Friday, July 27, 2007

Boy Scouts of America

Hey everybody,

I got to visit with Ken from the Boy Scouts, and that was great because I have a personal history with the Boy Scouts. I was a member of the Boy Scouts when I was a young boy.

I remember camping, and I’ll tell you, Boy Scouts is an incredible character builder. It helps teach them those values that we all need. It’s one of those things where you just learn without even knowing that you're learning it. They give you life lessons so that when that when you're in a situation that really challenges you, you've got the skills to cope and handle the problems.

I remember one time at camp when I went to earn my life saving merit badge. They had us jump in the water fully clothed, and I had to take my pants off and tie a knot in them and turn them into a makeshift life preserver right there. Then we had to swim a mile, and for a kid swimming a mile without touching the shore is a heck of a thing.

We’d go camping for a week every year – leave on a Sunday and come back the next Saturday. It was a load of fun. I learned how to cook, learned how to start a fire, and learned how to live outside. Two nights out of the week we’d sleep completely outside. It didn’t matter whether it was raining or not. They’d take our sleeping bags and take us back in the woods and leave us, and we’d have to make our way back to camp by ourselves – just kids! No tent, no nothing! We had our sleeping bag and that was it – for two days. But, man, was it a lot of fun, and I learned a lot.

I know the kids’ lives are touched. The Boy Scouts gives these boys life lessons. They teach them how to be men, and I know they're giving them experiences that'll carry them through the rest of their lives.

Well, y'all have a good weekend.

Blog ya' later,
Dave Bennett

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The Gateway Center

Hey everyone,

We recently visited with Jennifer at the Gateway Center of Helen Ross McNabb. I didn't know exactly what they did out there before this visit. I mean I had heard of the Gateway Center and knew it was there and it used to be the Werner Center. But they’re treating alcohol and drug dependent adolescents 13 – 18 years old boys. Number one, it kinda' stops you in your tracks to learn there are 13 year old boys that are dependent on alcohol and drugs. It makes you stand back, and you realize how shocking it is.

At the Gateway Center they’re helping these kids break that dependency and get back into citizenship with a new attitude and the ability to cope. As Jennifer was telling us, they empower them with different coping abilities to be able to handle the problems that they have that have pushed them into the drug or alcohol abuse. You know you hear them talk about the root causes of the problems in our community, and some of it is family attitudes. Jennifer said that some of them come from a family where they sit around and smoke pot together. I mean, that’s just astonishing. When you really sit down and think about it, it breaks your heart that a kid is in a situation where they see their parents turn to drugs or alcohol to cope with life. You know that kid is going to grow up and think that’s the right thing to do when life gets 'em down.

From a United Way standpoint, we try to break that cycle and then that child, when he becomes a father, he’s not doing that to his kid and ultimately finally breaks it. Parents need to be dealt with accordingly, obviously through the legal system if that sort of stuff is going on, but the kids need to be taught how to cope with life on their own.

One thing they're doing out there is trying to teach the kids life skills, too. They have to wash their clothes, keep their rooms clean, and the center works on an award system. If you do something right, you get special privileges. If you don't do what your supposed to, those privileges are taken away.

I have to commend Jennifer and her staff over there for giving these kids a chance. They wouldn't have the chance to succeed without these programs that can intervene.

Blog ya' soon,
Dave Bennett

Friday, July 20, 2007

American Heart Association

Hey everybody,

We visited with the American Heart Association, and that was an agency near and dear to my heart – no pun intended.


I pretty much knew what they did already before we went in there with my recent open heart surgery. I think the American Heart Association as far as what they’re doing is tremendous.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America, and that association is saving lives everyday with the research that they are funding. With me personally, the pig valves they used was the direct result of American Heart Association’s research that learned that the valves of pigs were the same size as human valves. They cultivated those hearts in order to get the valves, and today hundreds of thousands of surgeries are performed annually just to replace heart valves. It’s one of those things that I am very personally aware of. Without it, I wouldn’t be here today to blog about it.

Of course, like a lot of things we see with these visits, a lot of it is about prevention. There are some cases where the problems with the heart are because of genetics or congenital defects. But most everything else comes back to lifestyle. Whether it be your eating habits or lifestyle habits – whatever they are. One of the big things that I learned, my diet, my ability to handle stress, all of those things were affecting my blood pressure.

I’m not doing as good as I should, but my diet is much better than it was. You’ve got to eat right, watch your cholesterol, and watch your blood pressure. Hopefully, then you won't need the research that's been done at the Heart Association, but if you ever do, thank God they're there!

Blog you soon,
Dave Bennett

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Epilepsy Foundation of East Tennessee

Hey everyone,

We visited with Lynn and Paula with the Epilepsy Foundation of East Tennessee, and I gotta' tell ya' it was an eye-opening experience. They were very informative, and they really opened up my mind to some of the misconceptions I had about epilepsy.

I didn't know epilepsy wasn't a disease. Like they were telling us, it's an episodic occurrence from mainly head injuries. (I think they said somewhere around 85% of epilepsy patients developed epilepsy from a head injury they received.)

I had no idea.

I remember in high school there was a guy there who had epilepsy, and he'd have seizures every once in a while. And it wasn't that I was afraid of him. But we were all afraid of hurting him. We wouldn't let him play football with us, and a lot of people treated him differently - like he had a disease they could catch.

I just gotta' thank Lynn and Paula for opening up my eyes because really once you get over the fear of epilepsy and understand what's going on, you realize they're just people coping with a condition.

And Lynn and Paula really trying to get out there and educate the public so that we can cut through the fear. They're giving bike helmets to kids. They're going to high schools to give talks to kids about epilepsy. They're communicating with the public, and that helps make a tremendous impact in our community.

Well, I better go for now. I just had to share some of that visit with y'all.

Blog ya' soon,
Dave Bennett

Monday, July 16, 2007

Bring It On: The United Way Golf Tournament

Hey everybody,

I’m famous! Mike Lewis and I did a commercial for the golf tournament a few weeks ago, and Charter’s starting to air it.



I tell ya’ it was nice to actually film something where they didn’t turn the light on the camera and stick the microphone in my face and say, “What’s your comment, Mr. Bennett?”

But the shoot was a lot of fun. Mike obviously has a lot of fun with that camera stuff. I learned a lot from him – he’s a pro. But we had a good time making the commercial.

That golf committee, chaired by Mike Lewis, has worked so hard, and we appreciate all that they’ve done. They’re doing a tremendous job. It’ll get this campaign started off the right way. That’s the first big thing we do in the campaign, and it helps raise so much money. It’s gonna’ be a great day on August 6th, and we can go out there and tee it up for United Way.

Of course, we need all the volunteers to work the tournament we can get. If you want to get involved, just get in touch with them at 982-2251 or click here to send them an email.

I need to go out there and see if I’m able to swing. I haven’t been able to get out on the golf course since my heart surgery. But if I’m able to play, let me say for the record: my team will win! We have experience with different types of tournaments, and we typically win. Even if we have to bend the rules, my team will be victorious. And if you doubt that, all I’ve got to say to the other golfers in Blount County is BRING IT ON!

Blog ya' soon,
Dave Bennett

Friday, July 13, 2007

Big Brothers Big Sisters

Hey everybody,

The other day we met with the Big Brother Big Sisters. What a program they have over there. We met two kids and their big sisters. These girls are in need of companionship and role models with other ladies, and through Big Brothers Big Sisters, these kids receive the mentoring and quality time they wouldn’t have with an adult otherwise.

These kids are getting the nourishment they need from adults that they may not get from home for whatever reason – maybe the parents have a couple jobs to keep the family going or whatever. Big Brothers Big Sisters fills in the gap that’s left there, and I could tell from those folks that they have a lot of involvement with the kids as they grow up.

We were talking about some of the problems they have and how there are myths out there that you have to have all kinds of time and you have to be this “perfect” upstanding citizen to take part in the program. But let me tell ya’: ain’t none of us perfect. It’s how you deal with those problems that could really teach these kids. It’s a shame more folks don’t take part in their program. Right now they’ve got a waiting list of fourteen boys in Blount County who could use a Big Brother.

But it doesn’t take a whole bunch of time to be a Big Brother or a Big Sister. They said if a person takes part in the school program of Big Brothers Big Sisters, it’s an hour commitment a week, and if someone wants to do the community program through them it’s a two hour commitment per week. It’s not a lot, but an hour here and an hour there really adds up to these kids.

It could mean all the world to them.

Well, y'all have a good weekend.

Blog ya’ soon,
Dave Bennett

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Blount County Rescue Squad

Hey everybody,

We recently visited with Capt. Patrick McGinley at the Blount County Rescue Squad. I worked a lot with the Rescue Squad before we visited because of my relationship with the County and all of the things that I have been involved in. Those folks at the Rescue Squad are all volunteers – dedicated folks. There are 32 of them that are very dedicated in providing their time for free to the squad to respond to car wrecks, water rescue and other rescue situations.

The Rescue Squad was created back in the 50’s to provide those services to the community, and my hat’s off to them because they volunteer their time, services, and knowledge – to save lives.

Capt. McGinley was talking about how they’ve set up a post to deal with wrecks at The Dragon just to increase response time. The Dragon is a huge draw to this community, and this time of year you just have wreck after wreck up there. Every weekend my pager goes off three or four times where there’s been a wreck on the Dragon, and the fire department, sheriff’s department, rural metro, and the rescue squad are responding to those wrecks. I don’t think there’s been a weekend gone by in the last two months that there hasn’t been at least one wreck on the Dragon. It’s a sign of the times, in that we got so many people riding that thing, and with that kinda’ frequency, they have to post somebody up there to make those calls.

When it comes down to it, they are saving lives. What value can you put on that? It’s priceless. There isn’t a value you can put on a life.

The Rescue Squad provides an invaluable service to Blount County, and that's the bottom line.

Blog you soon,
Dave Bennett