They're not the rich and famous.

Their profit comes not from the thing they sell, but the good they do.

Our nation has more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations that employ one out of ten Americans, providing services that otherwise go unfulfilled and keeping our communities connected when all else fails.

But nonprofits often like the tools to properly promote themselves, to inspire more donors and volunteers and clients to their cause.

That's where I come in.

I've been in the nonprofit world for 25 years.

I connect nonprofits with marketing professionals who donate their time and expertise so that at the end of the day, these life giving organizations can do more, do better by creating more.

That's right buzz.

All.

This month, I am revisiting some of the 20 nonprofits we have highlighted and helped on buzz in my home state of Alabama.

So far, I have reconnected with Beyond the Line, a nonprofit which provides college scholarships for children of slain Birmingham police officers.

Along with studio by the tracks we know that what we do is we've been here for so long and that we do really important, impactful work and that we work with a lot of people.

But sometimes it's just kind of nice to see us on the same level as some of those other organizations.

So I think that was lovely.

the Hank Poore Foundation, Down Syndrome Alabama In fact, we never slowed down.

And I definitely think some of that is from the buzz that you were able to give us.

and bundles of Hope diaper Bank.

a wonderful experience that has been and continues to be.

And just so grateful for you and the work that you do create and buzz.

Today, I check in with two of my favorite nonprofits who have starred on my show.

Both provide a unique form of transportation for children and adults who suffer a disability.

One featuring three wheels and the other four legs.

Thanks to our show, it was inspiring to discover that both are providing Alabamians with even more buzz.

we have done so many things with our program since being on the show.

I think it really did help kind of spread awareness of our mission, which is amazing.

first call was to Nicole Tucker in Springville, Alabama, who did an amazing and heartfelt job in our 2025 episode, explaining how and why she founded Canoe Creek Stables' Light of the World Adaptive Horsemanship.

So I had a younger brother named Kyle.

He was nine years younger than me.

He had cystic fibrosis.

So I had a front row seat to his battle with his disease.

And about a month before he passed away, I promised him that we'd find a way to help people.

And horses have always been part of my life.

They've always helped me get through some challenges, you know, in school and different things.

Relationships.

So, they've always been a very big part of my life.

So I knew I wanted to use horses to help other people.

And my husband shared the same dream.

So we decided to build a big barn and started on profit.

So here we are.

Tell me about Kyle.

Are.

Crap.

Sorry.

Sorry.

Snakey.

I'm so sorry.

Kyle passed away six years ago.

It still feels fresh sometimes.

We were nine years apart, so I grew up watching him battle cystic fibrosis.

He spent most of his life in hospitals.

And I'm not really sure where we transitioned from just being siblings to best friends.

But I would say probably the last ten years of his life.

We were best friends, too.

So when I, when I lost him, I lost my brother and my friend.

So sorry.

So right before he paid, he knew.

He knew he was dying.

And right before he passed away, we had a conversation.

And he looked me right in the face.

And he said, when I die, I don't want you to be sad.

And he's like, you have to promise me.

And I said, that's ridiculous.

I can't, I can't promise you that.

I said, but I promise I'll find a way to to heal.

And I said, we'll find a way to help other people.

And that's exactly what we've done.

And it's taken a lot of time.

This is like our personal Goliath.

Just.

I was an airline pilot.

I mean, it was a totally different life back then, but my husband shared the same dream because he lost a brother also, a year before my brother passed away.

So he has, his own reasoning behind doing this as well.

So it took a couple more years than we wanted, but we finally took the leap of faith.

We started building the barn in 2023 and opened in 2024.

And I started going through the process of becoming a therapeutic, a certified therapeutic riding instructor.

And, then we started the nonprofit.

So it's been a lot to tackle at one time.

I'm I'm a mom.

I'm married.

I have a normal life like every other busy woman.

And then to tackle this on top of it has been quite a challenge.

So.

But it's very fulfilling.

It's hard to know where to start.

So we started fundraising for a special van to transport our therapy ponies to nursing homes, assisted living facilities, schools, things like that.

Just to go visit people that maybe can't come to the barn.

And that's been a really awesome outreach.

We were able to fundraise a month after getting the van, and we added a sure hands of wheelchair lift to the barn.

So now we are even more accessible to individuals that need a little extra help getting on and off the horses.

And that is huge.

We've kicked off our Horses for Heroes veterans program.

Wow.

So that's been a big deal.

We've had a lot of veterans and first responders visit the barn.

We've added a ton of therapeutic riders to the program.

think really just exposure.

I think having more eyes on what we're doing.

Maybe people that are that were connected to you initially and connected to the other organizations that you've worked with, and then you know them seeing what we do, we've made a lot more connections that way, which is huge because so much of of a nonprofit is just, you know, connecting with other people that believe in what you're doing and, Can I show you some merch, please?

Is that okay?

Am I too old to say March?

That's.

That's what my kids say.

And I feel like maybe they would laugh at me, but.

Okay.

So through being on your show, we've connected with some people that really wanted to help us kind of grow and get the word out and look how cool this is.

So we have tumblers I know right over there the logo.

We've got tumblers.

We have hats.

Look how fancy.

Lovely.

Yeah.

And, And then just to show you, like, our horses for heroes.

Program for the veterans and first responders.

We have shirts now for that.

And we have shirts for our, you know, our other side of the program, too.

So it's just been really exciting to kind of see things grow like that.

In a year.

So we're so grateful.

It's been awesome.

Oh my God.

Oh, thank you so much.

Ready?

One.

Two.

Three.

Oh.

Up and over.

Watching her gets scared to touch everything.

Now we touch everything.

And we're not worried at all.

Yeah.

You know, it's just a whole different child option besides?

Yeah.

Going to term?

Yeah.

There were two times that the doctor said.

She repeated that she the worst case scenario.

And both times she gave me the option of termination.

And I mean immediately, because of my faith and because of knowing that it's God who takes, gives life and takes it away, I said, that's not my choice to make.

So we knew that Levi was going to be whoever God intended him to be, and we were just in for a journey.

He was going to write his own story.

So he didn't walk until he was five.

So that's, you know, most kids around 18 months to two years, so much earlier.

Kids with down syndrome, it could be 2 to 3 years.

Or they could walk a typical timing, but he was he walked on his own when he was five.

So, I think that was the hardest for me to overcome, because that was the first thing the doctor told me.

He'll probably never walk.

And so I was like.

Oh, no.

And I had a dream when he was before he was born about him walking.

And so I just rested in that.

Like, no, no, I believe he's gonna walk to help pay for Canoe Creek's therapeutic writing program for Levi.

Deidre received a grant from Down Syndrome Alabama, a nonprofit that starred in an earlier episode of buzz.

And so he's had balance issues.

Even though he's walking.

He his core, you know, is not as strong.

Yeah.

And so being on a horse and, that's what they're working on is reaching and keeping that balance.

Not sliding to one side or the other.

And I can just see when he gets off, he is so confident in himself, he just takes off.

But I know, I know, it's helping his courts, helping her physically, and then his confidence.

Like he just lights up on that horse.

Yeah.

So I know it's helping him in ways that I don't even think we know yet.

All right.

Show me how to sit up tall.

All right.

Oh.

It's good.

You ready?

All right.

What do you say?

Let's go.

There you go.

I just think God created horses.

Very special.

They have a sixth sense.

I think they all have Nicole and Jake's horses.

When Levi comes around them, they're so calm.

They just stand there and let him do whatever he wants to do, within reason.

But I think they got created and put something in them to be so tender towards kids, especially with disabilities.

And they can reach them him in ways that that we can't that maybe human can't.

You stay up late last night.

They say that God says they only, he only gives children with special needs to special parents.

And so I try to remember that and take that to note and think okay I'm suppose I have.

She's with me for a reason.

The love that this place shows for, for all, for all people.

You can be.

You can just be yourself when you're here.

Yeah.

You know.

Yeah.

Without stables and their adaptive horsemanship program, I think I would still be looking for something to benefit Levi.

I wouldn't probably know what it was that I was looking for, but I just.

I know that this is so needed for him.

And I've seen the physical and the cognitive, how it's helped him in those areas.

And so I just I'm so thankful for them.

So grateful that they've included Levi in this program.

You're not looking anymore.

No I'm not looking anymore.

This is what Levi needs.

Yeah.

From four legs to three wheels, another 2025 buzz I produced starred Iron City Trikes, which provides therapeutic tricycles for children and veterans with adaptive needs.

Yeah, since our episode on buzz, we've been.

We've been buzzing.

We've been blowing it up.

We last year literally jumped to 167 trikes that we, we gave away last year, which was drastic increase over the year prior.

And yeah, this year, I mean, we're a little over halfway through the year.

We've already done 121 trikes as of today.

Wow.

Yeah.

So 167 last year, 121 so far this year.

So I can only imagine we're going to we're going to be topping that number.

Even though for us of course it's not about the numbers, but it's just more lives that are being impacted.

They also have a special guest to give the event even more buzz.

Legendary Alabama weatherman James Span.

This is the first time I've experienced this and what an incredible ministry.

I think the best part for me.

It's seeing the look on the children's faces.

I do children's ministry.

I've been doing children's ministry for years and years and years, and I love middle school and high school kids.

But I like the younger kids, and I understand with some of the issues that these kids are dealing with, when you could see their face lighting up and smiling.

Yeah, and I've seen so much of that today, which is just outstanding.

It's almost like a magic moment.

And often parents in a situation like this, they're bewildered.

They really don't know what to do.

They can't wave a magic wand and fix it.

And that's what parents want to do.

But yet this is part of a process that will normalize everything and give that child a smile and give them the mobility that they need and what they want.

And the parents faces are pretty good, too.

They'll light up just like a Christmas tree when they see what's been done down here.

And the funny thing.

Am I doing okay?

Yeah.

Try out of, I guess.

Yes.

Let's go try.

You see?

Are you excited?

Yes.

Oh, okay.

Oh, and we were expecting to see the bike.

And it was a really big surprise to find out that they had one ready already for her.

So that we tell someone there was no way we were going home with the bike.

Today.

We're just going to look, just going to look, that's going to look.

And then it got here and there.

Her name on it.

So that's some really special.

Gentleman that's about to come in.

Is the father of one of our therapists who volunteered and helps us out.

He's a veteran.

We fitted him a couple of weeks ago for one of our recumbent trikes.

So he's here today to pick up history.

At the time of our production.

Iron City Trikes had just rebranded from its previous name, Birmingham and Bucks and Bucks shortened from American Business Club.

it was an unwilling name that didn't meaningfully connect with the community.

So to help attract more people to its new name and mission, businesses.

I reached out to Adelaide Madi, a social media magician and owner of a D creative.

I started my agency eight years ago and we primarily focus on branding and content creation as well as website designs.

So all across the board, like I love the new brand.

I think it looks really, really awesome.

And I think like it's time to like take that new brand and run with it.

One of the things we've done is have corporations come in like regions to do bike builds for us, and we really want to expand that because we feel like that's a great opportunity for companies to bring their people in, have something fun to do as a team, build project, you know, and have a good time doing it.

But it can also bring supporters to us, bring more awareness to our, our brand Iron City Trikes.

So yeah, we just would love to figure out a way to, to really have that growth.

And they through those bike builds they are able to but have the opportunity.

And regions did recently come back to the actual fittings of families.

So they got to see not only what they built, they got to see a family receive that bike.

So just being able to capture their regions event is awesome.

So I know that you sent over some videos that you took from that event, which is great, and I was just able to edit that together in a real.

And I can show you that product so that you can see, okay, this is what does well in social media.

A lot of times before people make that decision, they need to just see a video.

What am I going to be getting into?

And to be able to show that to people and have that video as an asset to send to potential new people to come to a corporate building event like it's going to be huge You know, we had just rebranded to Iron City Trikes shortly before the episode, and so it was really great timing for us to be able to kind of get the new name out there and get more exposure for who we are and what we're trying to do in Birmingham and actually all around the state of Alabama.

So that's been great.

I feel like more and more people are catching on to who we are.

Our social media presence, of course, has ramped up since the episode with the help of Guy from Adelaide in the marketing group.

That was really beneficial as far as that goes.

We've been able to reach out and connect with more physical therapists.

Some of the physical therapy students, we've had more exposure to them.

So it's overall, it's just been outstanding.

I think this past year has been great since our episode.

obviously you're still cruising along in the marketing role, and that's that's been good.

Yeah.

It's been good.

I mean, you know, that title, the marketing title.

That's right.

Yeah, yeah.

Golden vibes sweeping forward.

Whatever.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's the same old, same old.

But, I'm actually in North Carolina as we speak, heading down to Myrtle Beach tomorrow for the Am Books National convention.

So chapters from all over the country coming together.

Debbie and Coach coaches are already there.

Debbie will be there tomorrow.

So, yeah, we're kind of excited to to be involved with that and get some more things stirred up to love it.

Love it.

Well congrats again Zach.

Y'all doing great work.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate you.

All right.

We'll see you soon.

Levi have families that are so grateful and they're blessed.

These blessings come in the form of freedom and independence, according to Sandy Lovell, whose daughter Allie has down syndrome, as well as Kayla Phillips, whose son Elias has an even rarer genetic condition called a syndrome.

It's just so great that she's able to ride a bike and we can actually sit here and just watch her.

In the past, we couldn't do that because she was always I had to be right there with her.

And we tried typical tricycles and stuff like that, and they just didn't work the balance bikes while she wanted to do it.

Certainly not independent.

So now she can be independent and she can ride and her friends come over, which is huge, because the friends wouldn't come over to ride bikes before because she would be on a tricycle or something.

You know, we we had all the gadgets, all the toys, none of them worked.

So now she can ride and have fun and get some exercise to, you know, a license.

Three so kids his age are typically riding tricycles and stuff and being able to join their siblings on bike rides.

And we have a couple close friends and I get to see their families doing those things, and it's fun.

And also like part of me like grieved that that we didn't have something like that.

So, I've tried a couple tricycles, but he just doesn't have the coordination.

And it becomes like a fall risk.

So to find out that something like that is available was a game changer for us.

It made something like a bike ride, accessible versus normally he's in a stroller.

So, you know, now that she can go out there and ride with her friends, I think she feels like she has a lot more freedom.

But once we get her strapped in, get the helmet on, get the bike ready.

I know he's gone.

So now she has the independence and the freedom to just play like everybody else.

When given a tool like this bike.

It gives him the freedom to be able to join his brothers and sisters before the one of the preschools we have.

He would get frustrated.

I think he saw them doing it.

And he maybe understands the concept but didn't have access.

So this bike definitely gave him the freedom to be able to move around and safely, but also, get give him the support he needs, like the buckles and the feet in the the way it guides his feet and helps with the muscle memory.

He didn't have that freedom with any other tricycle I've tried.

He has some high dishes and some some challenges with her body measurements, and so typical bites didn't work.

And so when we found out about Iron City trikes, we really, honestly didn't think they'd still be able to fit her right.

Like, her legs are not going to fit, but they were able to fit her, and we were just so surprised and so thankful that this would be an opportunity.

I was outside doing something other than just sitting in the house sitting in.

I love how eager he is to get on, and I wish I could have been here the first time we did it.

I felt like a lion was so proud of himself and so full of joy.

Just getting to do that because he had been on a stroller ride down that way plenty of times.

But now once we get down to the cul de sac, he knows that I'll let him go.

And he gets a little.

He gets a little bit bold and a little bit quick.

I have to chase after him sometimes.

I will admit, we were a little concerned that we would be wasting somebody's time because of her size and her challenges and her.

She has no depth perception, so she's very scared to get anything, anything that's off the ground.

And we were both we talked about it for quite a while.

And what if we do this and she doesn't write it?

She immediately started writing.

So huge appreciation that these volunteers and these companies do this for kids that really need it.

Because without this, she doesn't get the exercise she needs.

She doesn't get the socialization.

She doesn't have the freedom, the independence, all of it.

It's all a big package deal.

Growing up as someone able bodied who's never had to question going to a playground and playing on playground equipment or riding a bike with my family, it's something I never wondered myself.

And then having a child like Elias, who's globally delayed and needs extra support, it kind of opened my eyes to how not set up the world is for disabilities.

Just as something as simple as a bike ride can be inaccessible.

And while there are devices where I can push him or a stroller or a wagon, it's kind of like saying you're missing out in a way.

And even though Elias might not necessarily care for me, it it means a lot to me that he has the ability to go on a bike ride with his siblings.

It's just one of those things, like, it's a childhood joy.

And, for him to be able to experience it, it, It's something I don't take for granted.

So.

Buzz has been highlighting and helping nonprofit organizations since 2020.

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