, you know, as you're walking around so much, you know, especially right, but like, you would see these kids and nurse would say yeah, you know, they don't they don't have anybody that that comes to see them. And you're just like, ah, you know, I'm in there every day with my daughter, knowing eventually she's going to go home and some people don't don't have that option. You know what I mean? So seeing this stuff firsthand, and everything and just seeing how wonderful everybody at the Children's Hospital is and, and just coming to be conscious of the different situations that a lot of these kids are in has been such a driving force, you know, for us and, you know, it's just it's it's really kept me focused. I want to get this bigger and bigger, I want to, you know, eventually bloom into something else, you know, besides just the toys, you know, I'm not sure what I want to do, you know, I want to keep going and, you know, making a difference, you know, making a bigger difference in, in more kids lives, you know?

Keith McKeever 15:19

Well, yeah, I mean, it's this kids are in there fighting whatever they're fighting. You know, it takes its physical toll mental toll on them. And I can only imagine the boredom of sitting in there, you know, watching the one to 15 TV channels, you know, maybe playing the same video game over and over and over again, for hours. I mean, the boredom of that must be insane. So one board game, a new video game, anything to put a smile on her face, and this is our future. This is my future, your future. I mean, the children that are growing up now are going to be running this country and taking care of us when we're old. So we got to do we can take care of it to be nice to him. Now. I know. We have to NASA say make good decisions for you later. Right?

Ryan Prouty 16:06

Yeah. Yeah. And it is, and it is, it can be, you know, very boring. We, my daughter just did five days in there, unfortunately, last the week of Halloween last year, and, and, you know, when we're just looking out the window, and luckily, we had a window that faced the helicopter landing pads. So we get, you know, big excitement when that when the chopper would come in and out. So that was kind of cool. But yeah, it can make for long days. So, you know, the thought of, hopefully, you know, maybe a kid that's, that's getting something because of us, is just awesome. You know, it's a cool feeling. And, you know, we've seen it firsthand. And, you know, I just thought if, if it helps us a little bit for a couple minutes. I'm all in?

Keith McKeever 16:54

Absolutely. Yeah. Like, it's just a smile for a couple minutes. Yeah, and, you know, it's it's an it's an awesome, awesome thing to do. And it must be awesome to bring gifts in their back, you know, before, watch Santa Claus, take them in an elevator and go right up there.

Ryan Prouty 17:12

Yeah, that was pretty cool. And, you know, and again, it's not just us, it's, it's the whole community, I mean, you should see the amount that the people will come out, you know, to people's cars and trucks and everything with just these giant, you know, trays and stuff and just pulling stuff in. And it's, it's, it's pretty cool, you know, knowing that, you know, for sure Christmas, these kids are going to be sad, everybody's going to get some good stuff. And then, you know, we want to make sure that that happens year round. So we're going as you know, as far as we can just, you know, so when, you know, June rolls around, and these new kids are coming in, you know, that, hopefully, you know, they have something and brighten their day, at least for a couple minutes. You know, so we're really trying to just, you know, and maybe eventually make this venture a year round thing right now, it's, I kind of start, I don't know, towards the end of the summer, and then wrap up, I have to wrap up. You know, before Christmas, really, I would love to do this full time. But you know, work and family life and everything, you know,

Keith McKeever 18:19

that but you know what doing something is better than doing nothing. So, you know, you're you're definitely impacting a lot of kids. And, you know, it's not a surprise that people will get behind it. It's kids, it's not hard to, you know, to, to want to support us in one way, shape or form. But, you know, really this whole area that we live in, are you from this area? Yeah, I

Ryan Prouty 18:41

was born born in St. Francis Hospital.

Keith McKeever 18:43

Okay, so so it was I knew one thing I've always been, you know, really found fascinating is how giving our areas Mm hmm. Now, there's a lot of things people are negative about when it comes to Peoria. And that's one of the driving factors, with me creating this mission 309. But there's a lot of positive, caring people. There's a lot of negative stuff out there. But if you stop and you just look, there are so many organizations, and so many people that just give a lot. A lot. We're, you know, we've got these great hospitals here that are doing amazing things, and you know, you can't help but to support them. So. So that's awesome. And you know, that the whole Amazon wishlist thing? Boy, that's brilliant. Let us, you know, to make sure that the kids are it's just so so much easier, I'm sure logistically,

Ryan Prouty 19:32

yeah, and it's great, you know, so they'll have their address, like attached to it. So, you know, you could just skip grappling for gifts all together, go straight to their site, if you want, and boom, just you know what I mean? So, you know, again, anybody that ever

Keith McKeever 19:45

made up for their birthdays to what's that? Did they do that year round for the kids that have birthdays or things like that?

Ryan Prouty 19:52

Do you know that I'm not sure I just know that when I make a delivery or you know, If I've got a group of people that, that donate X amount to me, instead of having that delivered straight to the hospital, I'll have it delivered here. And I'll kind of stage everything I bought, you know, just to show the people hey, this is this is you, this is what you guys have brought in. And then I'll go over there. And, you know, I'll get in touch with the people in the Child Life department who are absolutely wonderful, by the way. And drop that off, they keep everything in a room up front is all I know. So how they, you know, handed out disperse everything, no clue, but you know, I just, I just know, I need to keep that room filled up. You know?

Keith McKeever 20:39

That's awesome. So is there any events that you've got coming up? This is March 2022. So anything coming up this spring this summer, you know, events, fundraising,

Ryan Prouty 20:49

we haven't started anything. We have a sort of planning yet. Like I said, I usually start kind of mid to end summer, probably. But uh, you know, we're always doing something again, at the pure Athletic Club, which you don't have to be a member to show up, you know, just, I tell anybody that Listen, come on out, throw a couple bucks in, I'm buying the food. You know. Like, you know, I'll travel I'll do jujitsu seminars at different schools, but go to grappling for gifts calm. We've also got a Facebook page. That should be pretty easy to find. I'm always posting stuff on there. So any upcoming events, between those two, the website, my Facebook page, I'm usually keeping everything pretty up to date. So

Keith McKeever 21:35

awesome. Well, those I'll put those in the show notes so that anybody watching can can find those nice, nice and easy. So I guess the last question I've got for you, is there anything you need right now from the community?

Ryan Prouty 21:48

Uh, you know, just share, you know, whether whether you're sharing, grappling, for gifts info, share the 12 Days of Giving Program that OSF does, you know, just get out there and you know, even if it's something small and you can make a difference, I always encourage people to do you know, take action, do something. You know, it's challenging. Not only my kids, the neighborhood kids, you know, if you can make even a small difference, man, go for it. The world needs it.

Keith McKeever 22:26

Absolutely. Yeah. There's more than enough darkness and Oh, swirled. It's, it's good to see somebody shining a light on something. So Brian, I appreciate you stopping by and sharing what you're doing and, and, you know, hopefully, you'll some people watch this and get inspired and want to pitch in so everybody i like i said before i started, make sure you go follow Ryan, go, follow, follow what he's doing. I support how you can share and all that stuff. So thanks again, Ryan for being here. All right, Keith. I appreciate it. Man.

Unknown Speaker 22:58

Thank you.