I'm here at Fidler's Pond in Goshen for something that happens every year, well over the last eight years.

It's a Bashor Children's home boat build and then launch.

And the kids from Bashor will be here a little later on this morning to launch the boat that you see behind me into this pond.

After over a year of hard work, I'm here with the three volunteers who make it happen.

I'm here with Christian Jay and Guy Jay.

You originally started this eight years ago.

So how did you get into boat building?

Is it something you do for a career, or is it just a hobby of yours or.

Yep.

It's it's, I used to build I'd probably done it about 20 years, and I used to spend summers in Maine, and I think, that kind of hooked me being on the ocean.

And, I've just enjoyed this and the some of the skill it takes to do it.

I had driven I live close to Bashor so I had driven by and and be, like, Sunday mornings on the way to church.

I would just have this feeling I'm, you know, you're supposed to be doing something there.

And, one Sunday, I had a, a I was part of trying to help them locate a runner someone had taken off.

And so, and and talking to them, I realized it's time to step up and see what see what we can offer.

So.

Yeah.

And so one of the best ways to volunteer is to mix your passion for what you already love doing with helping young children.

What kind of difference have you seen in them over the last eight years, when they actually do get to volunteer?

I, you know, they some of them have never used tools before.

Some of them have never had the opportunity to build something like this.

Some of them haven't been on the water before.

And, you know, to us it kind of blows us away.

But, you know, the environment or whatever their background is, we just try to give them that opportunity to, hey, this is what we do.

This is tools we use.

We try to let them use everything.

And, Hey, look what you can walk away with, you know, some accomplishment.

So.

Yeah.

Now, guy, you came in a couple of years after Jay started it.

It really gives the kids a chance to see that if they stick with something and be part of a group project, they can really have amazing outcomes too, right?

Oh, absolutely.

The the kids come in and and oftentimes they get to see the, the start of a boat when it's just the pile of lumber in the, in the pool barn where we work.

And then at the end they get to see something like this, that we've taken something that's not much and turned it into something that's great.

And we hope that's a lesson that they learn.

Yeah, that they may feel like they're not much, but in the end they can be something beautiful and cool.

Yeah.

Well, Bashor often talks about how, Bashor is almost like a cocoon for caterpillars turning into butterflies.

You know, you go in one way and then, you know, you hope you come out another way.

And and of course, these kids have had a lot of challenges in their early life.

And that's tough on them.

Oh, yeah.

I know you're passionate about really meeting them where they're at in terms of their emotion and just not nonjudgmental and just, you know, just helping them through that.

Yeah.

We just we just want to hang out with kids because quite frankly, Jay and I are getting old and it makes us feel younger and like we're somewhat relevant.

And they're like, oh, look at you guys wearing your new balance's now.

I'm just kidding.

Yeah, I look at it, we joke, he has four daughters.

I have a son and two daughters.

We mesh them up pretty good.

We want a second try.

Right.

So.

And, talking about sons and daughters.

Kristen, you're a son in law.

So, of Jay's where you kind of roped into this, or are you willingly doing this willingly?

I, it was about seven years ago when, basically, I was, I came to the family, and, and Jay, I saw what Jay and Guy were doing, and, I was pretty interested, and, yeah, I joined them.

And do you have kids yourself now as well?

Yes, I do have two kids.

Are you helping not to mess them up the way you're trying?

Are you learning from them or by you?

Yeah, yeah.

And so, what how do you feel helping these kids?

Like, what does it bring to your life to be around them and see the difference for it is teaching me a lot of things.

And, and, basically, you know, the way I feel, I mean, I feel blessed to be able to help someone that that sometimes doesn't have the same opportunities that, that we have.

And so, yeah, I mean, it's just honored to be able to help.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, our starting points are also different.

And one of the stats about basher that always it always hits with me is that these kids have often been to 6 or 7 placements before they get to Bashor.

So you think about this young person who has been abused or neglected or been through something just terrible in their 14 or 15 years of life, and they've bounced around to 6 or 7 places that can't deal with what they're doing.

Bashor is like a last resort for them, and and after basher, it doesn't get any.

There's no more level of excellence or Bashor And we talked about this right before we came on camera Jay, you said something and it hit me.

And it's kind of true is like there is one place I can go after Bashor And it's not a good place, is it?

They can end up in jail.

They could end up in, you know, doing, repeating the cycle of what they've gone through, which is.

And so these kids Bashor gives them the opportunities, not just the, the therapy and all the care that they need when they're in Bashor as residents.

But also then being able to be exposed to things like this out in the community, which also helps with their social skills.

I'm sure you see that too.

Jay with the their social skills and being able to be in a group and things like.

Sure, yeah, yeah, sometimes we, maybe have to tone it down a little bit.

They get a little excitable.

But yeah, I think actually a lot of times they, they, they mesh well.

They oftentimes walk in and they're very reticent to talk to us and even that and you spend 15 Saturday mornings with them hanging out all of a sudden you're not asking them a whole lot about their past, but they're volunteering and they're opening up.

And, you know, we get to know them pretty well over a period of time.

And that's that's just awesome for us that that God has allowed us to, you know, meet these kids where they're at.

Yeah.

Because they are his children too.

Absolutely.

And so and up until that point, maybe every adult they've met, maybe intentionally or or just otherwise have basically let them down in a way.

And so you guys are consistent to them.

Yeah.

And I love that.

So I love that you're down.

Jay can you tell me a little bit about this boat behind me?

Because, you know, when people think of a bash or boat build, I think they think more of some of the items that we have here, which, by the way, are so beautiful.

But they seem small in comparison to what you've done here.

I mean, what is this boat behind me here?

Right.

So this is, it's called a senile skiff.

It's a Scottish coastal rowing boat.

Okay.

Obviously, originated in Scotland, and they use it.

They do races around the island.

There's probably I think we're about the 45th one in the States, mostly by maybe some high schools and some coastal groups.

Yeah, community groups like rowing.

Why?

We we do one in Indiana in the middle of a cornfield.

We haven't figured out that's where we're at.

So, I had I had thought this would be a cool project a couple of years ago.

And, Sean Mccrindle, the president of Badger, came to me a couple of years ago and said that project you were talking about, it's covered.

We have a donor heard about what you guys are doing, and, they'd like to take care of that.

We also have a boat company in the in the county here that heard about what we were doing, and we needed a trailer.

So they provided that for donated that.

Wow.

Well, if it can handle the, the, the wakes and the, currents around Scottish islands, I'm sure I can handle fidler around here today with with.

Problem is, we have not gotten wet yet, so.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Today could be the first day.

Right.

And so as we mentioned, we're here right now with Christian Jay and Guy.

And of course the real magic happens.

But unfortunately, you know, because the kids are in the care of Bashor children's home, we can't show them.

But the real magic is going to be when the kids get here.

The atmosphere is going to really just, it's really going to go through the roof, right?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, we will we will make sure they have fun.

Yeah.

Oh they will.

Well, thank you guys so much.

If you want to learn more about the Bashor boat build or get involved in any way, go to Basher Dawg.

But thank you for doing this.

I'm sure you get as much out of it as the kids do, but it's really important that we show them as adults and as believers in Christ that you've all spoken, that we really do care about the next generation.

That's all that matters, right?

All right.

We awesome.

Our lights are already set.

Right.

We got to make sure the next generation is set.

So I thank you so much.

Thank you.