Episode 463 Joshua Sears Building a Community for Veterans Through Golf Transcript

This transcript is from episode 463 with guest Joshua Sears.

Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] Hey everyone. Welcome back to Drive On. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio. And today my guest is Joshua Sears. Joshua is a retired Army Sergeant First Class, who’s also the president and founder of the 100FORE22 Foundation. Having survived 20 years of service. For combat deployments and wrestled with mental health issues, Joshua turned to golf as a form of therapy and today we’re going to talk about his journey as well as the wonderful work his foundation is doing to support, uh, veterans and you know, our nation’s heroes.

So, um, before we get into all that though, Joshua, welcome to the show. I’m really glad to have you here.

Joshua Sears: Hey, appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Excited about it.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. I am too. We were talking a little bit before we started recording and I was saying how, you know, I was pretty excited to get into your story and learn a little bit more about your background and how, uh, you got into all this. Um, could, do you mind telling us a little bit about [00:01:00] your personal journey?

Um, I know it’s kind of a personal side of things, but you know, maybe some of the struggles that inspired you to get to the point where you, where you decided to start your foundation.

Joshua Sears: Yeah, um, for sure. So, you know, full combat deployments with the infantry, um, all to Iraq. You know, you, you experience highs, lows, you see some things you don’t want to see. I wish you could forget, but you don’t. And then, you go through the journey and the mindset that if I’m taking all the fight away from my battles, my brothers, then I let them down, so you keep everything bottled in, right?

And then I had to change MOS’s, um, I went to a new one, and it was a completely different way of life in the military than what I was used to in the combat arms. Then everything just started piling on and piling on. And it got to a point where, you know, you just couldn’t keep it in. And instead of talking about it and going to seek help, like which we advocate for now, I tried to become a statistic and thankfully [00:02:00] nothing, you know, it didn’t happen.

Um, the man has a better plan for me. Now I’m seeing that light, you know, which is why I started the foundation with, you know, some really good friends. And so, you know, you go through your suicide ideations, you go through your, your, your PTSD traumas, your TBI traumas, and you feel like there’s no out, but then you start learning that, wait a minute, don’t, don’t be a statistic.

There’s actually a lot of people that care for you. It feels better to talk about it. Sometimes it hurts. It brings up the traumatic stuff. But you need to get, you need that to get through, to work through it. So going through all that, and then it finally clicked in my head, like, you know what, let me, let me do something that’s gonna help people to understand, like, don’t be a statistic, like, we’d rather listen to your story than a eulogy.

Like, I mean, everybody has those people you can call that 24 hours a day, they, they’ll jump out of, out of bed to go find you wherever you are. And that’s where we come in, like, that’s how we fail now. You know, we meet people along the [00:03:00] ways that, you know, I didn’t know if I could do anything to help out, but you inspire us to do something, or you inspire me to get help.

So that’s, that’s a, I mean, it just sends like a tickle to your body that you are helping some people without having this degree or knowledge, but using something that you enjoy to help.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And so. Um, One of the things that you mentioned there is that there’s people out there who will jump out of bed, doesn’t matter if it’s two o’clock in the morning, you know, they get a phone call and saying, Hey, I need help with X, Y, and Z. You know, I’m dealing with, I’m struggling with something.

There are people who will jump out of bed for that. And, and one of the things that I found through talking to veterans is that, Oh, I don’t want to be a burden is the mindset. I don’t want to be a burden on somebody else. Right. Um, yeah. But God, I would rather jump out of bed at two in the morning and go talk to somebody, help somebody, than have to go to their funeral [00:04:00] and never be able to talk to that person again.

Like that would be a hell of a lot more of a burden to me, I think, you know,

Joshua Sears: Oh yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: that, that’s the case, right? So like, wake my ass up, man, call me, use that number, right? Um,

Joshua Sears: getting over that mindset that I’m a burden, you are not a burden. Not at all. If somebody thinks you’re a burden, then you need to kick that person out of your circle. Because the people that you want in your circle are the ones that are going to help you.

Scott DeLuzio: yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah.

Joshua Sears: So like, don’t, don’t, don’t ever feel like you’re a burden. I’d rather listen to you call me at two o’clock in the morning and then, you know, getting a call from somebody else that came in, it happened. Like, I don’t want to hear that. I want to, I want to call the K man. I need you.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Now, tell us more about the foundation. So, so you, you had your own struggles and, and your own journey, um, you know, that, that you went through, but you realized that [00:05:00] giving back and, and supporting people in a way that, that you can, um, you know, without, you know, maybe, you know, other, other kind of forms of, uh, therapy, you know, it’s outside of that, that type of thing.

Um, tell us about the foundation, how it helps people. Yeah.

Joshua Sears: um, it started about four years ago, but not as a foundation, just four friends that, you know, walked and played a hundred holes of golf to raise money, to donate to foundations and organizations that did help those heroes. And I got thinking a couple of years ago, I was like, you know what? I want to make this my own. Like, I want to do something that, you know, I can put my name behind my buddies that, you know, started with me. We can put our name behind and use the sport that we love. It may not be good at it, but it’s something that we enjoy. It keeps us active. You know, you meet all kinds of people golfing.

So like, you know, let’s, let’s do this. And then we can travel the country to events, doing stuff, you know, and meet people, listen to their stories. And let them know like we were [00:06:00] there. We still battle those demons on a daily basis, but we have our trust in our circle that we can talk to. And we know they’re going to keep it real with us.

So we started the foundation and you know, you get to meeting people and you’re like, Man, these people are hurting, but now they’re healing. They’re coming to us and we’re helping, you know, so it just essentially a huge sigh of relief. Like none of us want to, everybody wants to be rich and famous, but we wanna be famous for taking that 22 as as much as we can to zero.

Like it ain’t gonna happen in our lifetime. But if we can start that, that snowball effect, all right, we got this going, and it’s just gonna gain traction and traction and listening to people and let, and having them tell us, hey. Thanks to you, we’re saved, like, we’re gonna get the help, you know, we know that there’s a lot of people behind us that support us that, you know, you don’t see, cause everything [00:07:00] about life now is social media, everybody, oh, I want likes for this, likes and comments, like, forget that, like, Get to the people, talk to them, like, there’s a real, people are hurting on the inside. And you never know until you, a simple question, how you doing? Well, I’m not doing good. Most people just keep walking. Well, that’s gonna stop people in their tracks, like, why aren’t you doing good? Talk to me. And, you know, we walk around with our shirts on, you know, no one fights alone, with our emblem on the back, and people are like, hey, what does that mean?

And we just had that little conversation about what it means, and next thing you know, you’re sitting there an hour later talking to people about your foundation, like, I need help. Well, come on. We know where to take you. You know, we’ll send you to somebody.

Scott DeLuzio: and, you know, there’s so many places too that, that you can go to, but again, I think it goes back to that. I don’t want to be a burden or I don’t want to take a spot from somebody else who might need it more than me or, or something like that. But like, that’s the mindset that a lot of people have, [00:08:00] but like, gosh, like sometimes you got to just stop and think like.

I don’t want to say be selfish, but sometimes you got to take care of yourself too, right? Um, and you know, like right now, if, if you, in the process of trying to help other people and bring that 22 down as close as you can to zero, if that’s, that’s your goal, that’s your mission, and you got a thousand other things that are screwed up in your life and that are piled up and it’s, it’s just.

There’s a train wreck going on over there. How do you expect that you’re going to be able to help anybody? Like, you really couldn’t, right? So, so, you know, let’s, let’s now take that to everybody else. Let’s, let’s You know, turn that mirror around to somebody else and say, look, man, I maybe, maybe your mission is, you know, for the listeners, maybe your mission is not to help other people, but you have some purpose in life, whatever it is, whatever your job, maybe your family [00:09:00] type person, you got kids, a spouse, whatever.

You want to be the best version of whatever it is that you are, uh, to whoever. Those people are in your

Joshua Sears: Absolutely.

Scott DeLuzio: But if you’re if you’re just drowning and you got a thousand things weighing you down How are you gonna do that? I you know, so so yeah, go go and get the help So you can be the best

Joshua Sears: Like in the military, lead by example. You want to be a leader, you have to lead by example. It’s not, do what I say, not what I do. If I’m telling you to do this, I need to be able to do it myself. So that was the first step I took was, I finally realized that, you know, through a lot of really good friends and family members telling, keeping it real with me, Hey, you’re being a dumbass, go get the help. And, you know, at first you’re like, nah, I’m, I’m, my ego’s like, nah, I’m, I got it, I’m good. You ain’t good. If you’re saying, nah, I’m good, then you’re not good. Get that help. That’s what we do. So, if I’m going to tell you to go help, I need to get help myself. And, you know, I seek to help. I still do. But it’s the best way to [00:10:00] go.

Kind of like, you got people that like to go to the gym, make sure they’re physically strong, their body’s in top physical shape. Go to the doctor, make sure your immune system, you know, your insides are good, but the most, the biggest organ in your body is your heart. Your brain, like, why won’t you go see somebody to make sure that’s still going good, right?

That thing controls everything. If your brain’s not good, then your body’s not good. Like, go get help. It’s this, there’s nothing wrong with it. And if people want to say there’s something wrong with it, those are some, those are toxic people.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. And, and yeah, to your point before, like you don’t wanna be around those people tho those are not the people who are looking out for you, trying to help you make sure that you, uh, can be the best version of you. They’re, they’re holding you back and they may be one of those thousand things that are weighing you down.

And, and so it’s like, it might be time just to cut the cord and, and move on from that, right? Um, and. Yeah. So I wanna get back to the foundation and, and the, the golf aspect of [00:11:00] it. Um, so I know it started off as just you and a few buddies going out and, and golfing. Uh, what are some of the, the, the means that the, the foundation, uh, you know, uses to help out the, the folks who are, uh, you know, looking to get involved with it?

The foundation?

Joshua Sears: Yeah. So, um, you know, when we, when we create an event or when we have an event, you know, different parts of the country, like we look for other organizations, um, that take care of veterans and first responders, With, you know, PTSD, suicide ideation, addiction, um, and all stuff like that. And we look into, you know, at those organizations, like, alright, they really make a difference.

So all the money that we raise, all the proceeds, we donate to them. But we look, we do essentially as much of a deep dive as we can without having, like, all kinds of access to different things, right? We look at foundations like, hey, they help [00:12:00] out doing this. So, and you know, they struggle with trying to take care of them.

Well, we can help them out if they have a good success rate. And at the same time, it helps us stay focused. Cause like our mission is, you know, our vets and first responders make sure they’re good, right? Yeah. We, we get the luxury of playing golf now, a hundred plus holes a day. But somewhere overseas, you know, we got our brothers and sisters that are still wearing full battle rattle.

You got the fire guys that, men and women that, you know, suiting up a fire suit with oxygen going into a burning building to rescue, you know, families, pets. You know, you got police that are trying to protect and getting shot while sitting in their cars. Like,

Scott DeLuzio: Right.

Joshua Sears: so they’re going, they’re dealing with all the turmoil. That’s what we focus on. Like, all right, they’re going through the bad times. Like, let’s, You know, our bodies are hurting right now from this, but let’s dive in there. We know they need our help. So that’s what we do. And then it really helps us because now it gives us some meaning to fight. Like, I know what my drive [00:13:00] is.

I know what my purpose in life is. Like, yeah, we’re all going, we all have our own jobs, full time jobs. But when we do this, like we know we got them that are counting on us.

Scott DeLuzio: Sure.

Joshua Sears: it makes us feel better. Like that purpose.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, those people are, uh, they’re putting their lives on the line every day. And I don’t care what the job is, you know, they’re out there, whether it’s fire, police, uh, you know, military, you know, all of the first responders, you know, they’re out there in dangerous situations a lot of times.

And, uh, or, or they’re, they’re seeing the worst. Um, you know, that life has to offer, right? You know, even, even like, uh, you know, paramedics and EMS, um, you know, they, they don’t come to your house to, you know, put you in an ambulance on your best day, you know, when you’re, when you’re, when you’re super healthy, right?

So they’re seeing like the worst, the worst of the worst, right? They’re seeing, you know, the heart attacks and the, the gunshots and the, all the, all the things that, gosh, you just wouldn’t wish on anybody. [00:14:00] And they’re seeing that day to day. Um, And so it’s like, yeah, how, how can we help these folks, you know, not, not just the military, but you know, all these folks, um, and so, so you said earlier a hundred round, uh, sorry, a hundred holes of golf, not a hundred rounds.

That’d be, that’d be kind of crazy. Uh, and that, that’s in a day. How long does that take, take you to accomplish? How does that work?

Joshua Sears: Um, the shortest time we’ve done it was 10 hours. The longest it took us was 13, like just over 13 hours.

Scott DeLuzio: Wow. Okay. Now, uh, So that’s amongst the what? The foursome? Is that, uh,

Joshua Sears: Right, so there’s

Scott DeLuzio: four, how does that work?

Joshua Sears: do it, but each person is doing that 100 holes. So it’s not like we’re

Scott DeLuzio: Oh, wow.

Joshua Sears: a hundred and like, hey, you do 25, I do 25, we’re all doing a hundred holes. So they’re, you know, so each person’s doing a hundred, so it’s. It, it, it takes a while, but, you know, we’re all there to lift each other up when we’re, [00:15:00] when we’re hurting and like, can barely swing a golf club, you know, or just legs are tired, got chafing going on, like all kinds of stuff, you know, backs of, a lot of us have back problems ’cause we’ve spent, you know, 20 plus years in the military.

So like, you know, we, you know how it is, you get the back problems and so when he’s swinging over, you know, a couple hundred shots and then your back starts locking up, you’re just kind of like, oh, I’m hurting. And then they’re like, Hey, come on, let’s go. You know, we say the military things to each other that, that call you out

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Yeah. Sure.

Joshua Sears: It’s what we love. It’s what we miss about the military, but we do it. So we keep each other going and we lift each other up. We get through the hard times and we know what the end mission is. And the other day, we’re done. That’s, that’s, that’s the prize and that’s what keeps us driving.

Scott DeLuzio: So that’s like marathon golf, right? Like that’s like you, you think about someone who, Oh, I’m going to go out for a run. You run for a [00:16:00] couple of miles and like, that’s, that’s your, okay. That’s pretty good for the, you know, the day or whatever. But then someone else goes and runs 26 miles or an ultra marathon.

They’re going, you know, even super crazy, right? This is a hundred holes of golf in a day. Uh, that to me is just like mind blowing.

Joshua Sears: this, so it’s a, it, it turns out to, um, cause when we do it, we don’t pick up after par, like, if you already, if you hit par and you didn’t hold it out, pick up. No, we, we hold everything out. So if you shoot a 10 on a hole, you’re shooting a 10. And then, you know, you walk every step of the way, so it ranges anywhere from 500 swings plus a day to, um, averaging around 30 to 35 miles for 100 holes.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, I was gonna say that, like, distance wise, that’s, you know, especially, I don’t know what the courses are that you’re, you’re on, but, um, I know there’s some much shorter courses, you know, par three kind of courses, that, those types of things, but I gotta imagine those are not, you know, [00:17:00] necessarily what you’re, you’re using, but, um, you know, you’re, you’re talking pretty long distances on some of those holes.

You’re, you’re talking over 500 yards on some of the

Joshua Sears: So, the first one we did was at, um, Fountain Green Golf Course in Fort Dix, New Jersey. And it was a generally flat course. Um, it wasn’t too long. I think it was like 6, 800 yards for the entire course, but that’s why it took us 10 hours. Not super short, but not a lengthy one. It was kind of flat. And then the second one we did was at TPC Yasna Palana in Princeton, New Jersey.

And that was a very hilly course, 2700 feet elevation change per 18 holes, so, you know, 100 holes is 5 rounds plus 10 holes, so you’re doing that 5 times, or 5 and a half times, and you’re just kind of like Man, I’m tired. And it was very hilly. Like, yeah, some, some hills to climb and it, you know, it was a, the PGA Tour could play, you know, an event there cause it’s got the length and it’s got the [00:18:00] difficulty to it.

And then, um, actually five days ago, this past Monday on the 18th of November, we, we did, um, we just did our third event in Shelby, North Carolina, 126 holes and, and almost 10 hours. And we were tired. Like we finished. The last hole and complete knock. We couldn’t see the ball flying, so we just kind of like Guestimated where we went and it was kind of in the right area.

Cause we were just tired. We weren’t trying to hit it far. We’re like, let’s just

Scott DeLuzio: Sure.

Joshua Sears: We, you know, we did that and it was, it was a long day.

Scott DeLuzio: I gotta imagine. Yeah, that takes a lot out of you, especially like you’re saying with you know, if you have back issues and you know, knees and hips and all that stuff, you’re you’re twisting and you’re you’re swinging plus carrying your clubs the whole way and you know, however, however, you guys do that.

It’s that that takes a lot. I think the most I’ve played in a day is 36 and

Joshua Sears: were tired.

Scott DeLuzio: And that was, that was rough. Yeah, you know, [00:19:00] I was playing with, with my, uh, my brother and my dad, I think, you know, at the time. And, um, they, towards the end, it’s like, you’re not even doing a practice swing. You’re just getting up and hitting the ball.

It’s like, where it goes, it goes, you know?

Joshua Sears: And that’s, that’s actually how we do it. We just walk up and hit the ball. Like we see where we wanted to go. We just get there and hit it. Cause I mean, time we’re on a race for time. So we just get up there and hit it. And actually when you play a marathon golf, it kind of works out. Better you kind of play a little bit better because you don’t really think about stuff.

You just kind of hit and go like, all right, well, let me go hit it again.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, right. Yeah.

Joshua Sears: over a hundred holes, like, you know, the adrenaline is going, you’re excited, but as the day goes on, you start getting drowsy. Then you get, everybody’s like, let’s go, let’s go pick it up.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, right, right. Yeah, you know, that is crazy. But, um, So how many people typically are involved in, in a, you know, event like that when, when you guys go out?

Joshua Sears: So there, there’s a lot, we have minimum of eight. So we’ve got the four [00:20:00] of us that golf, and then we have our four caddies that kind of go up and, you know, spot it depending on how the hole plays out so they can see where it’s at. And then They kind of like give us the yardage, so as soon as we get up there, we get the club that we need, swing, and just keep going.

Then you have a couple of other people that, you know, they’re our lickies and chewies, or our gut truck, per se, because they have our waters, like our sports drinks, you know, some snacks to keep us, you know, hydrated and nutrition based, you know. Those uncrustables are amazing in marathons. Um, yeah. You know, there’s some like power bars and stuff like that.

So we usually have at a minimum of eight. Um, then, you know, we have some other people that come in to help support, you know, just want to watch where they end up, um, depending on the conditions. Like this past one we just did, was pretty dewy in the morning. So like our feet got wet. So one person ran to the, [00:21:00] you know, a Walmart right down the road, grabbed a fresh pair of a pack of socks for us.

So we can change them out, have dry feet. You know, so there’s a whole lot, um, and then, you know, depending, depending what else goes on, like, you know, we’ll have somebody that are taking like a, like a videographer per se, you know, take some photos, um, it’s usually just someone that wants to take photos with the iPhone or videos, and we try to piece them together, you know, a bunch of, you know, retired guys that don’t know much about technology, we just do what we can for now until we, you know, are able to get in a spot where we can’t have a professional You’re welcome.

Buh bye. or somebody young that knows how to edit and crop and whatever they do to Videos and photos to make it look awesome.

Scott DeLuzio: Okay. So, so I, I get the, get you’re out there, you’re, you’re doing the, the marathon golfing, you know, that thing. Hundred holes. So, um, in a day, again, I’m, I’m still trying to wrap my head around all that, but, [00:22:00] um, so then, then you, you, you’re fundraising, right? You’re, you’re raising money to help support these other organizations that you talked about earlier.

Uh, where does that come in? How do, how do people support the organization, uh, through, you know, what you guys are doing?

Joshua Sears: Right. So once we determine a location, um, and a golf course that will host us, and then we just start, um, advertising and I don’t want to say solicit cause it’s kind of a, everybody looks, thinks of the people that knock on your door trying to sell stuff. But, um, we just, you know, ask people if they want to contribute to what we call a field of heroes.

Which we put, you know, whole signs, like 18 by 24 inch whole signs, you see at a golf tournament. Always behind the 18th green, and it’s, you know, for our veterans and first responders, um, the EMS correction officers. Whether they’re currently still serving, you know, in their roles, or retired, or have, you know, perished, you know, we honor them like that if people want to [00:23:00] purchase those, and they’re behind 18th Green, um, you know, we have event sponsors, you know, different size packages of different amounts, depending on what, you know, people want to do, and then pledges, like, hey, uh, we just had one person for this event that we just did, he pledged 5 a birdie for the entire team for the entire day.

So, we’ve got 126 holes, like, if I did, if I birdied like 15 of those, okay, so that’s 15 times 5, but if the other 3 guys did that, now you’re doing,

Scott DeLuzio: Oh, sure.

Joshua Sears: times 4, you know, so, pledges for birdies, or I’ll give you this much money per hole, um, for eagles, hole in the ones, or. Hey, I’m just gonna you just want to donate like we’re always donations always accepted.

Um, you know, then it’s just really just trying to sell our product per se. Um, and let people know, like, why we’re doing it and who we’re doing it for. And it just, it all goes to helping our veterans first [00:24:00] responders. And it gets to be a pretty good turnout. Like, and then, you know, when we do our field of heroes, after we hit, every time we play the 18th, once we haul out, we stop, we’ll pay our respects.

You know, for a minute, you know, we’ll say we’re all lined up and faced our field of heroes. Go pay our respects and then we’ll go next round. We’ll do that every time we hit that, that hole. And we’ll always finish on the 18th hole and we’ll pay our respects and, you know, just complete our round and, you know, um, the fail the hero signs and stuff like that. When you, when you purchase that, it’s not like, all right, you just purchase it, you don’t get it. Nothing else happens. Well, after the event, we take them all up and then we’ll mail them back to, you know, the person that bought them. So that way they can have that signed for, for their loved one or their, you know, their spouse or their parents, their sons, daughters, whoever it may be.

And so they’ll have it for them. And, you know, We’ll send a little thank you note, you know, thanking them for [00:25:00] supporting us and, you know, stuff like that nature.

Scott DeLuzio: Excellent. Okay. Yeah. And so I was mostly mentioning that because, you know, I know there’s probably some listeners out there who are like, okay, you know, this, this sounds good. We, we certainly want to help, you know, veterans, first responders and things like that. And so, um, I imagine you have a website that they can go to, to, to check out and make donations and, and sponsor, you know, that, that type of stuff.

Um, awesome. Um, yeah. So coming up, uh, you know, in the future, I know this episode’s coming out in, in February. Um, so I’m, I’m not sure if, if, and we’re, we’re recording in November. I’m letting the cat out of the bag for, for the listeners here. So, so you may, you may not have an answer to this, but you know, upcoming events, um, you know, what, you know, what do you have coming up in, you know, 2025, uh, you know, for, for the, the listeners.

Joshua Sears: So right now we’re looking at, um, possibly March, um, maybe out in South Carolina for another marathon. Every June we have our [00:26:00] annual, uh, Golf Classic in, out in Edmond, Oklahoma. Um, that, that’ll be put up, um, in the coming days on our website. So if people want to register for that, it’s a great time. Our first one was a huge success last year.

Um, Then we’ll have, we have a New England director that’s looking to put one on and in New England probably, um, I think he said late summer, early fall kind of time frame up in like the Rhode Island area. Um, and then, you know, uh, we have a guy that’s going to put a poker run on for us, you know, for motorcycle, motorcycle enthusiasts, you know, and every time we schedule an event, you know, we’ll put those under.

On our website, under, you know, the events tab, so people can check it out, see what’s going on, and that’s also where you can, you know, order your whole signs and, or just donate now. We also have a, what we call a wall of heroes, which is Uh, we collect patches from different military first responder units, um, corrections, EMS units [00:27:00] across the nation, and we, you know, we get to display them like, hey, these are the people that, you know, that are protecting us and giving us, you know, our luxury to do what we want to do, when we want to do it, how we want to do it, so it’s a way to you.

Honour those departments across the nation.

Scott DeLuzio: Sure. That’s awesome. Um, so yeah, 100%. I’m going to have a link to that website in the show notes for the listeners to check out upcoming events. See, you know, if they want to make donations or, you know, buy, buy one of the whole signs or, you know, any of those types of things. They can, they can do that through there, but also, um, you know, register for any of the events as well.

If, if that’s, uh, you know, something that they want to do and, um, you know, they want to, you know, Challenge themselves on the course. Uh, the game’s challenging enough. I mean, but you know, if you want an extra challenge, uh, this is, this is like the extreme of the extreme that I I’ve seen as far as golf goes.

Um, but it’s, it’s pretty awesome [00:28:00] that you’re doing this. You know, the more, uh, you know, events that you do like this, obviously the, the more, more fundraising and then the more, more folks that you can help, uh, through these donations and, and things like that. So, um, you know, what, what are some of the organizations that you, you partner with, you know, that you, you support and help out through these donations?

Joshua Sears: So, uh, after, after our first event, we donated all the proceeds to, um, a non profit called Veterans for Life USA, where they, they help veterans and first responders around the country Get into treatment programs, um, for addiction and suicide ideation. Um, Brian Paul, um, he was, he did time in the Oklahoma Guard, deployed a couple of times.

I was 11 Bravo, then post military service. He was a Kansas City firefighter and he struggled with, um, addiction, alcoholism, suicide ideation. He pretty much hit the bottom of [00:29:00] bottom. And then. You know, he, he has somebody that, that pulled him out of it. You know, really told him straight up, Hey, you need to check yourself.

And he did. And he got better. He’s sober, he’s clean. And then he’s the president and founder of Veterans for Life USA. Great organization that Brian Paul is a great man. So we donated. Um, the first event, I think it was just under 3, 000 to him, and it helped many veterans, um, and first responders get the treatment they needed.

And then we also partnered up with Camp Hope in Houston, Texas, and we were able to send, um, a half dozen veterans to an in treatment program. I think it was like a nine month in treatment program down there. Got them their family, you know, their, their lives back, their families lives back. And, you know, they’re, they did a complete 180 from their rock bottom and their.

Killing it in the world and in their life now, which is great. Uh, the second event, we, we donated to Tunnels to Towers Foundation. Um, everybody knows [00:30:00] Tunnels to Towers, the name speaks for itself. You know, that family does an amazing, amazing job taking care of everybody. Um, so we were honored to be able to do that for them.

And then this past event, we just, um, partnered with Big Red Bond Retreat in Blythworth, South Carolina. Um, we’re donating the proceeds, uh, the proceeds from them. Uh, we just, I just got off the phone with them about an hour ago. And what, uh, with the money that we’re donating to them, uh, from the money we raised, we were able to help eight veterans and their families, including the spouses and kids to get the treatment they need to go through their programs and get their life back on track.

And it was just, it’s amazing to hear how many lives you can change just by doing what we do. And that’s.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Yeah. A hundred. Yeah, a hundred percent. That, that’s amazing. Uh, you know, when, when you think about it, when, when you think about even just one person, like if, if you came [00:31:00] back and said, you know, we helped this one person, um. Not only did you improve that one person’s life, uh, like if, if they’re married, right?

Okay. So now, now that marriage is now better, so now that you’ve helped that person too, right? And if they got kids, you know, however many kids they have, two, three kids, whatever, um, you’ve helped those people as well. And if they have other family and friends and coworkers and, and whoever is in their life, you’ve helped all those people, right?

And so now, uh, Now you’re looking at a multiplier effect. You may be with one person that you you went and helped you you maybe have improved the relationships of 20 30 people somewhere along the lines, you know, depending on how big their family is and you know, how many co workers and you know friends and things like that that they have but You could have been helping many many people not even realizing it, right?

So you know, then you multiply that by however many people you actually helped, um, and, and then, um, you multiply [00:32:00] that out by, by all those people and it’s, it’s just, it’s like You know, huge, you know, huge impact. So, um, you know, every, every little bit, you know, every little thing that you can do, um, you know, again, even if you came back and you’re like, you know what, we helped one person today, it’s like, to me, that would be a success.

I would, I would look at that as a successful, uh, you know, outing, a successful day, um, because it’s like that. That one person is now better off than they were when they woke up this morning. And, you know, the, the rest of their life now is on, you know, an uphill trajectory that they’re, they’re working for something better, and they’re, they’re moving up.

You know, and whatever it is that they were dealing with, whether it’s addiction or mental health or, uh, you know, other struggles that they may, maybe were dealing with, um, you know, those things are just going to get better through the support that they’re getting. And, and so, uh, you know, people like you, uh, you know, with your foundation and the things that you do, I [00:33:00] think, um, are, are just super important because, um, You know, if people aren’t out there supporting each other, who’s going to do it, right?

If we’re just sitting around waiting for someone to do it, we could be sitting around waiting for a long time if there aren’t people who stand up and do it. So that’s why, you know, part of the reason why I wanted to have you on the show, you know, in addition, I want to hear your background and your story and all that kind of stuff too.

But, um, you know, I wanted to, um, You know, shine a light on what it is that you guys are doing, and how other folks can help, how they can get involved, how they can participate in some of the, the events that you, you have coming up, um, because, you know, as frustrating as the game can be, the

Joshua Sears: yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: uh, it also could be great.

for, for therapy too. Getting outside, walking, uh, you know, doing some physical activity, those things are, are wonderful for your, your, not only your physical health, but your mental health too, right? And, and then the camaraderie, if you’re playing with other people, um, you know, whether you know those [00:34:00] people or not, you know, you start to build a little connection with those people, um, and, and that helps too.

So yeah, like get out there and start, start playing, you know,

Joshua Sears: That’s one of the greatest things about golf is you can spend four hours with the random person that you’re paired up on a golf course. You’re gonna have more of a conversation with them than if you go see, um, not to take away from, you know, from their profession, but psychiatrists, a lot of people, they kind of look at them like, uh, I don’t want to say the wrong thing because then it might be misconstrued, but, you know, on a golf course, you You can care less how you’re playing golf, but if you’re with a good company, you’re gonna have great conversations and it could be much more beneficial to you than not.

So, I mean, that’s why we, that’s why we decided to do our foundations that way, because we love golf. Like, we don’t, put us outside. Like, I, I’m not a gamer, I can’t do video games. Like, the people that can, bravo. That stuff is confusing to me. But put me on a [00:35:00] golf course, like, I may shoot like 120, but I’m gonna have fun shooting 120, you know?

So it’s just

Scott DeLuzio: You get your money’s worth out of the round,

Joshua Sears: absolutely. I will see every inch of that golf course if I’m going to pay for it. You know, um, luckily I’m not that bad anymore. That was not too long ago, but, um, you know, you just stop me at random people, good people. And it just, it does a lot for you. Cause you have somebody that not really going to judge you per se, but somebody that’s just kind of like, they have the same interests as you, you know, you can call him the cam man.

Um, I need to get out of the house. Let’s go to the golf course. Let’s go to the driving range. Just do something golf related. You know, or just, hey, let’s, let’s just go grab, you know, a bite to eat, a cup of coffee and talk. So it’s, I’ve seen a lot of, um, friendships and, you know, um, and, um, relationships develop from just around the golf with random people.

And it’s great, especially when our foundation goes into [00:36:00] a course and, you know, we go in there, do a, you know, do our marathons. And we’ll, we’ll go in the day before, you know, meet. The staff of the club and, you know, the community members and the big, you start talking to them and you just realize, man, we’re doing something greatly bigger because when you hear people talking about it, it’s like, man, we are really doing a great thing and, you know, you never give yourself that much credit, like you’re your own worst critic.

So we always want it to be bigger and better, but like playing you guys. 100 holes? Like, you guys are crazy. Well, yeah, we were in the military. Of course we’re crazy, you know, but it’s just great hearing about that. And this past event, we had a 73 year old gentleman join our team and did all 126 holes. You know, he did six years in the Marine Corps during Vietnam, then 33 years as a Pittsburgh firefighter.

That guy was a beast. Like, there I am. You know, after 80 holes, they got, my back was killing me. I was like, man, I can’t. And [00:37:00] there he was like, all right, come on, Josh, let’s go. Like, well, you got like 30 years on me and you’re just like running circles. Like it made me feel less of a person. I was like, all right, well, I got to catch up.

Let’s go. It’s just, it’s amazing. Right.

Scott DeLuzio: in general like that, that is a good analogy for folks that you want to have in your life. Like you were talking before about people who might, you know, knock you down for going to get help or, you know, seeing, you know, mental health support and that, that type of thing. Those are not the kind of people you want in your life, but the people who push you forward, um, you know, push you and, and be like, Hey, you know, keep going.

Don’t, don’t quit. Now. You know what, you know. I’m sure there were some, some words that were used that I’m, you know, I won’t go there, but, you know,

Joshua Sears: Absolutely.

Scott DeLuzio: pushing you forward, though, and, and so, you know, at the end of the day, now you can sit here, and you’re like, yeah, I played 126 holes. Yeah, yeah, it was tough.

It was hard. It was painful, but, you know, I did it. Um, you know, just like, you know, someone who goes on a, you know, a ruck march, or something, and it’s like [00:38:00] 15 miles, or, you know, however long it is, it’s, you know, a, you know, a long way, 20 miles. Yeah, it was tough. It was hard. But I did it. I can look back and be like, yeah, yeah, I did it.

No, no big deal, you know, and be proud of it. Right. So those are the types of people that you want in your life, the people who are going to Elevate you and push you to do better and bigger and better things. Right. Um, and, and I think that’s, that’s a good takeaway, I think, from all of this is that when you’re, you’re out there, um, you know, one of the things I love about golf is that, yeah, sure.

It’s competitive, especially if you’re out there with, with friends and stuff. You, you, you want to win, right. But, but. When somebody hits a good shot, you applaud it, right? You know, you, you recognize it’s a good thing, right? Um, and, you know, when they, they get a good score, you know, if I’m playing with someone and they get an eagle or something, I’m like, hell yeah, man, that’s awesome.

You know, I, they may have been kicking my butt in that hole because I got a bogey or something, but it’s like, You know, [00:39:00] congratulations to them because, um, you know, so, so like, even though it’s competitive, you still are supportive of the other people. And I think that’s, that’s one of the things I love about the game is that, um, no matter, no matter how competitive it gets, you know, even on a professional level, you can, you can still recognize, hey, man, that guy had a great, great round, you know,

Joshua Sears: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Scott DeLuzio: um, so, Going forward, uh, you talked about a few events that are coming up, uh, this year, um, er, in this coming year, um, and so, yeah, for the folks who are interested in getting involved, playing, uh, in, in any of those events, or, or supporting it, uh, through donations or other things like that, um, go to the website, again, I’ll have the link in the show notes, um, for, for the listeners, uh, it’s, it’s For, for the listeners though, it is 100, the number [00:40:00] 104 as in the way you would say Eng golf, FORE, uh, the number 2222 and foundation.org.

That’s the website, 104 22 foundation.org. Uh, again, it’ll be in the show notes, so you don’t have to write that down or anything. It’ll be there for you. But, um, uh, Joshua, I I wanna thank you again for coming on the show, uh, sharing your, your journey. Uh, you know what? What got you to where you are now, um, and the work that you’re doing now with the 100FORE22 Foundation to support veterans, first responders, and you know, all those folks who are out there sacrificing themselves for us.

I think it’s, it’s really a great inspirational thing that you’re doing and so I definitely appreciate all the dedication that you have to these, these folks, these, these unsung heroes sometimes, you know, in our, in our society and, you know, I, I think it’s a wonderful thing that you’re doing and I, [00:41:00] I I certainly applaud it.

Um, and I, I hope that folks, uh, reach out and get involved and, uh, you know, participate in some of the, the upcoming events or, uh, you know, even financially just making donations to, to help some of those folks out. So, uh, thank you again, uh, you know, like I said, for everything that you’re doing and, and for coming on the show.

Joshua Sears: Yeah. A pleasure. Thank you for having me.