Interview: Anthony and Nadine from Rise Together

0:00Missed a moment of your favorite show? We've got you covered with the Woodward Podcast Network, powered by Mosquito Squad. Whether you're catching up or diving into bonus audio, we're just a search away on Speaker or your go-to podcast platform. The Woodward Podcast Network, powered by Mosquito Squad. Tired of those pesky mosquitoes and spiders and rodents, Mosquito Squad has you covered. First time customers will save $50 on this season. Plus a free upgrade to their exclusive barrier treatment. Plus, visit Mosquito Squad.com today and take back your yard. Who's I'm K-E-A-G? I'm Keeg. I'm Keeg. I'm Keeg. Never mind now again. Got that shorthand though, you know? We're looking at the WeAllRise Together.org, which is of course RISE Together's website, and the event for Lucky 13, which is happening this Saturday at Gibson Music Hall, and opening performance by I'm Keeg and I'm like, who I am. I'm Keeg. Admittedly, you've been very sleepy this morning. Yes. Very sweet. You know, he's like a local hip-hop hero from Ashkash. He put us on like a long time ago when we did RISE Together for the Arts, brought a bunch

1:02of people together and I thought, what a great opportunity to bring a friend, a long time supporter of RISE, and open for like a legendary hip-hop group known as Onyx. Slam! It's like a dream that would happen. It's just, it's kind of wild, you know, be honest with you. It's a lucky 13. It's a show that I always dream that would happen. And so for me, it's a little bit of a nostalgic piece for me to bring an old school hip-hop. You know, I got the classic tee on today. I just love the storytelling in hip-hop. And so to bring some friends on, to bring some spoken word back to Appleton, I think it's just sweet. You know what I love about RHS? And by the way, this is Anthony and A.D. Oh, I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry about that. I'm probably doing the introduction. I'm probably doing the introduction. But we're all kind of in the same age group and it was awesome like when we were growing up because we could sit and listen to cannibal corpse and you could listen to Onyx and you could listen to Skid Row and you could listen to the doors in real time for me. You know what I mean?

2:03And then Nirvana and then like, and you're skateboarding at the same time. And then I would see like the Rough Riders pop on and then you had Onyx in the background and they're riding the four wheelers down staircases and stuff. You could be listening to like Gunther Roses, Jean R. Lies and somebody in the background goes, mount up! We're on! It's so weird. It's so true though. But yeah, I'm bringing a little bit of that, you know, to Appleton, I think is really special 13 years for Rise Together. We've been, you know, raising awareness and helping young people in the state of Wisconsin, mostly with their mental health and also talking about overdose prevention. And those things hit really close to home and I've shared a lot of that story here. But you know, for me, somebody in recovery and somebody that was a father that wanted to create a healthier Appleton, we started Rise Together off of that premise. And we had no idea that we would go out and speak and like share a story and that would turn into a thing. And here we are, 13 years later. Unbelievable. I'm not, we were just little kids when you guys first, when Anthony first came to me and like, I'm gonna try this thing. Yeah, I'm good now. I just, I'm like, I look like a tiny baby in that picture.

3:05That's the same Anthony El Verado. I'm okay now, I promise. I promise. But it's awesome what you guys have been able to put together, Rise Together over these last 13 years. Sorry, I'm choking. No, same time. It's okay. Thank you. Yeah, no, it's been an incredible experience, honestly. I mean, the fact that we made it to 13 years and I say made it, I mean nonprofits don't always make the cut. I mean, especially after COVID and, you know, being able to continue to show up in community and support young people, we kind of done it alone, you know, it's been really great community support and people that show up and help us make this happen. So we can create safer spaces for youth to share their story and use their voice and raise awareness when it comes to addiction and mental health and suicide. Yeah. Rise Together and that's just it, right? That's the premise of Rise Together and getting into schools and you're still doing some of that, right? Yeah, into the schools. Yeah, it looks a little different today, but I mean, honestly, we're there to lift up

4:06these youth ambassadors. So we work in middle school, high school students. We teach them on the storytellers, lift up awareness around important topics like mental health and addiction and really become advocates of change. And so the storytellers are less of Nadine and I and they're becoming more of those youth led conversations and those dialogues are changing discussions in schools, in houses, and in friend groups. And because of that, I think because of the youth, Rise is still growing and making a difference today because of those people that show up in community. When you say youth, what age is you guys? Middle school and high school mostly, you know, that 10 to 18, you know, sometimes younger, but that education, that engagement might happen through a variety of different programs through Rise Together and you can check all that information out on the website. We'll get into that today. This annual benefit helps support all of that throughout the year in the state of Wisconsin, especially here in Northeast Wisconsin. Do you hear back from like kids you first, you first got to kind of get with and talk to and that's what Cusis coming back and also kind of kicks us in the stomach at the same

5:11time because it's like you're 30? Yeah, you're a teacher now. You know what I mean? And so sometimes like those students like, oh yeah, like they have become friends down the road, you know what I mean, where they became colleagues of mine, where I have worked here in Appleton. Obviously, it had done different things where now those students became, you know, full-time employees and they became volunteers and they did different career tracks and they call out and they still reach out and tell us thank you, you know, for helping to make those decisions so many years ago. That's amazing. It really is. It's incredible and it's heartwarming stuff. So in honor of all that, rise together and what you guys have been able to accomplish here now for just about a decade and a half, you have your lucky 13 event this Saturday and obviously we're joking around about Onyx and music and all that stuff. But there are performances and there are words being said and it is heartwarming. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, five to nine. The doors open, I find the show kicks off at six and then we do seven and eight and basically how that rolls out is, you know, we have open performance that will kick off with, because

6:11I love it is a great, great person that we have in our hemisphere and it's literally like she's in the field, she's doing spoken words, she's a powerhouse. Yeah, she has such a powerful voice and you're like, who could we bring to the stage to bring that presence and open up especially for an important night? And she is out of the fondle like area and she serves we empower, which is another great organization. Oh, yeah, yeah, I met because I have several years ago and every time I hear her speak, I'm like, oh man, it just it moves people. And so I'm really excited that she's opening up and kicking the night off at six. And then he's going to come through and bring some friends through, so like Dylan Finley and like DJ G spot and they have a bunch of people coming through. DJ. Yeah, you heard that. You heard that. And love the names, love the names and they're coming through, they're going to do their performance versus going to be awesome. And then when putting out all this old school promo to you should check it out, I'll send it to it's hilarious, but they're great, great group. I think you say that Nadine is over there shaking.

7:12Don't you bring that up. It's like a white man can't jump cameo. It's hilarious. Anyways. And then the legendary hip hop group on X you know, we connect with them. I've been connected to the hip hop scene for a while. I've been doing little shows over the years, you know, for 15 years. I've been doing community German work. So I've connected with artists and this is just one of those artists where I just kind of threw out like, hey, maybe this could happen. I knew they were on tour and they just happened to do a Midwest swing and they said, you know, we haven't done a charity show. We usually don't do these type of shows, but we love what you are doing for youth. And so we want to come through and we want to light up affliction. We want to light up your community and spread that good message. And you know, these guys, they're one of the only hip hop groups left that still know and have worked with the legends like two pop biggie, like they are on track with them. You know, DMX, everybody that if you're a hip hop fan, these guys are like in with. And so just to have that like knowledge and that that history behind them, I can't wait to see what kind of energy they bring. And they have a little bit of that like hardcore heavy metal mix in it too, you know.

8:14Yeah. So when I and obviously, Jo, to round about, you know, the music was listened to as a kid, but those were the, there were certain rap groups or hip hop artists that I actually really enjoyed because they're more punk rock. Dude, they're coming into this territory. You know, in a mean it was a little, a little while when you get the music. And the music that goes with those, those words and those beats sometimes flowed. It's not just, you know, the mumble rap. I'm gonna be honest with you and I've never, you know, whatever. I've never talked about this and I'll talk about it real quick, but it's just something to me. I don't think people understand like my love for hip hop goes way back to like early stuff for me growing up and ripping Wisconsin. There was stuff that I was experiencing that none of my friends were experiencing. Like the just a lot of that growing up, drugs, alcohol, a lot of stuff I saw in the home, the abuse, et cetera, et cetera. But I did find relation in hip hop music in the storytelling. They were talking about things that I saw in my home that nobody else could speak to. Right. So I've always been attracted to the art of storytelling.

9:14It's an extent. And DMX for example, is just one of those like great storytellers. And that's kind of how this all happened. We start talking about artists like that and Onyx came up and they came through. And so I get to pick them up on Saturday. We get to hang out all day. And it's going to be amazing. It's going to be amazing. I know I know I'm from the movie Save the Last Dance. Oh, yeah, that's right. They they're in that movie too. We got there in that movie. That's hilarious. Yeah. Well, it looks like it's going to be really cool. And on Saturday it gives a musical for the lucky 13. And today and Anthony brought this up off the air. You know, Lorna, every single morning, we have to answer a very simple question of what day is it? What day is it? And you brought it up right at the start. Like, let's get this serious one out of the way. Right. Because it's surrounded by kind of funny like, I don't even want to put them like weener snitch will day was yesterday. And so. But like TV dinner date.

10:14It's that was the dinner date. Actually, yes, exactly. That's what it was. But then also it's a world suicide prevention day. Yeah. And we all have a shared space for that. And we all have a shared tattoo that symbolizes that. Yeah, Lorna, get with the program. You're going to get the tattoo. Yeah, I think you're going to get a tattoo with us. Yeah, it's semicolon tattoo. But you know, seriously, though, I think there's a lot to be talked about. That is great and funny. But there's also a lot of really serious conversations. And I think what we're trying to do with rise and even what project semicolon does with suicide prevention, conversations, they're happening all the time. And how you bring light to them is up to you. And I think each and every one of us are impacted by the things that we're talking about today. You know, some of the struggling with mental health, with addiction, maybe impacted by overdose, maybe you know, a young person that can use a little bit more support needs to be heard. These things are there. And so when we bring light to them, you know, change happens. And so I'm really excited that people are still having the conversation as hard as it is to talk about overdose death for me.

11:15I lost a child, you know, and still doing this work. I came all the way back to Appleton. The still do the work that I said I was going to do. The create the healthier Appleton from my children grew up in. And I still lost a child in this area to the thing I was trying to prevent. So I know how much heavy comes in the room when I walk in the room. But what I do know is there, I have this like trembling me right now, because I can feel the energy like there's change happening. And when I go into room with that story with Gavin's story, things move. And it's beautiful to see and get to lift that story up still today, you know, Anthony and A.D. from Rise together here. We're talking about Lucky 13, which is happening Saturday at Gibson Music Hall. We all rise together.org is the website. Hainty one second. Let's learn more of that story next joined in studio by Nadine and Anthony from Rise together. We're talking about Lucky 13. Rise is Lucky 13 concert and event that's happening this Saturday at Gibson Music Hall in downtown Appleton and an organization that true through

12:16many trials and tribulations. I know we're talking off the air. I mean, there's a ton you have to go through as a nonprofit and just even as a as a couple, right? A couple. I mean, to get through stuff, especially in the space that you guys are in the life that you guys have lived in the past. Yeah, I wrote a book about it actually called enough already. Because enough already, right? Like I wanted to speak my truth and tell my side of the story to you. You did. I mean, you guys, I mean, I don't want to prop you up too much because you're my friends, but because I live with them. You know what I mean? But it is truly an inspiration. If you actually understand the stories of not just YouTube, it's so many people that have been involved with Rise together over the years and the stories you've heard from people that you've helped over the years. It is truly an inspiration to see, especially here on World Suicide Prevention Day, to see what the difference is when somebody just opens up and talks. And like you said, tells their story exactly because your story matters.

13:17That's a, that's our thing. That sounds like a hash tag or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's, it's, it's true though. And we now even have research to back it. I mean, 10 years in, we partnered with Penn State College of Medicine and we have incredible research just showing and, and claiming the fact that when you share as a peer that lived experience, you're able to build that relatable connection and just creating that safe space for somebody to speak out and to ask for help or share their story and just to know that they're not alone. Because no matter what you're going through, you don't have to face it alone. And that means a lot to me right now because I literally have somebody that I know in the hospital who tried to commit suicide earlier this week. And it sucks, man. And I feel like it's so taboo. And yeah, it might be more talked about in social media today and, you know, yes, people get, you know, semi-colon tattoos, but it's real life. And I know how it impacts people. But when we, you know, show up whether we're in a school or we're in a community

14:21space like the community living room or, you know, shooters boxing club here where we have our youth hangouts, we're creating those spaces for youth to have, you know, adults that they can turn to and have people that have that lived experience to build that connection to so they're not alone. And helping young people rise and thrive and using arts as a way to communicate message of change and hope and inspiration. I mean, music does that spoken word does that. And so that's where you go down that path. You're about to go down. Sometimes it's a muscle that just keeps going. Just like it's going. Nadine, you brought up shooters boxing club. Oh, yeah. Let me go back to that for a second. My son was going to shooters boxing club and we lived closer to there. What a cool atmosphere that I can't remember his name. So I apologize. Nick has, uh, has put together. So, uh, shooters boxing or electric city shooters. Yeah. Like I said, you shoot. It's in Kekana is the old Alhas auto building. So cool. Right. And they put a bit of, Lord, they put a boxing ring in there.

15:21Nice. Um, and they put a statue out front in these kids. I showed up to pick up my son from boxing. They're outside and they're, he was outside and running sprints. And I'm like, you know, Nick looked at me and laughed. I'm like, go. Yeah. Get up. Yeah. It's so cool. Honestly, I wish it was around when Gavin was here. I think it would have loved it. It's like, it is such a space for kids to get active and move your body and to find that support. You know, between Nick and Megan, I mean, we were looking for a building for a long time because they knew that they were outgrowing. I mean, he started out of his auto body shop like in the back. Yeah. He owns an auto body shop and little shoot. And then I used to live like literally a block from there. Nice. So I'd go past it every single day and I saw the progress. Yeah. And the explosion back that he turned into this is boxing ring and the kids are all outside there. And I'm like, what is that? Well, yeah, there's like 50 kids showing up at night. Yeah. So that's where rise together's home bases is out of Kekana in shooters.

16:21There is now. I did not know that. Yeah. Yeah. So there's, and they just opened up like a food source basically. So you can show up and they have like a fridge there. It's a community fridge. And so if you need additional support, yeah, it should probably also be mentioned. And while you can't pay and take classes there, it is free. It's free for kids and they even have a lot of how he does that. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, and that's why they started as a nonprofit. And so really just supporting them in that process. We've been working kind of alongside over the last couple of years. And it's really incredible. One of their board members is our program director, Megan. And she really, she had this vision. I met her back in 2020 and she was like, I want to create a school and a space for youth that can find support. And especially for students that were getting expelled or kicked out of school, she was creating

17:22this space for them. So now she has her own life program within there starting a school alongside the shooters boxing club. And yeah, that's where rise together's home is. Because where a lot of our programs, our storytelling program is actually going to be housed out of there as she works with young people. And then we also, as we serve the county area, whether between Sean O and Brown County, we have been doing a lot of great youth prevention work also up now in O'Connell County with Wisconsin wins. And so it's really cool to see the progression. So while we might have been around for the last 13 years, our roots just keep getting deeper. Yeah. That's pretty amazing. Hey, we got a text shout out to Anthony from your buddy Andy Harbath. Let's go, man. That dude was way back in the day. Even like when we were doing car shows and stuff, he'd be showing up in the garage helping me get stuff out of the back. Yeah. He is Harbath. Let's go. That's awesome. In the future, we'll get one of those car motorcycles show rides together. We've been talking about it.

18:22We'll get it. I'm putting this future together. I'm super pumped. I mean, this year we're doing our show at Gibson third year in a row. I just got to give a huge shout out today, even his team. It's been so incredible to have their support in such a sweet space. If you haven't been there yet, it's a sweet music venue downtown, Appleton. He's been inside Gibson, yeah. Intimate. And so it's going to be really cool with hip hop. I think it's one of the first hip hop shows that he's had. I don't know if you've been watching Alex doing international shows. I think it's going to be a little wild. We got like 180 people going to be packed in there just. Yeah. Yeah. You haven't had your tickets. Get them today. Yes. And the THC insurance, I have to say thank you guys for giving love and support and helping to make this show happen alongside superior natural mineral water. And of course, our supporters. They're technologies and a ton of people radio. Yeah. It's like, it's like, it's a woodward. Let's go. Thank you. Thank you all. We can do this without you. Of course. Of course. Yeah. Not just the music. You can't have, listen, we've been saying it all along, Lord right?

19:23Like you can't have a charity event without raffles. It's kind of what I've been looking at the last. Yeah. I'm this or so. Yeah. This year we're doing them online for the first time. Yeah. I'm kind of looking at these, uh, Virlo better sleep package bills. These two pillows. Oh, yeah. Oh, it's not going to much sleep. Yeah. I'm sorry. No. You've been yawning this time. Good pillows, sir. Honestly, my cell phone actually works at Virlo. So she hooked it up with some pillows this year. And I actually am about to put a couple more pillows on the list because, dude, sleep matters. It's so important. They talk about your mental health and taking good care of yourself. She also tickets to Epic event center shows and self-care baskets and, uh, gift cards up there. There's a lot to share. We got some custom furniture that's going to drop later today. Yes, our jewelry boards. Yeah. Nice. So it's going to be cool. We got some friends like making some custom pieces to and throwing in, you know, their, you know, their trade, their, you know, business here, local and Apple tin. So thank you to all of our supporters, everybody that has showed us love over the years. And of course to all of the schools and the teachers and the youth leaders and, and especially

20:26the youth. I mean, we wouldn't be doing this work without the people that we serve. And, uh, we've served over a half a million students, you know, across Wisconsin and beyond. And we look to continue for the next 13 years to save lives. And then the day that's what this is about. Lucky 13 this Saturday Gibson music call. He's doors open at five. The program begins at six. They're spoken word. There's hip hop. Um, there's probably rock in the middle. Um, there's a lot of cool stuff happening, but for rise together and maybe even more importantly for you to what's next? Well, you can go. We moved to Florida last year. So traders, I think what's next is that you'll see more of like the truth behind Anthony and AD. I think there's a lot of talk about what we do. But we are also people. And so we have had like this beautiful baby boy that we've been raising for almost three years now. He's our life. And we love family with our friends and we're creating a little special thing in Florida.

21:27But honestly, as an artist, my life is taking off. Something that I always dreamed to do is more art. And that is happening through unbroken. Maybe is becoming author and traveling and speaking to women through her book enough already. It's just really beautiful to see our family heal and to grow and to expand outside of what we have done here with rise and see it kind of grow wings here in Wisconsin. And I'm so excited to see somebody take on, you know, that that might, if you will, for rise and continue to hold. But we're here and we're doing great work. And I love the support that we get. So thank you. Of course. What can you get that book? Nadine speaks.com or Amazon. Okay. Uh, last chance. Anything else you want to say? I love everybody. Thank you so much. Good luck to me back. Oh, yeah. And seriously, this has been my home. I mean, I grew up in Ripon, Wisconsin. Wisconsin will always be a home. So just thank you for having me. Maybe. Same. I mean, small town beaver day. I'm native. But no, truly, I'm, I'm grateful because we couldn't have done this work without the community.

22:34And it takes a community to raise a child. And to see the impact and to have those stories come back five, 10 years later, where youth are like, no, you changed my life. You saved my life. I'm now in a non-acconsular. Now I'm a social worker. Now, you know, I'm out helping other people. And, you know, that's why I'm starting. On this World Suicide Prevention Day, that sounds like some pretty good inspiration for me. You're certain. I know. Together.org is the website. Rise Together's Lucky 13. This Saturday, Gibson Music Hall in Appleton. Thank you, you too.