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THE CRUDE TRUTH Ep. 59 Blair Pifer Ambassador of Christ

Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.

Rey Treviño [00:00:00] Outreach on a global national. And local level. We talk about people blazing a trail, helping out the less fortunate here in America, the state and across the world. On this episode of The Crude Truth.

Rey Treviño [00:00:59] NAPE is a proud sponsor of the crude truth. Be sure to register for the NAPE Expo 2024 February 7th through the ninth at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. Hurry and register today. NAPE where deals happen.

Rey Treviño [00:01:48] Well, good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Whenever it is. Thank you, as always, for tuning in, watching, listening to another episode of The Crude Truth. Please be sure to like subscribe to send me any questions that you may have about anything, and I’d love to answer those questions. You can go to always www dot, www dot the CrudeTruth.com. Check out my Twitter at Truth, underscore crude or also on LinkedIn at the Crude Truth. Well, as you go for my teaser there, we’re going to talk today and switch gears and talk about a crude truth that’s going on here in America and across the world that is just totally being ignored. And I feel like very small bandaids are truly being put on a gassing move today. You know, I have brought on somebody that is a philanthropist, somebody that is just blazing a trail that is literally boots on the ground when it comes to helping out our less fortunate, more importantly, our homeless here in America. My guest today is Blair Pifer. Blair, how are you?

Blair Pifer [00:03:03] Great. Thank you so much for having me on here. I’m so blessed to be here.

Rey Treviño [00:03:08] No, no, thank you. You have been just blazing a trail. You’re following on LinkedIn has just continued to grow. And it is through God that that all of these things are going on right now. And you are just so passionate about the homeless. And God knows we have such a problem, especially here in America, but across the world. And, you know, I could really you asked me in pre-production about tying it into oil and gas and, you know, I might I might do it. And now that I’m thinking out loud, but right now, no. BLAIR For my listeners, for for people watching today, you know, tell us a little bit about yourself before we dive in.

Blair Pifer [00:03:49] Hi, everyone. I’m Blair Pifer, and I’ve been in Fort Worth for about 15 years now. I love it out here. I’ve been serving the homeless community here in Fort Worth for six years now. And there are so many people on the streets out here, there’s a ton. And every time I go down there, which is every Sunday evening, I go feed the homeless. And we I just run into 10 to 20 people every time. I mean, I know their names, I know their story, know these are these are my friends now. So I’ve put a lot of heart and a lot of time out there. And I just absolutely love to serve and give back in that place.

Rey Treviño [00:04:28] Well, you know, you talk about that and you know what you’re doing out there for people that don’t know who you are, having checked out. Well, because you do share a lot on LinkedIn about what goes on out there on the streets. You’re literally out there, you are ministering, you are talking to people that are homeless, some of whom you’ve known now for two or three years at a time. And when y’all are giving food out, they show up and you’re sitting there again, you’re talking to them, you’re ministering to them and just giving them that little bit of hope and gives them that motivation for one more day. I was talking to my father the other day and I said, You know, Dad, I don’t know if this helps, you know, people out there to use, you know, what RT you just giving them one more day, one more day of hope and that hopefully that one day they’re going to be able to then go and turn it around. And like you shared, he also shared yours because it once you’re down at the bottom, sometimes if you don’t have the support, it is hard to get back up.

Blair Pifer [00:05:24] It really is. And it’s it’s really important to still just show them love. You know, a lot of people feed and we definitely need that give money all that. But love is really an important thing. Are these people out there just to know that they’re cared for so they want better out of their lives? You know, and just go out there and shine God’s glory and God’s light in that place. And they really just thrive off of it. They love it. And so that’s really important, I’ve noticed. So when we’re out there serving, I just go in love on the people, and I’ve just met so many friends. And last night I was out there serving the homeless and it was wonderful. I ran across a couple I’ve known for a few years. I met them when I was giving out blankets in 22 degree weather a couple of years ago, two or three years ago. And and they had popped out of their tent and taken then they were they needed help and they don’t. They took a year and a half before they actually even told me their story. So it does take time to get to know these people as well, to find out what their real needs are, because sometimes what we think are their real name, they’re actually there’s something else that we could help with. Right. And just like you said, everybody can everybody can help in a different way. So if somebody feeds or somebody’s clothes, even even just last week when I was out there, when I when I had a couple of people go for interviews downtown Fort Worth, they were actually able to get a an interview on the spot. But they weren’t they didn’t have a phone so they could get a callback.

Rey Treviño [00:07:09] Oh.

Blair Pifer [00:07:10] So little things like that that we don’t think about when we’re like, well, just tell them to get a job. Well, sometimes it’s not that easy. There’s there’s steps that we could do to help them in that process. You’re getting there.

Rey Treviño [00:07:22]  You know, you mentioned the steps and you don’t want to go back just a little bit and they don’t want to kind of go, well, look, let’s dive into the steps. You know, what is it that you guys are doing in your part of a group? That’s and correct me if I’m wrong, it’s Fort Worth under the bridge ministry.

Blair Pifer [00:07:35] Yes.

Rey Treviño [00:07:35] Is that correct?

Blair Pifer [00:07:36] Yes.

Rey Treviño [00:07:37] And you guys are out there. I had an opportunity to do that. And you guys are out there giving out food, clothing, drinks and just sharing and just with anybody that’s out there, you know, How are you all taking steps to help these individuals out with these callbacks, with anything else that they may need help with to get back on their feet?

Blair Pifer [00:07:57] Absolutely. So with the under the bridge ministries, they’ve been they’ve been down there for three years now. And they they started out just giving out like 67 sandwiches and and and then it grew from there. So they are providing food, clothing and haircuts to two people down there on Lancaster Street. And they also have an outreach where we can give back on the side. But this is also an offering to our tithing as well. So we actually could use some help to do things like this, especially with the phones. And, you know, I know that there’s prepaid songs that we could, you know, help out with, but there’s so much more as well. I mean, the list can go on.

Rey Treviño [00:08:42] You know. What made you get into this six years ago? Let’s talk about that. Let’s go back. Here you are. You’re in Fort Worth. I will point out to our listeners and to our viewers that we are here at the Real News studios in Dallas today. Yes, but but, you know, you’re there in Fort Worth and I love awards. And I think board does a better job keeping the homeless out of d owntown than Dallas does. But you know what? What made you want to go do this? What was it about it.

Blair Pifer [00:09:08] Well, I’m going to get a little personal here so that the first day that I fed the homeless, I actually was hungover. Really hungover. Yes, I was. And I. And I had already promised a friend that I would be on the streets at eight in the morning to serve for the very first time. And I. I went out there not feeling great. And as soon as I saw the need out there, it I mean, it changed immediately. My my feelings changed immediately. I found a family with three children and one was a little one and a half year old boy. He had no pants on, no shoes on. He had scars on his knees so scarred that that they were there. They were permanent. And it just devastated me. And in that moment, my whole life changed. And I wound up actually getting this family’s phone number. They did have a home and they had housing, but they had nothing in their home. And I went to their home. I we filled it up with furniture, took them to the store down the street, did a supermarket sweep for them and let them fill up a basket I gave them and 30 minutes to go shopping and filled it up, took my children. We all piled in my truck and and but what also is crazy that day is. Yes, I was home. I was. I was hungover and it was a it was a whole change in my life at that point. That was the day I found out that I was pregnant with my youngest son, who is now five and a half. So there is so much goodness to that story for me, even though it’s a testimony and it’s a story of being so far down. God brought me so far up in that place.

Rey Treviño [00:11:01] Wow. What a?

Blair Pifer [00:11:02] Yeah.

Rey Treviño [00:11:03] This story. Wow. I can only imagine, You know, the supermarket sweep, you know, seeing them there, be able to go in and get what they needed. And that is just awesome that God has put you in a place that you can do that, you know? In my teaser today, I mentioned globally and how, you know, even globally, we do need to be helping individuals out. You know, what are you doing on a global scale? You know, I’d like better yet, I would like for you to share with all the listener viewers what you’re doing on a global effort.

Blair Pifer [00:11:35] So I have an orphanage in Uganda, and we have 61 children there. I’ve been with them several years now. I’m not on the board, but I’m very close to it. I’m one of the top sponsors for them. I help them raise funds. This is my heart. And I would say my second home is Africa. I absolutely love it. I’ve been there twice. I went there this year. I got to see my children and I consider myself like their mama. Yeah. So when when when I come, they come running and it’s it’s just it’s it’s just incredible to be there and to humble yourself and a place like that. And yeah, I have a huge heart for that. So I have that orphanage and also I’ve done ministry as well and Belize and in Mexico, in Belize, I got really close with a little boy who’s ten years old. His name is Diego, and he’s handicapped, very handicapped. And I was able to surprise them the following day at their home and I and I broke down in tears. They have dirt floors and hardly any walls, and they had a fire going inside the home, which is very unsafe. She just she was actually the mama was pregnant and she just had a baby this year. So I want to get them a home built. So that is my goal to do next year during spring break, I have a team that’s willing to go down there and we can get that built for them, get them a handicap accessible. There’s no running water, so they they bathe in the creek nearby. So.

Rey Treviño [00:13:14] And how can people reach out to you for to help donate or be a sponsor of that Belize trip?

Blair Pifer [00:13:20] Absolutely. Well, I can give you my email and my phone number and have them contact me there. I am in the process of setting up a nonprofit and I’m really looking forward to that. I know a lot of people have mentioned that through LinkedIn. They say, Hey, get this set up, we want to donate. So now I’m at a place that I’m ready to get started on that. Like I’m a I’m just a little person here, but I know that God has really big plans for me and I’m ready to step into that place. So this is really exciting for me.

Rey Treviño [00:13:51] You know, speaking of exciting, you know, Africa is such a place that, you know, it’s it’s literally beyond the wild, wild West with rules, regulations, laws. It’s it’s it’s it’s a place and an all tied in, you know, to the only gosh, real quick, it’s just a darn shame with the slavery that’s going on to mine for all these critical minerals for us to transition from oil and gas to electric vehicles so that we here in America can live better. But let’s talk about that orphanage like you’ve got 61 kids. How did they get there? How you know, what is it that they do? You know, what is it that they need to talk about that.

Blair Pifer [00:14:29] Okay. Yes, absolutely. I actually had a friend message me this morning. She said, Blair, I had a dream about you this morning, that you are here again. And I had responded back. I’ve had two dreams since the summertime that I was there. She said, This is my second dream as well. So I know that it’s going to come to be again soon. This orphanage is it. We had 61 children, one passed away in July from malaria and died within a few hours. It happened super fast. His name was Ali and he was really close to me. Good, good little boy of mine. So we have 61 children. They live in a 1000 square foot home with three house moms. And that was not acceptable for me when I went four years ago. So we’ve done a lot of fundraising and a lot of work has been done since since I came back this year. So we added another home, another building to split up the boys in the girls, and we added more bunk beds and more mattresses. We’ve put in a security wall around to keep them safe, not only to keep. I’m safe from people coming in, but from them going out too. Since we have so many children and only three moms, we got solar panels. So now we don’t have to have a fire every single night. We can actually have a little bit of light out there because they are in a village tucked away. We have a water well. We’re in the process of building a school right now on the facility. We have about five acres to build on. So we’re in the process of doing our first phase. There we are. I’m just I’m so blown away by what I’ve seen this year compared to what I saw when I went the first time. And it’s just it’s it’s really touching.

Rey Treviño [00:16:15] BLAIR How did these children end up at this orphanage? I mean, you know, obviously they’re their parents, you know, I mean, but I mean, I kind of want to dive into that.

Blair Pifer [00:16:24] Okay. Yeah. So most of the children lose their parents to the the North war at northern Uganda. This has been going on since the eighties. It’s been going a long time and it’s actually no longer anymore. But the people are still set in their ways. And so they leave their children and they go to fight. Nothing. It’s unfortunate. And so the children are just left on the streets. And one of my one of my sponsored children was found in a manhole. Others are found in the garbage dumps and some are just found abandoned and homes. So some of the local authorities know the founder, Teddy Nanjiani. And he he gives her a call and brings him in. So we are at our max at this point. And we have we’ve had the same children for four or five years now. They stay with us. These children don’t get adopted out as very adoption is really hard. And you go there. So I’ve just taken on that role of mother and just love on them. Yeah.

Rey Treviño [00:17:33] Wow. What a what a what. I cannot believe that. You know, we talk about, you know, here in America and God knows, you know, we could talk about the homeless here in America all day long. Now we need to do more to get people back on their feet. But then yet we turn a blind eye to the rest of the world. And here we are. You mentioned solar panels. Okay. And how awesome that is that they got a little bit of electricity and again, all tied into the oil and gas that, you know, if we just had a little bit of oil and gas, natural gas that could provide that heat and that electricity every day, obviously they can drill a water well. So there’s just some things there that oil and gas can help bring them out of a third world while we and our administration right now is forcing these places to stay in that third world setting while other places like China and India are fighting, they come up and they don’t care about the environment the way that we do here. Or more importantly, they don’t care about human lives the way we do here. And I do want to say that I care about lives, you know, from a drilling aspect, as people know, oh, you know, we have the most strictest rules from safety to environmental when it comes to drilling up out in other places. Again, I’ll use the term it’s a wild, wild west. So tell me about you know, again, I want people to know, you know, you’ve got your LinkedIn, if you don’t mind, just tell them that people are being contacted and reach out to you that way.

Blair Pifer [00:19:00] Well, I’m Blaire Pifer on LinkedIn and I also and my company has Sunshine restored Construction services, so you can find me through that as well.

Rey Treviño [00:19:10] Yes.

Blair Pifer [00:19:11] Yeah. And I and I look forward to growing my LinkedIn as well. But it’s for the it’s it’s for the glory of the Lord. I just he told me to go actually into the market place in October. And so that’s I’ve only been on there since October so almost a year now. But he’s doing some big things through it and I’m just I’m so blessed by it.

Rey Treviño [00:19:32] Well, you know what? What do you see coming down? Okay. You’ve got you’ve got the Belize coming up, you know. Well, you know, what do you see coming around the corner here in the next 12 months? So let’s let’s talk about the next soapbox.

Blair Pifer [00:19:44] So I see more of the school being built in in Uganda. That’s a that’s a big factor. We we’re spending Uganda. The schools are not free. So we’re spending about $4,000 every quarter to send our children to school. And then we send more throughout the village as well. Because if we if we’re not helping them, the children are not going to school. And it’s school is so important out there for those children. Otherwise they’re selling in the market on the street. So that is important. Also, I have a small fundraiser I’m working on personally and it’s actually directly for the children. I’m working on getting them bicycles.

Rey Treviño [00:20:27] Yeah.

Blair Pifer [00:20:27] So bicycles are so important out there. It is their means of transportation, but it’s also just a special gift to each one of these children. They’ve never received anything like that. And so far I’ve got three now, so I’m really excited by that. And these children are blown away and they’re just so happy. But we can only walk as far as we can walk. And if we’re in a we’re deep in a village somewhere, They’ve never seen these markets that I’m talking about. They’ve never seen, they’ve they’ve never seen like life outside of this village. They’ve never seen a bathtub or a or a toilet.

Rey Treviño [00:21:03] Wow. Wow, wow. Well, you know, the work that you are doing right now, I just it’s just it’s amazing. Thank you so much for for doing the work and for allowing the opportunity for me to have you on to talk about this. You know, we need to hear, dare I say, the crude truths about what’s going on on the streets here in America and across the world, that we are forgetting about our people. And, you know, God says that, hey, we need to take care of our people, you know, and love and respect. And in fact, I just had one guest on, as you were talking about love earlier and how, you know, when you love something, this other guest is like it comes pure and that means that you are a pure person, you know, when you have true. Love. And so, you know, and that goes for anything. So the fact that, you know, hey, that we can open up our hearts in our in our minds to help out others the way that you’re doing know just such an example. Thank you. Thank you very much. You know, again, for everyone out there, please, please reach out. You know, we’ll definitely put your email in the show notes so that people can get with you. I mean, you know, bicycles, you know, here we take that for granted. I know we talked about that in our preproduction meeting. It’s like, what do you mean? They did you know, they give you try hauling bicycles are literally across the world.

Blair Pifer [00:22:22] Right.

Rey Treviño [00:22:22] There’s a lot that goes into that considering Africa doesn’t have a whole lot already. So.

Blair Pifer [00:22:27] Well, even just as simple as little blankets, we sent a bunch of $5 blankets, like 70 of them a couple of years ago for Christmas, thinking that would be a fun little gift. Well, the tariff on that was 1100 dollars.

Rey Treviño [00:22:41] Wow.

Blair Pifer [00:22:42] Coming. Going out of Florida.

Rey Treviño [00:22:44] Wow.

Blair Pifer [00:22:45] So it’s that why we have to buy them over there?

Rey Treviño [00:22:48] Yeah,.

Blair Pifer [00:22:49] It’s really important. So. Yes.

Rey Treviño [00:22:52] Well, Blair, again, I cannot thank you enough for coming on. Be sure to, you know, get this out. And if anybody out there that you know, please, please help, you know, donate to Africa also, you know, in your own local cities. I’ll see what you can do. Yeah. You know, cook some food or donate to the homeless there in your neighborhoods. We we all have time on a Sunday evening to go give back for everything that we’ve been blessed with. I know I need to do more of it myself. And I’ll say that right here. And that’s obviously it’s recorded as everything else. So again. Blair thank you. Thank you again for coming on. And thank you all very much. And we’ll see you again here on another episode of The Crude Truth.

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