It’s always fun when our guests begin a segment by telling Nestor about an old roadtrip they partcipated in during the golden purple era. Bruce Clopein had two community tales on “A Cup Of Soup Or Bowl” at State Fare in Catonsville: his Patapsco Valley State Park volunteer advocacy and how his group at Catholic Charities makes a difference all around Baltimore.
Nestor Aparicio discusses the importance of Patapsco State Park and Catholic Charities in Baltimore. Bruce Clopein, representing Friends of Patapsco Valley State Park and Catholic Charities, highlights the park’s adaptive programming for people with special needs, including hiking, kayaking, fishing, and biking. He shares personal stories about the park’s significance and its unique features, such as its 16,000 acres and diverse activities. Clopein also emphasizes Catholic Charities’ extensive social services, including shelter for homeless families and programs addressing poverty and domestic violence. The conversation touches on the positive impact of community involvement and the importance of supporting local initiatives.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Patapsco State Park, Catholic Charities, adaptive programming, hiking trails, kayaking, fishing, biking, homelessness support, Sarah’s House, Maryland Food Bank, Ravens game, Ellicott City, technology in hiking, nature connection, community service
SPEAKERS
Bruce Clopein, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We are positively out on a cup of soup or bowl. We’re here at State Fair. It’s lunchtime. Cindy loppers playing, I’m staring at all sorts of rock stars, and David Bowie and Eddie Vedder and I got the Freddie Mercury on the right, and we’re underneath of the great, great Joan Jett of silver spring Maryland Oriole fans, almost Orioles season here. All are brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery. Have the magic eight ball I have been rubbing. Luckily, we have great guests coming out this week. It’s been a big week. We skipped fates on Tuesday. We’re going to do that two weeks from now, but if you’re out listening and driving around, Coco’s on Wednesday, we Clancy Haskett, famous beer vendor, Clancy and SIG joining us. John Hoey from the Y lots of great conversations, including out here with Kate Paris from accelerant and LLS and my friend Caitlin Kirby, who runs the Catonsville emergency assistance. We’re doing all of it for the Maryland Food Bank and feeding folks and our friends at wise markets also chipping in and these wise conversations. So I am, you know, as a Tony Robbins principal of you know, ask the universe for you ask people, and you’ll and people will come. So I yelled out to the internet all 10 of our listeners. Well, nine now that my mom passed away recently. So we had nine listeners. I said, if any of you have a great story to tell, or you want to come on the show, and Bruce clopine emailed me and said, I’m gonna read the specific email here, just so I know we’re good here. This is about Patapsco State Park, but it turns out like Sarah’s house and Catholic Charities. And then I shared a Bill McCarthy piece, literally this morning, and bills no longer running Catholic Charities and wasn’t around, but wrote this beautiful piece about Catholicism and Christianity and giving and kindness, basically all of the things that went on when Trump was elected, and he wrote that nasty stuff to the woman who was trying to basically bring us all together in prayer. But Bruce copine is here. So you, are you here on behalf of being a park ranger, or you here on BE at behalf of Catholic Charities? Are you here because the chicken and waffles are
Bruce Clopein 02:19
good, all three, I would say originally, Nestor. It was a matter of representing friends of Tapio Valley State Park and our adaptive initiatives. But as we mentioned, I work for Catholic Charities as well, so I’m happy to talk about the work that we’re engaged in there. And last but not least, the food is good here. I’m a patron of a State Fair. Got good stuff. I bet
Nestor Aparicio 02:39
you want me fix your mic here real quick. I’m gonna say this. You came up to me and you didn’t even, like, get into state fair or the park. You came up to move some sort of Cleveland story. You’re like, I went on a thumbs up with Cleveland with you. And I’m like, Alright, on the air with that. So everybody knows, because I’m in Catonsville. Molar will attest to this. I don’t green room. You know what I mean. Like, I anything we’ve talked about before we come on, we’re probably not going to talk about. So give me the how do you know me? Because you know people love to come to me and say, Remember me, I was on your trip, but you were on my trip to Cleveland.
Bruce Clopein 03:12
Apparently, eight degrees of Nestor represented here. I’m a local Baltimore boy. So of course, I grew up as a colts fan, and sadly, I’m old enough to remember when they left. And conversely, it was a joyous time when we finally got football back in Baltimore. And as you well know, shortly after the Ravens came into existence, one of their most notable road games was at the Cleveland Browns. First time they’d be back against their old
Nestor Aparicio 03:38
did we beat we beat the snot Adam like 38 to nine or something. Bill Billick was talking smack the whole way, right? Is
Bruce Clopein 03:44
I’m right, right? Yeah. Kick the shit out of Yeah. 99 probably right. 99 and it was a,
Nestor Aparicio 03:50
did we go to we went to the Hall of Fame? Yes, yeah, okay. I went to football hall of fame. It’s a bus
Bruce Clopein 03:54
trip sponsored by you back in the day. And one of the memories there is getting off the bus I remember was we were certainly advertised Ravens fans. They hated us. They hated us. They were throwing shit at us. But 41 to 941, that sounds about right, yep. And later on, a bunch of us, we actually were able to break bread and tailgated or post tailgated
Nestor Aparicio 04:16
totem banks and Ty Detmer, Eric Rhett, ran for 100 er, I gotta call him 117 yards and two touchdowns in that game there. Yeah, ravens, with 315 yards a total offense and a time of possession of 34 minutes, attended 72,898
Bruce Clopein 04:35
How about that? Hundreds of which were Ravens fans definitely
Nestor Aparicio 04:37
trying to go through the box score here, Tony banks, 14 of 25 for 129 yards.
Bruce Clopein 04:45
Old school football. Priest Holmes,
Nestor Aparicio 04:47
10 carries 40 yards in that one. Oh, the great Stoney case. Stoney case carried the ball four times in that game. How did that? The late Chuck Evans also in that game. Coddry, Ishmael, Justin armor. There. Aaron Pierce caught two balls in that one. Wow. And my buddy, Pat Johnson, my Facebook friend and Ah, shit. Jermaine Lewis fumble one in that we won 41 to nine. Ray Lewis made 11 tackles in that game. That’s all that sounds about like. Ray Kim herring, Deron Jenkins, Dwayne Starks, Rob Burnett, Hall of Famer rod Woodson, the late great Tony, Sarah goose, Corey Harris, Keith Washington, who I saw at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I was walking through the hall of fame when Ray went in seven, eight years ago, and I’m just standing in the middle of fame, and there’s Keith Washington. So we had some fun. Yeah, man. Michael McCreary was on that team. Fernando Smith was on that team, but his barbecue on Thanksgiving night was not Peter bolware, my Facebook friend Cornell Brown, the great Lionel Dalton and Chris McAllister, there you go. 99 Ravens. Damn fine. Bring it back for you. Yep. Great memory. Flynn probably was playing guard on that team too, so that might have been good to Mike Flynn, so Alright, so you had a good time in Cleveland. You wrote to me, and I think you wrote to me based on the parks, right, like you wanted to talk about good things and our county, really our area. You know, my wife’s from New Hampshire, and we live downtown, and she sort of knew about Oregon Ridge, because if they had fireworks and whatnot going on up there, but I can’t say that like we live downtown. We knew a lot about the parks until COVID, right? When COVID happened, we were like, All right, let’s go discover gunpowder. And I know my wife went hiking through Patapsco several times during COVID, and she’s a she hikes without me. I’m not I’m not a hiker. I don’t like mosquitoes. I don’t like bugs.
Bruce Clopein 06:39
Well, you’re a city boy, right? I was gonna say I don’t like people, but
Nestor Aparicio 06:42
there’s no people in the woods. So I mean, if I you know, it’s placed, a great place to go get away during the plague. My wife and I went to Centennial Park one day, and that is Centennial parks, beautiful. So we walk through there. So I have done park walking, but I said to my wife, it’s a plague. Once I put the bleach in my arms. It’s gonna fix me. And then the next time there’s a plague, I’ll know more about parks. I’ll be honest with you, we went to parks because there was we went to Patterson Park. I did. Do you know that there are birds, any fish pond
Bruce Clopein 07:13
in Patterson Park? I was at Patterson Park last weekend. I
Nestor Aparicio 07:17
did not know that this, so I learned all this during the plague. But I think I said to her, then, you do know the minute, like, I could go to stadiums again and, like, go have fun and do things. I’m probably not going to be like hiking through Patapsco park, but my wife still is. She does Cromwell Valley State Park. She does lock Raven. She knows trail. She follows the trails on Google Map when she goes places. And she is. She has polls. You know, it’s not, she doesn’t with her sister and her dad. They go to New Hampshire and do like, that’s what she loves, that it’s not that part of the marriage. For me, I like concerts and cities and people, but tell me about the woods, ma’am.
Bruce Clopein 07:56
Well, first off, your wife, she’s geared up. That’s That’s impressive, but the polls and whatnot, good stuff. Yeah, so about the woods and Patapsco Valley State Park in particular. The back story for me is I grew up in Ellicott City, and I always say I was really blessed by geography, because the state park was literally a stone’s throw from my backyard. And growing up as a kid, from the age of five, there in Ellicott City, in many ways, that Park was my first and remains my best friend. And so I’m on the board of an organization called Friends of Patapsco Valley State Park Nestor. And many, not all, but many, Maryland state parks have these boards, like, there’s a Friends of gunpowder, there’s a Friends of Astig, and what we do is a volunteer board is we just advocate for the park, raise money and such and but in particular, what’s really been a passion of ours these past four years is adaptive programming. And what I mean by that is for folks who have special needs, mobility challenges, they may be vision impaired, they may be autistic, folks who are otherwise marginalized for those opportunities for the park, inclusion. That’s what it’s all about. It’s all about for us, ensuring that the park is a treasure.
Nestor Aparicio 09:09
If I say the things I’m capable of saying this week in regard like I just almost spit out something that was just raw, but nonetheless, anyway, I just know so many people in my life who that I’ve encountered that are the most beautiful people who already deal with incredible difficulties. So we’re talking about inclusion. Keep going. I have to take a breath when I hear that somebody wants to make things like this not possible for people. But go
Bruce Clopein 09:42
ahead, I’ll say this. I mean, it’s really a personal thing for me. I mean, to share with you, back when I was in high school, my mom suffered a severe stroke, which impaired her moving forward, and we’re talking for 30 plus years, and
Nestor Aparicio 09:56
you probably didn’t have a lot of resources then, right? Not as much, right? Right?
Bruce Clopein 10:00
We’re a family that really loved the outdoors. I mean, grew up with a pop up and an RV and so much camping and hiking, canoeing and and clearly that had an effect on her, obviously, and had an effect on the family. So just getting her to the woods was tough, yeah, okay. And, and, you know, you wouldn’t think of things such as adaptive trails and century trails, which we have nowadays. And so to me, you know those of us who are part of boards of state parks and those of us who love parks, it’s all about those experiences, and why not ensure that those experiences are available for everyone, no matter what your level of aptitude is. So, so we work with folks like the Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Maryland Autism Society and the Veterans Administration. I
Nestor Aparicio 10:44
talked to Polly surhoff this week and BJ, they couldn’t come out this week, but Pathfinders doing great things as well with autism. Yes, yeah. So
Bruce Clopein 10:51
it’s it’s great when we have these folks attend these events, and when I say these events, we sponsor four primary activities. They are hiking, kayaking, fishing and biking. Ironically, we were gonna have our next adaptive hikes.
Nestor Aparicio 11:06
Hiking, fishing, biking, what? And kayaking, kayaking, okay, yeah. And
Bruce Clopein 11:10
ironically, we were gonna have a our next adaptive hike this Saturday, but they’ve been paying attention to forecast. It’s not looking good, so we’re gonna reschedule.
Nestor Aparicio 11:17
This is not the time of the year for parks. Come on. You bet six, eight weeks away. We got to get some weather here. I know parks go with baseball for me,
Bruce Clopein 11:25
yep, yep. Just trying to fill the calendar. But it’s great when, when you go to these events and you see these folks who you know may have never been in the kayak before, may have never been an adaptive bike before. So you know the worlds that that opens up for people. It’s really a wonderful thing to tell
Nestor Aparicio 11:43
me about your park a little bit, because I am not familiar other than we are in Catonsville. We’re here at State Fair right of Frederick Road, across Mel guapo, and I know I can drive up about eight blocks past the post office, plus Jeff mohler’s place and make a left, and I’ve seen the sign, you know, the entrance, because, you know, Park signs are very noticeable in their wooden and they but I don’t know what’s behind that sign or where to park. I’ve also been, obviously, Ellicott City, and Evan year had his floods over at Portales and years ago, and the two big floods over there. But every time I’m over there, you can feel, you don’t feel it on Frederick road here, right? You don’t feel like you’re near a park, right, like, literally, and you wouldn’t know that. I think you know it when you’re on the top side of the beltway and you look over my radio tower is and you see that there’s lock Raven there. You see Cromwell. You can see these parks. This one is a little bit more. Unless you’re on 40, you drive through up the hill and through the forest. Anybody that’s driven on 40 Baltimore national pike. You wind up in a forest and you’re like hallway, so I think, but that thing goes all the way down and around Howard get the whole deal, right? It’s a huge park, right?
Bruce Clopein 12:53
Patapsco is a very unique part parking that it’s very long and very narrow, 16,000 acres in all. It’s the oldest state park in Maryland, and I
Nestor Aparicio 13:02
knew you’d have the deets. I knew you would have the math on this. For me. I don’t know what the hell that 16,000 but I do that’s a big part,
Bruce Clopein 13:09
a large piece open space. And what I love about the park, it’s so multi user. I mean, it has opportunities there, for kayaking, for camping, for mountain biking, for Disc Golf.
Nestor Aparicio 13:21
Never thought to myself, I’m just gonna go pitch a tent Patapsco Park and just hang out.
Bruce Clopein 13:25
Oh, man, you just drive right down here on Frederick Avenue. And Frederick road a little bit, and that Hilton area I got
Nestor Aparicio 13:30
heated my house and a refrigerator and cold beer, I would get the internet out there, though, that’s that thing about the woods now, though, right? So full story, by the way, Bruce clippine is here. He is gonna give us some Catholic charity stuff too. And as a long time listener, thank you for reaching and coming out and meet me and saying hello and being nice and all that. My wife is a hiker, and back on her birthday, it was day after birthday, but you first so it was her birthday weekend. And you know, this is not uncommon. I am. I don’t know if you could tell on the internet, but I’m kind of a serial entrepreneur. I mean, I work. I’m a worker. I don’t really have any hobbies, you know. I don’t go to movies, I don’t like movies, I don’t watch TV, I don’t play pickleball, you know. But I’m a hot yoga guy because of my back and it keeps me healthy, keeps me young and sexy, keeps me feeling good, makes me feel like I’m gonna live longer. But I like my work. I mean, I do a lot of work. So Saturdays are work day for me. I get caught up this week, I’m gonna have 40 different charity and community pieces that folks are gonna want to see out of Baltimore positive so I work on that. So she can’t is June 1 beautiful day, and she’s I’m gonna go for for a walk. I’m gonna go up to the park. She walked out the door, walked up, walked in, walked to the park. She’s gone 20 minutes, nine o’clock in the morning, and she called. My phone rang, and I was like, editing something. I looked down. My phone’s ringing. I know she’s in the woods. I’m like, oh, no, answer the phone, crying, screaming, fell, oh, turned her ankle in the woods, trying to figure out where she is. She. She GPS, obviously GPS herself. She screenshot where she was. Wasn’t far from where I was at the at that point, I jumped in the car. I got her in four minutes, I got she was at the edge of the park, and she made it up to a ravine, and I got her into the car, and I got her to urgent care, and she within 30 minutes, she’d been x rayed. She had a cast on, like the whole deal, but she hikes in the woods alone. Is that a good idea?
Bruce Clopein 15:31
It’s always good. If
Nestor Aparicio 15:32
listening, I’m gonna focus on Bruce honey, here you go. All right, go ahead. No, I’m half kidding, because, like you think it can’t happen, but the technology, and I all love to my wife, the technology of having this changes hiking, I would think, from 20 years ago, like I went up to yakugani. I’ve gone down the river up there, and I spent nights in tents with Marines and Boy Scouts and other things like that. My uncle had a pop up. So I, you know, I was in the woods as a younger person, but I would think technology is one piece of this. When my wife goes out, she knows where every trail is, she knows markers, and she goes to other other parks beyond lock Raven, where we live near but she goes to other parks all over the country, literally. And the technology part, the fact that she can look up your park online, know everything that’s going on, we’re in a different place that if you love the outdoors and it’s free, right? I mean, like the other part is, once you buy the thing, you’re getting entertained, and it’s not like sitting in a ball game with a beard. It’s a healthy, wonderful thing, but the technology’s aided that, I think,
Bruce Clopein 16:47
yeah, no doubt. I mean, it’s good and bad, but, but to your point, the technology, yeah, it’s harder to get lost, if you will, now, but you were asking about the best, best practices in terms of hiking or whatever it’s ideally, it’s best to go with someone else, just in case. You know, trouble runs
Nestor Aparicio 17:03
amok, but Well, she’s definitely now she’s seen coyotes out there. Oh, yeah. But short
Bruce Clopein 17:07
of that, it’s always good to let someone know where you’re going and when you’re gonna be back and so forth. But yeah, coyotes definitely more of a common sighting now. So yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 17:17
you seen coyotes at Patapsco? I have
Bruce Clopein 17:19
not, but they’re that, i They’re certainly there, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 17:22
yeah. I wouldn’t believe it till I saw one myself. And I’m like, What’s that wolf doing? Oh, my God, I didn’t see coyotes here. I mean, I’ve seen, like, videos of little bears and, like, Towson and stuff. And I’m like, what?
Bruce Clopein 17:35
Yeah, you got bears in that park? Oh, I don’t want to spread too many. No, I don’t think we have, not
Nestor Aparicio 17:39
lions and tigers, I know that much, but bears, I’m worried. No, not,
Bruce Clopein 17:43
not a Patapsco. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 17:45
you’re looking at me like, I’m afraid of the woods. And are you? Why am I? You tell me, I just gave you coyotes and bears. So that’s part of the issue. Of like, Hey honey, you go out. You call me if you see a bear. When she called me, I didn’t know what she I mean, clearly, I found that quickly she was hurt. But I’m thinking, why are you calling me? You could send me a picture if it was something cool. But my wife has become very Birdy, and I never would have told you the amount of birds that we have in this state. I mean, just this morning. I mean, in the snow, I shot four blue birds. I didn’t shoot them for you creeps out there that kill things, but, but I had, like, blue birds right on, right on our Yeah, four blue birds right there. They’re beautiful. That’s another part of the woods that that would make me more woodsy, like Getty Lee, who’s my idol. As you know, Getty Lee’s become a birder. He says he takes his grandkids out for birding. Birds are cool, man. And I never knew this. It’s the second time I’ve talked birds this week, because I’m a Dundalk owl, and I have my Dundalk people on I spent my whole life. I’m in a hall of fame. I’m a Hall of Fame. Al, when they put me in Hall of Fame seven, eight years ago, I wouldn’t have known anything about owls. Like I didn’t know that how cool they are, yeah, that they fly without sound, right? You know, like they’re they’re really nasty, like they eat, they go after stuff. I didn’t know any of this until I saw an owl for the first time my life and I heard who, who. So my wife, my this is technology for you. Okay, some I’m not like going out. I’m not going out in the woods. I’m not Grizzly Adams. You know, it’s not my thing. But I want to give you your space, because my wife is not Grizzly Adams, but she’s She’s
Bruce Clopein 19:33
little granola. Sounds like she is, no
Nestor Aparicio 19:35
question. This is the thing about her, with the birds and stuff, she uses these apps, and she has the app. When you hear a bird, you hit the button, and you know whether it’s a Finch or an owl or I guess it doesn’t have coyotes, but it had, but every bird with the sounds they make out some of junkos and different stuff like that, the technology of being in the woods is. It there. I mean, for a guy like me that never did it as a kid was not, I’m a tenderfoot, you know this, right? There are things that make it appealing to me that if, when I, when I do, go hiking with my wife once a year to make sure she didn’t break her ankle, that it, seeing the birds, seeing things, you know, in lock Raven, there’s like, old cars in the woods that people have junked, right? Yeah. And then I met this guy from wise markets that goes on these he doesn’t really want to be in Patapsco State Park. He wants to go to un un walked about land, to find old trash, to find the old bottles. You know about this? People are doing all sorts of stuff outside of watching the Orioles and the Ravens. Who knew? Yeah. I mean,
Bruce Clopein 20:40
that’s, that’s part of the balance in life, you know? I mean, one hand, we’re inundated with technology and screens and whatnot, but then it’s nice to have that fellowship with nature, where you’re removed from much of that. What do you like?
Nestor Aparicio 20:51
Give me your favorite thing to do? A Patapsco. So I’m gonna go home to my wife tonight and say, Hey, I had a had a crunchy granola tree hugger on named Bruce. What am I gonna what am I gonna tell her your favorite thing that you made a recommendation? I’m a
Bruce Clopein 21:04
kayaker, so I enjoy kayaking. So I paddle a lot on Patapsco and, yeah, where do you go in? My favorite section is to put in below Daniels dam, which is in Ellicott City, and take that down through Ellicott City proper, and take out just below Ellicott City bridge there. Perhaps goes nice in terms of kayaking, because it’s nothing too heavy duty, but it’s, it’s also has enough action, enough rapids, to keep things interesting for people. Yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 21:32
I’ve been white water rafting twice, one time too fast, almost killed myself, literally almost drowned. You mentioned the young and then the next time it it was, was stuck on rocks all day, you know? So there’s that, there’s that in between that can be miserable, yeah, yeah. Neither one were particularly like having a crying girlfriend that thought she was gonna drown wasn’t fun, and then the second time pushing off the rock. So I’m Gucci. Man, I’m bougie. Man, I need a Disney Experience. Bruce, you know, this kind of like that experience I gave you a 99 moon. What see the ravens, 26 years ago, about
Bruce Clopein 22:02
that? Eric red, we’re
Nestor Aparicio 22:04
both still here. Bruce club pine is here. He represents two organizations, first, the Patapsco State Park and friends of Patapsco State Park, as well as Catholic Charities. Let’s talk about this because Maryland Food Bank, I’ve got awareness and food and groceries and stuff going on all around here, and Catholic Charities has been doing things forever. I saw people jump on my thread today. And you know, I was raised Catholic, and Our Lady Fatima, altar boy, with Johnny Rollo as we told the story here last year, and just a whole deal I was not privy to all the bad things that the Archdiocese in the church have done here that you can google and find out about, or watch the movies, read the books, all that kind of stuff. And that’s a heck of a thing to come back from. But I also go back to people like Bill McCarthy, who wrote this morning something that I shared. I want you to talk about Catholic Charities,
Bruce Clopein 22:58
because you’re involved. Sure. So thank you for that opportunity. And yeah, so I work for Catholic Charities. I work at a shelter for families who are experiencing homelessness, and to me, one of the things I really love about Catholic Charities, I’ve been working there for 25 years now, is that every social justice issue that’s out there has been addressed by Catholic Charities in some form or fashion, whether it’s homelessness, whether it’s poverty, whether it’s Head Start, senior housing, you name it, they have their hands in it, and it’s the largest private provider of social services within the state, over 80 programs, including the one I’m at. And to me, I think it’s, I think for all of us have an opportunity to get back to do what we can. And that’s the great thing about my job, because I am working every day with volunteers, with donors, and to me, it’s a great counterbalance, if you will, to the lately news, because every day I’m receiving inquiries from folks, and they don’t want something. They want to give something, their time, their talent, their treasure, and so it’s a really cool thing to bear witness to, because, again, you read the papers enough and you’ll you’ll just be beaten down by, you know, all those negative stories out there, but
Nestor Aparicio 24:12
I’m here to positive that’s what I’m doing. Amen. I mean, I can get down on Justin Tucker or hold the Ravens or Orioles accountable, but the rest of the time, I’m trying to figure out how we make this thing work. How do we make Baltimore better? How do we make the place work? And I have been so heartened. I mean, even in this week, I should be sitting in New Orleans right now, right I should be having been the A’s instead, I’m here with you, and telling these stories has been more beneficial for me the last couple years to say people beating on the city. I don’t go downtown. We don’t go there anymore. This is bad. That’s I think it’s very, very easy to sit and be that person, especially if you admire this criminal, this felon running the country right now, and sitting back and just complaining about problems, instead of picking up your phone, your time, your talent, your treasure. I love that. I’m going to be stealing the stolen credit to brew. Forever from that one that people are doing things, lots of people are doing great things every single day to help less fortunate people, and it’s a way of life for so many of you. You know what I mean like, and I think I saw this with my wife when she was battling, which really inspired all this with Bill Cole. And I talk about it all the time, but when my wife was battling for her life down at the hospital and doctors and nurses and organizations like the LLS for 100 years, were trying to find ways to save people’s lives, I looked at these doctors and nurses coming everything I want to fight about sports with people every day, or fight about Peter Angelo’s or whatever. There are people here doing things every day that I’m not aware of, unless your wife has cancer, and you go down there and you watch it all happen for a couple of years, and then I think if anybody donated ever an hour of their time to serve food to someone less fortunate seeing the look in their eyes, and I’ve done this on dozens of occasions. You think about Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving meals and serving that sort of thing, there’s an emphasis on that on Thanksgiving Day, or there’s an emphasis on Giving Tuesday or giving day. Or this is 365 in your your line of work. I mean, these are people every single day that need help.
Bruce Clopein 26:10
It is, but it’s all good. And as Bill McCarthy has so eloquently noted, I mean, this year, it’s all about love your neighbor, and that informs the work we do at agency. And to me, you can’t really love your neighbor unless you know your neighbor. So you mentioned that that connection, that empathy, when you’re, you know, in direct interactions with those folks, and you know there, but for the grace of God, so why not? You know, to me, a great way to count your blessings is to help pass some among others in need. And again, my point is that, you know, none of us can do everything, but, but all of us can do something and well, your
Nestor Aparicio 26:43
your email said Sarah’s house. So that’s why I want to hear about Sarah’s house, because it said that here Sure. Volunteer Resource Manager Sarah’s house. Fort Meade, yes.
Bruce Clopein 26:54
So that’s where our shelters located. It’s a really neat backstory, too, because we’ve been around as a shelter since 1987 but the buildings in which we’re in, most of them are old army barracks from World War Two. And you can look it up Nestor. It’s called the McKinney vento Act, a federal statute back in the 80s, which said, If there’s vacant or unused military property and there’s deemed a need for services for those experiencing homelessness, that those buildings can be repurposed to meet that need, and they look like barracks problem. Yeah, they are, yeah. And believe me, there are days when they feel like barracks heating or air conditioning, but the point is, it’s put to good use. Again. We used to be one of eight shelters in the country that was located on army property. There was one in Fort Belvoir, there was one in Philly. But as years gone by, we’re the only one that’s left. We’re the last movie. What, literally, really, yeah, in the country, in the country that’s on army property. I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 27:43
that’s kind of an incredible thing when you consider that. That makes the most hallowed property we had military property. Have I thought there would be more civilian shelter?
Bruce Clopein 27:52
Yeah. And also, what’s so important about that Nestor is that, as you might imagine, our folks come to us for a number of reasons, including issues of domestic violence and abuse, so be on the military property, which is by nature, safe and secure, the M the MPs, military police, right down the street. It’s good for our folks to know that they’ve got that extra level of security, which, again, many of us take for granted well. And
Nestor Aparicio 28:15
I think also, you’re talking about people that have had problems with security, right? I mean people that are by their insecure, or even food insecure, like we use that as a term here many times this week, and getting people back on their feet. I mean that I always ask, this is a Republican in me, what’s the end game to getting them back into, you know, being fully functional and where they want to be. I think that that’s the that’s a question I try to hold everybody say, what’s the end game, if you’re feeding people that they can then feed themselves at some point, or give them whatever the skills, the tools to be self sufficient, right? I mean, that’s always the goal of of most of the organizations. If folks can be self sufficient. Some folks are aren’t capable of that, and they need help.
Bruce Clopein 29:03
No doubt, no doubt. And you know, some things that really stand out with our shelter is given our focus on families, about hair, population is made up of kids. And I always tell people, if you remember nothing else, but what I say, remember that, because we have our perceptions about everything in life. And I would venture to say when we picture the face of homelessness, he pictures them in our age. Sure, think of an infant. We only have a teenager, but again, lots, lots of kids in our program. So to me, yeah, we, as adults, we determine our lot in life. To large degree, kids don’t have a say in that. So I think it’s an important thing to note. And another unique thing about our shelter is the the length of stay. Many shelters, you may have heard of a day program when you’re literally there for a day. You’re there to get a shower, a meal, pick up some supplies, and, boom, you’re out the door, which to me, that’s a value. It’s of service. But you also can’t put it,
Nestor Aparicio 29:54
but I also see people living under bridges and say, where that? We’ve got to change that. Yeah. Yeah, and that’s not part of that, sending folks back out, right?
Bruce Clopein 30:03
So we have a longer term residential component there, which really gives, you know, our families time to not just catch your breath because you’re, by nature, in an emergent situation, but also the the time necessary to locate housing, employment and so forth. So it’s the whole nine yards. Well, I
Nestor Aparicio 30:18
want to give a shout out to Bill McCarthy, who isn’t here, you wanna say, but Bill, when Bill lost his daughter, maybe a quarter of a century ago. Now, our radio station, my morning show host at time, Drew Forrester, read the story, wanted to do something in our station just we erected an eagle for Eagles for Aaron. It was called and I had Bill out last year. You know, I’ll talk about it much. Talk to bill about it briefly. And then I saw Bill was stepping down, and for whatever reason, literally this morning, and I didn’t even associate you. You’re written in my book as Patapsco state park guy. You’re not written in my book as Catholic. Is that make you feel good or bad? I don’t know which way it is, but Bill McCarthy wrote a piece earlier this week, a reflection he shared with the Catholic Charities colleagues and board members, and who is my neighbor, and it is long. It’s if I six, eight paragraphs here that I can read out. I would implore everyone to go to my social media. You could find it there, and even quotes Luke and in Scripture. Go and do likewise. Anything you say about Bill or about this specific message, because I know you read it this morning, actually mentions Aaron in ear. She died 2007 so it was two decades ago. I said quarter of a century, but it’s been 18 years too long.
Bruce Clopein 31:33
Some thoughts, sure. I mean, in short, bills been a wonderful leader agency for all these years. And how long you know him? Ever since, I’ve been Well, ever since he had started working there, it’s been, what, close to 20 years. 20 years, yeah, so And to me, I mean, his story, he was gracious enough to share his story with about his daughter, Aaron, and how, you know that just, you know, terribly sad circumstance really led him to consider, you know, moving forward with his life in terms of the purpose he wanted to have, and that’s really what brought him to the Catholic Church. And he
Nestor Aparicio 32:06
talked at length on my show last year about that. You can check that out if you Google Bill, you know Bill, love bill. So,
Bruce Clopein 32:10
no, he’s been a wonderful Yeah, no,
Nestor Aparicio 32:13
Bill, not love bill, right, right. That’s the fact, that’s just the way it is, right. Well, say enough bill, come back, see me soon. Let’s talk about all this stuff. Let’s talk about changing the world. Continue to change the world. Word state fair. We got Bruce copied here. He’s trying to change the world with our friends at Patapsco State Park. Also his work was Sarah’s house, correct? I’m saying that, right? And and, of course, Catholic family charities, and you can find all that stuff out on our website, and more. The magic eight balls here from the Maryland lottery. I’m giving these away to folks here at State Fair. I got to get up, stretch out a lot of people here. Kirby’s over here work and get people chicken and waffles. I’m going to have the salmon to go take that home tonight for dinner. You come get a crab cake. Beaumont El Guapo, the basement. Great, great folks over here, Evan and Keith have been a real boon to the Catonsville community, and also this building right here that used to be the wallpaper place is going to be the fishmongers daughter. Those are my partners at fates. They’re the ones I screwed over on Tuesday. I got to go back two weeks from now because I locked my equipment in a car. But they still love me, and they live in they’re Ellicott City, Catonsville people too, the Han family and Dami Hahn and her parents, the divines. So we will be divine with them. Two weeks from now, we’ll bring our guests back down. We’ll have some magic, eight scrap magic, eight ball scratch offs to give away. One day left, we’re gonna be Cooper’s north and Timonium on Friday, all for the Maryland Food Bank. We’re doing a cup of soup or bowl. My thanks to all the sponsors, all the people that have come out and dropped off canned goods and dropped off boxes. We had a whole bunch of stuff, and Coco’s on Wednesday, and great conversations as well with a bunch of people. Now, John Hoey on from the Y on Wednesday, and he was talking head start. And now you’ve said Head Start, yes. And the thing that the felon running the country wanted to go after federal money starts to get after Head Start. We’re talking about three and four and five year old children here. Rethink this. I’m here to educate those of you still with us who want to be educated about how this is really working for our people here on the streets of Baltimore and Maryland, and there’s a lot of people doing great things. I’m trying to talk to as many of them as I can this week. We call it a cup of Super Bowl. It’s part of our crab cake tour. It’s all brought to you by wise markets, and we call them wise conversation. You are wise conversation. We when we do birds trails, technology, Catholic Charities, ravens rate.
Bruce Clopein 34:33
You got anything you wanna say? Just thanks for the opportunity. Nestor, really proud one ravens,
Nestor Aparicio 34:37
I thought you We didn’t talk any current Ravens. Current Ravens. I was giving you the football thing. Used to call the show once in a while, talk football. Yeah, yeah.
Bruce Clopein 34:48
I’m just hoping, Lamar. Can you know, hope postseason Lamar can become regular season Lamar. But other than that, I’m excited about the Orioles will be long till March 27 opening
Nestor Aparicio 34:57
day. Been any other road trip since nine. Nine. You’ve been other stadiums. Well, that one was
Bruce Clopein 35:02
the best. I know it was just because it was mine. I’ve been to, I’ve been to a Panthers game. Went to. Was
Nestor Aparicio 35:09
that the one where we took over as 20,000 of us and none of them? Yeah, that
Bruce Clopein 35:12
was it. But let me show you one of my favorite road trips, which wasn’t much of road trip, and that was down in DC against the former Redskins years ago. What was so memorable about that Nestor is that? Well, of course, Ravens won the game. I was an Ed Reed pick. That was
Nestor Aparicio 35:24
the night, Sunday night game. Halloween, 506, that
Bruce Clopein 35:28
sounds about right. But we came back to our tailgate area, and there was a limo that pulled up and out, comes Tony Zaragoza, and he had a Miller Light with us. So that was a that was a memorable I
Nestor Aparicio 35:40
have a picture of him in the parking lot drinking beer with me after the 97 game. When he when he and we were all standing on top of my van. Were you in that picture? Were you drinking a beer with Tony? Sarah Gosu, with 1000 people or three
Bruce Clopein 35:56
people? It was quite a few people.
Nestor Aparicio 35:59
Yeah. Are you in this picture. Hold on a second here. That was the 97 game.
Bruce Clopein 36:04
Yeah, I can’t recall what year was, but it was then Ed read, pick six up. No, no,
Nestor Aparicio 36:08
no, that everyone on that team. Oh, okay, so Syracuse and Ed Reed never played at the same time. Oh, they didn’t know. Well they they did. Read, was drafted. Note, no, maybe one year, maybe the, oh, two year they played together. But this, man, I’m old like you, I start mixing these stories up. I mean, yummy road trips. How many road trips I just had the Pittsburgh alone? Too many that I can’t remember them all. But I found this picture of goose when he died, and I put it up. I got to find the main one. But goose came to me in the locker room in DC. It stating was brand new down there. That was a game where Ray Lewis had a pic late in the game that sealed it. And I do remember that. But goose said to me in the in the locker room, I want to come out and drink with all your piece. Is this the picture right there? Is that there. See goose in the middle there is that. Is that the picture you’re talking was a rainy game, and it was a See, this is the picture I’m talking about, right there. There’s good goose. Sort of looks like Jack Nicholson in the shining in this one, because he’s right in the middle, right? And there we were burning the hat. You see us burning the Redskin hat. There’s my press box. Back when I used to be a meeting member, 1997 is my ticket stub. And my ticket stub and there’s goose so you know, anyway, you sure, you sure you’re not in that picture. There’s Jimmy the pinos in that picture. There’s Tom Mar in that picture. There’s Steve in that picture from Section 513 There’s Mike mcginity in that picture. Me. I’m trying to see who else I recognize this picture’s 28 years old. All these other guys are alive. Goose is the only guy in here that I know that’s deceased. You sure you’re not in
Bruce Clopein 37:46
it? Maybe had brown hair back then too. Thanks, Bruce. Appreciate
Nestor Aparicio 37:50
you. Man, yeah, still, salt and pepper. Now that’s all that wisdom growing in is what that is. I shaved my wisdom out today a little bit. Try to get that going. I’m not coloring it, no matter what Marvin Lewis says. You coloring your hair? No, not yet. I’ll let you know when I do. We’re at State Fair. I’m gonna go get I think I’m gonna have a bowl of the cream of crab soup here, because it’s been highly recommended. I had a bowl of cream of crab yesterday, Coco. It was delicious. My thanks everybody for joining us all week long. And great old listeners, old Road Trippers doing awesome things with Catholic family charities, as well as getting out into the parks and canoeing and kayaking and doing some good stuff. I’m Nestor. We’re stay fair in Catonsville, not far from tabsco Park, and here in the Ville having fun. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
