CEO and Co-Founder of Amudim Rabbi Zvi Gluck interview with Nachum Segal

[Music] we're back here tonight to heal powered by ahmudin presented by charity bids and rabbits feed Gluck is of course the co-founder and CEO of ahmudum and he's here with us I'm going to first start off with congratulations because I must say that is a very impressive number we're looking at 78 3.9 million I'm sure with all the difficulties of fundraising we know how big of a challenge it is you must be thrilled that at this point of the night this is where we're at you know so I'm thrilled really the main reason why I'm thrilled is because it's a testament to those that reach out to us for help you know all too often in our community people are always saying the community doesn't care people aren't interested and you know while we still have a long way to go it's definitely a very powerful Testament each person that makes a donation is sending a very clear message to those that are in pain those that are suffering and those that are struggling and that is really why we're here you know I mean people ask me you know you go crazy for two weeks out of the year and you know we don't have a fundraiser at a modem I do the fundraising and I'm the CEO so it's almost like well what's better should I be going parlor meetings every month or do I just you know kill myself for a couple of weeks and not literally of course and just do what we can but really this is you know and it's a tough year this year I have to say it is all you know between the economy and interest rates and it's really a tough year which is even so much more so that people are giving and giving generously and we just have to say please keep on giving you know and I'm not going to be happy with 5 million I want to show people that we care and let's raise more but um no this is definitely a good stuff but still it's a big goal five million and you talk about the Testament that the community has shown to the work that I moved them is doing I think just the fact that there's a five million dollar budget none of the budget's larger but just that for this purpose it's a five million dollar goal tells us just how much work that is is being done just how important the work is it's being done all right so you know we have this question a lot and and I was talking to revelia Brittany about this because you know I I like to fetch as every director of any Jewish non-profit or any non-profit for that matter will do and I was like oh the numbers and the amount of people that are calling and he put me back in my place and he goes it doesn't mean more people are having problems it means they're finally comfortable to reach out for help so we try to just keep that in mind and we try to just look at the fact that the fact that we're able to have the staff size that we do and we're able to provide the therapy subsidies and the case management and getting people the proper care it's really you know as a result of the community you know we would never be able to do this alone and you know it's just something that is it's just special you know I I never dreamed that it would be like this you know I was watching as you were asking give me shakter who I must say you forgot to tell you the most important part of the story he had called me like or he I called him or a Mutual contact put us in touch with each other like seven eight months earlier you know before anything was even a discussion before year one before covid and he was like telling me these ideas that he had and I was just like yeah okay whatever you know llama Club look literally like just leave me alone you know and he's like yeah you don't understand I do this in the non-jewish world and it's real it would be an honor to help I'm with him and I'm like okay you know whatever anyway and then when covet hit I did not remember that he was the same person and he did not remind me he purposely didn't because he wasn't looking to make any waves and when the production got put together you know we realized that I mean first of all yummy is a rock star but he asked something about what has changed in the three years since he's been producing this and I have to say to you that even today alone the amount of emails and requests for help that came in as a direct result of people saying oh I did not realize that ahmudum would help me even if I live in this in the state or this in this country or you deal with these things right you know and they felt comfortable and that's really a testament to this event because it's not just a fundraiser but it's also about awareness and awareness is what gets people the strength both to be able to do better prevention and to be able to reach out when they need help you know it's interesting you mentioned a moment ago how people are now less hesitant because of the pointed out to you um it makes one think that every time the amudum phone rings or an email is received asking for help the number of days or weeks or months that that person young or old has struggled with whether they should pick up that phone and when they should contact your organization just that pain they've dealt with about what to do and should I or shouldn't I Etc all of that is you know coming to a head as they actually finally make the call there's so much behind the story you know that's happening you don't even know what you're saying you don't you don't even realize it because it's not just how many months or years that they've been waiting but it's also having to be extra careful when that phone is being answered it's not just answering a phone and saying hello this is about making sure that you know people call us up and they ask us for things that we don't do and we're very careful not to just say I'm sorry we don't do that it's literally the staff are amazing and they're trained to open that conversation because just because the person's calling for Aid doesn't mean that's really what they need or who says they'll make another call you know if somebody calls up and goes I need this and this and oh we'll go to this in this place but it's really about engaging and you know what so many people have said to us and we get so many messages afterwards of you know I call them because of this but in reality I had so many other issues and the staff really figured it out so it's not just about that it took them so long to make that call but it's to do whatever we can to make sure that they'll continue to get whatever help they need and not just give up because they made that call and they didn't get the response that they wanted even if it's not the response that they thought they would need and the truth is that then this may sound a bit complicated but sometimes until they meet your therapists and until they're officially getting help they themselves may not be 100 sure what the exact problem is until it's identified so that is very very true and you know that's why people you know we were a little bit of a statistical junkies and we keep track of the over 14 000 individuals we've helped and we keep track of what they initially called us for and then what the issues actually were and age and gender and marital status and you know where they live and there's a lot of data that we pull and it's almost without fail that the initial statement made what we call the reason for opening the case versus the reality of what's needed are not the same and that's okay and that's why we hired therapists to be the case managers for that exact reason because you know our staff it's not just about saying here this is the right therapist it's about managing the care from A to Z and that means from when the person first calls to dealing with their family to dealing with the programs Insurance Etc [Music] foreign [Music]