04/09/2026 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - Allison Brill, Olivia Hubbard Laverty, Rob James, Jennifer Pharr, Jay Silverman

The views and opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of 580 WCHS, its employees, or WVRC media. From the studios of WVRC Media. The country, the United States of America, the state, West Virginia, the city, Charleston. This is the Dave Allen Show on 580 Live. And your host. What we've got here is failure to communicate. He's kind of a big deal. I have come here to chew bubble gun and kick ass. And I'm all out of bucket. Dave Allen. And a good Thursday morning to you. Welcome to... The show. Guarantee Bank hotline 304-345-58-58. Tony Vitalear text 304-935508. We're in the Jarrett Construction Studios right on time, right on budget, visit Jarrett-dash construction.com. Phone calls to the show with service of Bigley-piggly-wigly. Actually, it's not Biggly-Piggly-Wiggly. It's not even written in front of me here. And I still said Biggie-Pigley-wiggly wiggily. Sorry. Phone calls to show a service of Guarantee Bank opening soon in Charleston, 1320 Canal Boulevard East texting services provided by West Virginia Finance Men's store. Tony the Taylor on Virginia Street in Charleston. The Brax Trunk Show is happening today. For more, check out BestmasterTaylor.com or Tony's Facebook page. Insider information there, you know, the folks have bigly, piggly wiggily sponsored the hotline for a number of years, and they're still in business, but they opted to move away from it. We put the folks at Guarantee Bank in it, and just my mind automatically says something I've said for the last four years, even though it's written in front of me. That's what it's like when you get to be my age. Anyway, Guarantee Bank Hotline 304, 345. 58-58-58, Tony Vitale, text 304-935508. Thursday edition of the show, one step closer to the weekend. Metro News meteorologist Brian Hughes tells us you couldn't ask for better weather. Next couple days, sunny mid-70s today, clear, low tonight, somewhere in the 50s. Beautiful day. Tomorrow's, we get closer to 80. Maybe some rain overnight, Friday, into Saturday, but then we dry out for the rest of the weekend. Good news for the University of Charleston Marathon. Of course, the one on campus is Saturday, the big one downtown on Sunday. Saturday's high to mid-70s, we're up to below to mid-80s by Sunday. Enjoy. And you can listen for meteorologist Brian Hughes, weather forecast on air. And follow him on Facebook as well. Loaded up show this morning. Our good friend Jay Silverman is here. You know him from the dirty birds. But like most of us, he is a side hustle these days. It's have fun West Virginia. He's going to join us. We are less than a week away from Tax Day. And the folks at the West Virginia Alliance for Sustainable Families want to help out. Rob James of that group will join us. Plus Jennifer Farr from Family Health Care Centers is here. Your calls and texts are welcome too. I want to tell you about a group called Rebuilding Together.

home repairs, everything from ramps to handrails to new roofs for homeowners in Knaw and Putnam counties have been doing this for like 30 years. But you don't do stuff like this without funds. The executive director is Allison Brill. She is here along with Olivia Hubbard Laverty. Am I pronouncing that right? Yes. Who is on the board of this organization as well. Good morning. Allison will start with you. Good morning. Welcome to the show. Thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it. Okay. Come into that microphone just a little bit there. Okay. Better. There you go. There you go. There you go. Now, Olivia and I, of course, we go way back from my days in state government. So I already know her. So let's let people get to know you a little bit. Tell me about you and tell me about this organization. And we'll bring Olivia in. I'm not going to forget you, Olivia, but go ahead. So I'm originally from Hampshire County. So in the Eastern Panhandle is where I grew up. And I came down here in 2016 for an internship, and I ended up working a lot with rebuilding together, Charleston. And when I graduated in 2017 from Wesleyan, I moved down here and accepted the position of executive director. And so I've been here since since I've about 10 years now. And I've hopefully done a good job. They haven't given up on me yet. But I've been trying to revitalize the organization and bring them back to what they were in the heyday. A lot of people know our organization by Christmas and April. And we've changed that name from the 90s when we first started out to Christmas and April to rebuilding together in about 2005. Okay. So explain the basic mission statement of the organization. Absolutely. So we try to repair homes. Revitalize communities, rebuild lives. So repairing homes pretty much speaks for itself, I think. So anything that is essential to make your home warmer, safer, drier, we try and do. Revitalizing communities, sometimes the work we do, a good majority of it, tries to actually revitalize the neighborhood, bring it back to life. So we usually have work on a home, on a block. The neighbor hears about us. We do work for the neighbor as well. It brings it back to life. Yeah, so it's not just about one home. It's about the entire blocks. Entire blocks. Absolutely. So even in the rural communities, you know, the word gets out from neighbor telling neighbor of what we do and what we did for them. And you can see a change even in the rural communities as you drive down the lane. What is the most common one or two requests? that you get for specific things. I mean, what are the most one or two common ones? Yeah. So the most common ones currently that we have is something as simple as handrails. We actually have several of people requesting handrails that can be inside or outside of the home. Okay. And the other one is also showers. So people are asking us to do walking showers for them. And because they can't step over that threshold of like what the bathtub is anymore. And so they're asking. And this is because of changes that have happened in their lives, a medical condition, accident, something like that. It can be anybody in their, you know, 30s who had an accident and medical issue that they're asking us, hey, I can't take a shower. I don't have dignity anymore. All the way to, you know, you're a great aunt who is 92 years old.

So I think it's a wonderful organization. And these services are free of charge. Absolutely. No charge to the homeowner at all. Okay. So how do people get on your list or how do they qualify for this? So we ask that people, of course, like you mentioned, live in Knaw, Putnam County. They have to own their home. They have to live there for at least three years and be considered low income. So we have the income requirements on our website. So we do 50% of the area median income. And so most people who ask for applications qualify. So there are applications on the website, and also they can call and we can send it to them. Olivia, you're on the board here, and I know you haven't been on the board for very long, but tell us about this organization, what you've learned in being on the board. Yeah, absolutely. So I have been on the board about six months now, and Allison was very modest. She has done an amazing job growing the organization. We recently received a HUD grant, a federal grant. that is specific to the west side. And so we're going to be working on a lot of homes in the 25302 zip code under this federal grant, which is really exciting. It's a great opportunity for that neighborhood. I have learned a lot in the short time that I have been on the board. This organization is turning 30 this year. It's the 30th organization. Also turned 30 this year. So that was exciting to learn. It works out. Yeah. But just they do like stories. If you want to check out the Facebook, we do stories of like homeowners that we've helped and different features like that. And it's just incredible. Allison told a story recently at one of our board meetings about a man who was in a power chair and we were able to redo his porch so that he could leave his home. He immediately went to the dollar store. He was so excited to be able to get back to the dollar store that used to be his hangout. But he told the volunteer crew that had worked, he's like, I have been a prisoner in my home and you guys just released me. And it was just so powerful to hear. And that's true of many of the homeowners that were able to help. And those are things, Olivia and Allison, things that we take for granted, those of us that are able-bodied and get up and go, as you said, to the dollar store, go to McDonald's, whatever the case may be, go the grocery store, go to church. But when something happens like that, especially... I would think if it's somebody that this is a sudden occurrence in their home. It's a sudden illness or sudden injury or something like that that has left them, as you said, this gentleman liked to go to the dollar store, something he did maybe a couple times a day until suddenly you used the term prisoner in your own home. I mean, this is life-changing for these folks. It is. And the organization, we have, we do a lot of those type of repairs with volunteers too, which is really powerful to see these groups come. It can be.

like a employer that does a volunteer day and you can work on somebody's porch or put in handrails or things like that. And then they also, if it's a roof or something like that, we'll use contractors. But to see those volunteer groups meet and really make a huge change in somebody's life, like I think it's powerful for everybody involved. And I would think that when these different, like I know the United Way has their day of giving, many, many companies. Do private companies do things like this where they take a day and they go help out with this organization or that organization? I would think that that would be ideal for some of them just to come and kind of help you out. And you don't do these things, though, without funds. And so you need funds. Where can people donate, whether it's time? cash or monetary donation or materials where can people donate and get involved absolutely so just the basic when people think of donate cash we have a system on our websites if we go on our website it will probably pop up say you want to donate so that's some place they can donate as well can also mail a check or things like that and we'll get back to them but also we're looking to improve the local volunteerism. We know people love to volunteer. We know there's people with skills, those people without skills and just good hearts and want to help their neighbor. So they can call our office, email us, carry a pigeon at this point. We'll get back to them. And so we're trying to look for either organizations, businesses, anything like that, churches. just to volunteer and get back to the community. We try and partner them with a homeowner that best suits their skill sets and needs and such. So we're not just going to throw you on a project without ever talking to you. We talk to you and your organization. organization a lot before we pick a project. Is there an age for volunteers? I mean, is there like an age requirement? You have to be like 21 or 18? We actually have at least 14. So we have a lot of church teams come in the summer months and we teach the youth how to build like a wheelchair. And I say that because, and I bring this up all the time on the show, if you are graduating high school, you have to have so many community service hours. And there are various things you can do in the community. Is this something that would qualify? for something like that? Yeah, so in the past, we've actually worked with usually groups of teenagers and usually they have like one adult with them from either their school or one of their parents or something. And so they can work on a project if they get in touch with us and we can try and match them to a project. And we certify that, yes, you did volunteer with us. Here are the hours you volunteered with us. We're talking with Olivia and Allison rebuilding together. The Dave Allen Show, and 580 Live is brought you in part by Morgan to Morgan with more than $20 billion recovered. They believe that when you're injured, you deserve more. Morgan to Morgan America's largest injury law firm. We had a text here. It said our home is in desperate of a floor section replacements in different rooms. I think our foundation is sinking, causing us. Does your organization help with things like that?

smile. 922 on a Thursday morning guarantee bank hotline 304-345-58-58. Tony the Taylor text 304-9355508. But Dave Allen's show on 580-live brought to in part by your hometown baseball team. The Charleston Dirty Bird's single game tickets and season tickets are on sale of the website. Get your tickets for the May 5th WVU Marshall game. Visit dirtybirds baseball.com. My Marshall Thundry and Herd and my alma mater is going to have to get it in gear because they played two games against the Mountaineers so far, one in Morgantown, one in Huntington, and my Thundering Herd's gone 0 and 2. All right, so we'd like to at least have them win one, okay? They'll play at Go-Mart Ballpark on May the 5th, again, DirtyBirds Baseball.com or their social media. if you need more information. Tax Day next Wednesday some folks could use a little help. Rob James is here with a group West Virginia Alliance for Sustainable Families. You got it, yeah. All right. I rehearsed that and everything. So welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's great to be here. Yeah, this is, so the West Virginia Alliance for Sustainable Families, we are a nonprofit that was basically created to. do what's called the Viter Program, which is volunteer income tax assistance, which means that we provide free income tax preparation for low to moderate income or low to moderate individuals and families in West Virginia. And so. next Wednesday, and this is the first time we've ever done anything exactly like this, I've formed basically a coalition, an alliance, if you will, of a bunch of different, we have a few sites in the Charleston area that do free income tax prep. And so several of them are going to get together at the United Way of Central West Virginia. on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and we're going to do a day where folks can just walk in and if they haven't got their taxes done, they can get their taxes done and we'll be there to help them out. And honestly, if you haven't done your taxes by April 15th, it's probably a reason. And that reason is probably because you suspect that you owe money. You owe money or maybe you can't afford to have them done? Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we... We're in nonprofit. We're absolutely free. If you do owe money to the IRS, we can kind of guide you through that process to make it as painless as possible. I can't promise you that we're not going to be able to mitigate what you owe, but we're going to be able to... You're not in that part of the business. No, no. We're going to make it a lot easier. So, yeah, that's what we do. So we have...

The United Way and the Maker Center, which is on the west side, on Patrick Street. And, oh, no. It just left my mind. Oh, Pride, Community Services, which is. It's down near the ballpark. And Logan is where they come from. They're at Logan. I'm very familiar with the pride organization because I'm from Logan and I spend a lot of time. Oh, right. Yeah, of course you are. Spent a lot of time with the folks with pride of Logan County. And they've kind of expanded beyond that to go to other areas now. But they're based in Logan. You're right. Right, yeah. But now they are, they have an office in Canal County. And they've been kind enough to help us do taxes. They've actually been doing taxes with me. at the library, at the big library downtown for all of taxis. And they're kinder still because they're going to do our free income prep tax day, last minute tax day at the United Way. So when you say it's for lower income people, so how do you, what's the income? I mean, how does that work? Well, we ask that folks keep it to under 70,000. Okay. So if your income is under 70,000, then... Come on down. We also don't do anything super complicated. We want to help as many people as we can. And the VITA program, which is actually funded by the IRS, we actually, we're not the IRS. I'm not the IRS. We get a grant from the IRS to do free income tax prop. And there are certain things that we are allowed to do and certain things we're not allowed to do. So we can't do anyone that has rental properties. We can't do anyone that has. a farm. We can't do anyone that has, we're not going to do anyone that has a form called a K1, which if you don't know taxes and don't know what that means, that's fine. But if you do, if you get a K1, you know what a K1 is. It's a distribution from a partnership. estate or trust. And if you have a really complicated business, then, you know, we want to help as many people as possible. So we're not going to do any super complicated Schedule C businesses. But you can do, you can do businesses. I mean, as long as it's a simple type business. Yeah. Yeah. If you, if you have all of your expenses and everything together pretty well and you're. For example, if you're an Uber driver or something like that, yeah, come on down. But if you have... But if you're Toyota of West Virginia, probably not. Right. Yeah, any kind of self-employed business, just not to get too far into the nitty-gritty, but if you have an inventory that you keep track of or if you have...

If you have anything that has depreciation on it, then that's not really something we do. So what I'm hearing is like pretty much somebody, you mentioned an Uber driver. I'm picturing somebody that maybe is in business for themselves, like a one man, one woman operation. Yeah. It's kind of simple, a cord of thing. Maybe. I don't want to throw out there because I don't want anybody to say, well, he says my profession is simple. That's not what I mean. But I mean, if it's a simple, you know, lawn care or something like you could probably do that, right? Yeah, anything like that's kind of a gig economy thing. Okay. That's a good way to put it. That's what we would do. Yeah, absolutely. But primarily you're looking for individuals. I mean, you're looking to help individuals. Right. Yeah. We're going to help as many people as we can from 10 to 4. We've got. We've got volunteers from all over. And also, I would be remiss. Chemicredit Union, which is in Dunbar, they also do free income tax prep. And you might give them a call as well between now and Wednesday. I think they're going to be doing it on their own up to the day anyway. So Kimmer Credit Union, I would give them a call. And then the United Way, Central West Virginia, which if you don't know, it's near the Restore and Greens Feed and Seed. 10 to 4. We're going to be doing it and just come on down. I don't know exactly how chaotic it's going to be because this is the first time we've done anything like this. It could be that half a dozen people show up and it could be that 100 people show up. We're open for closer to 100, but let's not go crazy. But it is we'll get you in and out of there pretty fast too. What would make it for the tax preparers, Rob, what would make it easier on you guys if people? I mean, you don't want people just showing up going, hey, I need to do my taxes. Yeah. You got to have something. You got to bring some sort of paper in, right? Yeah, absolutely. So the easiest thing that you can do to facilitate it is make sure that you have your IDs ready. Make sure that everybody that's listed as a taxpayer, so the primary person in the spouse is present and available to sign. We. We really can't, you know, we can't let people go home if we have to verify everyone's identity. Right. So we can't let people take things home and have them sign it and bring them back. Just make sure, you know, that you've, they're either there with you or have you made, or you've made arrangements to get them there that day. and make sure that you have all your tax paperwork. That's any kind of income documents, anything from the state of West Virginia that gets your refund. For example, the state of West Virginia has something called the MV1. And what it is, it's a rebate on your personal property tax. If you pay your personal property taxes online, your cars, taxes on your car. And so if you have that form and I'd go digging through the mail for it.

bring it in because in order to get you that rebate on your taxes, we got to see the form. So look for it. If you're thinking about coming in, make sure that you look for it. Look for the MV1 form. And if you don't have it, but you suspect that you did pay your taxes online, then you can go on the West Virginia tax website, which I think is my taxes.wv.gov. And... If that's not it, you can just, you can Google it. Make sure anytime you're dealing with taxes, make sure that the web address that you're looking at is a dot-gov address when you want to get anything official. But go ahead and you can go on that website. You just have to put in. your name, the tax ticket number, which you can find on the Canal County Sheriff's Office website, and your driver's license number. And if there is a form out there that you can use for your taxes, you'll be able to find it. Are you still in need of volunteers to help out? Or are you good on that? I mean, if somebody's listening right now and they say, hey, this sounds like a great thing. I have the skill set to do this. I'm an accountant or whatever, and I would like to do this. Could I come help? Do you still need people to do that? We don't need people this year. Okay. Every volunteer that we have is certified by the IRS, so it's a whole thing. I got you. You have to take a certification test in order to do it. And then, you know, we want you to go through a training. And so there's just not really time this year. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, 100%. But, however, I'm not going to turn any volunteers away next year. So if you're listening to this and you... you think, oh, I'd love to do that. I'd love to help out the community because believe it or not, Dave, and this is hard to believe. There are people out there that love doing tax returns. There are people out there that will do tax return after tax return after tax return. And I'm one of them. I'm happy to sit down. You like what you like, man. Yeah. Everybody, everybody said it. Like, my coworker, T.J. Meadows, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind from me saying this, would probably give up one of his children for an opportunity to do a spreadsheet. It's his thing. And when we were having a meeting the other day about some things, and he said, I'll do a spreadsheet. I'll do a spreadsheet. And I'm like, you're sick. You know, just so you know, but everybody likes what they like. I'm absolutely the same way. I love a good spreadsheet. Yeah, but if you are that kind of person, if you're the kind of person, like, you know, and there are people in. And, you know, they're probably pretty grumpy about it, but secretly they love it because there are people that are like, oh, no, I just do my taxes online. And then somebody in their family finds out about it. And they're like, Can you do my taxes? And then it, you know, it kind of snowballs from there. And suddenly they're responsible for half a dozen families during tax season. And, you know, again, they're like, oh, okay. But the truth is, is they probably enjoy it. They enjoy kind of the numbers aspect of it or the puzzles aspect of it. So if you're one of those people.

Please get in touch with me. R. James at WVASF.org. That's the West Virginia Alliance for Sustainable Families. So it's WVASF.org. And it's R. James. And reach out to me. I'm happy to have any volunteers. I will talk to you after tax season. And then we'll work on it. And also, if you have any questions about the event. If you're like, well, I'm not sure if I qualify, so on and so forth, you can also email me. I would prefer you email me and ask me before you show up. And we have to figure it out live. So definitely any questions about it or any questions about the organization. Please feel free to email me. All right. And the event is on tax day, but what are the hours again in the location? It is going to be Wednesday, April 15th, the United Way of Central West Virginia. and we're going to start around 10. We're going to end around 4. I will say that events like this, depending upon how many people find out about it, and that's why I'm here, of course. It tend to be very popular, so you might consider showing up a little bit early. Don't come out in the parking lot at 6 a.m. Yeah. But if you do, bring donuts, right? I've been doing taxes for 10 years, both privately and for this nonprofit. And I can tell you that when it's tax season, there is never a time when I went into work to do taxes and there wasn't somebody waiting for me. It doesn't matter how early. I get there. There's always, there used to be somebody in the parking lot waiting for me anytime I got there. So, you know, and we realize that's going to happen. But yeah, if you want to get your taxes done early, get in and out, come early. These people are really good. We got people that have been doing taxes for many, many years. So what that means is that they're pretty fast. And that means that we are going to do our best. to get folks in and out of there as soon as possible because we want to help the most people we can in, you know, in that six-hour time frame. So, you know, if you want it done, if you want it done first, come in early because it's going to be first come, first serve, walk in, and you will be amazed by at the speed in which we can get it done for you. Rob James, West Virginia Alliance for Sustainable Families, appreciate you being here, man. Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot, Dave. Good to see you, and thanks for having me. Good luck with everything on Wednesday. It's probably going to be a little zany, but hopefully we can contain the chaos at least a little bit. But if you need your taxes done, we hope to see you there. All right. Good luck to you on everything. Good luck to you on everything. 24 minutes away from 10. We'll take a break back after this on the Voice of Charleston, WCHS. Are you a physical therapy assistant and looking for an opportunity in orthopedics, wellness, and athletic care? If so, Generations Physical Therapy is offering flexible work hours and an upbeat atmosphere. With seven convenient locations, Generations may have a job designed for you. Visit GenerationsPt.com. He's Donald Trump's number one enemy in Congress. Chicago politician Dick Durbin.

Now, Dick Durbin has a new scheme. He's doing the dirty work to benefit corporate megastores. Dick Durbin's bill could cut corners on your credit card security, putting your personal data at risk. Big chain retailers and warehouse stores want to inflate their profits, and liberal Dick Durbin would help them do it. Tell senators, say no to the megastores and Dick Durbin, paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition. The Hussins special for April, a large 18-inch pepperoni pizza, and a large tossed salad for only 2199. Visit your nearest Hussens for dine-in, pick-up, or delivery. Order now at hussenspisa.com. For the past decade, West Virginia has had one of the most conservative state senators in America, and much of that leadership has come from Dr. Tom Takubo. I'm Dr. Tom Takubo. As your state senator, I led the charge to end abortion here in West Virginia and protect innocent life. We were one of the first states in the nation to ban transgender surgeries and protect their children. And I've consistently voted to defend our Second Amendment rights. Proven conservative leadership, Dr. Tom Takubo for state senate. Paid for by Takubo for Senate. Are you ready to build something that truly makes a difference? Jared Construction is hiring a construction superintendent for multifamily housing projects. Jared Construction offers a competitive salary and excellent benefits package with the supportive and down-to-earth company culture. If you're a seasoned superintendent ready to lead from the front and take real pride to the communities you help build, then send your resume to Jarrett at Jarrett-dash-construction.com or call the office 304-344-914-914 and ask for John Jarrett. Jared Construction. Let's build something great. together. The latest in news talk in sports when 580 WCHS has brought to you about Jarrett Construction. Call 304-34-34-91040 for more information. Right on time, right on budget. Call on Jarrett's Construction. Reds and Marlins settle their four-game series today at noon on Charleston's ESPN 1067 and 1490 WSWW.

Welcome back to the show, 21 minutes away from Tam. The Dave Island Show on 580 live brought you in part by Pinnacle Consultants when environmental questions come up in a building. Pinnacle, there to provide clear answers. They specialize in asbestos, lead, mold, and indoor air quality with accredited lab testing base right here in West Virginia. Check out more, PinnacleCorp.net, helping you understand your environment because what you don't know can hurt you. Guarantee Bank hotline, 304, 345-58-58. Tony Vitale, Text, 304-935500. Jay Silverman from Have Fun, West Virginia, coming up a little bit later on, a hot dog documentary. is going to premiere Saturday nights at the Albin Arts Center in St. Albans. These guys, Jay and Joel, went all over the state, sampling well over 100 hot dogs, triglycerides be damned, and they're going to debut. I mean, we already know about the list, but they're going to debut the movie coming up Saturday night at the Albans in St. Albans will talk to them about that. Jennifer Farr and Autumn Rucker, Family Healthcare Centers are here. Good morning, folks. Welcome to the show. Good morning. Autumn, welcome to the job. Good morning. Now, Jennifer is a regular. This is first time you've been on the show, though, right? Yeah. All right. So we need to get to know you. We already know Jennifer. Okay. So we can get to, tell us about Autumn Rock. So I'm Autumn Rucker with Curate Designs, an interior, full-service interior design studio, and I'm working with family care on their upcoming Maternal Health Fair on a special giveaway. Okay. Come in a little closer to the microphone for me there. All right, Jennifer, tell us about what you got going on at Family Health Care. So this Saturday at the birth center at 108 Washington Street West in Elk City, we are having a maternal health fair in our parking lot at our birth center. And it'll be an opportunity for people to meet the midwives and doulas and the staff that are there, have some resources that are available. And one of the things that we're most gracious for is that Autumn Rucker Curate Design, she's giving away a full nursery makeover during the maternal health fair. All right. So how did you get hooked up in this, Autumn? So I have known Jennifer, and we have just kind of had got to talking about the maternal health fair, and my heart has always been from mothers as I'm a mother myself, and it just has always been something that I've wanted to be able to do is to give back to the community, and it just seemed like the perfect way to be able to do that. So a complete makeover, is what you're saying, right? Yes. What kind of things would – I guess it would depend on the – on the particular situation, but what kind of things are we talking about in particular that you think you might do with this giveaway? Yeah, so I want to be able to work with the mother and help them come up with a design for their nursery that they love to help them personalize the nursery for their child. It will include a crib, the bedding, a rug, wall art, a chair for the mother, the room painted and just put together for them to where they're ready for their baby when they come home.

Jeffrey, I want to talk about this birthing center that you've got out of there. We'll get into the other things since you're regular on the show, as I said, with family health care centers. But talk about this birthing center in case people haven't heard you talk about it in the past. Sure. So family care began almost 37 years ago with four midwives that thought women should have a choice in the way that they gave birth. It started in Putnam County. It's grown to four counties, 22 locations, five mobile medical units. We service about 40 schools. And the birth center has just been, that's the essence of family care. That's how we began. So about seven years ago, we moved to the second floor of where Dr. Patton's office is or what used to be the former Kelly Men's shop. And there are two birthing tubs there. We have three midwives that are on staff. We have three OBGYNs. So if a mother wants to give birth in the birthing tub or if she just wants to give birth, we have like it's a suite where there's a bed, there's the tub. there's a waiting area for the family. The family can be in the room when they give birth if they want to. And if something does happen where all of a sudden we need to go to a hospital, women's and children's is someone that has a good baseball arm. They could throw a ball and hit women's and children's from the birth center. And we just want people to know that there are options. All right, we had a text here. It said, can anyone register for the nursery or only expectant parents? I think we allow anyone to register. I mean, I think my mother would go for me when I was pregnant. She would have gone. So they may know somebody. Absolutely. For sure. Absolutely. So if somebody gets this, then they can gift it, I guess, to whoever they want, right? They find somebody that needs it. Definitely. And remind us again how you'll register during this event, right? Absolutely. And one of the things that we just want people to do if they want to register for this awesome giveaway and what an incredible heart Autumn has to do this. But we want them to just take a tour of the birth center just so that they can see what it's about, have some interaction with the midwives and just really see. And I don't want to say that it's an amazing place because that's where I work. But truly. I didn't know about it, Dave, and I think I share that with you. You know, sitting on City Council, I didn't know that we had this facility that was available in Charleston. And I just want so many people to understand what is available, the options that they have, the resources that they have, and all that we ask is that they just take a tour of the birth center. How many, give me a ballpark figure of how many people utilize this on a yearly basis. It's just a ballpark figure. So, um... I do know the 2024 statistics. We had, I believe it was 289 births. Now, does that mean that all of them were birthed at the birth center? No, because some complications happen. Right. But this month in April, we are expecting 20 women to give birth at the birth center. So that would be a record for us if there was 20 women that gave birth that way. Okay. I'll give you an opportunity to talk about the other things that are going on with your company that with family health care. Absolutely. What else you got going on? Well, one of the biggest things that we've opened right now is called prescription care, and that's our pharmacy. We've opened it in the loop in St. Albans. So we have our convenient care, which is our urgent care, our regular family practice, and then we have prescription care. What we're noticing is that there are lots of larger chains that are closing, and people need to have access to pharmacy or pharmaceuticals.

So we have been blessed to have a grant funding that helps people that can't afford their medication co-pays. And I know that I've shared with you, my previous experience having brain tumors and my parents' mortgage their home to keep me alive. When you have someone that walks up to you and says, my co-pay is $800 and I can't afford that, if it's life-saving medication, I believe everyone should have a way to live. So we've been blessed to have some medication assistance, and we're actually trying to partner with folks to let them know that we have this funding that's available. And it's holistic care. We're doing food as medicine. We're seeing tremendous results with people that are learning how to cook healthier with our health and community education program. And we're seeing their A1C's lower. We're seeing their blood pressure lower. And people are actually getting access to fresh foods and vegetables. through a fresh connect card that's $50 that allows them to go to a grocery store and buy fresh free to invest. So you've always got a lot of good stuff going on. That's what I was getting at you. All right. So give us the details on this event again. It is the maternal health fair. It'll be at 108 Washington Street West. And the birth center parking lot will have lots of free giveaways. We will have tours. We will have resources for mothers and expected mothers. And then also talk about some opioid settlement funds that we've received for those that are either in active addiction, long-term recovery that are pregnant or want to become pregnant, that we have some funding to help them and their families as well. All right. Well, Autumn, hats off to you, as Jennifer said, for volunteering to do this because it's a great thing. And I'm sure that whoever gets that, that's quite. quite a substantial thing that you're doing there. So you should be very, very proud of yourself and your company. Thanks a lot. Jennifer and I appreciate you both being here. Thanks a lot. Thank you for having us. Hang out with me here just one second. 13 minutes away from 10. The Dave Island Show on 580 line brought to you apart by Generations Ford of Hurricane, your family and locally owned Ford dealership providing customers with X plan discount pricing on select new Ford vehicles, meaning you pay what the Ford suppliers pay. And if you need service, they offer customer pickup and delivery too. Check them out today just off the hurricane exit or online at Generationsford.com. One destination for every generation, Generations Ford seed dealer. for details. Back after this on The Voice of Charleston, WCHHS. Brought to you by the Eric J-Tar Family Businesses. Eric J-Tar Family Businesses bring first-class businesses to your community. What if the market drops after you retire? What if health care costs continue to rise? What if you outlive your savings? If these questions keep you up at night, you're not alone. And you don't have to figure it out alone. I'm John Burd out with 4th Avenue Financial, and I specialize in retirement income planning. Let's turn your what-ifs into a plan you can count on. Schedule your free consultation today at 4th Avenue Financial.com. Fourth Avenue Financial, retirement, done right. Securities offered through Jenny McCall Financial, Incorporated, member Finracific. Advisory Services offered through Jenny McCall Advisors, Inc.

I'm Michael Juruj and I'm running for State Senate because I believe our kids deserve real opportunities right here at home. I'm focused on what matters most to us, creating good-paying jobs, strengthening our schools, investing in roads, bridges, and infrastructure. As a small business owner, I know what it means to work hard, meet a payroll, and fight for growth, and I'll bring that same work ethic to the state senate. Cannell County needs a proven job creator. Michael Girouge employs 40 people at his local business and understands how to grow our economy from the ground up. Paid for by Michael Jeru's for Senate. Spring has sprung. Keep up with the high school baseball, softball, and track seasons with coverage from Joe Bracado and Greg Carey on Metro News TV, plus episodes of our exclusive interview series, State of Minds, archived tough men events, and your favorite daily programs right on your smart TV or streaming device. Get more information at WVMetroNewsTV.com. Metro News Television is powered by Dan Kava GMC, GoMart, Lou Wendell Marine, and panhandle cleaning and restoration. Progressive knows you think the grass is always greener. Like maybe you ride a motorcycle. But today, it's raining. So you wish you had an RV. But if you did, you'd have to listen to some die part next to camp site plays acoustic guitar. Now before you start wishing you had a boat, remember your brother-in-law would invite himself every weekend. Permission to come aboard, captain. But one thing that is, cleaner, is the money you could save when you bundle your RV, boat, or motorcycle with your home or auto with Progressive. Progressive Casually Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers. Not available in all states or situations.

If you're a parent or grandparent worrying about how you're going to pay for college. Metro News presents the 19th annual West Virginia Scholar Program. One high school junior in the state is going to get a full ride to Wesleyan. Room, board tuition and fees. Details available, WV Metronews.com. Click on the Apply Now button. Deadline May 3rd. 26 West Virginia Scholars Program presented by Greer Industries and the West Virginia Hospital Association, WVetronews.com. Application deadline is May 3rd. Want to welcome in to the show now. Good friend from Have Fun, West Virginia, Jay Silverman. How you doing, my friend? Doing great, man. Just sitting over here hanging out, enjoying Metro News, of course, like everyone else does. So a movie about hot dogs. Yes. I love it. Premier Saturday night, 7 at the Albin Art Center in St. Albans. This kind of comes on the heels, what was it a couple of years ago that you and Joe. Six years ago we started. It's been that long ago? Yes, started during COVID. We were looking for the best West Virginia-style hot dog. Okay. Yeah. How many, you and I were talking, because I know you did an interview with the mountain earlier this morning. Yes. So. How many hot dogs did you guess? 284 over two and a half years. 284 over two and a half years. Yeah. Okay. And when you came out with your list, you practically broke the internet. Oh, we did. Because people were upset. They were. About because you didn't choose their place. That's correct. And for those that missed all that, what was the criteria for what made the best West Virginia hot dog? Well, you had to have slaw. on your chili, I mean, on top of your dog. You know, so it was the, it was the mustard, the onion, the hot dog chili sauce or chili, whatever you want to call it, top with coleslaw. So a lot of people are like, where's Jans? Yans up there at Fairmont. That was probably the one that you got the most pushback on. Yeah. Yans and, was there another one? There was a handful of others. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Jans was the one that really people were upset. But I'm like, well, they don't serve slaw. Because, you know, there's a line. There's a Slaw line, apparently. Around Ripley, somewhere in that General of the Senate. Apparently, even a little bit higher, I think. Okay, okay. But it's true. But, you know, you can find Slaw. So we went to the northern Panhandles, Eastern Panhandle. And that story about that is also in the movie. We talk about it. We talk about it quite a bit. And, yeah, we had 2 million people talk about in the first 48 hours about that list because we came out with the top 50 at first. people engaged in this. Yeah. Two and a half million over the course of a week. Two and a half million people for a couple of wise guys from West Virginia. That's correct. Yeah. And you can find the list at half fun wv.com. Okay. The top 100. We made it 100 because people of nostalgia were looking like, where's my favorite place? Like we're stewards, you know, where's King Tut? Where's all these other different places that I cherish as a child? You know, it's like, where do they rank on the list? Because you don't know anything about hot dogs. And I'm like, well...

Apparently, if you don't leave your county and try other hot dogs, you won't really know what's the best out there unless you try it. So we tried the entire state, ate at every place you can think of. And this movie is a 90-minute movie about everything behind the scenes, where we went, the first two and a half years of this journey. And then what happened afterwards? Like we meet the governor. We get a proclamation about, you know, visiting mom-and-pop restaurants and just to support your local restaurants and eat a West Virginia-style hot. dog and he even says what a West Virginia-style hot dog is. Now, having known you, Jay, for a long time, you're a California guy. I am, yeah. But you had roots to West Virginia, right? Absolutely, yes, yes. But you were primarily a California guy, so somebody could say. Yeah. What the hell does a California guy know about West Virginia? It's true. I eat a lot of hot dogs. I've been working in baseball for 21 years. I started 10 years with the Sacramento River Cats and Oakland A's affiliates. I also worked in a restaurant industry for 12 years prior to getting into baseball. So I have kind of a pretty good background for hot dogs and just food in general. to me, a good taste and a good feel of what's going on. So if you catch that on TikTok or YouTube at Half Fun WV every day, I check out new food and new restaurants every day, supporting local places. But, you know, that's an extension of what we did back from during COVID when we did the hot dog tour. Well, oddly enough, one of the sponsors of the show is not hot dogs, though. It's a focus at Huston's Pizza. And this month at Hustons get a large 18-inch pepperoni pizza and a large toss salad, 2199, dine and pickup or get delivery at Hustonspisa.com. And you folks, go ahead. Do you think Hussein's pizza might make me a hot dog pizza with the West Virginia-style toppings on it? All right. Folks at Hussens, are you listening? That's a challenge. I challenge them. I'll be there. I'll make a video about it. Colonel Ron Hughes is your hook up here for Hussens. That's a guy that has the account here. So he'll hook up with the colonel. And he'll take care of you on that. I love Ron. You wanted to do. West Virginia hot dogs. Yes. I get that. But hot dogs is a lot like pizza. Yes. Depending on where you go, they could be very different. And you, coming from the baseball background. Yeah. I mean, some of these places are nuts when it comes to what they put on hot dogs. Oh, yeah. There's crazy ones up there. But you kept it to... The simple West Virginia hot dog. You know, we wanted to try everyone's chili, everyone's slaw. You know, each thing is unique. You know, how do you prepare a hot dog? Is it a boiled hot dog? Is it going to come out wet? Or is it a grilled beef hot dog, which has got some good smoke, some good grill marks on it? You know, it makes a difference of how a hot dog tastes and how you prepare it. Is it a steam bun? Is it a bun that's on the grill that's buttered on one side? I mean, it's, you know, there's so many different ways to really. trick a hot dog into being better than what it should be. And so that's what the tour was about. We found the best ones. And I'll just tell you this, and I'm sure you've heard this before, if you want a non-restrant hot dog, okay, here's what you've got to do. You've got to go to Southern West Virginia. You've got to look for some lady probably by the name of Mabel or Ethel. She's got to have cul-ots. You know what coolots are? That's what are. Coolots. Coolots are kind of like...

Shorts that go to the ankles. That a lot of Baptist women. I grew up in Free Will Baptist Church, as we called it Free Meal Baptist. Nice. So you got to find that. You got to have the glory bun, the hair up in a – that's where you'll find the best hot dogs. And they usually serve them with like a bag of chips and a fried apple pie. Yeah. That's – there's where you got to go for that. You know how many people have told me you need to visit my church for a great hot dog? I'm like, I need to do this. There you get. Well, maybe you'll do that next time. Maybe you'll get a little religion in there. Who knows? Can you hurt you. Maybe that's the sequel. All right, so what is next for the Have Fun guest? There will be a sequel. But like I said, we are, you know, looking for always the best West Virginia-style hot dog. And it doesn't have to be in West Virginia. Okay. So, I mean, there are other places you can get West Virginia-style hot dogs. And I found a place in Myrtle Beach. But I didn't realize this. It's actually in Surfside. There's an actual bar. It's a West Virginia bar, dedicates everything in West Virginia. I'm aware of it. The sundown. Never been there, but I'm aware of it. I went there for the first time. Of course I did. I had to. And my God, it is so good. All right. So my man, Tony the Taylor, sponsored the show, just sent me the information on the Slaw line. Yeah. It's an actual sign near the spot lies a culinary and cultural boundary known as the Slaw line where across its interstate 79 south of this point, West Virginians are smart enough to order Kohl Slaw and their hot dogs while north of this line. line. People have no idea what a real West Virginia hot dog is. Yes and no. He is true on that line. However, if you ask for it, they have slaw and you can put it on top of your dog. Not all restaurants have the slaw, but we found it. We found the restaurants that did have them. And some people don't even have real hot dog chili. So you go to Eastern Panhandle. They have beans in their chili. So it's kind of like, you know, you have to explain to them what exactly is a hot dog chili without the beans. You know what I mean? So you can find it out there. It's just. It took a lot of work. Texas, have you thought about traveling across the country and doing hot dog challenges? A West Virginia hot dog versus each state's local hot dog at a blind test with local residents. That goes back to what I was saying, Jay, about my wife is originally from Chicago. A Chicago dog is a totally different animal. It is. They're good. They're good. You like them. Oh, I love them. Man, I don't like them that much. I love them. But it's like just like with pizza. Yeah. There's no really good. I like a good West Virginia dog. Are you a deep dish pizza guy, like Chicago pizza guy? Because I'm like a flat New Yorker style. I like that. Well, what's odd is my wife who's from Chicago likes to flat New York style. Okay, see what I mean? Yeah. Better than Chicago pizza. I know in my hometown of Logan, we have the great debate, you know, between Parkway and Morrison's. The two are owned by the same guys. Yeah. The thing about a Morrison's hot dog, and we've got to close with this, is... I don't put slaw on it because the sauce, the chili is so good the slaw takes away from it. That's true. That's true. That can happen. Give us the details on the movie. Yes, the details. It's over at the Alden Theater. It'll be Saturday, of course, this Saturday. And to get tickets, you basically have to get on over to have funw.com and try to get some tickets down there by signing up. And it'll be at 7 o'clock at the Albin Theater this Saturday. And we're excited to have it. It's the premiere. The big questions people are going to ask you is, are you going to have hot dogs?

Yes, we are. The number one hot dog, Bogie's driving range, will actually be serving hot dogs out front before the movie starts. So the doors open at six, the movies at seven. So Bogies will be out there from 530 to seven. And Bogies were voted number one hot dog. Yes. According to your list. Yes. But you need to really get them out there at the driving range with a big smokers at. Because things are a little bit different when you got the smoke. All right. The premieres at the Albin Art Center right there in St. Albans 7 o'clock Saturday night. Jay Silverman, have fun. West Virginia. Appreciate you being here. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks, light. All right. We got talk line coming up at 10.06 tomorrow on the show, Angie Gildenwater, with our dot-me-please. Pet of the Week, Dr. Marty Roth at the University of Charleston and more on a special basketball tournament happening this weekend. See you later. Until then, have fun. I love somebody. W. CHS AM, E6.5th, and Charleston, 104.5 cross lanes, a WVRC media station. We're proud to live here too.