CATHY PARKER

Hi there, Welcome aboard, Welcome to Love Someone with Delilah. Maybe you're a listener to my radio show, or maybe you're just somebody who loves loves listening to podcast and it's great that you can download these podcasts and listen while you're commuting or listen at your leisure. This podcast, Love Someone with Delilah is aimed straight at your heart. I'm doing this thing with a single focus to inspire you.

Hi, Kathy, Hi, Delilah.

Welcome to Love Someone with Delilah.

Oh, thank you. I have been looking so forward to this, so I'm just thrilled.

That's what my executive producer said when she called my executive producer of this podcast being my sister.

You know, if your sister loves you and brags about you, then you're doing pretty good.

Well, my sister loves me ferociously and fiercely and completely, even when I was a horrible big sister to her growing up.

Well, there you go.

You're blessed.

Yes, I tell you.

Since I had the privilege of being chosen for your book Club my book Northern Lights for August, and then people knew that I was going to be on your show, I have heard so many testimonies and I'm telling life changing stories Delilah on how.

When people were going through a hard.

Time, maybe through a divorce, and you know, it's not just women.

And there was a man the other day. It was working on my website.

And he was retired military and he was like, oh, I.

Just loved Elilah.

You've got a lot of fans out there.

I tell people, when you hear something inspiring, something powerful, something that speaks directly to your heart and what you're going through, that's when God borrows my voice. When you hear me being jerky and egoistical, that's me taking back over.

That was just me God.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, because I can mess up anything. But when I step back and let God work, it's pretty amazing what he can do.

Absolutely right.

And your book Northern Lights throughout the book and everything, you give God the glory for this little miracle, not little miracle, but huge miracle that you got to orchestrate, or you got to be used to orchestrate. So let's start from the very beginning of your story. Kathy Parker. He wrote the book Northern Lights, which was our August book Club pick, but the story goes back a couple of years. What did you see that started this whole journey to Alaska?

Well, the reason the book goes back a couple of years is I turned in the original manuscript with David Thomas, best selling writer that was helping me, and the publishing company sent it back and they were like, Nope, you're leaving out some stuff.

And I said what And they.

Said, we want to know what has happened in your life that you would have such great faith. And it really took me back. I didn't really want to open up and be personal. I just wanted to tell all the good stuff, you know, I was telling.

You bad stuff.

But it made me really think about that and I knew why, because God healed me. He'd held my marriage, a marriage that was really in trouble, and given me hope, and that's what I was trying to do for these new friends in Alaska, give them hope. So that's why the book goes back to some of those struggles that I had early in our marriage and then throughout just in a family that was packed with a bunch of wonderful athletes and just had been given great talent and

So obviously you know a lot about the game of football going into this little project. You had sat on the bench or sat in the bleachers for how many years?

Oh, a long time because my husband played ball. We got married really young in college and he played you know.

We're high school sweetheart.

So he played high school ball, collegeball, and then went on to play professionally. And then we had four children, three boys and our daughter, and they were all athletes, and so they were all playing. So had spent a lot of time. And I used a phrase that I raised my children at the ball field, and that is so true. We've spent so much time and so much of our effort and money and everything else was spent at the ball field.

Yeah, because it's not cheap. Those clubs are not cheap. I've got girls in volleyball, and I have sons that are older that played club soccer, and that's not a cheap commitment.

That is a choice.

I need a new washer and dryer, or I need to get my boys signed up for club soccer.

And then like you're talking about multiple children in a family that are all going in different directions. Oh yeah, yeah, it is definitely something that you spend a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of effort goes to raising kids at the ball field because it's not just done for enjoyment anymore.

It's a commitment, huge commitment, not just on the kids bar but on the mama bear driving them. So, so you were watching ESPN because you come from the sports background, or you're how do you had it on?

How were you watching?

My kids actually were watching ESPN and they called my husband and I in and they said, mom, Dad, you've got to see this. And it was about very Alaska's the most northern American settlement with no roads going into it. It's on the frozen tundra. And if you don't know much about the frost, I knew nothing about the frozen tundra Alaska to me was mountainous with evergreens, but the tundra is not like that at all. It's very flattened and barren and no trees, no bushes, it's just the

So they played on.

This gravel covered field and you can imagine the cuts and sprained ankles and all the things that came from that.

So it was a real.

Eye opening special that we were watching.

But I knew that that sport would work.

I had seen what had.

Done in our community.

My husband was coaching, and I saw him mentoring young men and we'd have them over to our home and they stay with us, neat with us and all that, and I knew that it was something that could have a profound impact on that community. In fact, they even said to my husband, I said, I understand why people will get up in arms about the money that it's going to cost. I said, but that football program is going to save their lives. And my husband said, you're right,

God said, if your kids need this, how much? Just more?

Do they need it there where they can't even grow grasps. So I had this bright idea of raising the funds, giving them an artificial turf field like the one we had, and teaching them how to play football.

Okay, I be right there for just a second, Kathy, hold on, we need to hear a lot more of this amazing story, but I also need to give some time to this message.

So how soon.

After you saw this special on ESPN did you have this bright idea of, Hey, you know what we're putting artificial trip in here in Florida, Let's just head to north to Alaska and do the same thing there.

How soon after that thought came to you.

Did the thought come to you that this is going to be a really hard, almost impossible task.

Well, you know, I had this tendency of jumping off the cliffs, you know, And I think that it was quite soon. It was that same day that we saw that special on ESPN. I announced to my family, what, you know, I felt like God had shown me and that what we were going to do.

And they, again, you know, Mom.

That's that's impossible. And my husband was the same way, and I kept trying to get him to let me talk to the turf company that was putting in our field, and finally he said, Okay, I'll get you a meeting, and I just kept talking about it and talking about it. I think that I really started realizing how hard it was going to be, but I was already well into the process.

Now.

I tried giving it away. I tried renegging, I tried everything you could do to say, uh, I've made a big mistake here, but.

Just could not.

It was such a burning in my heart that I just could not give up on it. And so when we held a press conference at our high school and announced to the world, that was probably the hardest thing that I had to do because I.

Knew then there was no going back.

There was no going back.

You're exactly right, there's no going back because you said it publicly and you can't take it back.

That's right.

And so that I was sick, I mean just literally sick to my stomach. But we did that press conference and the story just spread, like all across the United States. We started getting cards in the mail from people all over, just ordinary people that would say things like, you know, athletics had a great impact on my children or my grandchildren. I want to be a part of this. We had a family whose son was killed on nine to eleven in the World Trade Center, and it was some money

Place how many pounds.

Going into it over six hundred and fifty thousand pounds.

Six hundred and fifty thousand pounds taking it to a blaze with.

No roads exactly, and it went by every means of transportation. Ups was a huge component through the lower forty eight through semis and trains and then tote a big barge company out of Seattle. I mean, just and on and

Wait, did you go to Barrow before that trip?

No, that was your first trip. Was actually delivering.

It first trip. We'd already sent installers there to work on it and to get it ready. I actually flew in with thirteen others from Jacksonville, Florida and national media to watch that first game.

Wow.

So you didn't go up there beforehand and meet the kids and meet the coach and get inspired that way, You just kept working diligently behind the scenes.

Most of our communication was over the phone.

Now, we did bring the team to Jacksonville during that time after we had made the announcement. Our head coach at the time in Jacksonville, Florida, Darryl Sutherland, just a wonderful, godly man, and he said, Kathy, it's not good enough to just.

Give them a field.

We need to teach them what it's like to be student athletes. They need to come down, participate in spring practice with us, stay in our homes and so we did that and that was life changing for us. You know how when you go and you want to do something for someone, you think I'm just so going to bless them, that you end up being the one so blessed. That was exactly what happened. When the team came to Jacksonville.

And stayed in our homes.

Our eyes were open the things we had taken for granted for so long, and just an amazing thing to be able to reach out and help that community and get a relationship with people that had really sort of been forgotten. They're on the outskirts on that North.

Slope Borough.

People of indigenous people. They're Native American people, and they have amazing cultures, amazing things that they hold strong to, like taking care of their neighbors and respect for elders, and just amazing kind of way of life living off the land, sea in the air, not taking anything for granted, and we had gotten far away from some of those concepts and so making the relationship with these people and just seeing what wonderful, wonderful people they were, it was

And your kids.

How did it impact your four kids when that was going on, Well.

To be caught honest, when it first started happening, they were like, mom has lost it this time, and she's really good to embarrassed. This is not gonna be good.

But that's our job, isn't it.

You know it is.

I constantly come up with ways to thoroughly embarrass my children just so that they will have stories when they're older. I mean, yeah, I rolled down the windows of the car and sing out loud at the top of mountain.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. So they were very skeptical at first, but then when we ended up bringing the team and they got to share, especially with athletes, Laila, you know your kids, you spend so much time on your diet, your exercise, your performance, your workout, your you spend so much time on that. But to be able to take

Now, do your kids or anybody in your community that helped take on this challenge, did they still have relationships with the team in Barrow.

Yes.

In fact, I'm going in about a week and a half back to Barrow. I've been several times and the name has changed to the Kiavik and that it. The people are amazing. The relationships have grown strong. Now the young people that we've helped on that first team have grown up and we get to see what kind of a husbands they are and what type of fathers they are.

So did they see did the school see like a change? Was there a drop in the dropout rate? Was there a drop in the suicide rate? Was there an increase in test scores? Did they see the direct correlation?

Oh?

Yeah, we had that data pretty quickly. Within two years of starting the football program. The graduation rate had been in the forties. It went into the high eighties. So it almost.

Doubled in two years.

Wow, we had tremendous data to pull from as far as what had happened in the school. I will tell you in twenty seventeen, just two years ago, that football team won the state championship and I was very fortunate to be able to attend that game. And of course I'm just crying and thinking it cannot get any better than this. And then over the intercom they announced the highest GPA for the football teams in the state and they won that one too.

Whoa, Yeah.

So it didn't just didn't just it wasn't just a football game, right.

It really had so much more to do about who they were and for other people caring about them. They became pretty well known throughout the United States is that team, and they had a lot of publicity. They had ESPN, they had Sports Illustrated to do something on them, they had the NFL network do a whole series about that

And is it still growing? Are other people continuing because the turf isn't gonna last forever and there's got to be other things done. Are other people continuing to build this this blessing?

Well, I will tell you this, and this was a really great example of the impact that has been seen in Barrow. There have been over a dozen artificial turf fields put in the state or high schools that are in a remote areas. So other communities and I've talked to some of the leaders in those communities, and they say, when we saw what happened in Barrow and the change that happened there, we want that for our community. So they were just going forward with that and it's just

And what would you, Kathy say to somebody who sees a story on ESPN, or sees the story on the news, or picks up a magazine and reads a headline. In my case, it was an email that I got where a lady said, would you adopt my children? We're starving to death in West Africa? And I'm like, whoa, what are you talking about? And three months later I'm on a plane flying to West Africa and adopting an entire refugee camp.

Wow, what would you say to somebody who is in that situation?

This is what I would say. I look back on this project and I thank God that I didn't give up on this one, because I could have many times. It was very difficult, had tremendous obstacles, and I thank God that I just didn't miss it. I'm sure there's been many opportunities that I have, but now when i'm person, it was something I remember. I remember that I don't want to miss it. I don't want to miss it anymore.

So who do you think reaped the bigger blessing out of that ESPN special?

The community?

How do you say their name now that they've changed it back to the indigenous name Utkiavik Utkievik. Who do you think received the bigger blessing? The community of Utskiyavik or the community that you built in Jacksonville and the community that you're a part of.

I think in my case, I feel like our community in Jacksonville got the biggest blessing. That's the way I feel, because it opened up our eyes just so much that has continues to happen because everyone that was involved, it built our faith so much and we started looking for other opportunities and we're able to start a nonprofit and help there and there, you know, just in several different areas.

I hope it doesn't.

I hope this thing continues to grow and that bridge that you've built between the northernmost point and the southernmost point, that that bridge becomes a super highway of love.

Absolutely I agree with.

You, because what an amazing story.

And like you said, lives are transformed when a kid chooses to stay in school and chooses football over drugs, when a kid chooses to become are they do they have a cheerleading squad?

Oh yes, they do.

So when those girls choose to you know, stay aff for school every day to practice and to learn to do the splits instead of dropping out of school or choosing a destructive path, that changes lives.

It it does. It exactly does.

So there's just a whole lot of things that have come from just an act of kindness and from putting down our prejudice and putting down our fears and just embracing one another.

Amen. Well, thank you, thank you for writing Northern Lights. Thank you for not listening to your own fears or to those who would say, Mom, what are you thinking? Blessed are the feet of those who bring good news and who bring artificial turf.

I love that.

Thank you, Thank you, Kathy.

And let's stay in touch because I want to see how how God is going to continue to grow this highway, this super highway of love and relationships.

And you know there's a movie. There's a movie that is based off the book that is going to be start filming next year.

Oh how exciting is that? I know, do you get to play you? Or are they finding out like an actress to play you?

Yes, they're going after some A listers, quite a large budget film. It's going to be directed by Andy Tennant, who was the director for Sweet Home Alabama and hitch Ann and the King. So we've got a wonderful director and it is going to be quite quite a wonderful movie. So I'm looking forward to seeing who they choose. I don't know who they're going to choose, but I'm sure I'll be happy with it.

I'm sure you will, and I'm sure I'll be happy to talk about it when that happens.

Thank you, Delilah, Thank you, God, Bless you.

God, bless you.

Isn't it amazing?

What can happen when someone follows the whisper in their heart. A wife, a mom, a bank employee somehow managed to raise five hundred thousand dollars and get an artificial turf athletic field transported and installed in the far reaches.

Of the Alaskan Tundra. How about you?

Where could you create some space in your life and your routine in order to brighten up someone else's day? Have you ever volunteered to pick up a few groceries for a friend or a neighbor that's been under the weather. We all do these things, and they all matter. But if you yearn to do more, to be more, I am here to encourage you to listen. Listen carefully to that whisper in your heart. The next time you're engaged in an activity that serves others, think for a moment

I don't know. Maybe it takes off.

Maybe you find yourself delivering a carton of milk or eggs to a neighbor and you find out she's battling breast cancer, or you that his son just had his tonsils taken out and they don't.

Have any help.

Maybe you decide to organize a bit and figure out a better system. Maybe you recruit other neighbors and before you know it, you're building community and you're helping people. Kathy that we just listened to was able to get a lot done and in her service, she was able to lift the spirits of dozens of people and encourage young men to heights they had never imagined. Who knows what can happen if you take the time to listen. Join me on my next podcast where I'll try to