Ep.276 w/ Eric Hecker of the RAK of the Day "Philanthropic Hobbying"

SPEAKER 1: What is up everybody? Episode 276. Hope this finds you. Well, as always, we appreciate you listening to the podcast without you. There is no us and, excited to talk to the gentleman on today's show, Eric Hecker from Rack of the day. He's recently been on Card Life TV. It's a couple of news programs.

SPEAKER 1: And, one of the best ambassadors we have, in the hobby. It's Rack of a day.

SPEAKER 1: You know, sends is exactly what it sounds like. Right. It's people sending cards to people helping them out. No questions asked. He does other, benefits which, help, such as, against Crohn's disease and raise money, to fight, those terrible diseases. So, we're gonna, I, I'm not gonna talk too much about it in the open.

SPEAKER 1: We're gonna talk to the man himself, during the show about, what he does, how it all started, what he collects some, some hobby stuff, on the gamut of, topics. But, great guy. Glad to have a man and, you know, hopefully it spurs you to get involved and, you know, be part of a groundswell of, of hobby positivity. So, with that being said, we're gonna break for a quick commercial and we'll talk to Eric Hecker.

SPEAKER 2: Hobby News Daily is your home page of the hobby, providing original writing, exclusive gem, rate data. A daily morning minute podcast and some of the best content creators in the hobby. Remember? Hobby News, daily.com and at Hobby News Daily on social happy collecting.

SPEAKER 1: Real happy to have my next guest on the sports car shop guest line. He is doing big things in the hobby and has nothing necessarily to do with opening packs and pulling big cars. But one of the most generous people, of the hobby, if not the generous person o of the hobby. Mr Eric Hecker. Welcome to Sports Car Nation. Thanks John.

SPEAKER 3: I appreciate you having me on tonight.

SPEAKER 1: Well, I, I appreciate coming on, you know, before we get into kind of what you're, you're known for and the big things that you're doing in the hobby, which are, are very important. I want to talk about, you know, the, the Stanberg standby, kind of how it all kind of started. I know from hearing you talk about it before.

SPEAKER 1: Your parents were very inspirational in, in getting, you know, you started in how we kind of talk about where it all began.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah, I think I'm, I'm probably like most, people, in, in their forties at this point in time where, you know, I, I grew up in the eighties and nineties collecting cards, but my parents certainly started me on that path.

SPEAKER 3: And to this day I still don't know why I, I, my father collected as, you know, a, a child of the fifties and sixties and, you know, I think like that generation, his mother throughout all of his cards. And so maybe he was, you know, reliving it through me, which totally fine. I, I don't have a problem with that obviously.

SPEAKER 3: But they did, they, they started it and what they did for me is they, built each year of the Tops flagship set from the year I was born in 1982. And, I think I had all of them, built for me all the way up through 2000.

SPEAKER 3: But the one, the one that stands out the most, to me ironically is the 1986 set because I must have gotten it for, I don't know, Christmas of either, you know, when I was nine or 10 years old and all the gifts were opened up, you know, the family go, goes and does their thing and I start opening up the 792 count card box cards are sequentially numbered one through 792 and I start pulling them all out and organizing them by team and both of my parents come walking into the room and dead stop in their tracks and just looked at me and said, what are you doing?

SPEAKER 3: And I explained it to them and, you know, right then and there they said to me, you know, these, these things aren't really things you play with. You know, you treasure them, you collect them, you look at them occasionally. But, you know, this is something that we want you to, to grow, to enjoy and to love. And, you know, they really explained it to me in terms that I understood.

SPEAKER 3: And from that point forward, you know, I, I looked at cards as something that, yeah, you know, we, we enjoy them, we love them in our own various ways. And so that continued on and, you know, kind of fast tracking it in and out through college, in and out through the early, you know, adult years of their, of my twenties, but it stayed with me, forever, in my head. And then I learned of this new thing called ebay.

SPEAKER 3: And at the time, sports memorabilia was something I really enjoyed, looking at and, and seeing, you know, in other places and thought I would like to have some of my own and boy were, the price is different in the early two thousands compared to now, where I could get a Pete Rose bat or a Barry Sanders Jersey, you know, and, and you know, I had a Mickey mantle autograph at that time and, you know, it was just, it was crazy.

SPEAKER 3: And then again, life continues on and, you know, now, you know, COVID happened and I think, like, again, all of us, I jumped right in, needing a distraction and, you know, as, as many negative things that happened during that time, there were so many positives and I think me getting back into the hobby was definitely one of those positive things.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. It's, it's, it's crazy. It's, it's with, with COVID, you know, I, I thought the hobby, you know, the show existed at that time and I remember, you know, as I've said, many times on the show I had told people, hey, the hobby is gonna take a backseat.

SPEAKER 1: Life is gonna be, more important and, and, you know, cards are, are gonna be the least of people's concerns as it should be and yet as we both know, right. The opposite, happened. Right. Be for a lot of factors, right? People being home, some discretionary income with some, some surpluses and, and stimulus packages. And really the hobby exploded.

SPEAKER 1: A lot of people got back in, because they had time to, and it became noticeable, again, and, you know, you, you, we're gonna get into the philanthropic side. I'm gonna ask you two questions, I guess. Let me start out with one question. We'll, we'll kind of skirt around the edge.

SPEAKER 1: Do you think for what you do with, with, with charities and, and donations and racks and, and do you think COVID, the fact that CO, well, obviously no one wanted COVID to happen but the genies it happened were on the back side of it. I mean, there's COVID still exists but not in the, not in the bad, you know, the numbers that it once did. Do you think that helped people be more philanthropic or, or not necessarily?

SPEAKER 3: It, it did, I mean, in, in so many different ways, you know, I, I can speak both from like the hobby perspective but also the professional perspective because my day job is in, in fundraising. So, I mean, you know, we saw a spike, you know, in our fundraising, there were spikes in so many different, areas of fundraising and philanthropy.

SPEAKER 3: But it was because I think people were creating their own different communities at that time. You know, and, and, you know, whether it was through zoom or, you know, whether it was just going for walks in your neighborhood, you were actually starting to get out and get to know your neighbors, you know, I, I mean, we never knew our neighbors, you know, prior to that for the most part.

SPEAKER 3: And so, yeah, I mean, there definitely was, you know, a spike, in that and I think that there were parts of it too, that, that what I'm doing the negative side of, of the hobby really created what I'm doing.

SPEAKER 3: Because there was all of that, just disgusting behavior that you would see in front of targets and Walmarts and things like that. And, you know, I don't want to see any of that and I just thought, you know, there's gotta be a better way to, to, do this whole hobby thing that we're a part of.

SPEAKER 1: And the other question I wanna ask you kind of, you know, little tongue in cheek humor too. I, I know, I, I heard you on a previous podcast talk about, like you got into a break and we're, I, I may be a little bit older too than you. Eric. But we're, we grew up around the same era of cards where we, we enjoyed opening packs and whatnot.

SPEAKER 1: And here we're now in an era where when it comes to breaks that we buy into a break, let's say, and here someone is opening the packs in a sense for us. And I, I always joke, I remember as a younger collector, you know, me and my friends would have our, our packs of cards and someone might be done before the other one.

SPEAKER 1: And, you know, they'd be, hey, let me open a couple. Yours be like, no, no, you open yours already. And now we're in, now we're in the time period where we literally pay a breaker to open our, you know, in the sense that a community packs, of cards on screen.

SPEAKER 1: You know, if you would have told Younger Virgin of me that that would be a thing someday, I would have thought you're crazy. And yet I, I've said it breaking really saved, the wax industry at, at some point when it was not as, what we know it as to today, it's, you know, it's just crazy how the hobby could change and, and how we, our opinions can change. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah.

SPEAKER 3: No, I mean, I'm right there with you. You know, younger me never would have imagined any of that either. And, I mean, younger, me in 2020 never would have imagined that. I mean, I knew there were people, you know, through YouTube and other streams that were opening packs of cards and at the time I'll be honest, I'm like, who, who in the right mind would watch something like this.

SPEAKER 3: Like it, to me, it seems so boring, you know, and, and plus I didn't understand what a break was and I, I did, I got into it because I saw a Facebook ad for, you know, send us your email address. We'll send you 10 bucks to participate in this break and, like, what the heck I have nothing else to do at this moment in time.

SPEAKER 3: So I did and, enjoyed it, enjoyed watching it more. I think I did than part actually participating in it and then I started seeing more and more about breaks and, yeah, you know, met a few folks in there and, and really found my, my community and I guess my hobby family, through the breaks as well and we're.

SPEAKER 1: Gonna get into the, the, again, the philanthropic tropic side of what you do with the hobby, like you said, it's also part of, of your career, your, your 9 to 5 job, as they say, but even as a kid, we were, you always like that? Was that something like instilled? Were you raised like that? Where did that giving? And I wanna do for my community? Was it, was it there from the start or, you know, talk about where it comes from?

SPEAKER 3: Yeah. So my parents, I mean, they, they showed me, empathy, they allowed me to, you know, to do whatever I wanted to do and, you know, but at the bottom or at the end of the day, we were always there for one another, but we are always there for other people too. My mother was a social worker.

SPEAKER 3: So I got to see what she did on a daily basis and then I was, I was raised, raised so to say, in the Y MC A, you know, before and after school care, summer camps and things like that. And so their mission, I mean, was, you know, acceptance of all.

SPEAKER 3: And we're going to find a place for you and it, and they actually did because, when I was on the brink of 1213 years old, my father lost his job. I actually aged out of the summer camp at that time and my parents didn't know what to do with me. And we had such a good relationship with our local Y MC A. They said bring him on down every day. We'll find something for him to do.

SPEAKER 3: And so I volunteered for three years, every summer with the Y and at the age of 16, they stuck a, W nine in front of me and said, here fill this paperwork out and we're gonna start paying you. So, you know, just, it did. It really started at an early age and I'm very, very grateful for that.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. And the, and the hobby is, is grateful for you and, and what you do, we're gonna, well, again, I know I keep teasing. We're gonna get, we're gonna get there.

SPEAKER 1: You know, like, you said your parents kind of with the sets, get you kind of, ingrained in the hobby and, and you now with your own sons, have got them involved in the hobby and sort of, become a, ar of patches and sometimes you hear those stories, talk about, talk about that aspect.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah. So, even if I didn't get into the hobby the way that I did, I was still gonna put sets together for my son. He's six now and I do remember, Christmas of, his first, he was born in November. So, I mean, a month later, I stopped Steel City Sports collectibles is right down the street from me.

SPEAKER 3: And so I stopped at the store there and I was like, hey, I need, I need a box of tops and they told me what the price was and I thought maybe I don't do this, but I did it anyway.

SPEAKER 3: And, you know, so, yeah, it's, that's continued on, but he has starting to started to enjoy it as well. He's at the age now where he's understanding sports, he's playing sports, he has his favorite player, his favorite teams, and he's collecting, you know, those guys.

SPEAKER 3: But he enjoys kind of seeing what I'm doing as well and, and, and all of that fun stuff.

SPEAKER 3: He's also not at the point though where it's crazy expensive and he's not asking for all those big things.

SPEAKER 3: So it's, it's fun for me as well to kind of keep, his spark alive, you know, with just this, this fun aspects, he, he gets a, a shiny Jose Ramirez card in the mail, from, you know, a friend of ours across the country and he's just as excited as, you know, when somebody, you know, sent him this autographed Jose Ramirez card.

SPEAKER 3: So, I mean, he doesn't know the difference at this point other than the fact that it has his favorite player on the card and that's all he cares about.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. The innocence of, of the hobby. Right. We, you know, I started, I started as a seven year old kid and no, it was 1979. It was a long time ago.

SPEAKER 1: But I wouldn't trade that in. I, I'm glad I sort of started air in, in a point in the hobby when it wasn't necessarily all about dollar signs and, and flashy and chromium cards. And I love that stuff. I'm not, you know, pu in it. But I started before all that.

SPEAKER 1: So I've kind of enjoyed how the hobby has changed as well and I'm glad I, I got to experience it before a lot of stuff, has changed and it's nice, you know, to hear, you know, my grandfather, bought me my first packs and, and even my son who's now 24 he, you know, he has his collection.

SPEAKER 1: He's not in the cards in the same sense, as I am like he has what he has. But, you know, I passed that tradition and it's nice to hear those links to family or whoever got you in, you know, into the hobby and that, that tradition.

SPEAKER 3: Continues and I, and I think it also creates a conversation right with, with your family members doesn't matter who they are. I mean, I, I have, you know, some PC items there, you know, a lot of vintage in my PC and, you know, he looks at those and, you know, the colors are magnificent to him. But his big question is, is, you know, well, why is the corner bent and why, why are the corners on my cards not bent?

SPEAKER 3: So it creates that conversation and then we take a look at the back of the cards and, you know, some of the cards have little cartoons on the back. So he's really enthralled in that and, you know, ask questions, you know, you know, what, what's RB, I mean, what's hr mean, you know, those types of things. And so we continue on that type of conversation and learning through cards and, you know, just for the love of sports.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. And it, it's awesome and, and, you know, that's how, that's how I learned a lot about the players that I like was from those little blurbs and car characters on the back that kinda told us, you know, what that player's favorite food was or a job he held in the off season. It's crazy. They had to work in the off season, back then, right.

SPEAKER 1: You know, so, and it's, it's nice that he's inquisitive and wants to learn and, and, and learn more and, and take that information in and learn more about, not just the hobby but, the players themselves in the sport, itself. And, it's, it's, it's nice to hear that it's not always about dollars and cents.

SPEAKER 1: You know, like you do here, sometimes you started, your Rack of the day in January of 2021.

SPEAKER 1: You can correct me if I'm wrong. You kind of saw some of the negative stuff happening, especially during, the COVID people going nuts, at Walmart, pushing each other out of the way, for product, that you shouldn't have to really necessarily, fight over.

SPEAKER 1: We saw sort of the, the black eye, sort of the, the hobby and it sort of inspired you to say, hey, this, I, I believe there's more good people than, than not good people and, and you started this to do something nice each day of the year. I mean, obviously this thing blew up in, in a good way. Did you, did you have any idea then? That, that's where that was going to go?

SPEAKER 3: No, no, not at all. And, you know, I look back on that time because, you know, I was excited about it because, yeah, I mean, there was so much negativity and I thought it just as you said, there's a better way of doing this. There's, there's a way that we can put a positive spin on it because I, I mean, I saw people giving racks.

SPEAKER 3: I learned what a Rack was and that's actually how I thought of this because I was given a Rack and, you know, you know, talking through with it somebody and, it, it was just, it was nice to see that they were just as excited to give it to me as I was to receive it.

SPEAKER 3: And so, yeah, it was January 1 2021. We're gonna launch this thing and we're gonna give something away every day and we're gonna, we're going to, recognize, you know, the good that's going on. And, you know, I was excited because I had the 1st 10 days all planned out.

SPEAKER 3: I had every Rack scheduled and ready to go. And by about day, six or seven, I got scared because I realized crap. I have 350 some odd more days to do this. How is this gonna happen? Because I didn't take into account for, time to, to put all the packages together, the expense of shipping.

SPEAKER 3: Where am I getting all of the, the product from? You know, that I'm gonna be giving away, but it did, it quickly ramped up within those first couple of weeks where people started to reach out and say, hey, I really enjoy seeing this and what you're doing. Can I help participate in various ways? Can I give a Rack? Can I send you things to give away and you know?

SPEAKER 3: Absolutely. I mean, I, I wasn't gonna turn anything down at that time. And wi within that first month of January, I had somebody reach out and said, hey, I want to send you some cards to give away and, sure that'd be great. Well, they kind of undersold what they were sending me. They sent me a 3200 count box of cards that was completely filled.

SPEAKER 3: And, at that point I realized, OK, this thing is going to continue, this is going to be a project that I'm gonna sink my teeth into. And I'm gonna really immerse myself in, because I was seeing the return on investment from a, a positivity standpoint, but also a time standpoint too of, it wasn't as much time as I thought it was gonna be, you know, and it was actually more fun for me to participate in this way.

SPEAKER 3: And, I'm glad that I stuck with it, you know, we, we haven't missed the day. I did the math recently, we, we are 1000 to date or 1600 like 50 ish racks that we've given out to Rack of the day. And if things continue to, to go on the projection for 2024 we'll end the year. Just over 2000 racks that have been given out through this program.

SPEAKER 1: And you're gonna wind up beating Cal rep Cal rip our game streak, I should say so. Oh, my gosh.

SPEAKER 3: I didn't think, I didn't, I didn't think of that.

SPEAKER 1: I can, I listen, I, I'm, I'm calling it right now but that's, that's tremendous and, and to, you know, I know you're a family guy. So you go on vacations, I mean, talking even about that. How do you do, like, if you know you're gonna be traveling or out of town or out of state, do you sort of do that ahead of time and, and, and just to, to keep that streak alive?

SPEAKER 3: Yeah. What, what was great. So, I mean, after that first year, what I, what I was able to do is get to know more people and kind of get to know their hobby, stories, they're collecting journeys and who they are as a, as a human being, not as a collector.

SPEAKER 3: And so I thought of this, this idea, like, you know, if I could get 12 individuals to sign on to take one day every month that would be helpful. And so I did, I reached out to a few folks and now we have what's called the Rack Ambassadors. And so, every month, the same group of people, they take an individual day and they, they go the entire year with that same day every month.

SPEAKER 3: And so, yeah, like, if there's, if there's times that I'm gonna be out, I, I put those out in the group chat that we have and say, hey, I need these days covered. Can we trade, can we offset? And it's, it's never an issue. And the same thing with them, if they can't do their day, they do the same thing.

SPEAKER 3: And yeah, when I'm gone I schedule the tweets that get, you know, sent out at a specific time and, you know, everything's kind of on autopilot at that point, which is nice because I do still get to, you know, attend to my family and not really have to worry so to say about the traction that Rack of the day is getting on that particular day because I know it's in capable hands.

SPEAKER 3: Even without me, you know, at the, at the driver's wheel and.

SPEAKER 1: We know Eric, a lot of this stuff is contagious in a positive way, right? People see it, take up the baton and, and, and run with it. I even in, in support of the podcast, I'll send people just cards, I know of teams or players, they collect, I hope it inspires them to, you know, do that to, to someone else and just kind of keep that thing going.

SPEAKER 1: You know, I've even done giveaways and, and I'll, I'll write a note when I send the giveaway, like, you know, to a random person like, hey, if this isn't something you want, pay it forward, right? Give it to someone else.

SPEAKER 1: But that stuff really does get contagious.

SPEAKER 1: And, and like you said, you had no idea how big this was gonna get. I, I heard you mention it's not as much work a, as you thought, but at the same time it's, it's probably, you know, it's, it, there's, there's work that goes into it. I know you, you're sort of a modest guy time.

SPEAKER 4: To hear from one of our great sponsors, but Sports Nation will be right back after that.

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SPEAKER 6: Let's go. You are listening to the Sports Card Nation podcast.

SPEAKER 1: Talk a little bit about some of the logistics dude. You know how much organizing, like you said, even even with the R ambassadors, you just kind of work together. Hey, I can someone pick this up for me this day. I'll trade with you that sort of, they talk about some of the logistics.

SPEAKER 1: The reason I ask you this is because I, I, again, I know you're a mask guy. But I also want people to know that there is some work to, you know, this doesn't do it by itself. There, there, there is some things that in play here.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah. I mean, it, it does take time, you know, as far as organizing whatever the racks are gonna be, whether it's, you know, a single card, you know, blaster box piece of memorabilia, or if it's something larger too, you know, we're, we're known to do the larger racks that, you know, that we got to get a large group of people involved in.

SPEAKER 3: And, and those certainly take the most time, you know, the organization of collecting the funds and getting the card, you know, shipped either to, you know, a singular person and notes written and, and different things of that nature.

SPEAKER 3: But I think the, the most work the most time and effort that goes into it really is engaging with the community.

SPEAKER 3: You know, and it starts with that single treat on a daily basis. And, you know, a lot of people have asked like, how do you pick somebody like who, what's the criteria? And, you know, really there isn't any true criteria, you know, for somebody to be picked, you know, certain days we have specific things we're looking for.

SPEAKER 3: But for the most part, what, what I'm looking for at least is the person who is writing the words about the person that they want to receive that Rack of the day. They took the time and the effort to tell a story, you know, they, they used, words that are descriptive and you could tell that there's a motion behind it and, you know, that they really want to, you know, be sure that that person is being recognized.

SPEAKER 3: And to me that's, that's the most time consuming because then what I end up doing is especially if I don't know, the person is, I go and I go through their timeline, you know, and just kind of see like who they are, get to know them a little bit. I may reach out to them too and just start a conversation to try to get to know them.

SPEAKER 3: So from that aspect, there certainly is, you know, some time value that's put into it, but at the end of the day, it's well worth it because what, what has happened is I got to connect with somebody new that I didn't know about.

SPEAKER 3: And then regardless if that person was selected to receive the Rack of the day on that particular day, they now have been introduced to a whole another community that may, they may not have been connected with and vice versa. So, you know, it, it's, it's the cycle that, you know, we just keep rolling through every single day, you know, that we're gonna, we're just gonna continue finding those, those diamonds in the rough.

SPEAKER 3: So to say those hidden gems, that we want to pull out and, and let, let them shine and let everybody know like this person is somebody that you need to connect with. Whether it's because they did this great thing here or because you guys have similar hobby interests and, you know, that's what we're all here for. One way or the other.

SPEAKER 1: I gotta ask this and I'll, I'll say yet if they have it yet, have any card, have any car companies or the supply manufacturers. Ultra Pro BC W have any of the Evan, have you got any of these companies involved yet or have they taken notice? And again, I'll use the word yet. So if the answer is no, not yet. You know, that's, that's the key word.

SPEAKER 3: For Rack of the day. No, not yet. And I'll, I'll, I'll put a shameless plug in here. It's not for a lack of trying though either.

SPEAKER 3: We, we certainly would love to partner with those groups.

SPEAKER 3: You know, one way or the other.

SPEAKER 3: But there's been some recent traction, over actually like the last month of, you know, folks like yourself reaching out.

SPEAKER 3: I have had some connection with, lately with some, grading companies, some, card companies as well that we, we're getting there. So I think there's some steam rolling at this point, some momentum rolling at this point.

SPEAKER 3: But yeah, I'll use your word yet. That's the keyword.

SPEAKER 1: Y and let's, we'll, we'll, we'll hopefully change that.

SPEAKER 1: I, I've talked to you off the air about this. This is going to be a future piece for sports collectors digest to shine even more light on it and hope, you know, I'll make sure when that piece goes to press that we, we tag some of those companies to sort of point them in the direction to, to what you get, you know, what you're doing in their community and, and hopefully it inspires them to, to get involved.

SPEAKER 1: And, you know, like I always in my conversations with some of those groups, right? Listen, it's a tax write off for, for them besides making them feel good and then giving back. It's also, there's an extra perk in there when it comes to the tax write offs, it, it's.

SPEAKER 3: A tax write off for sure. However, the other thing too is if, if, if somebody like that could get connected with the program that we have and if I could say like this Rack of the day was provided by insert company, I think more people are gonna take notice of that and the goodwill that, that that company is, is giving at that point.

SPEAKER 3: I mean, we see it on a daily basis of you name, you name the issue that one of the card companies is having and that's what we hear about the most. But, and if we could flip it on its head and, and give them some positive press, I think that would be really great for everybody involved. Yeah.

SPEAKER 1: And I, I agree, I agree for sure. Besides the, the monetary aspect of it, it's, it's, it's, it makes them feel good, it's doing good and, you know, puts them in a positive light instead of some of the stories that we obviously do do hear about. And, hopefully, I, I think I don't want to jinx anything, Eric.

SPEAKER 1: I think, I think, I think that will happen. I think, I don't know if it's so much in, if it's just AAA when and what's so hopefully it's sooner rather than, than later. You do, you know, it's not just back in the day you do ripping for the cause, which is for colitis and, and Crohn's disease. You've raised financial gains for, for that terrible disease and, but cause talk a little bit about that that foundation if you will.

SPEAKER 3: Sure. So, yeah, ripping for the Cure. We're, we're in our fifth year right now and, if all goes well, which I, I'm projecting it well, this year we'll raise $20,000 in total for 2024. And cumulatively, that'll be $100,000 over a five year period that we would have raised for the Crohn's And Colitis Foundation and, the, 100% of what is raised through dripping for the Cure goes directly to that foundation.

SPEAKER 3: Eric Hecker touches none of that money whatsoever.

SPEAKER 3: We, we have a website that's set up and it goes directly to the Crohn's Colitis Foundation's website where the donations are made and it's just a really, really cool thing. And again, this was, this was born out of COVID. This was something that I had no plans of doing.

SPEAKER 3: You know, in full disclosure, I work for the Crohn's And Colitis Foundation as my, my, my job. And, you know, when March 17th of 2020 hit and the world shut down, that was something that we had to figure out like, how are we gonna raise money for events that we typically do in person? And again, that, that was the right time, right place.

SPEAKER 3: And, you know, I reached out to, the breakers that I was, I was, usually with at that time, which was a, married couple with a ripping gypsy and said, hey, would love to do this. Have this crazy idea and they signed on immediately and, they had a plan already in place. And I think what gave it validity over that first year was they partnered with some of the well known breakers at that time, well known hobby personalities.

SPEAKER 3: And they really promoted it for me because nobody knew who I was, nobody knew anything about what we were doing. But because, you know, we aligned all together and had this plan in place and, you know, everybody was, was bought in and on board with that.

SPEAKER 3: They pushed it forward and as I mentioned, I mean, this year we're going to eclipse $100,000. That's, that's going towards that foundation.

SPEAKER 1: That's, that's tremendous. You don't need me to tell you that.

SPEAKER 1: When you're talking six figures, I don't care how long it takes but in just five years, I think that's a testament to, you know, your diligence, perseverance, work ethic, you know, getting in there and, and, you know, making the right contacts and, and pushing the right buttons if you will and, and then in turn, obviously the hobby community, taking up, taking up, that same sort of, you know, cause, and, and, you know, enthusiasm to, to get that done.

SPEAKER 1: And so that stuff, like I said, it's, and I think you agree. It's, it's, it's contagious and it's important.

SPEAKER 1: And, but good it is, it, it is contagious.

SPEAKER 3: It's very important but it's also fun like, II I get a thrill out of putting it together, you know, I mean, this weekend, you know, people are probably getting sick and tired of seeing me all over Twitter with everything, but I can't help it because I have a good time with it. I'd like putting together, you know, kind of, how we're raising money, you know, different ways on, you know, any given week or, you know, weekend.

SPEAKER 3: And, you know, it's, it, yeah, it just boils down to that. It's fun and again, it's an important cause and, you know, it's, there's various ways for people to get involved and, you know, it makes them feel, you know, really great about giving back and, and being able to help others, you know, in this way and you know, potentially get something at the end of the day or potentially not.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, and it shouldn't be necessary about receiving. Obviously, it's, it's nice. But you know, I, even when I send racks out, it's I just, you know, the thanks I'll get sometimes or a letter back saying, you know, my son enjoyed this or they'll send a video that, that goes a long way to inspire me to, to keep doing something like that.

SPEAKER 1: I think others as well see that and say, hey, that's not as hard as it's not hard to do that and it, it pays dividends, it's good for my soul and it just, it just inspires other people to do acts of kindness as well. And so it doesn't take much.

SPEAKER 1: That's, that's the, but you know, that's the message at the end is it, it doesn't take a lot to do it, you just gotta have the wherewithal and, and, you know, just make it happen and, and a lot of that stuff. Right.

SPEAKER 1: It's just people sort of take that, you know, cue and, and they jump on board too and so something that starts very small becomes a groundswell and before, you know, it just like the rag of the day, you know, you started yourself and now here you are, with a tremendous, group team effort. That's really just picking up, steam. So it's, you know, someone's got to start it though, right?

SPEAKER 1: And, so kudos to you for, for, for, you know, getting the ball rolling, kudos, everyone else for jumping on board and keeping the ball, rolling any, you know, as we wind down here, you know, I, I know you got your hands full, you know, you, like you said, your dad, your husband, you're doing this, you do this for your, your regular work as well and any, anything fu in the future that you want to sort of do, obviously, we talked about maybe getting some more of the, the car companies or supply companies involved.

SPEAKER 1: But a anything else you, you sort of hope to tackle or just continue making what you're doing even bigger and better.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah, I mean, I, I think that's what it is. Right. It's, it's making it bigger and better and, it's certainly getting other, other larger entities involved, the more, more, I guess, eyes and ears we can have on this thing, the better, the better it will be.

SPEAKER 3: But I do have a, I do have a future plan, with Rack of the day and, and parenthetically kind of with ripping for the Cure as well. But I've always wanted to have my own nonprofit under my name, you know, in, in my roof. And that's, that's where I see Rack of the day going.

SPEAKER 3: And, you know, we're starting small right now with, what's called the Micro Grant program where, you know, I, I, one thing I didn't touch on is, you know, a lot of this is funded actually through, card sales that I have.

SPEAKER 3: You know, I give 50% of my card sales to, a monthly charity that the Rack Ambassadors select and then the other 50% will go into, it's called the Micro Grant program that's helping hobby members who maybe, maybe they ended up in the hospital, you know, unexpectedly with, you know, pneumonia or whatever the case may be.

SPEAKER 3: And, you know, they're there for a few days and the last thing that your spouse wants to think about is, you know, I gotta get food on the table for my kids. Well, we'll get them an Uber eats gift card or maybe a gas card, things like that.

SPEAKER 3: So, like long term goals is to grow that type of program where we're supporting larger programs, whether it's youth sport leagues or education, teachers, you know, things like that, that everything again is still built and grown in this hobby and it's supported by the people and companies that make up this hobby and, you know, am I expecting that to begin tomorrow?

SPEAKER 3: My goodness. No, I mean, it takes time to kind of build that collateral and, and everything of the, of that.

SPEAKER 3: But, that's where I see Rack of the day going and then kind of bringing ripping for the Cure and underneath that umbrella where it can be that event that's raising the larger amounts of money. At that point because, we would then be a, a, certified 501 C three nonprofit and be able to accumulate everything that we would need for that.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, I think you're gonna get there. I think the, the right guy is, is spearheading this, obviously have experience a already.

SPEAKER 1: But yeah, you know, you got a great heart, you know, and you the right man for the job, not that it's a job but you, you know, as the expression, as the expression goes, Eric and, like I said, shameless plug this will be an article in a future Sports Collect D just and, and, and shine some more deserved light on it and, and maybe, you know, the right. People will take notice and, make this bigger, and better.

SPEAKER 1: It's already great, and kudos to, to you and the community for, for where you are here four or five years, into it. And so it's not gonna get worse. That's a good thing. It's just gonna, just gonna get better.

SPEAKER 1: And, you know, hopefully, you know, one thing I try to do with that column is shine a light on people and things that are, are, are important to the hobby. And, and in this case to, to, you know, to humans and, and people in general.

SPEAKER 1: And so it, it's going to be, a pleasure to put that together and, hopefully that, leads to bigger and better things and, you know, so look forward to that, probably in, in April there. So, but, awesome what you're doing, Eric, you, you know, thank you. I always give the guests sort of give out where people can find out what you're doing and they want to jump on board, get involved.

SPEAKER 1: How do they do it? Give out that information? I'm also gonna put it in the show notes as well. So if someone misses it, you know, audio wise, you can check the show notes, but go ahead and give out that, information too.

SPEAKER 3: Sure. Sure. Well, I appreciate it, John for the opportunity and, you can mainly find me on Twitter.

SPEAKER 3: My handle is at ES Hecker heck er and then you can follow the hashtags as well. The first hashtag is Rack Rak of the day and then the second hashtag is Rippin R IP Pin for the Cure. And then we have a website as well.

SPEAKER 3: Rippin for the Cure.com, which is where you can find all the information for what we're doing, why we're raising the funds and kind of the Big Party that we throw in May for it as well. So, but I'm always at my D MS are always open, always feel free to reach out to me and I will have a conversation, answer questions and if need we hop on a phone call with someone as well.

SPEAKER 1: Well, it's awesome. Again, hats off to, to what you're doing.

SPEAKER 1: I look forward to seeing where you go and, and how big this will gets and, and even what you've done in a short amount of time is, is no small feat. So, again, kudos, kudos to you and like I said, we'll if you missed all that, check the show notes, get involved.

SPEAKER 1: It's good for you. It's good for others and that those small ripples, right? Become big waves as, as we like to say. And it's it's important. It's, it's very important. So, thanks again, Eric, I know you're busy. Thanks for making, some time for the show.

SPEAKER 3: Sure. Thank you again. I really, I really enjoyed it and appreciate this opportunity to share.

SPEAKER 1: My, my pleasure.

SPEAKER 1: You know, when we talk about hobby advocate and ambassadors, a gentleman needs to be on the top of that list. Is Eric doing great things for a lot of other people and, and have a lot of other people doing great things following his example. So, you know, wish him continued success. Check him out, get involved, right? Make this groundswell, get even bigger.

SPEAKER 1: This, this is the great part of the hobby, right? That we don't talk about quite frankly enough. So glad Eric came on and, discussed, what he does and the importance of, of such. So, we'll, and we'll, we'll have him back as well.

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SPEAKER 8: How do we change the world?

SPEAKER 8: One? Random act of kindness at a time.

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