EP. 02 - Faith, Volunteerism, and Community: Leslie Weiner’s Journey with Heart2Heart Outreach

In this heartfelt episode of Heart2Heart Senior Radio, Juan Gallo sits down with Leslie Weiner, a dedicated volunteer and long-time advocate for seniors in South Florida. Leslie shares his inspiring story of faith, service, and resilience, offering listeners a unique perspective on the challenges and triumphs of supporting the senior community.

From delivering hospital beds during the pandemic to spending over 900 volunteer hours a year visiting seniors, Leslie exemplifies what it means to serve with purpose. Hear how his journey of faith led him to a life of meaningful impact and how his personal battles, including surviving cancer, have shaped his mission to bring hope and connection to others.

This episode delves into the importance of volunteers in convalescent ministry, the need for emotional and practical support for isolated seniors, and the value of multi-generational connections. Leslie’s humor, wisdom, and experiences remind us that every act of kindness can make a difference.

Tune in for a candid and uplifting conversation that celebrates the power of faith, community, and compassion.

Transcript

00;00;02;06 - 00;00;23;29
Juan Gallo
Welcome to Heart2Heart Senior Radio, where every voice matters and every connection counts. I'm your host, Juan Gallo, each week bringing you real conversations with seniors, but also with trusted guides in the senior space. It's a podcast. It's part of our bigger outreach mission to care. Tune in and join the conversation and help us build a stronger, more connected senior community.

00;00;24;01 - 00;00;45;28
Juan Gallo
Today is a special day for me because I have my good friend and volunteer, and so many other things will get into that. Last, I want to introduce you. And I feel like if I said too much about you, I'd be saying all the wrong things. So why don't you, why don't you introduce yourself? Tell us what you do, who you are, and how we know each other.

00;00;46;01 - 00;00;53;25
Leslie Weiner
I want to thank you so much. Well, I've been in the convalescent ministry for, about 25 years.

00;00;53;28 - 00;00;54;10
Juan Gallo
Okay.

00;00;54;13 - 00;01;11;28
Leslie Weiner
Then how I got involved with Heart2Heart is, you know, I've been preaching at different, different places, different facilities. But I got involved with Heart2Heart because one, one year, someone came to me and said, we have some hospital beds to deliver.

00;01;11;29 - 00;01;12;22
Juan Gallo
I remember that.

00;01;12;23 - 00;01;33;19
Leslie Weiner
And do you know somebody who could do that? And, I was called and I said, yeah, I got a couple of homes and and you brought 14 beds, seven and seven to different places that I go to. And the ideal thing was, who are these people? Right. I know the beds were expensive, but where did that heart come from?

00;01;33;19 - 00;01;44;05
Leslie Weiner
Who's donating this? And as I went forward, knowing who Heart2Heart was, is and will do. I got excited.

00;01;44;08 - 00;02;13;21
Juan Gallo
That's good. So, I'll give some context to this story. So it's 2020. Pandemic just started. We are at one of the Calvary Chapel buildings. We have a small office space, maybe 1000ft², and, we, got I got an email from Florida Emergency Services that they have hydraulic hospital beds, that they can give out to nonprofits who, who could, you know, distribute them or use them.

00;02;13;23 - 00;02;31;06
Juan Gallo
And so I said, man, I think we can do beds. And so in my mind, right, these beds are bulky and they're, they're going to take up a lot of space, but we line them up in the hallway of the 2701 building, which is the ocean's edge building. But it's empty because it's a pandemic. And they fit well.

00;02;31;09 - 00;02;49;20
Juan Gallo
So I order I don't know, I think I ordered like 20 something beds. Because I, I, you know, my first question to Florida was how many can can I get in there? Like how many you need? And I, you know, I wanted I, I let's start with 24, right. And so, so we ordered them and then next thing you know, a truck pulls up and he's like, where do you want the beds?

00;02;49;20 - 00;03;09;25
Juan Gallo
And I'm like, well, let's just roll. And he goes, no, there's no rolling out there. They're boxed up and you gotta put em together. You gotta assemble them. And so that's when we went down the street. We rented a unit. And then Paul Applegate, who's who's, you know, you work with that Calvary Chapel? You know, he got involved, and he got you involved.

00;03;09;25 - 00;03;17;19
Juan Gallo
So tell us a little bit about. So I mean, that's obviously when our relationship started. Tell us a little bit about your relationship there at Calvary Chapel because that's how we met.

00;03;17;20 - 00;03;30;16
Leslie Weiner
Okay. So, a number of years ago, a friend of my invited me to Calvary Chapel, and I said, I'm not going. You come to my temple and, because I'm a Judeo Christian.

00;03;30;20 - 00;03;30;28
Juan Gallo
Right?

00;03;31;00 - 00;03;47;01
Leslie Weiner
And so he went to our temple and I went to Calvary and I heard a great, Old Testament study that went into the New Testament. So I went back, I found it very interesting, and I went back again and then again.

00;03;47;03 - 00;03;47;27
Juan Gallo
And then again.

00;03;48;00 - 00;04;10;13
Leslie Weiner
And then I walked forward one day and I said, I'm giving my life to Christ. And and that's that's interesting. That's how it kind of started. And then they did something very nice for me. Now, I always say part of my testimony is I was nothing to anybody. The only money I ever gave to this place was a buck and a half for coffee with free refills.

00;04;10;16 - 00;04;20;11
Leslie Weiner
And when my mother passed away, they, did a memorial service for me. Oh, wow. And I thought it was fantastic. And they. I also they brought, they brought a, a rabbi.

00;04;20;13 - 00;04;21;01
Juan Gallo
Oh, wow.

00;04;21;01 - 00;04;23;16
Leslie Weiner
That's. So I was floored.

00;04;23;18 - 00;04;39;08
Juan Gallo
Okay, well, I want to get into a little bit. So, so part of the Da Da Senior Radio podcast is that, so every week we interview a service care provider and senior space, and we kind of bring a senior on. By the way, you're the senior.

00;04;39;08 - 00;04;40;12
Leslie Weiner
I am 77.

00;04;40;12 - 00;04;41;28
Juan Gallo
You're 70, 77.

00;04;41;29 - 00;04;42;29
Leslie Weiner
We'll be 78 this year.

00;04;42;29 - 00;05;04;17
Juan Gallo
You don't look like it. Okay. Thank you. So let's is 77 years old and we joke around a lot. We talk on the phone like we're good friends. So. So the idea is that we bring, you know, a person who's older, who's wiser, and then we ask them, like, what do you think about what the service providers are doing and how can we help?

00;05;04;17 - 00;05;31;16
Juan Gallo
And and so the idea is that you give us, a unique look into the challenges of people who are older, living specifically in South Florida, which brings on its own challenges. Right. But because you're the first one, you don't really have anything to compare it to. So we just got to have some fun with this. What do you think is, one of the biggest challenges that you face as a 77 year old, male living in South Florida.

00;05;31;18 - 00;05;57;26
Leslie Weiner
For this senior community volunteers. Okay, it's funny because, it's not babies like young kids, right? It's a very hard ministry. And for people to stick to it while they're volunteers is amazing. I have had some volunteers have been with me for a number of years, and unfortunately, they moved. They moved away. Other than that, they're with me all the time and and volunteers.

00;05;57;28 - 00;06;03;02
Leslie Weiner
But I think as we look, as you look at convalescent ministry going into nursing.

00;06;03;02 - 00;06;08;15
Juan Gallo
Homes, can you explain? I don't know of any. Okay. That might be like a church word, but explain that.

00;06;08;15 - 00;06;33;27
Leslie Weiner
Nursing home and going into a nursing home, I go to memory care people on the on the cusp of Alzheimer's or dementia and also assisted living facilities. These are people that are independent, independent living. But I think when most people think of senior helping with thinking about that environment. But senior helping is really for the senior that lives down the block in that apartment.

00;06;33;29 - 00;07;02;11
Leslie Weiner
And her daughter lives up in Massapequa you know New York and she's basically on her own except for her next door neighbor. So we have to consider, as this podcast continues, we have to consider that that person, not just the nursing home facilities, who's cared for they have a senior, but also for the senior that's sitting at home and who's alone.

00;07;02;14 - 00;07;23;01
Juan Gallo
Yeah. And I think most people don't realize that the people that are living in the brick and mortar, institutionalized places are actually the minority. In other words, there are more people living alone in South Florida or anywhere, in the States. Really, more than, you know, the, the brick and mortar that the places that you're talking about, most.

00;07;23;01 - 00;07;23;15
Leslie Weiner
Of the places.

00;07;23;16 - 00;07;42;20
Juan Gallo
So you mentioned volunteering and it's hard to find volunteers for this kind of, you know, work. Is that why you volunteer? So much? Can you can you tell our listeners how many hours you volunteered, by the way, last one volunteered a year, the year before, but I think he's trying to do it again because this year he volunteered.

00;07;42;20 - 00;07;43;20
Juan Gallo
How many hours?

00;07;43;23 - 00;07;50;11
Leslie Weiner
I think I'm approaching over 900 hours. And man, I don't know if I can get to a thousand before the end of the year, but.

00;07;50;17 - 00;07;59;25
Juan Gallo
Well, it's about nine. And in my book you already have because I'm sure, I'm sure you left some hours out. But, you know, I think a full time employee is 2056 hours.

00;07;59;27 - 00;08;17;06
Leslie Weiner
I mean, certain things that that I do like, like, this past weekend, there was a woman that was living at this one facility, okay? And she had to move for financial reasons. She had to move. And so I went to visit her. Okay. I logged that hour.

00;08;17;08 - 00;08;18;03
Juan Gallo
In, of course.

00;08;18;03 - 00;08;39;25
Leslie Weiner
Yeah, but I, I went to visit her. There's another, person. You know, my neighbors know of what I do, and there's another one in the neighborhood. She asked me if I'd go over there and, sit, sit with her, which I've done before. And it's getting your mission out or reputation out there. People can call upon you, I know that.

00;08;39;25 - 00;08;54;15
Leslie Weiner
Yeah. If I can do it, I'll do it. Okay. And it's not so much I'm looking to, you know, win things over. I was I know God had movement in my heart when I was not. Well, but I had somebody to stand in for me.

00;08;54;17 - 00;08;56;14
Juan Gallo
When you said you were not well.

00;08;56;16 - 00;09;12;28
Leslie Weiner
I'm a I'm a cancer survivor. I've had something close to 20 somewhat surgeries, since 2010. And this year I've had a few and a couple of procedures and and, I'm not down about it. It's just the fact of life.

00;09;12;29 - 00;09;16;03
Juan Gallo
Yeah. Now, I was there for. I mean, I picked you up.

00;09;16;05 - 00;09;18;18
Leslie Weiner
Yeah. Yeah. You took me to the hospital for one of those.

00;09;18;18 - 00;09;20;12
Juan Gallo
Yeah. Yeah.

00;09;20;15 - 00;09;21;18
Leslie Weiner
Well, you're my witness.

00;09;21;18 - 00;09;45;12
Juan Gallo
I'm your witness. Yes, I am, I don't think you knew who I was when I picked you up, but that's a that's a whole nother. I had to sign a release. What, what do you think is unique about heart to heart outreach of South Florida? That has, led you to volunteer so many hours, the way that you do.

00;09;45;14 - 00;09;58;04
Leslie Weiner
That's a hard question to answer. Because if I'm if I have to dwell on the answer, there's so much, you know, I, I get, text messages from you guys.

00;09;58;06 - 00;09;59;10
Juan Gallo
Okay.

00;09;59;12 - 00;10;15;04
Leslie Weiner
Mrs. Jones is alone. Can someone go in Pembroke and visit with her or call them, give them a call, you know, at least once a week, or you do a food outreach, and I know you looking for drivers to bring food for shut ins.

00;10;15;06 - 00;10;22;29
Juan Gallo
But he's he's laughing because we argued about where the word shut ins came from, you know, like, is that, but yeah.

00;10;22;29 - 00;10;24;00
Leslie Weiner
Anyways, homebound.

00;10;24;00 - 00;10;24;15
Juan Gallo
Homebound.

00;10;24;20 - 00;10;50;13
Leslie Weiner
That's. Yeah. Well, I'm homebound. What if I'm traveling in my car? My GPS wants to take me home, but I. Yes, homebound or shuttling, so. Yeah. So when, the inspiration lies when I see the text messages because it's more than, just an outreach for someone like myself, but it's also an outreach to bring up volunteers to have on to say, you know something?

00;10;50;13 - 00;11;09;08
Leslie Weiner
I got a three hours. I'm not doing anything. Maybe I can go visit Mrs. Jones not too far from my house. And the sit there and talk, I did I do think that Covid, when it happened, put a dent in some of those things. But then again, it's kind of over now.

00;11;09;10 - 00;11;23;01
Juan Gallo
It is? Yeah. Do you think it's over in the same way that it's over for, for like, everybody, or do you think it's unique for people who are older, maybe a little bit more vulnerable to, you know, well, you know.

00;11;23;01 - 00;11;38;25
Leslie Weiner
When if you're if you're if you're vulnerable or you walk into someone's house and they're asthmatic or something, you need to have that background. You can visit and be healthy and wear a mask. It's like a bother anybody. And certainly you can talk with a mask, you know, on your face.

00;11;38;25 - 00;11;40;06
Juan Gallo
Yeah, yeah. For sure.

00;11;40;06 - 00;11;41;07
Leslie Weiner
I had one when I walked in.

00;11;41;07 - 00;11;59;11
Juan Gallo
You did know? No. All right. Let me ask you a few questions. I would like to do this. So you're 77 years young. And, thanks. Tell us about tell us about gas prices. When you were younger, what was the first car you had and what how did you what what was the gas prices like?

00;11;59;11 - 00;12;05;09
Leslie Weiner
It's not necessarily the first car I had. It's the first car I lifted.

00;12;05;12 - 00;12;06;27
Juan Gallo
Confession time. Wait. Hold on.

00;12;06;27 - 00;12;13;24
Leslie Weiner
Oh, okay. That's. I've been driving since, since I was 11. Gas price was like 39 and nine. I remember some.

00;12;13;25 - 00;12;14;20
Juan Gallo
39, what.

00;12;14;22 - 00;12;15;25
Leslie Weiner
$0.39?

00;12;15;25 - 00;12;17;19
Juan Gallo
Oh my goodness. Hello.

00;12;17;19 - 00;12;19;11
Leslie Weiner
So, like $0.40 a gallon.

00;12;19;13 - 00;12;22;29
Juan Gallo
Yeah. But you were also filling up like a 30 gallon tank, right.

00;12;23;01 - 00;12;24;15
Leslie Weiner
Oh, it's never that big 50.

00;12;24;21 - 00;12;25;29
Juan Gallo
Gallons was it was.

00;12;25;29 - 00;12;34;08
Leslie Weiner
It. My biggest problem was returning my father's car in the same spot where I took it. Oh, of course it was three on the column. It was hard for me to put it reverse, of course.

00;12;34;09 - 00;12;34;16
Juan Gallo
Yeah.

00;12;34;20 - 00;12;44;03
Leslie Weiner
He never he didn't quite catch me until I was maybe 13. He leaned on one of the cars. Its car is hot. Sorry.

00;12;44;03 - 00;12;47;03
Juan Gallo
That's funny, that's funny. So. Okay, so what I want.

00;12;47;04 - 00;12;48;01
Leslie Weiner
Painted, by the way.

00;12;48;01 - 00;12;52;18
Juan Gallo
I'm sure you have. And what kind of car was that, a Ford? A Ford?

00;12;52;18 - 00;12;52;29
Leslie Weiner
Ford?

00;12;52;29 - 00;12;55;16
Juan Gallo
Yeah, Ford.

00;12;55;19 - 00;12;59;07
Leslie Weiner
It was, you know, it's a good question. Is Ford. Ford?

00;12;59;07 - 00;12;59;27
Juan Gallo
Ford something?

00;12;59;27 - 00;13;00;17
Leslie Weiner
Ford something.

00;13;00;17 - 00;13;01;10
Juan Gallo
Yeah, yeah.

00;13;01;11 - 00;13;05;07
Leslie Weiner
But I also lifted the, his Fiat. He had a Fiat.

00;13;05;09 - 00;13;07;07
Juan Gallo
Yeah. Really? Okay.

00;13;07;10 - 00;13;09;26
Leslie Weiner
And I drove that around,

00;13;09;29 - 00;13;10;18
Juan Gallo
By the way. I mean.

00;13;10;24 - 00;13;11;28
Leslie Weiner
I had a 60 Chevy.

00;13;11;29 - 00;13;13;13
Juan Gallo
Okay, 60.

00;13;13;16 - 00;13;18;21
Leslie Weiner
Smash that one up. I had a 65 Chevy, pearl blue.

00;13;19;04 - 00;13;25;22
Leslie Weiner
Speaker in the back and the front that was they called that stereo. Oh right there had a manifold vacuum.

00;13;25;24 - 00;13;28;17
Juan Gallo
Oh interesting. Okay. Yeah.

00;13;28;20 - 00;13;34;28
Leslie Weiner
Wow I drove that till I killed it. Sorry I was a bad I was a bad boy. Bad again I repented.

00;13;35;04 - 00;13;46;15
Juan Gallo
Yeah. So you do you do realize that the word lifted means a borrowed without borrowed. Borrowed without permission. Yeah. Well, what was also. So you grew up where?

00;13;46;17 - 00;14;08;07
Leslie Weiner
I grew up in Long Island. Born of Brooklyn, which is on Long Island. And anyone could question me about that, but, born in Brooklyn. Then we moved to Kew Gardens, Queens, and then we moved out to Syosset. So most of my formative years, I guess you could say, was in Syosset, was there since, well, 11 okay.

00;14;08;09 - 00;14;09;07
Leslie Weiner
Was easy to drive.

00;14;09;14 - 00;14;18;28
Juan Gallo
So I remember I vaguely remember you showing me a picture of you in Columbia. I'm from Columbia. I was born in Beijing, Colombia. What were you doing in Columbia?

00;14;19;00 - 00;14;40;16
Leslie Weiner
I had friends there. I had, I'm friends with the mayor of Kaga, which I know. Yeah, too. You. I'm not pronouncing it correctly. What's the best I can do? And, I love it there in Bogota area. It's it's, like 70 degrees, 69, 70 during the day. 48 degrees at night. All the time.

00;14;40;20 - 00;14;41;14
Juan Gallo
Cold that night.

00;14;41;14 - 00;14;43;11
Leslie Weiner
Right? All the time. All you need is a blanket.

00;14;43;11 - 00;14;50;06
Juan Gallo
All you need is a bike. So they call they Cabo de la vida, which in English would mean the refrigerator or the freezer. Yeah, yeah.

00;14;50;11 - 00;14;54;12
Leslie Weiner
Yeah, but it was refreshing. Yeah. Mountain air. It's nice. It was. It was very.

00;14;54;12 - 00;14;58;01
Juan Gallo
Very solar energy in Florida.

00;14;58;04 - 00;15;17;25
Leslie Weiner
I had a business up in New York. I have, an optical place inside a drugstore, and, I will workaholic. I just never really went on vacation this time. I went on vacation, and I went to Florida and came during the January, February time, which was cold.

00;15;19;01 - 00;15;38;04
Leslie Weiner
And my mother lived down here. Okay. And my mother saw an opportunity for me to, maybe sell my business or open up another business down here. Drove around. I want to go to the beach, drove around more. Want to go to the beach? I ended up by my mother. Lived in coconut Creek, if anyone knows the area.

00;15;38;06 - 00;15;48;04
Leslie Weiner
So I went from Coconut Creek out to like Deerfield. I went back, I bought a house in and coconut and in, Del Rey.

00;15;48;10 - 00;15;50;08
Juan Gallo
Oh, okay. Yeah. Del Rey. Yeah.

00;15;50;08 - 00;15;51;15
Leslie Weiner
And then I went to the beach.

00;15;51;20 - 00;15;53;04
Juan Gallo
Oh, wow. What are your.

00;15;53;07 - 00;15;56;01
Leslie Weiner
This in 1983?

00;15;56;04 - 00;16;19;22
Juan Gallo
Man, I was just two years old. You look at that. Yeah, two years old. That's awesome. And then you've been in Florida ever since. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, 77 years young and you've had some health complications? Yeah. Cancer and stuff, but you still get around. Great. So what? I mean, like, sometimes I see, like, my dad, 69, is.

00;16;19;22 - 00;16;32;29
Juan Gallo
And he'll probably outlive me. He's in great shape, but sometimes I see people, like, already in their 60s and maybe early 70s who aren't doing so well. So what have you done to implement, healthy living?

00;16;32;29 - 00;17;00;07
Leslie Weiner
I can't I can't necessarily question someone's health, right? Because sometimes it'll get them down. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I was I went to a cancer group and I heard everyone talk about it, and that's okay too. But if you do let a disease define who you are, you never find out who you are. Therefore, it never defined me and and I carried on from there.

00;17;00;07 - 00;17;27;02
Leslie Weiner
So it's attitude. It's attitude and also support system. If someone's by themselves and you give them relevancy such as what heart to heart does because someone relevancy, then you're lifting them up, giving them a reason. And the reason can be very special. Whether they get to stay in their bed or stay in the house and mope and watch The Price is Right, or be able to maybe take that little walk with somebody.

00;17;27;02 - 00;17;32;09
Juan Gallo
The price is right. Tell it. What is that? What is that for? Well, you know, I was born in 81.

00;17;32;09 - 00;17;35;25
Leslie Weiner
I didn't say Matlock, but there's a new Matlock. Okay.

00;17;35;27 - 00;17;58;08
Juan Gallo
Yeah. Tell us. Well, that's a good segue. What was that like growing up? I mean, so I'm now at the age. I'm 43. I'm now at the age where. So in our office, we have as young as 22 to all the way up to an intern that's, now late 60s. So we have we have almost all the generations in our office.

00;17;58;08 - 00;18;06;22
Juan Gallo
But I'm at the age now where if I tell a joke about, like, if I mention an old movie, I have to now explain what that was. Okay?

00;18;06;22 - 00;18;07;13
Leslie Weiner
My advice.

00;18;07;13 - 00;18;07;24
Juan Gallo
To you.

00;18;07;28 - 00;18;23;12
Leslie Weiner
Is don't try it. Because for me, when you know, you know me, you know I kid around a lot, right? When I'm preaching, I use some humor in that, so I get everyone's attention. But going through, I use movie references.

00;18;23;18 - 00;18;25;02
Juan Gallo
All the time.

00;18;25;02 - 00;18;28;20
Leslie Weiner
Yeah, all the time. Because I know you're talking to me, right?

00;18;28;20 - 00;18;29;16
Juan Gallo
I'm talking to you.

00;18;29;16 - 00;18;32;28
Leslie Weiner
I know you think you talk.

00;18;33;00 - 00;19;00;28
Juan Gallo
I'm not going to ask which movie that was from. I might have just been life right there. That's good. Yeah, I think I think that's so interesting. You know, as you get older, you know, you start to experience things that you didn't experience before, but, but you seem to do well across generationally. Do you find yourself annoyed with the younger generations or do you find yourself, encouraged by the younger generation?

00;19;00;28 - 00;19;02;29
Juan Gallo
What do you what are you seeing out there?

00;19;03;01 - 00;19;15;09
Leslie Weiner
Well, when I see people, let me give you an example. We had a little affair over at, one of the nursing homes, and a lot of parents brought their younger children.

00;19;15;12 - 00;19;15;23
Juan Gallo
Okay.

00;19;15;29 - 00;19;38;05
Leslie Weiner
And I thought that was fantastic. Yeah. Younger parents, you know, your age and younger children. And they brought them to experience a facility. And when I see something like that, I'm encouraged because that means they're exposing them to something that's going on in the community. And sometimes we'll call it God's waiting room.

00;19;39;01 - 00;19;54;17
Leslie Weiner
Because of the age or because of their mental ability or the physicality. But in reality, it should not be. It should be a facility I'm eating. I have something to do and someone to talk to.

00;19;54;19 - 00;20;12;20
Juan Gallo
I've seen the same thing. I've seen where, you know, parents will bring younger kids, and I feel like there's almost like, an instant connection there, between the, you know, the kids and the older people. It's like that nurturing type of immediate connection. I don't even I don't even know how you know, how to explain what happens there.

00;20;12;20 - 00;20;15;19
Juan Gallo
But it's it's super important you take.

00;20;15;22 - 00;20;17;22
Leslie Weiner
And you would say, grandma, abuela.

00;20;17;25 - 00;20;18;18
Juan Gallo
Abuela. Yeah.

00;20;18;20 - 00;20;25;29
Leslie Weiner
Abuela. Yeah. So you have some people that are still some kids. Yeah. Maybe they don't have grandma. Maybe they don't have grandpa.

00;20;26;01 - 00;20;26;19
Juan Gallo
Yeah.

00;20;26;22 - 00;20;30;07
Leslie Weiner
So the kids will go there for an older person than that.

00;20;30;07 - 00;20;35;07
Juan Gallo
But how do you say grandma? New Yorker?

00;20;35;10 - 00;20;35;19
Leslie Weiner
Your.

00;20;35;19 - 00;20;40;23
Juan Gallo
Mom, your mom. How are you doing? That's good.

00;20;40;24 - 00;20;43;13
Leslie Weiner
Hey, grandma, you got some soup on the table there.

00;20;43;15 - 00;20;50;14
Juan Gallo
So you're okay? So you're from New York, but is that your, is that your complete background or, you know. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

00;20;50;15 - 00;20;52;19
Leslie Weiner
I did some little traveling here and there, but. Yeah.

00;20;52;25 - 00;20;55;00
Juan Gallo
Does it tell us about your parents?

00;20;55;02 - 00;21;19;29
Leslie Weiner
Oh, God. My mother was a beautiful, beautiful woman. And I was such a bad boy. She would catch me. My dad wouldn't. My dad was, enterprising. He was a caterer. Oh, and he started off of anyone's listening for New York. My age. I'm sure they are. But my father had a shack in LeFrak city. It was a big, let's say, condo area built in Queens.

00;21;20;01 - 00;21;26;07
Leslie Weiner
The shack had electricity running to it, and he made lunches and breakfast and lunch in the shack.

00;21;26;24 - 00;21;56;24
Leslie Weiner
And it was a great setup. My grandmother on my father's side had a bed and breakfast up in the, up in the mountains, the Borscht Belt and my father then got a a food counter inside a drugstore and there vanished. There's one in our area and that's silly. Vanished. My mom was my mom would help dad and be with us and my sister and I, and, that was growing up.

00;21;56;24 - 00;21;58;10
Leslie Weiner
My my dad was a great guy.

00;21;58;17 - 00;22;00;05
Juan Gallo


00;22;00;20 - 00;22;05;06
Leslie Weiner
Even when he caught me, he was very reasonable. There.

00;22;05;06 - 00;22;09;09
Juan Gallo
Was a lot of catching in your life, A lot of getting caught. Yeah.

00;22;09;11 - 00;22;11;22
Leslie Weiner
Yeah, yeah, I was a bad boy.

00;22;11;24 - 00;22;15;08
Juan Gallo
And. And were your parents also born here and, you know, New York?

00;22;15;08 - 00;22;20;12
Leslie Weiner
Yeah. My parents. Yeah. Okay. I'm a second generation American.

00;22;20;14 - 00;22;21;12
Juan Gallo
Okay?

00;22;21;15 - 00;22;25;19
Leslie Weiner
Because of my grandparents. They're from Austria and Russia.

00;22;25;21 - 00;22;29;15
Juan Gallo
Austria and Russia. Yeah. Wow. Okay. That's interesting.

00;22;29;17 - 00;22;57;28
Leslie Weiner
Okay. That's how we were talking about, talking about before, when you have, when you have, Jewish people coming from, whether it's Germany or Russia, Austria and that area, they try to converse and they spoke Hebrew as well, and they come to one melting pot. They couldn't converse with one another. Therefore another language was created, and that's called Yiddish, Yiddish, Yiddish.

00;22;58;01 - 00;23;21;05
Leslie Weiner
So, like for states, do you understand, to has the means, do you hear? And when I'm at the nursing homes, they they look at me, I say, I'm a I'm completed. I'm a Judeo Christian. But when the and I have some Jews that come in and I'll kid around with them with some Yiddish and they will say, I have them there in my there, right there.

00;23;21;06 - 00;23;42;02
Juan Gallo
That's funny. Okay. So I want to clarify a few things. So you mentioned you mentioned, Judeo Christian. You mentioned, you know, these homes you mentioned preaching in them. I mean, as the executive director of Heart to Heart, we are a faith based organization, but not I can only think of a handful of volunteers that actually go in and preach.

00;23;42;02 - 00;23;45;29
Juan Gallo
What does that mean? What do you mean? You go in and preach?

00;23;46;01 - 00;23;50;20
Leslie Weiner
That might be the easiest question.

00;23;50;22 - 00;24;12;09
Leslie Weiner
So, a long time ago, 25, somewhat years ago, I went I, I was new to this Christian thing. So I asked my friend John, John, what do we do? What do you do? I mean, I'm looking for him as a mentor. He says, well, I go to this Bible study, and then I also go to the nursing home.

00;24;12;12 - 00;24;25;15
Leslie Weiner
The. So great. I want to see what you do. So I went to a nursing home. I said, don't talk to bed. I went back and I sang to a lady, and there was Gloria. I sang the old song Gloria.

00;24;26;07 - 00;24;47;15
Leslie Weiner
And, I went back the third time. He told me you're teaching next week. He said, oh, no, I'm not. And when it came to that, that point, I thought, maybe I can do that. It took me a year just to figure out if I want to do it. And I write my own. You know, I have something in my mind about relevancy.

00;24;47;15 - 00;24;59;09
Leslie Weiner
All the things that I might, I myself will encounter. I'll write about it. I'll find textual texts, you know, proof, text to show, you know, just show what's going on.

00;24;59;13 - 00;25;09;10
Juan Gallo
Ask him. Well, let's I want to thank you so much for being on Heart to Heart Senior Radio. I appreciate you personally, my friend. Thank you. And, thank you for being on.

00;25;09;10 - 00;25;10;04
Leslie Weiner
I'll be here all week.

00;25;10;12 - 00;25;20;26
Juan Gallo
Awesome. Thank you so much for tuning in again. This is your host, Juan Gallo at Heart2Heart Senior Radio. Because every Hart has a story and we're here to listen.