In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex dive into the odd history of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows – one of the largest organizations most Americans have never heard of. At their peak, they had over a million members and thousands of lodges across the country. They cared for widows and orphans, built hospitals, and more than 800 cemeteries. And then, slowly, they disappeared.
If you’ve ever wondered why community feels harder to find than it used to – or why civic life seems to be quietly fading – this episode might be the most important conversation you hear this week. It’s a history lesson that hits surprisingly close to home.
ARMY ACTIONS
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Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org
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Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/
Take The 10 Level Challenge, “the hero’s journey for service” at 10LevelChallenge.org
1 out of every 3 Americans carries medical debt. It’s the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the country – and the single greatest predictor of whether you end up in it isn’t your income or your insurance. It’s whether or not you get sick.
Allison Sesso is a normal person leading an abnormal (and awesome) nonprofit doing something about it. Undue Medical Debt has erased nearly $50 billion in medical debt for over 31 million people!
In this episode, she breaks down exactly what to do if you get a bill you can’t afford, why you should never put medical debt on a credit card, how debt collectors acquire debt for pennies on the dollar, how they’ve flipped this very same model on its head to abolish debt, and how you can partner with them to erase a crazy amount of medical debt in your community.
ARMY ACTIONS
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Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org
Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks
Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/
Take The 10 Level Challenge, “the hero’s journey for service” at 10LevelChallenge.org
1 out of every 3 Americans carries medical debt. It’s the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the country – and the single greatest predictor of whether you end up in it isn’t your income or your insurance. It’s whether or not you get sick.
Allison Sesso is a normal person leading an abnormal (and awesome) nonprofit doing something about it. Undue Medical Debt has erased nearly $50 billion in medical debt for over 31 million people!
In this episode, she breaks down exactly what to do if you get a bill you can’t afford, why you should never put medical debt on a credit card, how debt collectors acquire debt for pennies on the dollar, how they’ve flipped this very same model on its head to abolish debt, and how you can partner with them to erase a crazy amount of medical debt in your community.
ARMY ACTIONS
Subscribe to the podcast and rate & review us!
Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org
Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks
Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/
Take The 10 Level Challenge, “the hero’s journey for service” at 10LevelChallenge.org
53% of Americans ages 18-29 say talking to strangers is exhausting. But small interactions with everyday strangers actually make your life more meaningful. In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex dig into why everyday human connection has declined and how you can integrate it into your life. This one is a reminder that community isn’t always built through grand gestures, it starts with just saying hello. You weren’t designed for isolation, you were designed to be in community with others.
ARMY ACTIONS
Subscribe to the podcast and rate & review us!
Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org
Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks
Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/
Take The 10 Level Challenge, “the hero’s journey for service” at 10LevelChallenge.org
Economic mobility has dropped 45% in recent decades. The American Dream – doing better than your parents did – is getting harder to reach. But Leigh Mansberg and Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South are doing something about it. In this conversation with Bill, Leigh breaks down how Junior Achievement uses experiential learning to unlock economic mobility for kids K-12 – and why giving a child hope might be the most important thing a community can do. This episode will change how you think about education, opportunity, and what it means to invest in the next generation. This episode is for everyone who wants to see the American Dream continue on through future generations.
ARMY ACTIONS
Subscribe to the podcast and rate & review us!
Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org
Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks
Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/
Take The 10 Level Challenge, “the hero’s journey for service” at 10LevelChallenge.org
Economic mobility has dropped 45% in recent decades. The American Dream – doing better than your parents did – is getting harder to reach. But Leigh Mansberg and Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South are doing something about it. In this conversation with Bill, Leigh breaks down how Junior Achievement uses experiential learning to unlock economic mobility for kids K-12 – and why giving a child hope might be the most important thing a community can do. This episode will change how you think about education, opportunity, and what it means to invest in the next generation. This episode is for everyone who wants to see the American Dream continue on through future generations.
ARMY ACTIONS
Subscribe to the podcast and rate & review us!
Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org
Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks
Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/
Take The 10 Level Challenge, “the hero’s journey for service” at 10LevelChallenge.org
What if the most radical thing you could do was just show up?
In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex dive into Shane Claiborne’s book The Irresistible Revolution – and the idea that changing the world has never required extraordinary people. Just ordinary ones who refuse to look away. They talk about what it really means to let your life answer the question, why the most important move you can make is toward broken places instead of away from them, and what it looks like when normal folks stop asking “why doesn’t someone do something?” and start asking “what can I do?”
This one isn’t a call to be louder or more impressive. It’s a reminder that the life you’re already living might be exactly the one the world needs.
ARMY ACTIONS
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Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org
Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks
Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/
Take The 10 Level Challenge, “the hero’s journey for service” at 10LevelChallenge.org
Frank Schwartz is the CEO of F3 Nation, a 100,000-man volunteer led movement built around fitness, fellowship, and faith. Men at 5,000+ locations worldwide show up at 5:30am – no matter if it’s raining, snowing, or freezing – for free peer-led workouts. But the workout is just the entry point. What F3 is really doing is cultivating a brotherhood and teaching men how to lead, so they can take that home to their families and community.
If you’ve ever felt like there has to be more than just going through the motions of life, then this episode is for you. And if there’s a man in your life who needs to hear this, send it to him.
Find an F3 workout near you at F3Nation.com. They’re free and open to all men.
ARMY ACTIONS
Subscribe to the podcast and rate & review us!
Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org
Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks
Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/
Take The 10 Level Challenge, “the hero’s journey for service” at 10LevelChallenge.org
Frank Schwartz is the CEO of F3 Nation, a 100,000-man volunteer led movement built around fitness, fellowship, and faith. Men at 5,000+ locations worldwide show up at 5:30am – no matter if it’s raining, snowing, or freezing – for free peer-led workouts. But the workout is just the entry point. What F3 is really doing is cultivating a brotherhood and teaching men how to lead, so they can take that home to their families and community.
If you’ve ever felt like there has to be more than just going through the motions of life, then this episode is for you. And if there’s a man in your life who needs to hear this, send it to him.
Find an F3 workout near you at F3Nation.com. They’re free and open to all men.
ARMY ACTIONS
Subscribe to the podcast and rate & review us!
Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org
Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks
Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/
Take The 10 Level Challenge, “the hero’s journey for service” at 10LevelChallenge.org
Researchers at Harvard analyzed the tax records of 40 million Americans to answer one of the most debated questions in the country: does the American Dream still exist? The good news is that the dream is alive, but where you grow up dramatically shapes your odds of reaching it.
In this Shop Talk, Bill breaks down the 4 factors researchers found that consistently predict whether children will flourish. Turns out, 3 of them aren’t programs or policies. They’re things that An Army of Normal Folks can actually help build for our families and for those most at-risk of not achieving their dreams!
ARMY ACTIONS
Subscribe to the podcast and rate & review us!
Signup to join the Army, visit NormalFolks.org
Follow us on social media @ArmyofNormalFolks
Join or start an ANF local service club at https://normalfolks.org/service-clubs/
Take The 10 Level Challenge, “the hero’s journey for service” at 10LevelChallenge.org
