Episode #129: Feeney Talks with Anthony Torromeo

Show Notes

#BeAGoodFriend and check out episode #129 of #FeeneyTalksWithFriends featuring Anthony Torromeo. 

It was great to talk with my #friend, Anthony! 

Anthony is the President of Anthony’s Abatement. 

We talked about:

SCSU  (minute 1)

What’s Abatement? (minute 3)

Friends of Fox (minute 5)

Super Bowl commercial  (minute 6.40)

Evan runs the website (minute 8.40)

Anthony’s Abatement tee shirt (minute 11.30)

Working out (minute 14.40)

Float 41 (minute 16)

Anthony’s favorite restaurant, Bricco with 4 dinner guests (minute 19)

Donating $30,000 to nonprofit organizations this year (minute 21)

Covenant Prep (minute 22)

Johnny’s Jog (minute 24)

Sponsorship opportunities at our 4th annual charity event (minute 25)

Keating Agency Insurance (minute 26)

Inspiration behind Anthony’s Abatement (minute 28)

Anthony’s parents (minute 31)

Anthony’s sisters (minute 34)

Jobs: First, Last, Best, Worst (minute 36)

Lead poisoning in children (minute 42)

3 Keys (sponsored by West Hartford Lock) to being President  (minute 45)

West Hartford Chamber of Commerce (minute 50)

Anthony’s favorite teacher, Rick Wells (minute 52) 

Gentlemen’s Dinner Fundraiser (minute 57)

FoF helped over 90 families and raised over $225 (minute 1.00)

Thank you notes from Anthony, The Sunflower Kids & Seyon (minute 1.02)

Great Day Connecticut with Scot and Kara (minute 1.05)

Dave from Fresh Ink (minute 1.07)

Thank you to Vinny from Signature Wine and Spirits (minute 1.09)

Where will Anthony’s Abatement be in 5 years? (minute 1.15)

Rock The Local at Parkville Market (minute 1.17)

Pira Pira Q (minute 1.20)

Matt from Maximum Beverage (minute 1.21)

Closing remarks (minute 1.22)

Podcast Sponsors: 

The Fix IV - www.thefixivtherapy.com

West Hartford Lock - www.westhartfordlock.com

Keating Agency Insurance - www.keatingagency.com

Goff Law Group - www.gofflawgroup.net

Parkville Management - www.parkvillemanagement.com

Luna Pizza - www.lunapizzawh.com/lunas-menu

PeoplesBank - www.bankatpeoples.com

Float 41 - www.float41.com
Maximum Beverage - www.maximumbev.com

Creators and Guests

Host

Eric Feeney

After teaching for nearly a decade at his alma mater in Waterbury, in 2014, Eric Feeney began teaching at Wolcott Elementary in West Hartford. Shortly following, Sam Sohn, the father of one of his students, passed away suddenly from a heart attack. He left behind four beautiful children and a loving wife, Nancy Wallace-Sohn. Eric saw first-hand the toll this took on the family as they navigated their way through this unthinkable tragedy. The following year, Rashad Collier Sr., another father of a student in Eric’s class, passed away in Hartford as a result of gun violence. Rashad left behind two fantastic children and a loving wife, Denise Villegas. The impact of these tragedies weighed on Eric and motivated him to build an organization that could provide assistance for similar situations. With that, Friends of Feeney was born. In 2019, Friends of Feeney Inc. became an official 501©(3) nonprofit organization, allowing more funds to be raised and expanding the range of services provided to children and families in need. Today, over a decade since Eric’s idea to build a community organization dedicated to supporting our friends in need, Friends of Feeney has burgeoned into a reputable and recognized organization capable of providing financial and resource support to numerous families and individuals across greater Hartford and beyond. Through this work, an incredible community of children and families has been recognized, who care for and appreciate each other’s kindness.

Producer

David Chmielewski

David started his video career in the early 1990s working on video crews as an independent contractor for such companies as Martha Stewart Living, IBM and Xerox. After graduating Southern Connecticut State University with the degree in Corporate Communications, David continued his video production career and accepted a position at WFSB in Hartford, CT. Within a few years the news and production studios became his charge and David designed, installed and maintained the televisions sets for the various programs at the station. At the end of 2013 David founded DirectLine Media, a video production company that specializes in creating memorable and compelling video content for businesses.

Editor

Stefania Sassano

Stefania's acting journey began as early as the fourth grade, where she took on the role of Scarlett O'Hara in a stage production of Gone With the Wind. This early experience sparked a lifelong passion for the arts. With a background in musical theater fueled by her love of music and singing, Stefania stepped into larger roles, such as Fraulein Kost in Cabaret during her sophomore year at the University of New Haven. This performance earned her a nomination for the prestigious Irene Ryan Acting Award at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival—an honor she would receive again in her junior year.

What is Feeney Talks With Friends?

Eric Feeney talks with #friends! Eric is the founder of the nonprofit organization Friends of Feeney. Their mission is to help children and families who need assistance after heartbreak and tragedy. www.friendsoffeeney.com

All right, all right.

Feeney talks with friends, episode 129.

This is a good one.
How are you doing, Anthony? Very well.

How are you?

Anthony's a in the house. Yes, sir.

I'm very excited to talk with Anthony.

But first let me review.

Episode 128 was a good one.

We talked with the Rotary Club
of West Hartford.

We talked with my friends
Patrice, Victor and Kyle.

Go back and check it out.

As you can see,
this is Feeney talks with friends.

My name is Eric Feeney, founder
and president, friends of Feeney.

Friends and Feeney is a nonprofit,
and we help children and families

that need assistance
after heartbreak or tragedy.

And I use this podcast.

Feeney talks with friends,
and I talk to great people

in the community
that are doing great things.

And you've been helping people
in the community for ten years.

Maybe. 11 going on 11 years now.

Going on 11.

That's right.
Yeah, it's a. Big part of what we do.

And you went to Connor.

So you're a West Hartford guy.

That in southern Connecticut, in New Haven
and back home to West Hartford and.

Yeah, started the first company.
What elementary school?

Duffy middle school.

Sedgwick.

Nice shout out to the West
Hartford Public Schools.

Yeah, it's great man.

I mean, I was very lucky to grow up
where I did.

And the school systems. Excellent. Yeah.

That's so cool.

I went to southern.

Yeah. Let's go.

Nice go, owls.

So I graduated in 2012.

Nice. Yeah, I. Was 2000.

So it's a fun spot. Yeah. Yeah.

New haven. What dorm did you stay at?

Oh, jeez. What a great question.

I was in Jordan Wilkerson.

What a memory on you.

I remember, yeah. Wilk. Then Brownell.

And then I was off campus.

So I went Neff.

Brownell on campus. Cool.

I was a refugee. Yep.

That's how that name stuck in 2012.

They were Neff.

Same thing.

Yeah. And the Wilke was the wool.

If you went to Wilkerson,
that was the wool.

Chase's the place. Farnum courts.

We were. Wilk boys.

Wilk boys.
And I don't. Really remember the others.

You got a great memory.

Brownell has a nice little spot.

Yeah, that was like coed.
That's where I met my wife.

No way.

Her. My dorm
and her Durham were next to each other.

Yeah. The thin cement walls. Right? Yeah.

So I bang on the wall and, like, you know.

Okay. Like you. Why don't you like me?

That was my pick up line. Yeah.

Let's see.

And it worked good.

And we've been married
20, almost going on 20 years.

Oh, I mean, at Southern Brownell Hall.

How about that moving day?

I hear Kokomo by the Beach Boys,
and I'm like, who's playing Kokomo?

Yeah, I'm.

On a college campus.

I go in and I see like this.

She has short, fiery red hair, long sleeve
shirt, basketball shorts.

And I was like, that's it.
How about the. One?

Oh, I love that. Pretty cool. Yeah.

Anthony's abatement.

So I teach third grade.

Yes. Abatement is a big word
for our third graders.

Yeah. How do you explain abatement.

For a lot of people?

So, I mean, abatement tech
technically means

to slow down the process of whatever
it is you're talking about.

In terms of what we do.

Is this abatement
led abatement, mold remediation.

We want to stop the problem
and remove the problem.

So if it's especially this, we're
removing it or we're encapsulating it,

if it's lead, we're removing it.

And if it's mold we're removing it.

Gotcha. Yeah.

Yeah I see that here that you do.

Asbestos abatement, lead paint removal,
mold removal,

water damage restoration,
material testing, oil tank.

Removal. And demolition services.

Yeah, that's right.

So oil tank like that's
that's got to be a huge process.

I don't I don't understand how do they get
these oil tanks in the basement.

Yeah.

And they do
they build a house around it some.

And then how do we get them out?

Yeah. How does what's the
what's the trick?

Oil tanks are. Tough.

Each one is different.

So we clean out the we we pump out
the oil, we clean out the sludge.

And normally
we have to cut the tank up to get it out.

Cut it into pieces. Yeah.

And, it's a nasty process.

The oil stains, everything it touches.

The smell is aggressive.

So, when we take it out of your home,
we build a plastic containment

just to do that,
just to carry out the waste.

Yeah, because the smell is so pungent.

And then there's a good clean up
process afterwards.

You know, it's a nasty material,
so we don't want to leave anything behind.

You know, the mission of Anthony's
abatement is to create

healthy building schools, homes
for the children of Connecticut.

And, you know,
that is near and dear to our heart.

So we stick to that
with everything that we do.

Yeah. Now,
you said near and dear to your how?

Helping the children.

Yeah. You know,
I want to thank you personally.

You helped friends of Feeney on multiple
fundraisers.

You sponsored our golf tournament
with two, not just one sign.

Maybe 2 or 3 tee signs. So thank you.

And then a wonderful, wonderful event.

It was a community
event at your alma mater.

Yeah.

Conard
and I randomly talked to you, right?

We just bumped into each other
once at Beach Little Tavern,

and you're like, you overheard
something. You're like, what?

What do you do?
You help children and families.

You're in West Hartford.

I'm a West Hartford guy.
You're a West Hartford guy.

And I had this idea.

Hey, do you want a sponsor?

Riley Foxx scoring his 2000 point.

And we were going to give friends of Fox
t shirts. Yeah.

And here, here's our friends at Fox.

Riley's buddy designed it.

Awesome is really cool design.

Look at that artwork.

But we were able
to give all of these out for free

because look at that
sponsorship on the back.

Anthony's amazing. Yeah,

that's pretty good.

And then Riley signed my
thanks for everything.

He was podcast number 93 at the time.

He scored 2028 points. What a feat man.

That is awesome.

He would take me, I think. I mean, I'm 46.

I still have scored 2000 points
in my career.

Yeah.

I've been playing since I was ten.

Even even pick up included walking part.

Yeah, the. Gym.

Even. Layups you know.

But anyway yeah thank you so much.

That was a huge thing.

So yeah of course.

You sponsored I think we gave out like

500 shirts
or something to up to 500 shirts.

It's great.

I go to I go to a couple Yale games
and people are still wearing these up.

Well, to show support for Riley.

Oh, I love to hear.
That people are wearing these at the gym.

And so it was huge.

And thank you so much, man. Yeah,
you took care about the community.

And I'm very glad
to get to talk with you. Yeah.

You seem like a really good doc.

Good guy.

You have some cool,
bulletin boards and billboards, right?

And, dude, this is the coolest.

I'm watching the Super Bowl.

Yeah.

Come on. Halftime.

Yeah. You had a halftime commercial?

We did.

Can we talk about that?

It, it. Was nerve racking.

So we did it last year, and we did it
this year.

It's just five seconds,
you know, it's real quick, but,

it help get it helps get the word out.

And, you know, it's it's amazing
notoriety.

I sold my girls and my wife and,
like, Anthony's abatement.

Yeah, that's my guy. He'd helped us
do the Friends of Hockey.

Yeah. I love
we get a lot of feedback like that.

Like say, hey, I saw you.

I told all my friends, and,
you know, it brings a smile to my face.

It's. I love seeing that. Yeah.

The community around us is excellent,
and they support us.

And, you know, we just try to give back.

That's so cool. Very cool.

Do you want to get into ranges and cause,
like.

Super Bowl commercial.

Is it a lot. Is it a little bit. Is it.

It's a lot.

For five seconds.

Five seconds. Yeah.

Yeah I know the

like the national broadcasts,
those things are like 30 million bucks.

20 million bucks. Right?

Our we're just local.

We cover the state of Connecticut.

That's it. But still. It.

Yeah, it got out there,
and that's pretty cool.

Yeah. It's interesting.

So, I haven't seen the numbers for
this year, but last year, the day after,

well, I guess the night of and the day
after our Super Bowl commercial

got 19,700 hits on the website

where we're normally at like 100 a day.

So. So it works.

It worked. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's amazing.

Cool.

Yeah, it was a good halftime. Show and.

Yeah. Pretty solid game. So that. Helps.

It worked out.

Yeah. No, I was cool.

I was like
I got to ask Super Bowl commercial.

Yeah yeah I want to
I. Want to be friends with Feeney.

Super Bowl
commercial. Can we. Collaborate.

You know we can maybe we can get. The logo
up there. For next year.

Be a good friend. Yeah.

Use Anthony's abatement. Boom boom.

Yeah I like that logo. Logo.

Absolutely I like it, I like it.

So yeah.

No. Speaking on your website,
Anthony's abatement.com. Yes.

Some really good stuff.

Who runs that. Who updates that.
Because that's I.

Like that's a great question
because he does deserve a shout out.

His name is Evan with Upstream Agency
and he runs the website.

He updates it monthly and yeah,
I love our website.

He started it back in 2020,

I want to say, and it's a huge reason
why people trust us,

because the first thing they see
is a professional well built website.

Yeah.

And 100
plus five star Google reviews helps.

Yes, I saw that to leave a Google review.

Yeah, that's smart.

And they're all positive. All five stars.

Yeah I saw a bunch of them today.

And then you could be reached
at [phone].

Yes. That's correct. That's the number.

Yeah.

And Carla, I've been going back and forth
with Carla about the.

Carla's incredible.
Sponsorship. Right. Yeah.

Okay. Very cool.

So it's Carla at at companies.com.

Yeah. Carla at ATR companies.com.

Atr. And, Yeah she's excellent.

She's our office manager
and she makes everything go.

And then you're located
right off of Talcott Road.

Yeah. West Hartford.

Yeah. So I go to Uber Dog
and I go to Doctor Rex.

Kyra. Okay,
so I think you're right in the middle.

Yeah, yeah. Well, so yeah,
you go down a little bit. Bang. All right.

And that's our shop. Very nice. Yeah.

How many people do you have employed?

So it

varies depending on the jobs that we have
and the size of them, but,

anywhere from 20 to 25. Yep.

And then do you finish basements?
We don't.

So we don't do anything after the removal.

We don't do the rebuild.

We have excellent contractor
on our referral list that we hand out.

But no, we're solely focused on
going back to our mission statement.

Our goal is to make safe environments
for families and kids.

And that's what we stick to.

Nice. Keep it simple.

We only offer a few services
and we do those really well.

I love it. Yeah. Love to. Hear that.

Do you do, crawl spaces, like,
We work in crawl spaces, and,

we will waterproof them

for certain clients if they need us to.

Or if the crawl space
is a little more demanding

than a normal basement
waterproofing job would be.

We kind of get called in,
like a pinch hitter.

But not often. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah, I was a personal question.

I need a basement
in a crawl space down so.

We can check it out for you. All right.

You would be one of those special
for you. Let's go.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you for that.

I appreciate it.
And I do love the shirt too.

Good man. I'm glad.

Yeah. Swagged up.
Let's talk about the flags.

We got the.

Got the American flag.

Got the Italian flag
and the Portuguese flag.

All right.

I was blessed with great food growing up

and, culture that I'm really proud of.

Yeah. Nice to eat at, Primavera.

Oh, my gosh, all the time. Chavez.

I love Chavez, I love Primavera and,
Italian restaurants.

You know, they're they're dime a dozen,
but a lot of great ones in West

Everett Center.

Yeah. You want to name one?

I like travel a lot.

Thank you.

Yeah, travel is good. Scott
Miller was a guest.

Freak shows. Excellent.

Frisco probably takes the cake for me.

We did, demolition of the freak show
when they did their renovation last year.

Yeah. So we did the selection of.
Their new kitchen.

Where they did the kitchen,
and they kind of did a facelift

around the whole restaurant.

So all the finishes, bar tops, carpet,

flooring, walls, we stripped it all.

And then, and construction
did a great job on the build up.

Very cool. Yeah. All right. Yeah.

Billy's been saying for years he's
going to be a guest, so come on, Billy.

He's busy man.

Yeah. Great,
though. He's awesome guy to work for.

And then tio the chef. Head chef.

Tito's awesome.
I work with his daughter at work. It's.

Do you? Yeah. He's great. Oh, yeah.

A couple hostess were former students.

Yeah. Going through there, I bet. Yeah.

Great. Great place.

That's what thing about being a teacher
is, you see, so many kids come through.

And then I would imagine you keep a lot
of those relationships afterwards

or you see them around town.

Yeah.

And I just was walking Saturday night.

Yeah.

I was walking to Savoy. Yeah.

And there's a huge line for the bunker.

Okay. All of a. Sudden, I hear. Mr.

Feeney, Mr.

Feeney.

Two of my former fifth graders. Whoa!

Dominic and Kayla come running up to me.

Yeah.

Mr. Feeney, we had to say hi.

Yeah, I'm. Like, you're out. Like,

if they were ten, 12 years ago.

There you go. They're out and about.

Yeah.

It might be tough for you to walk around
going to local gyms and.

Yeah, yeah,
you get seen everywhere. I'm sure.

Just yesterday I'm 46, so I had my first
ever going to talk about it.

But colonoscopy.

Oh I knew I was.

Going to have to.

You said 46.

And then all of a sudden I hear Feeney.

Oh, geez.

The nurse assistant or tech assistant
goes.

Yeah, hey.

I played Cards Against Humanity
with you at John Scripps House.

Get out.

And I'm like, it's my good friend
John's cousin Todd's wife, Erin.

Okay. Probably
breaking all types of hip or loose.

I'm like, tell script.

Yeah, but I was just like.

Like you said,
that was just a funny connection.

That wasn't a former student,
but it was just like, I'm

trying to get a call, and I'm like,
the day before is like, not fun.

Yeah, I've heard. You're going under some.

All my mind is like,
you know, you're kind of nervous about.

Going under, but.

It worked out good.

I'm here.

I'm just helping is good. Yeah,
I try to work out.

I know you work out. Yeah, yeah,
a little bit.

What are you putting up?

Oh, geez.

What do you deadlift? Bench?

Everything.

I don't deadlift much, but I could bench.

The bench.

Yeah. Bench.

I like bench in three, 15, 315.

Yeah. That's fun.

It comes and goes though,

you know, sometimes the shoulders hurt
and you can't even put up.

I just do 135 the other day. Yeah. Twice.

Try to 184.

That did more than that.

I try to do 185 and I got.

A little has it this big sky
that we've come across each other where.

Yeah I go to the JC.

Yeah. I see your stories.

Oh that's what I'm referring to.

I thought I. Walked years ago, I thought.

Maybe the edge.
You ever go to the edge? Yeah. Yeah okay.

I went to the edge for two weeks.

JC is great. Too. Yes. Yeah.

You like to JC you want to try it?

We did I probably will.

Yeah. Three week. Pass. Yeah.

Got an awesome thank you man. Yeah.

Now I've been playing basketball there
for 16 years.

Every Wednesday I just became a member.

It's amazing.

Swimming,
working out sauna, you big sauna guy.

Yeah. I love the song.

Like that changes your whole day.

Oh, yeah? Yeah. Saunas are amazing.

And then if you can follow that up
with a cold shower.

Yeah. Like a. Contrast. Yeah.

You're on top of the world.
So I'm floating for the rest of the.

Cold plunge in the backyard.

But it's been frozen
solid for like, a month.

I've been able to use.

It, but the cold plunge gets you going.
Yeah, yeah.

Do you go all the way under?

Oh, yeah. Yeah.
You start all the way under.

I mean, I can't fit all the way under,
but I try.

Do you have the tub or like.

I get.

A little Amazon inflatable. One.

Yeah. Yeah.

And it's outside. So that's, that's.

That's the worst part is getting out.

Oh yeah. Yeah.

So you got to try float 41.

Yes. Over by target. Right over it.

Right over here. Yeah.

But there's one in Cromwell
called float 41.

Exhale where you do the sauna.

Cold plunge. Yeah.
And you do a rotation. Sauna.

Cool plunge on. It's, contrast therapy.

Fire and ice.

Sarah is great.

Podcast sponsor.

Okay, Send her your way.

But again, you feel like
you could run a marathon after that.

Yeah, because, you know,
you do, like, ten minutes in the sauna.

You know, I work my way up.

I do, like,
two minutes in the cold plunge.

And the next round,
I could get to, like, 3 or 4. Yeah.

And then the following round,
I'm like five now.

Is it called the float chamber
where it's totally dark in there.

So that's. Yeah, that's.

They have that as well.
They have that one over here.

Have you done that?

Oh yeah, I love that.

That turns you on. Interested?

That turns you off in like.

The when you say turn it off means like.

Like we have so much. Yeah.
We have so much on our mind.

We're so busy.

Yeah.

It allows you to just decompress
and just think about nothing and flow.

And it puts your body
at the most natural position.

The arch in your neck and back,
like you get out.

You feel taller. Yeah.

And your spine feels straight.

It's better than I think
is better than a chiropractor.

I think that's, you know,
who goes over there?

Dan Hurley. Oh, yeah.
Over there once a month.

Because you see him, he's all fired
up. Yeah.

That he needs to flow.

Yeah.

If anyone needs a float Dan Hurley float.

And he shouted them out
one time at a like a press.

Did some reporters asking me who's.
You know what I need?

I need to get to float 41 to float.
Oh, wow.

So it was like a good little.

Awesome shout. Out for. Her.

I've always been interested
in doing that. Yeah.

So I've actually they do a 60 and a 90.

Minutes. Yes.

So the first time you're like 60
is way too long, right? Yeah.

It's by the time
because the first time you're like,

I got to get comfortable, you can float.

There's so much salt in the water.

10,000 pounds of salt. Yeah.

You're buoyant.

Like you could float.

You can go, I t you can go across the mat.

You're just floating.

And you, you can hit the sides.

It's like. Yeah, dark.

You get music, no music.

You could get a little donut
for your head, which is like a pillow.

And you're just floating. It's so calm.

But then like I said, by the time
I'm like I found it, I was like

the lights went on, 60 minutes were up
and I was like all right.

Okay.

So the next time I'm like,
all right let me try 90. Yeah.

Or was really cool.

I went in with my wife because they have
you could coed float.

Sure. So she felt comfortable.

She said that like knowing that you're
there.

Felt made me feel a little more. Relaxed
I get that. Yeah.

So she actually enjoyed it because they do
ones that like are an eggshell.

Yeah.

You can pull down one person
and then they got this huge one.

It's like a shower. You walk in and.

It's all. Together and Nicole
and I have done it.

We like that one too.

Yeah. Kind of like,
hold hands a little bit.

Sure, sure. Yes.

Flow again.

Like, then you got, like,
some sort kicking up on your chest

and definitely don't
want to rub your eyes. Yeah.

But then you shower after
and have some kombucha.

It's just a great.

I can't talk about it enough.

It sounds it. Yeah, yeah.

I'm over here, Raven, I flow.
You got me a commercial.

Yeah, yeah.

You should try. It.

Yeah. No, I will be.

I'll.

I'll connect you with Sierra.

She'll take care I appreciate. Good.

Well,
you are master of connections as well.

That's.

I got a lot of friends. Yes you do. Yeah.

So back to your favorite restaurant.

You're AB Rico.

Sure.

You can eat with four guests.

Dead or alive. Jeez. Who you in with?

Oh, boy.

I wasn't ready for that.

Let's see.

Dead or alive, Johnny Cash.

I like it.

Jimi Hendrix.

Boy, Vince Lombardi.

Then where am I going?

Gosh,

Tiger Woods, how are you?

Yeah. All right.

Two athletes, two musicians.

Yeah, yeah, that's very cool.
Some people always do.

Like family member, politician, athlete.

Yeah.

I probably should have thought
of the family, but.

Sorry, guys, we go. For the famous people.

We love it. Vince Meyer,
are you a Packers fan?

No, I'm a Jets fan, but,
my dad is Packers fan.

Gotcha.

And, and they Vince Lombardi
that that would just the

I don't know the personality
that at least it seems he had

would be wild to ask him some questions.

Yeah. Great leader coach

fired up guy.

Yeah yeah Tiger. Woods.
Tiger's an easy one.

Do golf. I do.

Oh not well but I play.

You got to play in the tournament
next year. Yes.

So number. 13.

September 13th. Dogs.

Yeah. We're going to go back to that.

I'm going to shout out some sponsorship
opportunities too because I know

you got a good heart and a good game.

Oh yeah. No.

Yeah we love sponsoring and good things.

Giving back to the community a little bit.

I think last year, Anthony's Bateman

donated just over 30,000,
to different causes.

Wow. You, Friends of Feeney?

Of course.

Covenant Prep,
which is a school in Hartford.

What else we got going on
Connecticut Children's Hospital?

Always.

That's pretty close to us
because, a lot of the lead

poison kids come through there.

And where the contractors
working in their homes, making them safe.

Geez, I'm forgetting our fourth big one.

But, yeah.

Yeah, Johnny grew up with our.

Yeah. Johnny's job for sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

It's great we collaborate with the Cmbc
or Cmbc now for the sunflower kids.

Yeah, kids that need like that
are there for a while.

They need socks, pajamas.

Yeah, t shirts. We we fundraise for them.

Great program over there, obviously.

Covenant Prep, I just sat down

with Dan Clark and Mike Harlan. Yeah.

Do you know those two?
They're on the board.

Yeah, yeah,
they're on the board. Yeah, interesting.

I just met with them at Rockledge
last week.

Yeah. Great, guys.

Dan Clark's awesome.

And my first time meeting him,
it was wonderful chatting with him, too.

Yeah. Great people.
And that school is awesome.

Really I mean thing
what's your. Take on that. One?

It's incredible.
You know, you're giving kids,

opportunities
that they would never even scratch.

And not only are you giving them
the opportunities, those kids are

taking full advantage of them.

Yeah, and they're going to awesome schools
and these insane careers afterwards.

It's. Yeah. Impact is immeasurable.

Okay.

Yeah, I know they go on to,
they're graduating is 100%,

Avon Old Farms.

Yeah.

Ran Brook Loomis.

Yep. Westminster,
all the. Big high schools.

And then they're going on
to even bigger colleges.

Yeah, they got a Yale.

No, not a Yale kid.

They have I mean, there's bc.

That, oh, throughout the years, they,
they.

Send kids to.

Everywhere.
That's great that you do that. Yeah.

Oh, that's so funny. I just met with them.

Met with Mike and, Ryan last time.

Yeah.

March 15th.

Baseball and bow ties is their event.

You going? Oh, yeah.

I just got invited to that, too.
Yeah, I might be there. All right.

Dan invited me. Yeah. Good, good.

Okay, cool.

And what was the other one? So coven.

Of course.

Was great. Dan. Oh, yeah. Dan's great.

Yeah,
I had Laura and Kelly from Johnny's JAG.

Laura moran. Yeah.

They were a podcast guests,
great friends.

We earned the Shamrock, the Clover Club.

So, Johnny Jug, they donate to Covenant
Prep every year.

Yeah, they do three every year,
and then they pick a fourth one

is which changes and friends of Feeney
was honored a couple of years ago.

Oh. So it was huge.

It was really,
kind catapulted our organization.

It was our biggest one time
grant ever, so.

Oh, thank you again.
Johnny's job. That's incredible.

Oh, yeah.

Let's talk golf.

So golf that September 13th,

we want to thank

golfs.

Already doing some merch.

Keating agency is sponsoring the beer,

and Fuchs Financial is sponsoring a whole
those already.

We have a couple people that,

have sponsored.

You got to get out and golf.

I know it.

Let me just look up some things because
I want to shout out some opportunities.

We got a but a $10,000 one is like the,

what is it called?

Oh, shoot. I'm going to check it out.
Sorry. Excuse me.

Yeah, pull that up.

We'll definitely be attending
that event and sponsoring.

Nice. Again.

Once again, you know, we got a pretty good

little four person squad put together.

We just we're coming off a win
from the West Hartford Chamber.

So you want. It. Yeah. Oh wow.

Yeah I had nothing to do with me.
But I had good team members.

Oh yeah.

Keating. Look at that. Keating
and Fuchs are already on there.

So you get your web,
you get your logo on the website.

Yeah.

Golf law group presenting sponsor.

So you get the foursome, you get,

when everyone puts their scoring,
you get your logo on the app.

Yeah. Signage everywhere.

Cocktail hour sponsorship,

T-shirt
sponsorship, exclusive whole sponsorship.

You could set up a table hole in one

closest to the pin.

All in one longest drive.

Beer sponsor.

Just mulligan sponsorship.

So everyone buys the mulligans.

Yeah, we have, like, this cute kid
that goes around selling them.

I almost didn't do it last year.

We raised 400 bucks off the mulligan. Wow.

But then people are like,
people abuse it or use too many.

Well, yeah. Enough.

But I'm a culprit of that.

I'll buy
as many mulligans as I can. Afford.

To sign sponsor.

So these are some really wonderful
opportunities to get involved.

And again, thank you again.

I know you will sponsor
you sponsored last course.

Yeah.

Without a doubt.

Will be sponsor
and some presenting sponsor.

Yeah a couple of these come with foursomes
like the cocktail hour sponsor.

Shout out to King of Dings.

There are our t pin,

pin flags, pin flag
sponsors and lunch sponsors.

Excellent.

His wife was pregnant last year,

and he's, like, around the turn,
there was no lunch.

She's like, you know what? I'm hungry.

Next year I'm sponsoring lunch.

Oh, I love like you're the man.

Yeah, you're the man.

Very good.

Yeah.

And you mentioned key Keating agency.

I've known the Keating since I was a kid.

Oh, I went to school with Kevin.

Ryan's a little older and,

more, I

mean, I hung out with them
almost every day of school.

Really? Cool. Yeah, yeah.

The. As a nonprofit,
we need directors and officer insurance.

I use Keating. Yep.

They have sponsor.

They sponsor the podcast.
Shout out to the Keatings.

I had Ryan Keating on episode 23 because
he was the Michael Jordan of insurance.

Okay, good.

I want big Mike

just sponsored the cocktail today, so.

Oh, thank you, Mike Keating agency.

Good guy.

And Matt already put it up.

Do you already got the Keating logo
on the website?

And it's got to play around.

I say you got a great team. Great team.

That's Matt and Jen.

This is Anthony.

We're talking them into it.

We're trying to get them
to be the presenting sponsor

or the cocktail sponsor. Yep.

He's greasing the wheels.

It's freezing it up grease. No.

So back to it.

What?

Anthony's abatement.

So where'd you get the inspiration

to create this organization and company?

And where did you learn about it?

Yeah, I'm. Interested
as being a third grade teacher.

You can have any job in the world.

Yeah, and.

Your job is
you want to take care of people's houses

and make sure it's clean, efficient,
and you're concerned about kids.

I love that, absolutely. So,

the inspiration started when I was a kid.

My dad owned his own electrical business,
and I wanted to be just like him.

I didn't know what it was going to be,
but I wanted to be a business owner.

That blossomed into

starting my first company,
which we did only commercial stuff.

And I didn't love that because there was
no real connection with the clients.

It was, you know, the lowest bidder eats,
and that's it.

Get the job done as fast as you can
for as cheap as you can.

Keep it moving.

So I didn't have any really, like,
fulfillment through that.

So I, I broke off from that company,
I started Anthony's abatement,

and we only attacked the residential,
which is what I cared about.

And, I knew there was a lot of

holes in the industry,

so I, we tried to take advantage of those
and provide the level of customer service

that you would get from your Hvac guy
or your carpenter

or your kitchen remodeler
that didn't really exist in our industry.

So I tried to bring that to the forefront.

And, you know, seemed to it seemed to
work out based off referrals and stuff.

So once we got some traction,

then we were able to market
like a real business.

And now we're here.

That's awesome.

Yeah, it's kind of it.

You know, growth is always on our horizon.

We're never going to stop growing.

And,

like I said,
our mission is just try to make as many,

healthy buildings
and homes and schools as we can, you know?

Very cool.

Where'd you come up with the logo?

I like that the. Logo is great.

So, the inspiration from
that was a company

in the UK called the UK Asbestos Fighters.

So they have like a whole action
figure of a guy soaring through the air.

And, I had a graphic designer just.

I was like, look, I like this.

Give me something similar,
but just the head.

And he came up with that.

And,
yeah, that gets a lot of good feedback.

Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, yeah,

yeah. That reminds me of G.I. Joe.

The logo was great.
Yeah, G.I. Joe was giving up G.I. Joe.

But we get a lot of,
Are you a firefighter?

Just because of the way our our shirt is
and the badge and the placement of.

Not yet, but. Yeah.

No, the logo sticks.

Oh, I. Definitely yeah, we got lucky.

That was like one hit wonder.

Yeah.

First try, first proof. Boom. Nailed it.

Very cool. Yeah, yeah.

And then is your dad's still working?

He is.

He is the, building official
for the city of Hartford.

Yeah.

He, he stopped working with his hands.

Oh, I say like, 7 or 8 years ago.

Became an inspector
for the city of Hartford.

And then, you know, he
he works his butt off.

So he worked his way up and.

Yeah, now he's trying
to, make it super efficient.

Permits, inspections, stuff like that.

It's a tough it's tough spot.

Yeah. You know. There's so much quantity.

Does he check in on restaurants
or is that.

No fire marshal stuff? Yeah. That's true.

I think that's more like,
health department. Health department?

Yeah.

No, he's like,
code of the building permit.

Gotcha.

How's the project looking? Inspection.

Final inspection.

Rough in and, Yeah, yeah.

So he's got that place home and now.

Nice. Yeah. Yeah, he's a good guy.

Yeah.

All right, so our motto.

Be a good friend,

you know, hold the door, pick up trash,
give a compliment, be charitable.

Yeah, I know your dad.

But what makes your dad a good friend
or a good dad?

That guy

care so much about people.

And it goes from people that he knows

extremely well to people
that he doesn't know at all.

I mean,

just because of the weather.

Lately
I've been thinking about when I used to,

snow blow with him and

I would hate the fact
that we'd have to walk down

and do our neighbor's driveway three doors
down.

And, yeah, I we finished an hour ago.

Why are we still going?

Why are we cleaning people's
aprons and sidewalks?

And why are we driving to all
the grandparents doing their driveways?

And why can't they get something to do?

Now? I see the value of that.

So he was just helping everyone

and in his business

he helped people

so much that it

probably was to a fault where he didn't
grow it the way he could.

So that instilled in me,
okay, that's people before profits.

And it's pretty simple.

And to be totally honest with you,
I didn't even realize I was doing it.

It was kind of subconscious,
but it was just built into me through him.

So why is he a good friend?

He helps everyone he sees.

Yeah. Very cool.

I'm lucky to be his son.

That's awesome. Well, many are we?
I to remember that.

That's a good one.

Four minutes, 34 minutes.

Shout out to. Pops.

Shout out to pops.
What's his name right now?

Well, outdoor male.

Alto or male. Good guy. Yeah.

And mom's great too.

Gross. She's awesome. She's done.

I think she's going on her 40th year
at Saint Francis Hospital.

Yeah.

She started, and met

my dad and dietary and, worked their way

up to, like, medical secretary
and to pack you and everything.

And shout out to mom, too,
because she's the backbone of everything.

Rose and al. Yeah.

Yep. That's right.

Brothers or sisters? Yeah. Two sisters.

Two sisters.

I'm lucky.

I got a great family.

And Jean Elena.

Elena's a teacher.

And Angela is,
working at Connecticut Children's,

as the right hand woman to the CFO.

And, I mean, I don't know anyone
with more drive and work ethic than and

and I don't know anyone smarter
than my little sister Elaine.

What school system?

So she gc killing me. Now.

I should remember this.

I want to say it's Thomaston.

Okay. Yeah. God, I hope I get that right.

We got that up. I did. Yeah, of course.

Let me know out.

Yeah. She's great.

Middle school, social studies.

Nice again.

She just cares so much.

And I am sure you can relate to this.

Being a teacher.

You know, I've told her,

regrettably,
I was like, Elaina, you're too smart.

You should be a superintendent. You you.

I see so much potential in her.

And she brings you back down to earth,
and she's like Anthony, I don't care.

I want to impact a kid's day to day.

Yeah. No. Yeah.

It took me a while to get that
when I was in my mid 20s, I.

Elaina, what are you doing?

You can move up, move up, move up.

She's like that's not my motive.

But now, you know, I get it.

It makes sense. Nice. And she's great at.

The Tamayo family.

Yeah, yeah.

That's really good. Yeah.

Very cool. We're pretty fortunate. Yep.

Keep up the good work.

Oh, we do a game.

So you're.

I don't know, you know, check your memory.

Your jobs is not good.
My memory is not good.

But go ahead. Your jobs for Anthony's
abatement.

Your first one, your last one,
your best one and your worst one.

It's called first, last, best, worse.

Oh, yeah. Great question.

No banging on the table. All right.

The first job, no shot.

I get this remotely close.

But I do know that Anthony's

abatement started with strictly asbestos,

so I would assume it was definitely
a West Hartford basement.

Removing nine by nine floor
tile and the black glue behind it.

I mean, I'm almost certain it was,
that was the first one.

Now, if the tiles nine by nine
is automatically asbestos under it, right?

So I can't say automatically,
but nine out of ten times it is

to the point where
if you see a nine inch by nine inch floor

tile, you don't normally
waste the money on sampling it.

You just assume it is
and you treat it like that.

Because like I said,
nine out of ten times it is.

And then the glue under it,
which is black mastic

also is normally hot is what we call it
when into spaces.

It's hot.

Yep. What if it's 12 by 12 by 12?

You got a.

Much better chance of it
not being asbestos. Okay.

But if it's held down by that same
black mastic then the

that leans in the favor of being best.

It's the. Glue. It's the most likely.

Yes. Yeah.

Well the nine by nine
the tile itself will be.

Oh well then the glue is just an added
factor.

Yep. Okay. Interesting. Good stuff.
Yeah. Good to know.

There's a lot I mean, there's
a ton of asbestos materials.

It's a great insulator.

It's just horribly.

I remember I was in like second or third
grade Kingsbury School in Waterbury.

Yeah. You can't eat in the lunch room.

We're eating lunch in the classroom.

The removing a substance.

During the school day.

That's crazy. Well, we're still there.

We're not allowed to do that anymore.

I think. That explains a lot about. Me.

I hope that.

But, Yeah, no longer is that allowed.

You can't do a specialist work in schools
when the school is in session.

Okay, so that's why during the summer,
as best as really ramps up,

because every school in the state
is trying to get their specialist

work done during that or during break.

How many schools have you done? Oh, boy.

A lot of West Hartford schools.

Over 30. For sure. Yeah, yeah.

School projects are normally pretty big.

Nice. Yeah.

So the first one was a West Hartford home.

First one
definitely a West Hartford basement.

Okay, so the best one.

This might be recency bias, but we did

the largest lead abatement job
in the state of Connecticut last year.

That was in Putnam, Connecticut.

Unfortunately, what happens
is they renovated a mill into apartments,

and they didn't address all the leftover
lead paint chips that were on the ceiling.

So, right when people started moving

in, you had kids pop in for lead
poisoning and,

you know, the second that started,
the state got involved, and

we have to come in, move them out,
clean up the apartment

and move them back in and do it
psychically and, try to do as fast as

you can, you know, so you don't interrupt
these people day to day lives.

So that was a big one.

And I was really proud of that one.
So that was probably our.

Best, biggest in the state.

Yeah. That that's the title, right.

Yeah. That was a good one for that. Yeah.
That was last. Year.

Oh last year okay. Yeah that was. Great.

Yeah.

All right.

And then worst was that question.

Geez.

You know.

The worst job.

I don't have a particular job.

But the worst feeling that we have
is when we let a customer down

and they're just not happy
with what we do.

It'll never be something that lasts,
because we will always fix

whatever mistake we might have made
or whatever expectation we then meet.

We'll go back every single day for a year

until it's done right
and the customer's happy.

But that's the worst feeling,
is that initial

call the day after you leave a job
and you say, hey,

you scratched my floor,
you left my window open.

You know, mistakes happen and,
that hurts.

You know, we hate that
because we strive for perfection.

But we'll never leave a customer unhappy.

We'll always go back and fix it.

And like I

say, we won't leave that job
until they are satisfied.

Yeah.

What was the fourth question?

First. Last best, worst.

Your last one was your most recent.
Did you do a job today?

Oh, okay.

Yeah, we did five jobs today.

So, we are at,

an old, old storage facility
in East Windsor

owned by a gentleman,
a gentleman named Jim, a great guy,

always smiling,
super happy, good conversationalist.

And we are ripping down all of his old
particleboard and insulation

so he can bring the building up
to energy coat.

And just provide a better spot
for his tenants.

So, yeah, that's a fun one we're doing.
It's fun.

We don't do a ton of demolition.

But it's fun when we get to do a big demo
job because the guys like breaking stuff

and cleaning it up after,
and you take an ugly space and you make it

clean and and beautiful and,
you know, it's nice.

It's rewarding.

That's cool. Yeah.

You do have a nice before
and after pictures, right?

You could see it before. Oh, yeah.
It looks like this.

And then after you're like,
wow. Yeah. It's a big change. So that's

something that.

Yeah. Motivating.

Yeah.

And we see a lot of nasty places.

You know we're in a lot of nasty buildings
and it's wet and damp and dark

and smells like mold.

And when we leave,
it smells like Mr. Clean.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, yeah. Water damage, lead paint.

So when you said part, like how long
that would lead have to be in the ceiling.

Yeah. For a kid to test.

Yeah.

How long do you have to be around
lead? It's an excellent question.

So, a child's blood lead level

can be elevated within a matter of days.

Probably a week, I'd say is more common.

Definitely. Just for being on the ceiling.

It gives off,
and they don't have to eat the paint.

Well, so.

Because I like to joke,
you eat lead paint.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I'll get into that.

So, the most common cause of lead
poisoning is definitely lead dust.

So it's not the lead.

See, lead painted ceiling itself.

It's when those paint chips fall
and get walked over and moved around.

And it's a traffic area
and the kids toys are there and a kid's

crawling around,
and then his hand is touching his mouth

and she's chewing on her toy,
which is on the ground.

So it's the lead dust,
which comes from a lot of things. So.

And lead abatement,
big things are friction points.

So a window that opens and closes
all the time, a door that opens and closes

all the time creates a friction point,
which leads to that lead dust.

And, that's what we try to avoid
and prevent before

we get to the point of lead abatement,
which is a sick child. Yep.

I think

my school also we weren't allowed to open
and close the windows, I swear.

Same reason.

Yeah, we had a special Sydney cafe.

Yeah. And our windows had led.

I swear the teachers like,
don't open a window.

It's the same thing.

Friction. Absolutely.

Yeah. And oh, how about that?

Times have changed.

Big time.

Right?

Like I know workers

are like my dad's friend.

My dad painted and his friend was like,
oh, that's just, you know, it's best.

It's like we didn't care, right?

Just picked it up and like, carried it
anyway.

No masks.

But nowadays you're in full wet suits.

Mask full moon suit looking.

Yeah. So it's so weird.

I mean, this guy also drink and smoke,
so I don't know if this

was his biggest concern. Yeah.

No, I mean, you're absolutely right.

So a lot of the cut offs are 1979.

Like pain is bad 1980 for asbestos.

They didn't allow you to
well some companies still

were allowed to produce it
for certain applications.

But you weren't allowed to sell it
and stall it.

And that's when they started

the movement of removing
these things from public places.

The issue,

you know, when they were installing it
back in the 40s

and 50s is they're good materials
and they were cheap,

you know,
they didn't know the repercussions of it.

You know, you had guys in submarines

slapping on asbestos on, you know, wet
asbestos, slapping it on pipes,

molding it around the pipe
so it would insulate this steam pipe

and, yeah, it's nasty stuff.

I got some sponsors.

Can I shut up some sponsors?

And I got a follow up question.

We already talked about Keating agency
and float.

We have the fix.

Evie Luna pizza, golf law group, people's
bank, Parkville market,

West Hartford lock, maximum beverage.

We're here at 340 North main Street.

Hopefully my my guy Matt.

Whitney shows up later and then Direct
Line Media, we got Stephanie and Dave.

The Direct Line Media's in Branford on 11
Sycamore Way.

So thank you for all of our sponsors.

If you're interested in being a podcast
sponsor, please let me know.

I think Sally and Bob's is coming on
soon as a podcast sponsor.

Who knows, maybe Anthony's abatement
will come on as a podcast.

I think. We should.

But with that being said, West Hartford
Lock is one of our sponsors.

What are three keys
that make you great at being?

Are you the CEO and president?

No, just president.

Just the president and CEO.
We don't have a board.

Yeah.

Are you not only a president,
your client, or.

I'm not only the client, I'm
the player. President.

Yeah. You know, that's from.

What is that from?

I think it's a biggie. Small song.

Okay. There you go. Yeah.

You know, that's from.

I'm not only a client, I'm the player.

President.

I'll always love Big.

Pie, but.

No different song anyway.

Is that memory yours?

So it's phase two. Yep, yep.

Three keys that make you great at being
the president of Anthony's abatement.

All right.

Yeah.

That's good.

Belief in people,

my employees, I don't micromanage.

I believe in them to get things done.

And they are way smarter than I am.

They are way better at what they do than I
am, and I trust them to do it.

So, you know,
you got to believe in other people

and let them reach their potential,

personally. Discipline.

I wish my diet

discipline was a little better, but,
no, my work ethic is pretty good.

You know, I'm
not afraid of early mornings.

Another key

is you have to be understanding

of people and their situations.

You know, it goes back to,
if you walk by a stranger on the street,

you don't know what kind of day
they're having.

You got to be understanding of clients
and their situations

and try to mold the scope of work
to best fit them.

And just reach the outcome
that makes everyone happy.

Yeah, yeah.
So you got to understand people.

You got to believe in people,

and you gotta have a little discipline
to go along.

With all of it. Yeah.

That's very good.

Those are three keys.

Helpful. As a teacher,
I like those. Discipline.

The 5:00 Am club is a book,

and you say your world and your life
will be so much more productive.

If you can start your day at 5 a.m..

Easier said than done. Yes.

430 is even better.

Ooh. Are you up at 430?

Oh, yeah. 430. Yeah.

I'm also a dad by eight.

So before

30, do you do you get some me
time with the coffee first?

No workout?
No, man, I, You're up and out.

I shower up,
I get to the shop, like 515 and just start

plugging away on the computer guy
show up around six,

get them going out to the job sites,
and then it's like meetings

till ten, 11 a.m..

And then I'm fortunate I get to hit
the gym little early when it's less

crowded and back to the office
when, the crews come home.

Yeah, that's the best time.

You're very fortunate to hit the gym.

11 to 12.

That's the optimal time because the edge
at five in the morning, it's a zoo.

Yeah, there's a million people there.

Yeah. And.

Then I actually,
I mean, and then. Afterwards. Worse.

AC automotive, do you know Aldo Carducci?

I don't, but I mean, I know AC,
I drive by.

Great, great guy, great person.

He also does CrossFit midday.

So he does.

He goes to, West Hartford job.

Then he goes to CrossFit,
then he goes checks the new brand.

Yeah. Yeah. It's neat.

He's midday workouts.

Teachers.

There's no.

Midday working.

On, well, during the summer you can get.

Actually, today
I did ten push ups three different times.

Yeah. I got a couple kids. There's, Alana.

I call her. Luna.

Yeah, a bell.

I call her Bella. And I l
I call Ella, so I.

If I mess up their name, I do push ups.

And the Clara that I call Clara.
So three times. Today.

So ten push ups every time
I mess up a kid's name, Feeling,

feeling good.

Yeah. That's good. Yeah.
I see you got the pump.

Got some pump at the pump.

Yeah.

I've been swimming.

I just swam a miles on Saturday.

That's the best exercise they say.

Yeah, yeah, because.

It's it's great on your back, knees

and shoulders because playing basketball
is just getting to be too much.

Yeah, I might be retiring soon.

It's hard on your knees.

Well,
that's why we shift to golf, because.

Oh, yeah, it's a lot easier on the body.

Yeah. Are you a member anywhere?

Yeah. Whomp.

Oh. You are? Yep.

Cool. Yeah. Just joined up.

Excited to get new clubhouse.

Probably in a year. And.

Yeah.
And you won the West Hartford Chamber.

Want we. Did. Who was awesome.

So, our sales guy lawn, my buddy Max,

and then Lomb brought his friend
who turned out to be a ringer.

And, and then he won it for us. Yes.

The best. The scramble.

You need one good guy to on. Yeah.
It's fun.

That allows you to like or motivate you.

Well, you could be. The bad guy,
which was me.

And just.

If you come through on a putter, too,
then you're.

Saving Grace. Yeah, yeah.

Scramble.

Yeah.

I didn't play this year,
but I did playing the womp a couple times.

The West Hartford Chamber.

Yeah. Great place.
Are you a member of the chamber?

Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah.

Great network to be.
Oh, isn't it great? Yeah.

They were vital to Friends of Success.

Like, I don't be here.

With Dave without the chamber.

You know, meeting
so many different people.

Luna pizza donut crazy.

Yeah.

The list goes on and on from the chamber.

Kate and Chris are great future guests.

That, captured the.

Concept is that, That's the,
they're the presidents of. The.

Oh, yeah, but. Capture
the concept is great, too.

You work with them?

Yeah.

I don't,
but I mean, they get they do good stuff.

I can just tell from afar.

Yeah,
they're they're good at what they do.

Yeah. Yeah.

But no, I can name. Yeah.
So many good people.

It's definitely where we are
a part of a number chamber's around

Connecticut, and West Hartford
is definitely one of the best ones.

Oh. Can you compare
and contrast some things that you see?

Yeah.

West Hartford has a much more feel of,
togetherness and a group

and being tight knit and a ton of events
that a lot of people actually show up to.

The other chambers are a little more.

I don't know if this is the right word,
but commercialized where it's.

It just

it doesn't feel as homey
and it's more just business centric

networking like that, which I understand
is, you know, it's the goal.

But, yeah, no West Hartford Chamber
just does so many other things

that aren't just networking.

That I really love about Tony.

You know,

Tony from the Ron Foley Foundation,
I don't know, you got to meet Tony.

Yeah.

Tony's got a good name. Tony.

Yeah. Forget about it, Tony. Yeah.

You go by Tony.

No. Anthony.

You never been. Born
to use my grandfather.

Yeah. Yeah.

Anthony. Tell Amara, tell them more.

Oh, yeah.

Forget about it. Yeah, I got five fingers.

Best friends.

I can only use three.

I was waiting to see that.

So, being a West Hartford teacher. Yes.

Teachers are important. Extreme.

Do you have a favorite teacher?

Oh, boy, that's tough.

Because my favorite teacher,

if I'm being honest, is probably Mr.

Wells because he played football
with us at recess.

But wait, doctor Wells, Rick wells. Yeah.

Webster hill.

No, you said Duffy for a little bit.

Maybe he was at Duffy.
Yeah. Was he a marine?

Yeah, yeah. For real?

He was your teacher?

Well, one of my teach.

But at recess, he was my teacher.

Right. Gotcha.

And, But that just that impact me
because it made the school day so great.

So fun.

You look for a picture.

Well, he remember you? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

We got a thing that that Mr.

Wells and I, we sent pictures. Do you?

Oh, yeah. Great guy.

You know that.

He's always been in great shape,
but he was a young man back then.

Back when I was in freaking third grade.

So, he still had a lot of the marine
in him,

and, he was great at recess.

Yeah. That's so funny.

Yeah, but, Miss Moran, fifth grade.

Duffy,

really instilled a lot of discipline
in me,

to the levels that, like, playing
in football later on, instilled in me.

She's just,
you know, no nonsense type of woman.

And she was great because, you know,
she did it with kindness,

but she made her point.

And, you know, I was
I was a little rascal, and she kind of

straighten me out a little,
so definitely most impactful.

Nice. Yeah. No.

Mr. Wells
have come up a bunch of times, actually.

Yeah.

Luna pizza, I bet.

I asked PJ Foley's kid.

PJ Foley teaches at Connor. He has a son.

I don't know, PJ Foley, Irish name.

Yeah, he's a coach.

He was a tight end coach right now.

Oh, yeah, he's a tight end in college.
I think too. Yeah.

Yeah. Great. Got guys at Unit.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

He still plays.
Who still. Oh I believe. Yeah.

Plays Irish

Gaelic football too.

Really. Yeah.

Grew up playing Gaelic football. Coaches
Gaelic football.

Great guy PJ Foley. Amazing person.

But his son said Doctor Wells too.

Yeah, yeah.

Doctor Wells
actually to my wife does rivalry.

And there was an awards

celebration at orange, Connecticut
at the golf course and they wanted someone

to be the guest speaker
and well, showed up in his marine suit.

Yeah.

Had, you know, two books
and we just did a wonderful presentation

and talking about when
does your school day start in the morning.

At night before,

when you're getting your stuff together,
you're getting your homework together.

You know, he had a golf club.

He did a little golf club. Yeah, but.

He was a really interesting.

And he's a great speaker, a great person.

Oh, excellent role model, that guy.

He's gonna be a guest doctor.

Wells. Oh, yeah. Rick Wells

so I'll send that picture.

I'll see what he says.
Please send us anything. Yeah.

And then it's a long time ago.

That's so funny.

I remember, I still remember my.

There's a graduating class right now.

They're in 12th grade.

When I was in third grade, it was the most
serious to hand touch football.

Yeah. Kids went in crying. Oh, yeah.
It was a Super Bowl.

Every game was the Super Bowl.

Yes, you nailed it.

Clinton plays on the whoop team
BC is that Suffield Academy?

He's going to Nicholls
State to play, baseball.

The twins Anthony and Ryan
Ethan was a six soccer player.

All these kids were like,
what's his name?

Austin Austin's a quarterback, RKO.

And these kids will come in.

I was Tom Brady.

Yeah, I threw. Through a thousand yards.

Yeah, touchdowns.
I was the autumn doctor.

Wells was doing. Crazy.
The automatic quarterback, I loved it.

I could see it hit.
Me and the same thing. Yeah.

But they were

like, always, you know,
and I'm putting the ball on the money.

I'm not.

We're throwing touchdowns, but some kids
would get upset and then we like.

All right, fourth quarter.

Do we go on to like two minute
drill. Yeah.

To get the tie or you know this team wins.

But it was amazing.

This is how long. Half a half an hour.
Yeah.

Best half an hour. That changed it right.

You thought about that. You're like, man,
what's going on?

I still got this recess.

Yeah, I wasn't the greatest,
school kid, but, that.

Yeah.

And then this year,
what does my school do to me?

They gave me two lunch duties,
no recess duties.

Oh, man. I you know who those. Recess me?

Yeah.

Forget the kids.

It was.

Probably a good place to connect
with kids on a different in a different.

Environment. Yeah, yeah.

I there's the playscape.

I do a chin up contest. Yeah. Pom pom.

Then I would throw the football.

So not.

It's hilarious

teaching teaching and playing football.

That's great. No,
but you've been instrumental.

And a great friend to friends of Feeney.

You supported us multiple times.

Got any questions for me?

Recommendations.

Anything that you feel I didn't share
that you would like to talk about?

Recommendations?
No. I do have questions, though.

And it's in terms of like mentorship
because

we can always give to,

nonprofits like yourself.

But we'd also love to start
fundraising ourselves

and give even more
to Connecticut Children's.

And I just, you know, I'm starting a
I have a gentlemen's

dinner we're doing,
which, a friend of mine, Johnny

Russo, is a realtor down in Milford,
is helping me put together.

But, you know,
that's the tip of the iceberg.

How do you put together
such a force of fundraising?

And, you know, where do you start?

And how do you get the raffle items?

And you're calling everybody
and inviting people, and you don't know

if it's going to pan out or not?

Yeah, I know you do that.

So many concerns and hesitations
when you're like, we have this wonderful

event. Will people show up? Yeah.

It's so far, knock on wood,
everything has been working out.

But you know, a lot of people
don't like to RSVP.

They don't want to let you know.

They don't want to buy the ticket
until the day of. Sure.

They're always waiting on the weather.

If there's something else,
they have children, so we get that.

But, you just hope for the best.

And yeah, you know, we have a good team.

Like I said, Marty, Jen, Matt, Rob.

Marty. Jen.

Matt. Rahm.

That's the team.

So right now we all have it.

Like Jen runs the raffle. Yeah.

So Jen will organize
and make these wonderful signs

with the container that matches it.

We call you know,
we call a lot of people for donations.

And yeah, gift.

Cards like salute gift card travel gift

cards are a gift card,
Lumina Pizza gift card, Sally and Bob's.

All these wonderful organizations.

Like you say, West Hartford Cares.

West Hartford wants to help.

Just today, you know,
for the Saint Patrick's Day parade,

we need t shirt sponsors.

Yeah, I'm shooting out some text.

Yeah, I got that DM. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

DM some some.

I have to text some. I have the DMs. Yeah.

So yeah. Thank you for that.
Well this will be great.

Another time of the Anthony that.
Sure sure.

Yeah. Love it.

I would imagine
you find that organizations and people

are far more giving
than you could even think of.

Yeah. Expect.

And then we have, you know, a mission
that's easy to buy into.

We're helping

children and families that need assistance
after heartbreaking tragedy.

It's hard to say, like, I don't know.

I really don't believe in that one.

Or it's against my politics
or some reason.

There's no. Excuse.

Yeah, we're. Helping people that need it.

Yeah, right.

So I'm a teacher, you know,
I don't make an extraordinary amount,

but I have a roof over my head, and,
you know, I'm happily,

housed in everything I need,
so I want to help as many people as I can.

I've been doing it in the classroom.

Now I want to do it
outside of the classroom. Yeah.

And I'm very fortunate right now.

We've helped up over 90 families
and raise over $230,000.

That's incredible. Yeah.

All in 12 years.

All volunteer based, community
based grassroots organization.

Just helping,

you know, we're talking about school.

Kingsbury school. Reminds me of Dwayne
Hunter.

Was in my third grade class
in my fifth grade class, last year.

He's crossing the street
and got hit by a car.

Oh, no.

So his father,
you know, paid for the funeral

and his his baby mom and his daughter
need some funds, so we helped that family.

That was most recently,

there was an unfortunate event.

A Bloomfield football player, 13 years
old, died at practice.

Oh, we hope that family. Yeah.

Yeah,
you name it, we've helped fires cancer.

Whatever.

We have a system
now where we have a donation request form.

We. There was a fire in Harrisville.

They went to the,

like, services,
civil services or human resources,

and they referred
friends of Feeney to them.

How about that? Right.
And this is in Terry ville.

We've been helping the family.
Yeah. We've helped.

We gave them, you know,
I think like $5,000,

maybe ten boxes of Amazon items.

Yeah. Toys for Christmas coats.

Oh, like so many things.

Which is huge.

Oh yeah. Especially at that time.

Yeah. So it's been great.

We have some things looking forward to.

Like the Saint Patrick's Day parade.

We have a wolf pack
game. Our golf tournament.

Yeah.

Memorial day parade.

We're honoring a veteran.

I tried to honor Rick Wells last year.

He was going to Martha's

Vineyard for his wife
because his wife writes books.

Yeah, and. He couldn't make it.

So maybe I'll have him back
because we have a guest of honor.

Yeah, yeah, a veteran.

So maybe Rick Wells will be our guest
this year.

Yeah, it's all incredible stuff.

Yeah. But like you said,
that's that's great.

You have a great heart, great family.

Sounds like you have wonderful parents
and you're doing great things.

So, I would happily

maybe talk to you more about how to help
you start your own organization or.

Yeah, let me know the data.
That gentlemen's dinner.

Yeah. Well, you know, I'm.

I think I'm a gentleman, so maybe I.

Invited, I'd be honored to have.

I have.

The grab the right fork on the right side
of the plate and stuff, but,

you know, You me. Two of my mouth closed.

Yeah.

Yeah. No, I definitely bend you here.

Yeah. Cool.

What's the connection, Milford?

Is that the New Haven connection?

So the guy who is kind of teaching me up
how to do an event,

that's where he's at. Gotcha. Yeah, yeah.

Very cool.

Yeah, well, I we talked recommendations.

I just recommend I always say it.

I say the same thing, write
a handwritten note and take a cold shower.

Those are my two recommendations.
But this is really cool.

Anthony,
my neighbor Anthony had a birthday,

so he wrote me a thank you card.
I want to read it. Fini.

This is funny to me.

Maybe a little backstory.

His wife wanted to trick him to get down
to West Hartford brewing and roasting.

Yeah, and his whole family
was there to surprise him, so she used me.

She's like, hey, can you text us?

Yeah.

And say, hey, Feeney, we really did win
Best Nonprofit three years in a row.

But tell him there's a celebration

of feeney's nonprofit winning,
and we want it to go.

So I'm like, hey,
I kind of cut and paste whatever she said.

I'm like, yeah, yeah, come down.

Friday seven free drink.

Feeney won
best nonprofit Haley and Anthony

and he's like, he goes, Feeney,
I should have known.

You're pulling some strings
to plan my surprise party.

The most surprising part
of the night that you weren't

were in a

room full of people trying to sell merch.

Appreciate it all.
Thanks for the gift cards to.

Cheers to 30.

So happy 30th birthday Anthony.

Yeah, he's like all his friends are there.

He's like,
he thought I was going to go to the car

and try to sell, like get your fini shirt
that. You feel you.

Want a magnet. Hat.

Then I'm like, darn it, I missed
the golden opportunity I should have.

Yeah, pushing merch at a birthday. Yeah.

Anthony, I
oh, this is with heartfelt gratitude.

This is the Sunshine
the Sunflower Kids program.

We're so grateful to your kindness
and thinking of our team

and our sunflower kids.

And a bunch of kids signed it.

Thank you so much.
Thank you for the generous things.

Thank you for thinking.

Thank you for finding the family
some sunshine.

And then this is my guy, scion.

I like Mr. Feeney.

Look at that.

Thank you, Mr. Feeney.

He calls me Eric in parentheses.

That's
like a huge thing for a third grader.

Oh, yeah.

They're like Eric's name. And I'm like.

Well, first you gotta figure, well,
figure out what their name is, right?

I don't want you to get that information.
Yeah.

But back in the day, you're like,
you don't ever.

You call your teacher Mr..

So I'm like, call me whatever.

Yeah, yeah, I don't care. Yeah. Eric.

Yeah.

You know, out of respect,
don't call me like names.

Oh, you see, that happens too.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah. It's so cool you had.

How are you feeling on this podcast?

You're very nervous.

Not not not not nervous at all.

You're like calm, cool, collective.

Yeah, well,
you can't tell what's going on inside.

Reminds me of the
time that you were on with Karen Scott.

They're all dude, Scot Haney.

Yeah. Channel three, better day.

Connecticut.

Great day. Connecticut.

I was that very good.

No nerve wracking.
That was a little nervous.

I mean, you got a lot of cameras on you
tight.

But, Scott and Kara make it very easy,
just like you have today.

Yeah, they're super welcoming, and,
you know,

they you gotta go in prepped a little
so you know what you're doing.

You can't just get stuck on the
on the screen.

I watched. That was. Really good. Yeah.

How did you. Set that up?
Do you reach out to them?

Do they reach out to you?

Yeah.

So, We have a,

a marketing rep with channel three,
and she reaches out and she tries

to let us know when good times might be
and invites us on.

And, you know, we try to do it
probably like three times a year

because you get to talk to people
more than just a commercial.

And,
we get a lot of great feedback with that.

Yeah. That's cool.

That was great.

So maybe I'll share the link.

But Karen Scott.

Yeah, we already think.

We already think, maximum beverage.

You know, my guy Matt Whitney.

Matt Anthony.

You ready for us?

You're going to come on.
You want to come back.

To find. My channel?

Okay, we'll give you a couple minutes.

That Happy Gilmore check.

Oh, so as a thank you
and you swagged me up.

I love my shirt. Yeah.

The Portuguese and the Italian flag.

Yeah. Embroidered in there.

Yeah, yeah.

Does your shirts, Dave freshening.

You. Know, the West.

I forget. Park Road. That's right.

Funny that you see that. Could
guess who does my shirt.

There you go.

Fresh ink, fresh ink.

Shout out the fresh. Yeah. Keep it local.

Keep it local.

I want to give you a shirt. Thank.

Thank you for. Being a good friend I.

Love it I love that's the OG shirt.

Correct. Yeah. Good friend.

You talk about my design.

Yours is excellent. As well right. Yeah.

And that's another thing. Motto is
you can't you can't beat the motto.

Be your friend.

No drive like a friend. Hold the door.

Give compliments, be charitable.

Yeah, I love that.

Good color to the gym.

You bet. Don't rip out of it.
You like rip out?

I like the Hulk, though.

David Banner, that shirt. Yeah. I wish.

Putting up 315 or 350.

Three
1503 is a little three. 15 for a few.

Yeah. Geez.

That's nothing.

It's nothing.

Now, now they're gonna put up more.

Have you ever put up more? Nope.

Now probably stronger there, but really?

Yeah. Yeah,
that's really cool. Discipline, man.

Goes a long way.

Take creatine or.

Any lots of. Great. Yeah, yeah.

Lots creatine.

Pre-workout out, amino acids.

I take it all magnesium.

Are you up to peptides yet or. No. No.

Not yet.
I think I will be soon though, right?

I don't know,
I hear cuz that. Game day West.

Hartford. Yeah, I should talk with that.

I met the guy there. I met the guy. Yeah.

I've heard. Good. Thanks.

He's talking
very high on the peptides. Yeah.

Hydrogen water, mineralized water.

Yeah, they're doing it all now.

It's got a job.

Some labs is, and we'll do yours.

I take calcium, vitamin
C, and like, kosa mine for my knee.

Yeah.

But I don't take anything yet.

Our protein. Protein powder.

I want to get on this creatine.

Do you do gummies? Greetings. Great.

I do both gummies in the powder.

Cheese every day? Oh, yeah.

Every day. Even if I'm not going to gym.

I heard
creatine is also good for your brain.

Do you feel good with memory
or recall. Or.

No, but I've always been deficient
in that.

I'm not the smartest guy.

Yeah, no, but, it
definitely helps with recovery and growth.

Yeah, yeah.

When you stop taking it,
you see how much it helps?

Yeah.

I agree with that. Then
I'm getting some creatine. Great things.

Great. Yeah. Creatine. Yes, sir.

But we have this.

How about Jordan juice.

You have a drink Jordan juice.

This is Knob Creek.

I got to get this in before
Matt comes back.

Signature Wine and Spirits in Simsbury
did a collab with us.

They picked the barrel signature
wine spirits, and this is a cool label.

Oh, shelf.

Thank you Vinnie.

Thank you Omar, our co-president.

Vinnie, put this together.

You get to scan our code.

Yeah.

Go to and go to Vinnie's code. QR code.

But you see the golf theme?

Yeah. Friends of. Feeney.

You can't get ten year
knob creep in Connecticut.

Really? The only one you could get nine
year.

Yeah, this is. The only ten year. Wow.

So this is an exclusive.
There were 90 bottles.

There's only 20 bottles left,
so get it while you can.

It's 85 bucks.

20 of it goes to Friends of Feeney. Okay.

So it's really cool.

But thank you, Vinnie.

And again,
thank you all for this wonderful idea.

And they move fast too.

Oh I believe yeah. So

check it out.

Look at that smart collab.

I like it I know
we're we like collabing on, fundraisers.

You know, we're doing a hockey game.

We sold over 100 tickets.

Yeah,
I think we're getting five bucks a ticket,

maybe more.

We get 5 or 4.

Four bucks a ticket.

It's pretty good.

400 bucks just to go to a game. Yeah.

We got ten kids that are going to line up
and do the high five tunnel.

Yeah. It's fun. So it's pretty cool.

That wolf pack. Yeah.

Very good.

Pack.

Also want to recommend,

do you like basketball?

You like that? Sure.
There's a Netflix special.

I just watched it. Six episodes.

About the Olympics.

Oh, yeah.

It didn't just focus on the USA,
which was really cool.

I learned so much about Team Canada.

Stacked with NBA players.

Yeah, team France stacked.

They're going to win it next year when me.

Because. When me. On if he's not hurt.
Yeah.

If he's not hurt but yeah even Serbia

amazing amazing team Serbia with Jokic.

But it was really cool.

And then R.J. Barrett. He's Canadian.

He's Canadian.

His dad he's he's Rohan Jr Barrett.

His dad was the Canadian coach and played
with Steve Nash I didn't know that. Oh

who else is the Canadian.

What's his initials SK J oh yeah.

I mean he's a stud.

He's going to be MVP this. Year,
I think. Yeah.

What's his name?

I just watched him last night
OKC versus Timberwolves on NBA TV.

I watched.

You big. Basketball game.

Yeah yeah. And I didn't have YouTube TV.

So now I do.

And I'm like I'm watching this game.

It goes to overtime.

OKC makes it 12

point comeback
with like five minutes left.

Now the other way around.

Timberland Timberwolves come back. Yes.

What's his name. Yeah.

Jarius. Alexan.

But they call him

SGA. Yes.

That's it SGA.

Yeah. You know.

Oh, great.

And I swear they called the,

they called the USAA team, the Avengers
right there in the whole time.

Yeah, I swear they ended it with me
looking like Thanos going.

They may have lost, but you're going to.

I'm calling out, everyone watch me.

From now on. And it ends.

And it ends.

It was crazy. Like, yeah,
he called out the world. Yeah.

And it ended. It was like,
when he's going to be the man.

That good Olympics.

It was coming up in school.

He's seven one goes between the legs.

Threes. Yeah.

Oh, there's another guy who's French.

He's the French captain.

What's his name?

I don't know as well as you do not Tatum.

It's like shoot.

But his dad, he was three.

He was watching his dad play basketball.

His dad passed, passed away on the court.

Gosh.

Button.

Peter Nico.

Batum is it. But Batum

but I highly suggest.

The same.

Batum that we knew growing up between. It.

I think.

Yeah there's that that

I don't know I.

Think that's we know that we know the.

Kid. Yeah. No I learned a lot.

Yeah a lot of that is from the Dream
Team.

Yeah. Their imprint all over the world.

They said that comes back in front of all
these excellent international players.

Dirk was ten when he saw that Dream team.

And he's like, that's it.
That's what I want to do.

Dirk and Vince
and they interviewed him. There you go.

So many people were like,
that was the inspiration over the world.

Sure,

absolutely.

Greatest sports team ever assembled.

Freshman year, my first day of school off,
it was a Charles Barkley.

Yeah, matching up to Charles Barkley.

Yeah. Shorts and shorts.

Shirts set with air Max.

And that vintage
look is back in style in the.

Vintage thing because I was like,
I want to buy the Barkley jersey again.

Yeah, it was number 1414.

Yeah, I know they do.

And Jordan was number nine.

Yeah, yeah. I remember that.

I forgot what bird was.

Bird was like, maybe.

It wasn't what I think.

Oh yeah. Yeah.

But that yeah that 92 team was amazing.

Greatest team ever assembled.
Greatest team ever assembled.

Change the way
I. I mean, I fell in love with sports.

Yeah.

I was already in love with sports,
but that was like.

And then, like the patriotism
and the pride.

Yeah.

Destroying people. USA is that. Bad?

It's always fun to win, too. Yeah, yeah.

So you're Anthony's a

family owned,
operated for in CT for ten years.

Have you ever done a job
outside of Connecticut?

Yeah. We do southern mass.

Okay. Yep.

Yeah. It's not.

It's a it's a quick right.

We do a lot of Greenwich and Stamford,
Fairfield County, too.

It's definitely a tough ride for us, but,
we covered a whole state.

Yeah.

Where do you see
Anthony's abatement in five years?

That's a great question.

Five years?

I would probably say

more than doubled in size.

And,

probably a
another branch in Fairfield County

and, yeah, yeah,

doing the same services,
sticking to the same things we're doing,

keeping it simple and,
just doing it at a larger volume.

Yeah. Very good place to go.

I know someone said that asked that where
would friends of Feeney be in five years?

And I was like, I don't really know,
but I hope that we're raised,

you know, over close
to $1 million for families. Yes.

Because if we're at a quarter of a mill
now, yeah, five years,

we hope to get to
a mill. Yeah. And maybe get

to over like 60

families or 75 family would be great
or no, not worried at 90.

So it would be great
to be like 500 families.

That is an awesome goal.

The million is huge. In $1 million.

Yeah. Would get a golden check. Yeah.

Big happy. Gilmore.

I don't see why not.

The growth that you've done.

So I'm PA.

Yeah. We just had this wonderful.

Event at. Parkville Market.

My buddy band showed up. We were.

We collaborated with them.

It's called Rock the local. Yeah.

We worked with the Hartford Greater Arts.

Greater Hartford arts.

And we have the concert series,
and then we got this beautiful

mural inside the local,
which my students helped paint.

And it's like the starry night.

So it's like the magnet,
but Starry Night, the Van Gogh painting.

Yeah. And my buddy doc.

Episode 58. Great podcast.

Most viewed, put on a band,
put on a show with his band.

It was amazing.

So it was a great time.

I saw friends I haven't seen in a while.

My buddy Justin showed up green.

He showed up.

And. It's

funny,
my guy Seth, this guy lives in California.

I swear I see him more

than some of my friends.

I live in. Connecticut.
Yeah. Isn't that weird how that works?

It is.
Because when he's around, he'll come by.

Right? Right.

He was like, at the casino,
and I just threw it out.

Hey, I'm here 7 to 10.
Yeah, and it's weird.

He's like, I'll be there in ten minutes.

I'm like, haha, you're in California.

And he really showed up.

It was like a wonderful surprise
to see good friends like that.

So it was good together.

You know, a good. Venue there.

And, yeah.

You like Parkville?

Oh yeah.

What's your go to food
at Parkville Market?

I would probably say Mofongo. Right. Yeah.

It's tough to get out Saturday night.

My phone go. Yeah. Very good. Yeah.

And then actually had mofongo
and a beef patty and some curry.

Jamaican food was really good.

I kept it diverse.

Yeah. Looks good.

Listen, I got a daughter
that's a vegetarian.

Yeah. Like me.

You go there with a family.

Everyone's happy.

Yeah.

You can't say, oh,
I don't like what I see.

And something.
So it's an amazing place. It's.

What's cool about that place?

Used to be a ladder supply place.

Yeah, they have that.

Our mural is next to the ladder supply.

Yeah. There's an old bishop's ladder.

Yeah, yeah.

It's a yellow. Says Bishop's ladder. Yep.

You remember that?

Yeah. We gutted the place.

Did you do the abatement of.

We didn't do the abatement.

We did some of the demo. On the way. Yeah.

And Carlos is big on preserving
some of this stuff.

Portuguese?

Yeah.

Mozambique. He's from Mozambique.

Yeah, but he's Portuguese. Yep.

Carlos moto? Yep.

Carlos mode, a podcast guest.

The other person? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

We needed storage.

He gave us storage out.

Yeah,

40 Arbor Street.

We're in the basement of 40 Arbor Street.

Put a lot of our parade equipment there.

Yeah, he's smart guy.

He is owning half of Hartford.

Yeah, right. Yeah. And so did you.

Did he tell you to preserve some things,
like keep the vintage look like

he wanted some of the,
We weren't working directly for him.

We were working
for his general contractor.

Yeah, we were doing, like,

just a overall clean out
and taking down, like, shelving and stuff.

Yeah. Because he likes to build around it.

If he.

If the wood could be preserved,
he likes to have that shown.

Yeah. Even in his apartments,
he was, smart.

And he kept, he kept, he kept
a lot of woods to make the picnic table.

Yeah.

He had that Bishop ladder sign still,
which he thought it was really cool.

He's big into,
like, holding on to and keeping it,

authentic and vintage, which is.

Good for an investor like him, because
too many of them lose sight of that.

And just want to demo.

Yeah. Yeah, it's
good to keep the character.

Yeah, he's a great guy. He is.

Oh yeah.

So do you know PD PD
then that PD Q the Portuguese place.

I don't know. P2P.
Oh you got to check that out.

They opened up.

They were in Parkville market but now
they have their own location on Parkville.

Oh Portuguese.

Okay I got check that they got a. Special.

Sauce. Yeah.

We did a hot dog contest there.

They came in third place.

Really? Second place.

But interesting.

Yeah.
I'm gonna have to check them out. So.

So who do you like?
Messi. Ronaldo? I mean,

boy, I have to say

Ronaldo, but, I can admit
Messi is probably the best player ever.

Yeah. Really? Yeah,
I think I can say that.

That you were just gonna
automatically go with. The tomboy.

I got to. I mean, it's my favorite, but.

Yeah,
she's a little different than everyone.

True. Yeah.

Did you like soccer now?

I was this size when I was three, so,

soccer wasn't really in my repertoire.

Nope.

I was, Oh, line
football and goalie in lacrosse.

And that's about it.

Yeah. We're here at maximum.

Maximum beverage.

Good friend. Coach, come say hi.
Come say hi.

Tell us how you feel.

Yeah. All right.

That's my guy right here.
You know. Anthony. That's nice.

Hey how you doing Anthony.

What's up. My meet you
are you man. Good good.

Anthony's abatement.

Oh nice. That a. Branded. Bills.

Yeah. That's a amazing.

Oh look at. That.

That's a nice. Hat. With the shades on.

Yeah it's America baby.

People asking me
are you a Philadelphia Eagles fan?

What about this says Philadelphia Eagles?

Recency bias.

It's like

I'm like, all right, I'm not a Eagles fan.

Although I did root for them to win

I think Chiefs go down.

Yeah it's better than that. Yeah.

Not much okay.

So yeah. No big check.

Got a small check in my pocket.

I can give you that.

All right.

You want to, but, we could do it.

Another one.
All right, we'll do another one.

We'll do some. It.

We got to get the.
You got to get the big check.

Can't can't do a check presentation
with the check.

It's this. Big. Yeah. It's not cute.
All right.

Well, we'll we'll find it.

Well, thanks for everything, man.

Good to meet you. Sweet. You guys. Yeah.

All right. We're at our 20.

We usually shoot for 50 minutes
for Feeney.

Yeah, but.

So we're, our 20.

We got any closing remarks?

I had a wonderful time talking with you.

I could talk with you forever.
No, I. Know you have the gift. Of the gab.

Yeah, it was good.

It's great.

You know,
you made me feel very welcome here. And,

you know, your cause is incredible.

I mean, it's what we aspire to be like
is the cause that you're putting forth.

So, I'm just honored to be on here.

Thank you for having me.

All right.

So on three will say be a good friend.

One, two, three, be a. Good friend.