Season 4, EP. 1 – Podcast Transcript: Sip and Support: Uniting the Community for a Worthy Cause

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[Brian] Hi everybody, and welcome to the House Fluent Podcast. I’m Brian. I’m Tony. And we’re here to help provide helpful tips and tricks for you on how to maintain your home. And today is kind of a different podcast, Tony. It is. It’s in support of a charity. And we’re involved in a charity called Sip and Support, and we have a couple of guests with us today. Nicole Siralta. Nicole? [Nicole] Hi there. Thanks for having me today. [Brian] You’re welcome. You want to introduce yourself for a second? Maybe tell a little bit about yourself? [Nicole] Sure. My name is Nicole Siralta, and I am a member of the Roanoke Texas Business Alliance. I have a technology automation company, and I also do technology education courses. [Brian] Nice. [Nicole] And so, yeah, I’m just happy to be here and talk a little bit about this Sip and Support that we’ve been doing. [Brian] Yeah. And if anybody needs to learn about computery type stuff, Nicole is the person to call. No doubt. Computery, yes. AI expert, just saying. We also have Diana Smith. Diana, you want to introduce yourself? [Diana] Hi. Thank you. Thanks for having me. My name is Diana Smith, and I am also part of the Roanoke Texas Business Alliance. I own Social Butterfly by Diana, and it’s a digital marketing company to get the exposure your company needs. So, really excited to be here. [Brian] Awesome. Love having you here. And then lastly, we have Diana Mueller from Stardot Network. [Bill] Hi, Brian. I appreciate you inviting me on this. I started the Roanoke Texas Business Alliance, and I’m just thrilled to see us given back in charity. [Brian] Yeah, we’re excited. We’re also part of the Roanoke Texas Business Alliance, and this is an awesome event that we started. It is local. It’s in Roanoke, Texas. It does support a local charity. And the charity this month, Diana, is Community Storehouse. Is that right? [Diana] Community Storehouse and Keller, yes. They are a big part of the community. And I met with Robin Lacoste at a networking event, and then brought the idea to one of our meetings. So we thought this was a really worthy cause for our quarterly. [Brian] Well, very good. Well, I thought we’d start maybe with some background on the event itself. [Tony] Have either one of you got or could share some inspiration behind creating the SIP and support event? [Nicole] So, yeah. Actually, a couple of our members actually came to Diana and said that, why don’t we do something where we can support a great local charity? So we started doing that about a year ago or so. And we have done several different charities, many different kinds. And it’s been really wonderful because we love as business owners to support each other’s businesses, but also to support the non-profits in our area. And that’s really where SIP and support came from. [Brian] So obviously, a lot goes into this, right? I know, Diana, you play a really key role in getting the word out, among other things. But what goes maybe into some of the planning of an event like this? [Diana] We do a lot of talking about it at our weekly meetings in Roanoke. There are many, many great causes. And we decide which one we want to focus on for the quarter. And then we meet, we get together, talk to that charity or non-profit just to get some information and get the word out there. [Brian] Yes. So, I mean, how do you go about making that decision, right? So I love the concept behind this, that it’s hyper-local. And then I guess we should back up maybe a little bit and talk about what is a SIP and support, right? [Nicole] Right. Yeah, really. [Brian] Interesting name, but what exactly is it? [Nicole] So basically, the members of the alliance come together and they support, we pick the charity. And then what we do is we get together at one of our members’ wine bars here in Roanoke, which is awesome. That’s a bonus. It absolutely is. And so us as business owners say that we want to sponsor it. So we put in a certain amount of money based off of the amount that people come in with. So if they’re going to donate to the cause, the businesses that are part of the SIP and support actually take care of the Diana. So anybody that wants to come in and just donate to the charity, they get a free glass of wine. [Brian] So you get them a little loosened up with the wine and then get it over to the wall. [Nicole] Absolutely. And that is the most amazing hostess. So she’s just wonderful. And so, yeah, we just kind of get together. It’s kind of a little networking and support. So at the end of the night, all of the businesses that sponsor split the Diana. And then that way we have all of the money going to the charity. [Tony] Nice. What’s your most memorable event that you had with SIP and support that you can share with us? [Nicole] Oh, that’s easy. And I think that Diana would agree with me. Parker’s Purpose. Oh, yeah. [Tony] That was a good one. Yeah. [Brian] Yeah. [Nicole] So one of our members, his niece is battling cystic fibrosis. [Brian] And by the way, if anybody out there wants to help and have your money actually go directly to a family, right? [Nicole] Directly to the family. [Brian] Yeah. So Diana, I know you guys have a QR code. We’ll put it on the on the show notes too. But where where can they find that if just somebody’s interested in maybe helping out one to one, individual to individual? [Diana] You can find it on the Roanoke, Texas Business Alliance page. And we share the flyers. Annette has the QR code in Wine 30 if you wanted to come in ahead of time and donate. But the QR code is in many, many places. And if you can’t find it, then reach out to one of us because we’ll definitely get that to you. [Brian] So Diana, you’ve been kind of quiet. [Bill] Why don’t you talk about… I’m amongst two women as guests, so I didn’t think I would talk as much. [Diana] That’s fair, I guess. [Brian] So can you maybe talk a little bit about the impact in the community and really what this does to maybe help support the local community and how the Roanoke, Texas Business Alliance itself is involved in that? [Bill] Well, I think it’s really neat that by doing one event, we not only support one of the businesses in our community, but we also help charity at the same time. And anytime you can do that, I think it’s a special event. And when these people come in and donate, we get to sit and have a glass of wine with them, get to know our community better. And that’s been one of the benefits about it, too. So they’re also realizing that this event is going to come up again and that we’ll support another worthy cause. So all around, it’s a win-win situation. It helps the business in the community. It helps the charity in the community and helps the community come together at the same time. [Brian] Yeah, I love that aspect of it, actually. You’re not only uplifting a charity, but you’re also uplifting a local business owner, which is great. And I love that. Tell us more about what’s upcoming here. So when is it? What is it? And where is it? [Diana] The Community Storehouse is in Keller, but it will be at Wine 30 on Oak Street in Roanoke. And it’s on June 20th. It’s a Thursday night from 5 to 8. We invite everyone to come out and donate. They provide, they cross five counties here in Texas, and they have lots of good programs. They have a lot of good summer programs for the kids when they’re out of school. They have a fantastic food pantry that can help unfortunate families. And they have a resale shop. So if the kids need to go in or get something, it’s very accessible to these families. And it really gives us a sense of pride helping our community, because that’s what we want to do. [Brian] Absolutely. So how did you guys, I mean, you mentioned earlier how tough it is to kind of decide between charities. Why the Community Storehouse? I mean, I know all the great things they do, but why them versus somebody else? [Diana] Well, I met Robin LaCrosse at one of the networking events, and we spoke for a very long time. And I’m familiar with Community Storehouse, because I volunteered with them in the past. So it just felt natural to bring it up in the next meeting at the Alliance. And we all decided that this time we would pick her. Well, Community Storehouse. [Tony] Hey, Diane and Nicole, can you tell us a little bit about your vision for the future of SIP and Support? [Nicole] Absolutely. So we started off with SIP and Support doing it monthly, and we wanted to make sure that all of the efforts of all of the businesses really made an impact. And so we felt like, let’s start moving this to a quarterly event, so that way we really have the time to focus on promoting it and have a huge impact, rather than every single month doing something for someone. And so right now, we’re really excited to be able to help support this group, this nonprofit. And so once we finish up the June 20th event, we’ll get together with the group once again, and we will talk about what would be next. We really have tried to keep this very local as well as related to us. So we have done a local family whose house burned down. We’ve done, like we said earlier, Parker’s Purpose, which was amazing. We’ve done Pajama Rama, which is a charity that does pajamas for children in need, as well as in the hospitals. And so really, truly, we would love to be able to continue that and see how it can grow, so that we can help support more, because there’s so many incredible charities in the North Texas area alone, let alone. So we really want to be able to continue this and expand it and make sure that we’re making an impact. [Brian] Now, Nicole, you left out my wife’s favorite, the chocolate charity. [Nicole] Oh, I did forget the chocolatier. [Diana] The touring chocolatier, Kay. She was amazing. [Nicole] Yeah, absolutely. So we have a local business in Northlake, and she secures her chocolate from Lahaina in Hawaii, which basically burnt down. And so we did that to help the people who lost everything over there in Lahaina, but it actually affected a business locally here. [Brian] Yeah, in Northlake, Texas, right? Yeah, exactly. [Nicole] So how does Hawaii have anything to do with Northlake? But yeah, so that was the, you know, towards the beginning when we were first getting started trying to figure out what to do. And so that one was also really, really great. And I think Diana said that she wants to check back and see how things are progressing from those devastating fires and what’s new. [Diana] Yeah, that really affected Kay. And although Hawaii isn’t local, it did affect her. And that money all went directly to the families that lost everything. And it will take about a year for those crops to regrow. So I definitely want to follow up and see where they’re at in that process. But it was a very, very good cause, and we were happy to do it. [Brian] Maybe talk for just a second about relationships and any relationships that have come out of this, right? So one of the things with it is community, right? And we’re trying to bring the community together, which is an amazing thing. And I know when you’re sitting there, you’re having a glass of wine with somebody, right? One of the natural things that comes up is you sort of strike up a conversation, you get to know somebody. What are some relationships that you’ve seen come together that maybe never would have otherwise? [Nicole] I have a story for you. During the first Sip and Support event for the Meister family, I sat down next to a lady who I knew by name but didn’t know her. And we struck up a conversation. She was a retired teacher from the elementary school where my son went. And we just started striking up a conversation, and this is crazy. We were talking about how why she had to retire early because she had some major neurosurgery. And I ended up at her neurosurgeon to get life. Are you kidding me? [Diana] I’m not kidding. [Nicole] I ended up at the neurosurgeon based on her recommendations. So I was like, how does that happen? It was just totally crazy. [Tony] Wow. That’s pretty wild. So people who are interested in this event are maybe being reciprocated or a part of this event. How do they get in touch with you and partnership with you? [Nicole] Okay. So Diana is the social media guru. She’s getting the word out on all of her networks and groups. But anybody that’s on the flyer with that QR code, they can reach out to any of the businesses that are sponsoring the event to get more information. [Tony] What if somebody needs help, an event for their need, their charity? How do they reach out to you? [Diana] Same thing. [Nicole] Just reach out. [Brian] Let us know. [Diana] We’re always looking for where the cross is. [Brian] Diana being not a social butterfly is very difficult to get a hold of. Diana, how can people reach you? [Diana] You want my number? [Brian] Well, that’s up to you. [Diana] This is going on the internet. I’m very easy to get a hold of and very accessible. My business number is 817-854-1255. I made it easy. I would be happy to field any phone calls and learn about some other causes. [Nicole] Absolutely. [Brian] Very good. Well, is there anything you guys want to say to wrap this up? Any last words of wisdom from you, Diana? Any parting shots? [Bill] No, but I think that Diana should give her social media email or address out what you go by so people can look that up. What is it? Social Butterfly? [Diana] Social Butterfly by Diana is Facebook. My email is diana.socialbutterflyonline.com. [Brian] They can always obviously go to the Roanoke, Texas Business Alliance website. Folks can also reach out to us at housefluent.com. We’re always happy to redirect you over to where you need to be. [Diana] It will also be on Roanoke Social. That’s another page that is here in Roanoke that I handle. [Brian] If you are in the North Texas area or anywhere where you can get on a plane and be in the North Texas area by June 20th, please do. It’s a great event. It’s a great charity. It’s well worth your time and you’ll get to meet some really great people. With all that said, we hope you enjoyed the podcast today. As always, we’d appreciate it if you like it, subscribe it, comment on it, and most importantly, share it. Send it to friends. That’s always very, very much appreciated. [Diana] Thank you. Thank you for having us. [Brian] Absolutely. Appreciate it. [Tony] Everybody come out and support the sip and serve. Yeah. [Diana] A hundred percent. [Brian] Gonna survive the hailstorm? [Nicole] Yeah. Nice. (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai – Go Unlimited to remove this message)