Jenn Hanna and Robert Pledger with Teach One to Lead One

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta. It’s time for Charitable Georgia. Brought to you by B’s Charitable Pursuits and Resources. We put the fun in fund raising. For more information, go to B’s Charitable Pursuits. Dot com. That’s B’s Charitable Pursuits dot com. Now here’s your host, Brian Pruitt.

Brian Pruett: [00:00:45] Good, fabulous Friday morning. It’s another fabulous Friday here at Charitable Georgia. And if this is your first time listening, this show is about positivity in your community, about all kinds of things happening in your community. That’s positive. I’ve got two fabulous guests this morning, Robert Pledger with Teach One Lead One. That is correct.

Robert Pledger: [00:01:04] Good morning, Brian.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:05] Morning. Thanks for being here. And Jenn Hanna, you’re one of their mentors, so thank you for being here as well.

Jenn Hanna: [00:01:09] Thank you.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:10] So, first of all, also happy spring to everybody. Now we really get to feel the full effect of pollen. So that’s great. Um, it’s just another Good Friday, though. The sun’s out. It’s nice weather, so it’s great. So, Robert So tell us a little bit about Teach one lead, one.

Robert Pledger: [00:01:25] Teach one to lead one. The mission is we’re a community based mentoring program that teaches universal principles that lead students at risk into a life of purpose and potential. And the best point about that is understanding that where we’re at as a society, the hopelessness that many of our kids express and that we’re giving them right a purpose that leads to maximizing their potential in this world that’s struggling.

Brian Pruett: [00:01:54] How long has it been around.

Robert Pledger: [00:01:56] Teach one to lead 127 plus years. And we’ve had over 53,000 kids graduate through the program.

Brian Pruett: [00:02:02] Wow. Can you give us a little background on how it started and who started it and that good stuff?

Robert Pledger: [00:02:06] Oh, yeah. Dr. Lori Salerno Maldonado is the founder and CEO. Her husband, Jose Maldonado, is the CEO. And they started this right here in Georgia a little over 27 years ago with vision. Dr. Lori received. She is a minister’s wife, I mean, a minister’s daughter. And she has been doing God’s work her entire life. And she was doing a speaking engagement. And I’ll summarize this up at a high school. And it was put on her heart the need in this nation. And that’s been probably closer to 30 years ago. But and so she started this program. It was Celebrate Life International and as DBA teach one to lead one and she’s that known as GSC. They’re planning chapters across the nation. It started here in Georgia and I’m the Georgia area manager. But there’s chapters in Louisiana, there’s chapters in Colorado and California and Washington state and Indiana. Newest one coming up online is in Chicago. We’re reaching thousands of kids every year.

Brian Pruett: [00:03:14] So as a Georgia manager, what is your purpose? What is your role.

Robert Pledger: [00:03:19] In a nutshell? I get to the kids raise funds that will support the mission and then work with individuals like Jen Hannah sitting beside me who actually go into the classroom and do the mentoring. That’s where the magic happens is in that classroom.

Brian Pruett: [00:03:37] So give us a little idea of of a typical day when you guys go in the classroom, what you guys do.

Robert Pledger: [00:03:42] So it starts. We teach ten universal principles. And those universal principles are what we call a universal truth. And that’s something we all live by. That’s true for anyone, anywhere and any time. Respect and integrity, self control, compassion, excellence, courage, teamwork, humility, enthusiasm, honor, right down the line of of these universal principles and the whole design of the classroom. It’s roughly 90 minutes long. And we’ll do some we bring an adventure, a celebration. When we bring these principles into the kids, there’s going to be a team of 4 to 5 mentors that go into each classroom. We’ll literally go into the public school system and we will take over that classroom for, say, Monday first period for 14 weeks. And during that 14 week period, we’re going to teach a session. Each principal will teach once a week, those 4 to 5 mentors for a 90 minute session. And it’s going to include games. It’s going to include large group discussions, some practicing about what these principles look like, how to recommend them, I mean, how to how to live them out in your life. And the real beauty of it is each mentor will meet with a small group at the end of each session. That’s that’s really where the connection happens. And for many of these kids, that’s going to be the first time they experience a positive adult role model in their life that’s speaking truth, right? And during those small group discussions is where we help them to apply these principles, how to recognize them and live them out for the next week. And of course, we’re going to bring in little prizes and stuff when a kid comes back the next week and shares an experience with the class.

Brian Pruett: [00:05:33] So how long have you been with them?

Robert Pledger: [00:05:36] So I joined Teach one to Lead one in January 11th of 2022.

Brian Pruett: [00:05:43] You were sure, You and I. I’ll tell you the story how Robert and I met. Because again, this is a cool story, but share your background and what drew you to teach one to lead one.

Robert Pledger: [00:05:53] As a background. I worked in the corporate world. I ran an organization in Louisville, Kentucky, actually for 23 plus years. And by all rights, I was successful at what I did. And then I met my now wife, who is a native of New York but lives in Georgia, and she was really good friends and currently is with Dr. Laurie and Jose. That’s how the introduction happened, right? So we married, I moved to Georgia and I was just going to do business consulting. That’s my gig. And then the call it the vision and call it the vision and the fire. I always really I coached youth sports in many, many arenas for a long time. And I understood before arriving that the kids in our nation were I just say they’re under attack. Okay? There’s there’s there’s forces out there that are not for the good. And so I always wanted to do something in that arena. And then after meeting Lori and Jose becoming friends and then moving here, it just so happened that the manager spot for Teach One to Lead one in Georgia was open. And Jose and I talked about it and I decided to take the leap.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:01] So you do the is it the whole state that you’re in charge of?

Robert Pledger: [00:07:04] I’m called the Atlanta area manager, but in fact, yes, it would be all of Georgia. We we will go anywhere. The kids are the ultimate vision that Dr. Lori is she put out there at the 25th anniversary was 56.4 million kids, which will require 9 million mentors.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:22] Is this only in high school?

Robert Pledger: [00:07:24] We do elementary. We do middle school and we do high school.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:27] Awesome. So, Stone, I always talk about the power of networking, right? So this is and I don’t believe in any coincidences. If you’re a believer, then then there is no coincidences. So I was at a networking lunch group at L.A., Paul in Acworth. He was sitting behind me in a booth and heard me talking. And then that’s how he met.

Stone Payton: [00:07:45] Wow.

Brian Pruett: [00:07:46] And then we had our little 1 to 1 and and just been talking since. So it’s pretty it’s pretty cool. All right. So, Jenn, I understand you’ve been with him for mentoring for about 14 years, 14 years, and you have an education background. From what I saw in your. Yes, I do.

Jenn Hanna: [00:08:01] I taught middle school, high school, family, consumer science, old school, home EC loved teaching. That was my I mean, that was my heart. Like I loved it. Stayed home with my girls because I taught in New Orleans. And unfortunately, daycare was going to cost more than I made. And so I ended up staying home. And then it continued until I decided to homeschool. And then I’ve always had it in my I want home schooling my kids is not the same as being in the classroom at all. So I decided I want to be back in the classroom in some capacity. And so I had spoken to someone in my Sunday school class and said, I really want to get back. Maybe I’ll just sub. And she’s like, I just heard about this. Teach one to lead one. And she goes, I’ll put the packet in your mailbox. So I got the packet, called them. I literally was trained and in the classroom the following week. Wow. Yeah, I was sold so awesome.

Brian Pruett: [00:08:56] As a mentor, can you walk us through what you do?

Jenn Hanna: [00:09:00] I am also the lead mentor of our group, so I’ve got three other mentors and we, you know, we allocate the curriculum. It’s a beautiful, well planned curriculum. So we come in, we do a review we have, and it’s always a fun activity to do the review. We might have a video clip and then we have a discussion. There’s always a discussion following any of our activities, but our activities really, you know, kids come in, they’ve got their hoodies on, they’ve got their earbuds in. They’re just they just look unhappy. It’s the saddest thing. And so our activities, what I love and the other day, our teamwork, it was to see them laugh and smile is unbelievable. And it just one of our first activities in respect is it’s affirmations. And we put a little sticker on their back and they walk around the classroom and write positive affirmations and. For some of the kids to have something positive written about them or said about them. It’s it’s really, really powerful.

Brian Pruett: [00:10:02] I think something they’ll take and remember the rest of their life, too. So, yeah, kids can be cruel. I don’t care at what age, but they definitely can be cruel. So that’s awesome that you guys do that. I saw something on your biography, too, that you did something with the Cherokee Juvenile.

Jenn Hanna: [00:10:15] Yes. We also. So when I started this, I would do two blocks at North Cobb High School, and then I would come home, have lunch or whatever, and then I would head to juvenile court in Cherokee County. And we did the same class with kids that Judge Baker, Judge Sumner felt they had. It would be a great program. Thank you. That word program for these kids. And so what was really great and I would try to tell the parents when they would come in, they were tough nuts to crack. A lot of these kids with very good reason. After you hear their stories and their trauma and things, they’d been through, a lot of great kids loved them all. But I told them, I said, you guys like won the lottery when Judge Baker, Judge Sumner. Put you in this program because our program is a certificate of character and leadership class. So when kids leave our program, they get a certificate, they can put it on a resume, they can put it on a college application. They’ve been through a character in leadership class because our goal is for them to hopefully pass on these newfound truths to some kids, their newfound truths to others.

Brian Pruett: [00:11:30] Do you guys Robert, do you guys do this at other county courts? Do you have the program for that?

Robert Pledger: [00:11:36] We are in the process. They’re opening back up for us. Doctor Lori actually was a keynote speaker for the it’s a judges retreat. They do in the state of Georgia. It’s like 153 of the judges show up at this place and they brought Dr. Lori in as a presenter. So our presence is everywhere. And they’re they’re just now getting opened back up. In fact, they’re on my list to call in April to get us back in there. And I do want to build on a couple of things that Jen Jen said about the judge, Sumner. He actually wrote a recommendation letter with regarding Teach one to lead one’s program. And and in his letter, he says that he only puts the the most troubled into our program. And recidivism rates are in the 70 percentile or so for juvenile offenders. Right? The ones he put in our program, roughly nine out of ten or he said 87% never returned after graduating. Teach one to lead ones. Wow. And that’s the that’s the worst. Okay. Those are the bad ones. So, you know, they’re on the higher end. I also and I work with lots of community business owners. Right. That’s that’s kind of our our niche for investors is local, small to medium sized businesses. And many of them will say if a kid shows up and puts their graduate a graduate of Teach one to Lead Ones program, they’ll go to the top of the list. When it comes to hiring considerations, that’s awesome.

Brian Pruett: [00:13:05] So when you talk about graduation, you actually told me you actually have a program in itself for graduation, right? Right.

Robert Pledger: [00:13:11] Yeah. The 14th week is when the graduation ceremony takes place and it takes place in the classroom. And we encourage those kids to invite family members. We’ll have keynote speakers come in. The kids do a service project last year when I was mentoring, and this year I think it will be the same. They’re doing no sew blankets for the battered women’s shelter. And so and the kids actually, they bring $6 each and so they buy the material to do this, this service project. And then a representative from the shelter will come in and, you know, thank the kids and give a presentation, give a speech on why it’s so important. We have a keynote speaker and certificates will be handed out at that point. And then we have two special awards. Jen, what are they again, the.

Jenn Hanna: [00:13:56] Excellence and the extra.

Robert Pledger: [00:13:57] Mile. Correct. So the team of mentors will will vote on a couple of special award winners and they’re brought up and given those awards as well. It’s powerful, man, when you see these kids graduate. I mean, my first my first time at mentoring, it was really it was a it was what I’d call a tough class. Right? But at the end, those kids came up. Now, we were we were just coming off of, you know, the the back of COVID, really. We were just getting back into the classroom. Right. And so there was still masks being worn. And you could tell there was some that were very reluctant. But at the end of this graduation ceremony, the mentors stand up there. The teacher hands the certificate out and every one of these kids. So we encourage them to turn around and speak to their their peers and say, hey, what do I get from the program? And they do that and they all did it well. But they went down the line of mentors, literally hugging, hugging mentors. It was it was something to see this.

Jenn Hanna: [00:14:53] That’s I was going to on juvenile court kids they that’s one thing is so neat to see the night they come in. Parents are angry. The kids are angry. Parents have to get off work early to get them to the program. You know, it’s not in the school. So, you know, kids taking in school, there’s no inconvenience for parents at all. But juvenile court kids, it’s one more program, one more. So everyone’s angry when they come in. No one’s smiling. Everyone’s mad. So. It’s so amazing to see. And one of our big things is just even if it’s a pat on the shoulder, when they come in the door, just a touch, just something at the some of them are like, you know, they don’t touch me and they let us know. And at the end they’re hugging us.

Brian Pruett: [00:15:38] Well, I think it’s totally different. The whole program is awesome. But what I liked, what you shared about being the service project is not only are they getting this this education piece that’s, you know, well, let’s say what it is. It’s it’s a it’s a God thing. It’s it is, you know, 100%. But they’re actually feeling a part of the community by doing those service projects. And I think if they feel like they’re being part of something, it’s even better than just getting a piece of paper and saying, Yeah, I went through this course, you know, as a as a lead mentor for a team. How big is a team for?

Jenn Hanna: [00:16:10] There’s usually four of us, sometimes five our teachers. Really great that he lets us come in and he stands in as a mentor as well and takes over parts. A lot of teachers won’t do that. They want us in there, but they don’t want to be part of the curriculum. But Sam is such a believer in our program and he loves the curriculum so much. He wants to actually have an active role in it.

Brian Pruett: [00:16:33] Now, is the teams is it both men and women, or is it just men and women?

Jenn Hanna: [00:16:37] Young, old? It doesn’t not matter. I mean, our goal is you’ve got a passion for young people and want to teach these truths and be present and be committed. That’s one thing we do ask as mentors is that you are committed not, Oh, I can be here this week, but I can’t be here three more weeks. It’s a commitment. These kids need to see us present and showing up for them.

Brian Pruett: [00:16:58] And how long again is the is the program?

Jenn Hanna: [00:17:00] 14, 14, 14 weeks?

Brian Pruett: [00:17:02] Consecutive, I’m assuming. Yes. Yes. Do you guys usually start that at the beginning of the school year or is it in the middle or both?

Robert Pledger: [00:17:07] So there’s a spring and a fall semester? Yes. And we line up with the schools. Okay. So there will be times when the school is closed for whatever. And so we will either sometimes we shorten it for that particular session. Preferably we just skip that week and do a full session. Right. There’s there’s some I do want to share and I know I’ve shared with you and it’s at the very beginning the voice of truth. Oh, love it. So this is you know, this isn’t one of our universal principles, but we in the very opening, we talk about habits, right. And the importance of replacing bad habits with good habits. And then we give them some tools on how to do that, right? But we do this exercise called the Voice of Truth. And I just love it, man, because it really opens it up. There’s going to be posters on the wall in that classroom of each universal principle, right? We put those on the wall, so we ask for a volunteer and a kid volunteers, and one of the mentors takes that that child out or that kid out in the hallway and they blindfold them. I mean, you can’t see a thing, right? Then we ask for another volunteer, and that volunteer will be known as the voice of truth.

Robert Pledger: [00:18:12] We’re going to place them in the furthest corner of that classroom. Let’s just say there’s 25 students. So 23 other students are going to get up and they’re going to rearrange the desk in like a maze type situation. So then we give them instructions. Okay. You 23 are going to give wrong instructions for this student coming in on how to get through the maze. You’re going to give the wrong directions loudly. They can’t touch them. They got to keep a three feet space. They can’t rearrange the the desk once it’s been set. But the voice of truth is all the way on the other side of the room. And so we bring them in, put them in the corner, and it starts. They got five minutes to do this. It’s a ten minute exercise. At the five minute mark, though, they’re told the 23 are told, okay, stop talking. Right. And let’s just let the voice of truth go. So inevitably, the kid spends five minutes going in circles because they’re bumping into things. You know, they’re just they can they tell quickly, look, it’s not safe. So they don’t really move very far. Right. Then when everybody goes silent, it’s only the voice of truth. Well, within 1 to 2 minutes, the. The kid will just navigate right through the maze stands at the voice of voice of truth.

Robert Pledger: [00:19:23] So we say, take your mask off. All right. Excellent. What was that like when everybody was talking to you? Oh, man, it was so confusing. I you know, I didn’t know where to go, and literally, I just froze. Right. Okay. What was it like when it was just a voice of truth? So easy? It was so simple. I just went right through it, Followed it went right through the maze. All right. What do you think that has to do with what we’re teaching here? And this is brand new, right? This is brand new. And and we kind of point to those posters over there and they’re like, okay, so maybe those are the voice of truth. Exactly. Exactly. Then we get to tell them, look, we’re all going through life blind. You need to know what the voice of truth is. You need to be able to drown out the noise and zero in on that voice of truth, because that’s how you’re going to go through this life, right? You’re going to go through it safely and in the right direction. You’re not going to be paralyzed by fear. And so that’s a very powerful lesson at the beginning, those kids start to understand what we’re teaching is truth.

Jenn Hanna: [00:20:22] And these concepts seem so basic, but. Some of these kids have no idea what integrity is. You know, our question is, is it right or is it wrong? And in their mind, is it can I get away with it or not? That’s how they think. But when you go from right and wrong to can I get away with it or not? Totally different. But that’s what they’ve been raised with and or what they’ve seen. And so these concepts are so basic and I always laugh that the schools are teaching it well. Putting compassion up on a marquee. Word of the week. Compassion that does not teach compassion. We have these kids live it out. And with juvenile court kids, we would take the kids they’d make, they would have to bring we’d make sack lunches to take down to Atlanta underneath the overpasses. Now we go up underneath the overpasses at 10:00 at night and hand out and pray with the, you know, the drug addicts, the homeless. It’s unbelievable. I met one guy. I was literally crawling up underneath there with another student, and he had just gotten out of prison the day before.

Jenn Hanna: [00:21:28] And we’re offering him, do you want to get off the streets right now? And he’s like, no, you know, so these kids are seeing that’s how we do that with them. And when I say that’s an eye opener and a life transformation for so many of these kids to actually live and see what it is on the streets, that was pretty powerful. But these kids would these again, these are, you know, living out these truths. They have to bring in all the baloney because we make baloney sandwiches, a hard piece of candy and like a pretzels or something. And we’re like, you guys have to bring it. So they step up. They step up and bring everything. We’ve made up to 550 sack lunches in an hour and a half. Someone donates a bus, we get on the bus, they take us downtown and Seven Bridges ministry down there take us onto the streets because they’re protected. They know the streets and they protect us. But it is one of the coolest things to see these kids live out. Compassion.

Brian Pruett: [00:22:29] That’s awesome. I like how you talked about the basics because I mean, I just think about sports. What’s the first thing the coach says when something’s falling apart? We got to go back to the basics and it’s all it’s all about basics. I mean, live the life about it. So can you share in your 14 years that you’ve done this, is there I’m sure there’s a lot of incredible stories, but do you have one in particular you could share that’s been kind of a life changer for somebody?

Jenn Hanna: [00:22:52] Oh, I can. We had a student. That was 14, 15. He had. He was a double felon at a young age, stole a car. I can’t remember what case his story was. Some guns.

Robert Pledger: [00:23:07] Involved.

Jenn Hanna: [00:23:07] Yeah. Something. And went through the program he really tough background parents drugs and he between teach one to lead one. And some other people that poured into his life. Um, he is became a mentor and he’s also he was president of our Atlanta chapter. That’s awesome. So, I mean, you know, we were a part of that path of redemption and very proud to be part of that part of redemption. But a great story. Great story. And I’ve seen.

Brian Pruett: [00:23:50] A lot. Do you have a story you can share?

Robert Pledger: [00:23:52] Well, I often share Cassie’s story. Yeah. I’m really good friends with. He is the president for my Board of Delegates. And so I use Cassie’s story all the time. And Jen just scratched the surface. No, that’s okay. But she really just scratched the surface. It’s a crazy, powerful story of a young man, super bright, taught himself to forge prescription drugs, became one of the most prolific prescription drug dealers in the. In Atlanta. Okay. At like, 14 years old. Wow. He helped dad. Yeah. Yeah, he helped Dad and adult in his life. Because I’m on the air. I’m not going to say anything about that. But an adult decided to introduce him to heroin at a very young age, which has sent him down the wrong path, but really the right path. Because when he ended up in before the judge, judge not only believed in second chances, he understood the transforming power of Teach one to lead one. So he put Cassie in the program. Cassie, being very bright, went through the program, made it. But unfortunately went back to his life of doing what he did. Then you fast forward, I think it’s 6 or 7 years later and Casey decides he’s going to end it all. So Tim Dowd.

Robert Pledger: [00:25:03] But he finds he wakes up in the hospital, comes out of a coma, and some of the first individuals, if not the first individuals that he sees when he wakes up were the mentors he’d met 6 or 7 years ago through the grapevine. They found out he was in there. Impacted him so much. He gave his life to Christ. He became a mentor. He’s now a very successful entrepreneur who lives in Jasper. A young man is incredible. Incredible. And he is the president for our Board of Delegates. Now, when he tells the story that young man, he lives it now. And I love that story about Casey. But we have others, right, In a class that was a young man. It was last year. And I won’t give his name, but I could tell right out of the chute he was not a happy camper. He when he looked at us as mentors, literally, he was looking either through us or like, Man, I’d maybe like to stick you in the eye with a pen or something. I mean, it was just not happy. And then we got to the compassion exercise we do, which I love. Okay. We hand out cards and it says, If you really knew me.

Jenn Hanna: [00:26:08] Oh, this one. Oh.

Robert Pledger: [00:26:10] Man. If you really knew me, you would know. And so the first thing we do is say, don’t put any identifying marks on that, that it’s going to tell who it is because we’re actually going to take those up and we’re going to read them in the front of the class to everybody. But we don’t want to know your colors, Blue. We don’t want to know. You like dogs. We want something that someone would really have to know. You and these people write some if you really knew me. You know, my mom’s dying of cancer. You really know if you really knew me, you know, my dad was in jail for abusing me. I mean, really, just you will literally see kids in that class start looking around some of them start crying because they never knew. That their people were suffering like they are kids right there. Right. And this young man, after that exercise, he came up to the team of mentors on his own. And it was a particularly tough read about his living with his grandparents. And dad was a heroin addict and mom wasn’t in the picture. And his life, you know, blah, blah, blah. But after that man, he opened up from every session forward and ended up winning like the most improved or the excellent award. It was great. I mean, this kid, right before Our Eyes transformed became one of the best participants. But that was like week five one. Sometimes it takes 4 or 5 weeks for it to kick in. But that exercise there.

Jenn Hanna: [00:27:30] That exercise, it is one of the most powerful. And I love we do it kind of in the beginning because these kids, they come in the class, they don’t know each other. They don’t even try to get to know each other, which is so interesting to me. I mean, I know it’s shocking, but I talked a lot in class, but so I knew everyone I loved, you know, But these kids come in, they don’t talk. And after they hear all these stories about the traumas that they’ve gone through, they look around the room and that one person that they were probably intimidated by or they thought, oh, they’ve got it better than me or whatever it was all that’s kind of like blown up. They can’t it’s almost they can’t even think like that anymore. And I think they’re kind of it’s interesting and sad at the same time. They don’t know what to do with all this information. And that’s what’s so sad is to they. I don’t know how these kids I tell them all the time, You guys are so courageous. I don’t know how you get up in the morning and get on a bus or get dressed and come to school every day because it takes a lot. It takes a lot. And their stories, I bet 75% of our stories from that activity are pretty traumatic. Yes.

Brian Pruett: [00:28:38] Well, you know, you hear all the time teachers also say, too, that kids teach them things. You guys have some kids that have taught you things going. That’s why I do this.

Jenn Hanna: [00:28:47] I mean, it’s one of the reasons I do it. I, I, I need it. I mean, I think we need these constant reminders. You slip away from truths, and it’s a slippery slope. But if you’re constantly reminded of the truths, you know, whether you go to church and you get it from the Bible or you hear these things, it’s a slippery slope and we see it what’s happening in society. I mean, these kids, these basic concepts are so foreign to them because we have we are going down the wrong and this to me and I say it all the time and how I sell it, it’s the antidote to what’s happening in the schools and society. It is the absolute antidote.

Robert Pledger: [00:29:29] And to even build on that going into the classroom. Is a difference maker in this sense, man. These kids, they really are hungry for it. They really are bright. They really are engaged. Once they they discover what these truths are telling them and they start living them out. It I mean, it’s refreshing for us because like that that exercise on the voice of truth, we’re bombarded constantly with negativity. And we’re even told this next generation is, you know, there’s not as good as the previous or it’s nonsense. When you get in there and you get around these young people, you’re like, man, they are literally they’re bright, they’re energetic. And so it does provide us mentors, actually hope for the future, Right? People don’t know. I, I tell people all the time, look, some people think it’s a mental. Yeah. We mentor. Oh, is that all you do is mentor. No, no, no, no, no. We’re changing the future of this world, okay? Our history is full of one individual that is impacted the entire world. One. Okay. We’re bringing this to thousands of kids a year. Thousands. And changing hundreds, if not thousands, changing their trajectory, their future. Which impacts us all. These are the these these are going to be our leaders. These are going to be the people working for you if you’re a business owner. These are going to be the people you’re working for. Or that are running our state and federal bureaucracy. Right. So the more they understand what truth is. How to live it out, the better off we all are and what we do impacts the world. It’s it’s not just going in and mentoring kids, man. It’s a it’s a game changer for our our country and even the world.

Brian Pruett: [00:31:24] How do you guys deal with and teach the kids to the mainstream media is so negative. That’s all they put out there. And then also with social media. So how do you guys combat that issue?

Robert Pledger: [00:31:36] We get opportunities to speak on it. Right. And the exercise that that the very beginning, that voice of truth said look once. Once they understand these these universal principles and they start applying them. That does the work. They start filtering out the nonsense on their own. They start understanding that that’s not right.

Jenn Hanna: [00:32:04] Or at least start questioning for the first time. And they may not even I mean, we’re planting seeds. We’re planting seeds. We may not see that. I mean, years down the road, that kid’s going to go, oh, but that seed’s been planted. And that’s all I care about, that these seeds are planted. And I just pray that someone else comes along and nurtures them. But, you know.

Robert Pledger: [00:32:28] It’s so I got to say something on that because. It was described to me, and I so understand it now by Jose, What we are doing for God’s kingdom is we’re creating fertile soil. We’ll go to the to the parable of the sower, right. Falls on the rocks, falls among the thorns, falls on the paths, and it’s eaten by the ravens or the crows. What we do, we create fertile ground. So they know truth. And when the seed falls, it will be falling on fertile ground. It it’ll take root.

Brian Pruett: [00:33:04] This whole thing is incredible. But one of the things I think that’s really incredible is because you talk about a lot of the non profits, talk about stuff dealing with kids, but it’s always an after school program. And you guys talk about you’re actually in the classroom. The first thing in the morning, can you can you speak on how that actually came about And and the difference it is from doing that versus an after school type thing.

Robert Pledger: [00:33:26] How it came about would be Dr. Laurie Jose and that original team who put this entire program together. And first and foremost, God, okay, we’re the only program that actually is in the classroom. And it amazes me, right? We go in to the classroom and our participants in the classroom. I don’t. Mm. I don’t, I don’t even know how, how to say that. Any other thing that I’d have to contribute that to, to being God’s way of getting us in there and the difference being, um, lack of a better term, that’s really not voluntary. Right. I mean you’re, you’re in that class. That’s just what it is. And we’re part of that class. Now, if a kid wanted to opt out or something, certainly they they’re able to do that. But you think about it before school program or you think about an after school program, as Jen alluded to earlier, about the juvenile court system. That’s something they either have to get there early for or they have to stay late. Right. They may not have the ability or even the motivation for those, but they’re already in this class. And I can assure you we’re not there more than a couple of weeks before the kids are wanting to know.

Robert Pledger: [00:34:42] Is teach one to lead one Monday? Right? Because we’re not dummies. We bring snacks and and and we’re happy, right. And we’re encouraging and we’re learning their names. Right. We’re loving on them. End of the day, I don’t mind getting up there and saying, you know what? I’m here really? Because I care about you. I love you as an individual. We’re pouring our heart and soul into you because we care and we believe that’s what we do. So it’s not very long. They’d come anyway. The attendance will increase. We, in fact, we guarantee. And. And I got to share this. We don’t grade our own homework in the sense we have a third party administrator called. Hello. Hello. Insight. Who does a pre and post assessment on every class and then gives us the results, tells us how we did, what kind of impact we’ve had that we can share with administrators or the juvenile court systems so we don’t grade our own homework either. Right. We’re checking that stuff. And it is it’s very powerful, very powerful to to know that you get to see your results.

Brian Pruett: [00:35:49] So how is it determined which class, I guess, is that you’re in.

Robert Pledger: [00:35:54] That that’s you want to speak to that, Jim?

Jenn Hanna: [00:35:57] Well, the teachers volunteer their class and obviously not all teachers want to volunteer their class. They can’t take give up a class. But we’ve had several teachers that will, you know, gladly say, for instance, I think he’s done it for 12 years. He’s he believes in it so much. And it’s not like he gets a pass, like he gets to go and leave the class and he’s got a free period or whatever. He’s one of the mentors. Like he’s in there doing it because he believes in it. So teachers just have to volunteer to do it, to give up a class.

Brian Pruett: [00:36:29] Is it the whole day in the class or is it just part of a class?

Robert Pledger: [00:36:32] So so we take so we’re doing three three of Sam’s classes today, right now, every Monday. So we’re in the first period. We’re in the third period and we’re in the fourth period every Monday. And we take the first period is 822, 957. So we do the entire class. Great. Yeah, we take that entire class. Once teachers get this, they see the results because literally there’s three A’s that we guarantee we’re going to improve in that class and that’s going to be attitude. Academics and attendance. They will see a minimum of a 25% increase across the board in those three measured areas from the students that participate. I mean, I brought some statistics that are that I could read just giving the the overall national kind of results we see from Teach one to lead one. Can I share that? Sure, sure.

Brian Pruett: [00:37:24] Go ahead. Give me.

Robert Pledger: [00:37:25] One sec. So these are just some statistics. I understand The following data was compiled from students across the US who who completed a teach one to lead one program. Now, this is 24%. 24% who said it was okay to steal? Now say it’s wrong and they won’t do it. So that’s so you’re taking kids who said, let’s say, you know, whatever, ten of them said it was okay to steal? Well, at least after our program, at least 24% of them said no longer. Do they agree with that. 37% who said it was okay to use tobacco now say it’s wrong and they won’t use it. 35% who said it was okay to smoke marijuana now say it’s wrong and they won’t use it. 34% who said it was okay to drink while under the while underage now say it’s wrong and they won’t participate in that activity. 21% who said it was okay to drive while under the influence of drugs or alcohol now say they won’t do it. 37% who said it would said they could not influence their relationships with other people now feel empowered to have that influence. 23% who said it was okay to use illegal drugs now say they wouldn’t do it.

Robert Pledger: [00:38:36] 21% who said they had no choice regarding their attitude each day now realize they can choose what their attitude will be. 18% who said it was okay to have friends who engage in illegal activities now say it’s wrong and they won’t keep that kind of company. 18% who turned a blind eye to those who were being bullied now say that’s wrong and they would help someone who’s being bullied. Wow. So those are that’s a nationally. Okay. Those are thousands. Remember, 53 plus thousand kids have come through this program. And those are just some basic numbers on on kids attitudes that change in a 14 week period that doesn’t measure the life changing effect that has on the people they’re going to come into. We’ve been in North Cobb for 27 years. We look to build a culture within that school. We literally one of the goals is to empower those kids because we’re doing 91 right now at North Cobb. There’s 2700 kids. It’s empowering them to go out and become leaders and change agents to for their peers.

Jenn Hanna: [00:39:44] One of my mentors that mentors with me, she had it in middle school and she had it in high school and she started mentoring at 19 and she’s 30 now and she mentors with us now.

Brian Pruett: [00:39:54] So, so so I have to ask this. I mean, obviously it’s been around 27 years. And until you and I met, I had never heard of Teach one to learn one lead, one lead one. Sorry. I know. Again, I know what I’m saying. But it comes out wrong. That’s a live moment there. Stone But is there any reason that we can that you can think of or that more people don’t know? I mean, or is it just something that maybe I mean, have you ever heard of this stone.

Stone Payton: [00:40:22] I have now. And now they’ve been on Business RadioX, so, you know.

Brian Pruett: [00:40:27] Right, Right. That was the point. Also to get some more exposure to this. But I’m just curious of why there’s not because it’s such great work, why there’s not more talk about what you guys do.

Robert Pledger: [00:40:37] Mm. Here’s my personal thought on it being relatively new myself. Right. A year into this because I asked the same question. How in the heck does the entire world not want this in every single home and church and school and juvenile court? Right. And the only the only real answer is there’s not been a real effort, but it’s coming. Oh, it’s coming. To publicize this or to advertise like maybe many have done. It’s kind of built itself on the word of mouth, from teacher to teacher and principal to principal and judge to judge and, you know, church to church. That’s how it’s been built. But since Dr. Laurie’s vision, which has been two years ago now reaching 56.4 million children, and everybody takes Dr. Laurie’s vision very serious. We know that it’s important that we get the message out there. Now.

Brian Pruett: [00:41:35] Other than your Ackworth office, is there any other offices in the state?

Robert Pledger: [00:41:39] Not in this state. We do have a Habersham now. They do the teach one to teach, one to lead one curriculum inside of another organization They have, but they do a great job. Fantastic job.

Brian Pruett: [00:41:54] And Habersham So, Lori, you’ve touched on it a little bit, but I want to ask this question. So why is it important to not only be a part of this program, but to be a part of the community in general?

Jenn Hanna: [00:42:08] Why is it important to be part of the program? Why does.

Brian Pruett: [00:42:11] It be a part of the.

Jenn Hanna: [00:42:11] Community? Oh, the community. It’s going to only make our community better. I mean, we have if we we need to take these young people with the truth and we need to see the leadership. We need to see good leadership in the community. And I think that’s what I mean. That’s what this whole program is all about, is instilling the values, instilling the truths. And I mean, when we have better leaders, we have a better community, we have better I mean, everything should go down. You have less crime, you’ve got better opportunities, you have better employees. I mean, it’s endless. And that’s one thing we’re trying to tell the kids, you know? You don’t go on a cross-country trip without a map and. You can do it. It’s going to be really hard. You’re going to stay lost. You’re going to get really frustrated and you’ll probably end up just quitting. I said, But what if we give you the roadmap? Is it going to be hard? Yes. Are you going to have ups and downs? Absolutely. But we’re giving you the tools to get over the hump, almost like guardrails. They don’t prevent the accidents. They just help prevent really bad things from happening.

Jenn Hanna: [00:43:25] And our values are really in our troops are really like guardrails on the road. You know, you may hit it, you know, but it’s going to protect you from really going over the edge. And so just not having those expectations of a perfect life, but having something that’s going to guide us and protect us and help us with our goals, how can it only make the community better? It’s going to make and these kids don’t understand, their parents need this. Oh, my goodness. I say it all the time. I wish we could have a spin off, even just like a little synopsis with the parents so that the kids can talk to the parents. And I know I wish I would have had this in high school. I wish I would have had it in college. I wish I would have had it. That’s why I do it now. I mean, because one of our things is self control and I need a little help with that. I react sometimes more than I respond. And let me tell you, my kids remind me all the time. And they were it’s a constant. It’s not easy, you know.

Brian Pruett: [00:44:31] And so I think I think it’s very important for society, like you said, especially today, my wife works for kindergartners. And the story she comes home with with these kindergartners are doing. Oh, it’s a reflection on the parents and the teach one to lead one program. There should be something for parents, you know, because, I mean, let’s face it, they are the leaders of their kids. Right. And, you know, they’re seeing what they’re doing. And if mommy and daddy is doing it, it’s okay. Right. You know, I’m going to ask you the same question. Why is it important for you to be not only this program, but the community? Yeah.

Robert Pledger: [00:45:02] That’s a great question, because mainly as the fundraiser, right? I mean, that’s my job. And I’ll just say it plainly. No money. No, no, no mission. No mission. That’s how it is. And so I talk to people who have they really have lots of charities out there that are worthy, right? They’re worthwhile. I don’t you name it doesn’t matter. Homeless shelter. It doesn’t matter battered women. It’s all worthy. And I tell them this and I go, that’s a great cause. But let’s be proactive because teach one to lead one will have a positive impact on everything you care about. It will decrease homelessness. Battered women, veterans, dogs. Whatever your passion is, I promise you, you can be proactive in supporting this, and I’ll just call it a ministry supporting this project, right, this mission. And it will have a positive impact on your mission no matter what you care about.

Brian Pruett: [00:46:00] So that’s that’s a good way to ask this. So if somebody is listening and they do want to be a part of this in any way, whether it’s becoming a mentor, helping in financial or anything like that, talk them through that. How can they do that?

Robert Pledger: [00:46:14] Yeah. So it’s and I’ll do this a couple of times, but it’s Atlanta, Ga. It’s all one word. Atlanta, ga.t1l1.org. So it’s a N or Atlanta GA right. Dot t1l1.org and go on there and you can get involved with a mentor, meaning you can sign up to be a mentor and that’s an easy process. Or you can hit the donate button, which will be right there and you can be a monthly donor or a one time donor. I encourage you and you know my cell phone number, I’ll be more than happy to give that. It’s 502. I’m a Kentucky boy from 32 years. 502639 1069. Call me and I’ll walk anybody through it. But again, Atlanta, Ga t1l1.org.

Brian Pruett: [00:47:05] If somebody’s listening and they have the the the desire now to be a mentor you being been for 14 years. Explain I mean you’ve talked all about what the how good it is for you but just give them a little more what what to look for and how can they be involved.

Jenn Hanna: [00:47:23] What I think, you know, people go, oh, I’ll go into the classroom. I can’t go in the classroom. I can’t teach high school. I can’t. It’s all given to us. It our curriculum is so great. It says what the mentor should say. If you need that kind of thing. There’s people like us. We don’t need the little blurb what the mentor needs to say. But for those that need that and that direction, it’s all spelled out for you. It’s you’ve got a team of people supporting you. You go through training, there’s support. It’s it’s really just if you have an hour and a half of time that you can give to kids, you can’t give financially, but you can give your time. It is worth every bit of it if you’re not one to do activities. We’ve got simple roles. Describe the video and play the video and you can just do that. So there it. It’s great for anyone, believe it or not, that has a heart for our youth and their future. I mean, it is an hour and a half, like I said, it is. And it’s all done for you. You don’t have to create anything. You don’t have to come up with anything. The curriculum is already.

Robert Pledger: [00:48:33] Yeah, every every mentor receives a binder and it is such a I’m reluctant to say simple, but it is a simple but very powerful curriculum and process in place. And the lead mentors are going to guide, you know, the team through that, and everybody has that part. And I’ve seen people who come in and look, they have a heart for the mission. I mean, they do, but they’re so nervous they don’t want to speak. I can’t get I’m getting in front of 30 kids. I got to talk to them. But the mentor, they’ll be a little mentor to mentor coaching going on and then they get to see it. And the lead mentor like Jen’s going to if she has someone’s nervous, she’s going to assign them a smaller part. And as that mentor grows and the mentors will grow themselves, Yes, right. They’ll get larger and larger parts.

Brian Pruett: [00:49:24] Do they do you guys as a mentor, so do they work with a specific number of kids? Is it all the kids or all the kids?

Jenn Hanna: [00:49:32] Until we get into small group, because a lot of kids we find don’t like to speak in front of the big group, but they’ll be more personal in small groups. So at the end of our class, we always go back and it’s kind of like a recap of the day and we might have six, seven kids in a small group. So then we get to break off and have and those kids will share in the smaller environment.

Brian Pruett: [00:49:54] Is there a minimum age that you have to be for a mentor?

Robert Pledger: [00:49:57] 18 I believe it is. I mean, you need to be 18. Yes. And in that small group, I think for me, that’s where kind of the the rubber meets the road because you get to build that relationship with you’re with that same small group for 14 weeks. You don’t switch groups. You’re with the same group of kids for 14 weeks and you get time to build some rapport and relationship, get to know the kids and start to really speak into their lives. By the time you’ve been there 14 weeks.

Jenn Hanna: [00:50:27] Can I tell a story? Yeah. My small group. I’ve got a bunch of quiet boys and which is shocking, but they’re all pretty quiet. And one of them, I said, Is there anyone that has a fear? We were doing courage and overcoming a fear. And he said, I’m scared to apply for college. I’m like, You haven’t applied for college. He’s a senior. And he’s like, No. And I’m like, All right, you guys, you heard this. I said, We need I go, I want you to go home. I want you to apply for one school this week, you know, And so all the kids so cute the other day, they were like, you did apply. You applied. How many did you apply to? And he said he applied to two. And I said, Let me tell you what’s worse than fear. Regret. I said, You are going to regret not doing this. And so our little group, you know, they were all going, you can do it. Come on, You know? And so he came back and he said he applied for two schools. And I said, You’ve got to follow up. Let us know if you have any questions. You know, we want to support you. So it’s almost like a little support system, too, for each other.

Brian Pruett: [00:51:28] So that’s awesome. Do you guys have anything coming up that you want to share, any kind of event or anything that’s coming up that you want to share?

Robert Pledger: [00:51:36] So we have an annual event called the Move It Challenge, and that will be this. It’s generally the first two weeks and this is nationwide that the chapters kind of compete against each other for a fundraising kick. Right. And it’s known as the MOVE challenge and we’ll put it out on social media. It’ll be on Facebook, it’ll be on Instagram. And it’s just as it sounds like we’ll put together teams for Georgia. And this year we’re going to do the last week of May and the first week of June is when it’ll start. And I mean Jen. Jen. Hannah Yeah.

Brian Pruett: [00:52:08] Jen Another live.

Robert Pledger: [00:52:09] Moment. Yeah. Jen’s always she’s a participant in that. She plays tennis and play tennis. So Jen raises a lot of money. My wife last year. Heidi Yes, she did push ups. Okay. So my wife was knocking out.

Jenn Hanna: [00:52:24] 40 tennis balls. She did.

Robert Pledger: [00:52:26] Push ups. She knocked out 40, not girl push ups. Okay. Straight up 40 push ups a day. But I’m like, wow, girl. And everybody said, what are you doing, Robert? I’m like, Well, I’m the film crew. And I was counting.

Jenn Hanna: [00:52:37] I’m counter.

Robert Pledger: [00:52:39] So the move challenge, go to Facebook. You know, you can go to Facebook for Atlanta, teach one to lead one or Instagram. Look at look over it. We’re always again, it’s a fundraising event, right? We get a big push for for funds at that point to go into our our fall semesters. Right. I mean, sometimes schools can fund these programs. Sometimes they can only fund a portion of the program. Right. And, you know, church partners come in business, small business, small medium businesses and stuff. Those that’s how we get this stuff done. And and the more partners we have, there’s not a lack of kids. It’s not a lack of kids. And in this community, we do great with mentors. I mean, we have some really good people in this community that want to get involved and want to make a difference. And in fact, you know, the Atlanta chapter itself, since it’s kind of the founding chapter and Dr. Laurie and them were here, you know, they kind of oversaw it, but then they they decided to make it its own chapter. So it’s in the process of growing. And last year we really finished up really good, relatively speaking. Right now we have some chapters out there and you go out to Washington State. Wow. It’s a huge. And in fact, they got two chapters in that one one location and they really rock it. We strive to be like them. But I have found this community really does get behind these programs. They care. A lot of people care. The word doesn’t get out there like that, but they community is great.

Jenn Hanna: [00:54:13] And I’d like to think of it like if people are interested in donating, like sponsoring a child, I mean, you sponsor a child to do things. I mean, a lot of parents can’t afford to do this if. To put a kid through a program, but for how much is it?

Robert Pledger: [00:54:31] It’s about $125 per student to get them through the 14.

Jenn Hanna: [00:54:35] 14 weeks.

Robert Pledger: [00:54:36] 14 week.

Jenn Hanna: [00:54:36] Program. So if someone’s interested in sponsoring a few kids, I mean, that’s a great opportunity. If they can’t be in the classroom, they don’t have time, but they have the money to sponsor. That’s amazing.

Robert Pledger: [00:54:48] We also and I got to make sure that we get this out there because we have COVID. Remember, we’re an in-person mentoring program. So imagine what COVID did for us, right? It really should have just shut us down. But we do have an incredible group of leaders in this organization. And they had the whiteboard moment. They went in there, they erased it and started over from scratch. And and out of that was birthed what’s now known as the mobile mentor. And the way we’re going to be able to get to these 56.4 million kids is we literally now have a mobile app. That is, teach one to lead one. These mentoring sessions will happen and it’s in person, but it’s via like Zoom or something like that. Right? But it’s gamified so the kids can kind of play against each other to win points as they go through the program. But there’s still a live mentoring component to it, and that’s how we’re going to be able to take this to areas we don’t have chapters in yet. And so mobile Mentor is is going to be huge or for for, you know, maybe it could be a kid who’s who knows you’ve got a lot of trouble. He’s on house arrest or you know, you never know. Mobile mentor can be that he can he still has access to live mentors still gets to go through the curriculum. And if he wants to, he can compete with his buddies and stuff for points on this platform. So that’s a that’s something that’s going to help take teach one to lead one to the next level.

Brian Pruett: [00:56:19] Let’s go. So real quick, you touched about the different thing, but can you explain I know you said you could do a one time a month or just a one time donation, but are there different levels of sponsorships?

Robert Pledger: [00:56:30] So not necessarily different levels in terms of I mean, you know, individuals kind of are going to have to pray about it. And and if their heart leads them to, you know, monthly donations for me as a chapter manager. Right. And just to give a little insight into the nonprofit world, there’s fixed costs like in every business, there’s there’s fixed costs associated with this stuff. And my ultimate goal is to get the fixed costs covered through monthly donations, right? And then those one time gifts or sponsorships, if someone wants to just sponsor a class, it’s I tell people it’s roughly 25 kids. We’ll just say average 25. It’s three $3,000, right? If you have a school that you have access to, your your child goes there and you want to sponsor that class, you reach out to me. I gave you my number. 502639 1069. Get an introduction. I’ll go in and speak with the administration. And most likely, if they’re a school here, they know something about Teach one to lead one and we’ll get the program set up so you can sponsor a class, you can sponsor a kid, you can help with the IT stuff. With mobile mentor, there’s many ways you you can get involved financially, but it’s just basically all going through the donation button.

Brian Pruett: [00:57:49] Okay, awesome. Well, I always like to wrap up the show this way. I always like to get people to share either a quote, a word or just a nugget to live today and beyond 2023 and beyond with. So, Jen, I’ll let you start with what you got.

Jenn Hanna: [00:58:02] One of my favorite ones is the quality of the questions you ask yourself is the quality of life you live And you know, what questions are you asking yourself? Can I get away with it? Is it right or is it wrong?

Robert Pledger: [00:58:14] Robert So being a John Maxwell guy, I’m going to quote him. Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Speaker6: [00:58:22] That’s awesome. Awesome.

Brian Pruett: [00:58:23] Well, guys, again, I appreciate you being here and sharing your story and your organization and love what you guys do. Everybody out there listening. Let’s remember. Let’s be positive. Let’s be charitable.