← Kennedy Saves the World
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A
Foreign.
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Hello, and welcome to this episode of Kennedy Saves the World. Do you ever look around your city and, you know, at Christmas time, we are so deep in our own tunnel of what we're gonna buy other people, and, you know, how are we gonna spend this money? And you start to look around your city, and if you have some awareness about your surroundings or yourself, you realize there are a lot of people out there who are having a very tough time. And it's pretty amazing to take a break from our tunnel vision and pop up for a little while and see someone who has really. In addition to his day job, which extends into the wee hours of the morning and deep into the night, he feeds people in need. He gathers clothing and donations and toys from friends and connections that he has made. And people who need the help know where to find him. Because his car is wrapped in all sorts of music regalia. Anything having to do with Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page, of course, Jim Morrison is on his car. He's got decals all over his car. And it is the bat signal to people who are hungry, to people who are cold, to people who are down on their luck that they have a place to turn. Every single Wednesday, he goes to Penn Station. And he. Without judgment, he gives from his heart. And he was inspired by his mother. And he's here with me now. Noel McGuire. Welcome to Kennedy Saves the World.
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B
Kennedy. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
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A
Yeah. So tell me how this started. Because you have people who now know you are someone in the city that they can rely on because oftentimes the government fails them.
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B
This is true. And.
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A
And if it weren't for kind people like you, a lot of people wouldn't have somewhere to turn.
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B
I wouldn't think. I'm 11 years into this. That's when it was an innocent thing. A very wealthy guy who lives across the street in a penthouse apartment on Park Avenue came to me. I used to drive his kid to school before Uber, and we used to talk all the time, sports or whatever it was. And one day he's like, what are you doing tomorrow morning for Thanksgiving? I said I couldn't get it out quick enough. I said, oh, I'm watching football and I'm gonna be hanging out with my family. He said, no, no. First thing in the morning, I go. It's funny. I get off at 8 o'. Clock. I do the graveyard shift for 32 years.
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A
So you've been a doorman for 32 years?
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B
42.
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A
42.
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B
Another building.
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A
Okay. On the Upper east side.
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B
On the Upper east side.
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A
Moving on up. Like the Jeffersons.
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B
Yeah, exactly. I mean, the tenants I had in the first building, two moved out before I got there, but was Art Carney.
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A
Wow.
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B
And John Steinbeck. And the one. Yeah. And the one who still lived there while I was there was Fish. Abe Vogoda. Yeah.
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A
He was alive for so long, even though rumors of his Death plagued him.
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B
5 to 94, he never looked different.
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A
Yeah. Isn't that amazing?
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B
It was crazy. The shows, the Godfather, Barney Miller. He never changed a bit. And a great guy. He was a great guy. But anyway, I left there to get a job on Park Avenue, and what happens? I really didn't want the night shift, but a guy was sick and my boss offered it. And at the time, I had like, Monday or Tuesday off, and he's like, I'll give you the weekends off. And I was 30 years old. I make weekends off. And I'm 30.
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A
Thirty.
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B
Yeah, right. I'll try it. And 32 years later, I stayed in the job, but I also learned to work another job, you know, I've been doing for 30 years. I'm in the funeral business.
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A
Wow. Yeah.
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B
I'm a Paul Bear.
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A
I did not know that.
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B
Yeah. Yeah. I work for one of the most prestigious funeral homes in New York. It's a great place.
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A
So you are vertically integrated. You go from fancy people, homeless to.
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B
The grave, to disease. Yeah.
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A
That is. That is incredible.
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B
So it's the. The biggest, you know, the big New Yorkers, as they say.
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A
That's heavy.
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B
Yeah. And history seems to follow you. Yeah, but I love it. I love it. So anyway, he asked me what I'm doing on Thanksgiving, and I said, you know, like, everything. I was going to be with my family. No. Would you like to help me feed the homeless? And he was a multimillionaire. I'm like, really? I said, all right. So I called my wife. We live in a small town in Boonton, New Jersey, and she took the bus in that day, and we went down. And that day changed my life. I can't even explain how it happened, but I walked out and I said to my wife, wow, that was such a weird, wild experience for me. I think I could do more for the homeless. So the next year, I did a fundraiser on Facebook. And honestly, I really thought I was just going to raise a few hundred dollars, five or six hundred dollars. And within two weeks, I did nine. Six hundred dollars.
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A
Wow. Yeah.
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B
It was all just friends. All friends. I grew up. I guess I got a lot of.
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A
Friends because people honestly want to do something and they feel helpless. And, you know, you hear stories about charities scamming people, and 90% of it don't go to the place it's intended. And so people get frustrated and they look around, they see people in need, they want help, and they feel kind of paralyzed because they don't know what to do.
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B
Right. These clothing charities, just what you just said. A lot of it gets donated, and then they cut it into rags and sell it to places to do cleaning instead of it being donated to people who put it on their back.
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A
Not know that.
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B
Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's. It's, you know, that's been going on for years. But so. And then my daughter's friend, her name Kelly, she was a bartender in New Jersey at the Reservoir Tavern in Boonton. And she said, I'll help you out. She did 7,000 at the bar. So we did like 16,000.
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A
And that was just your first year?
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B
First year. And then the next year I said my mother growing up was a receptionist at a Church on 71st and 2nd called St. John's the Martyr. When I was 10, 11, 12 years old, I would go over and be with her and the doorbell rang. Back in those days, homeless people would go to the back of a church and the person working there would be kind enough to give them a sandwich and a drink and whatever, a piece of cake. So my mother used to have me making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a kid. So that locked up into me about, I think, part of it when I walked out of the Bowery Mission, that, you know, I can do more for the homeless. I remember doing it for my mother. So I'll start a foundation. I'll put it in her name. And it's been off and running in 10 years by myself with all, mostly my middle class friends. I'd say 85% of my middle class friends raised $200,000.
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A
Holy underwear. That's beautiful. Yeah.
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B
I'm only down to 20,000 left now. And now for the first time, I'm actually trying to find some outside people other than my friends that may want to help me out and send a donation.
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A
Where can people donate?
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B
Well, they can donate to my home address. It's 76 Dixon Avenue, Boonton, New Jersey. You could send a check and make it out to the Ellen McGuire Foundation. I am a 5013.
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I. I'm always on 34th Street. You can come down one day and volunteer and if you wanted to, you know, help out, so.
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A
So tell me how that works on Wednesdays. What does it look like, what do you do?
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B
So I have all the time, five folding tables, six footers in the back of my Suburban with all, with all the stickers. And I go to Restaurant Depot or Costco or BJ's and I spend about 350, $50 on soda water, potato chips, cookies and a variety of other snacks. Then I have three restaurants. A guy named Alibaba, another guy named Ali and Haki. He brings pizza from Champion. Another place is Bites from Ali. They bring the food and I get there at 8 o', clock, open the tables, get everything ready and they bring the food out.
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A
This is after you've been working all night long?
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B
Yeah, then I go to work after it all? Yeah, I go to work after it all. But on my free time, I drive all over Manhattan to people's buildings that have dormant and they leave bags of clothing for me.
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A
Oh, that's amazing.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So you were able to give out food, clothing. I know that you also find gifts for kids, especially this time of year.
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B
Over the years I bought a few air conditioners for kids that had asthma. I bought many bicycles. I've bought Amazon stuff specifically to people that are in shelters that can get this stuff. I have a lot of single parents that come down there living in shelters with four or five kids.
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Yeah, I mean, I mean, I help everybody out.
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A
What kind of stories do you hear from people? Like, what do they tell you about?
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B
Well, it was times during COVID where I got a lot of people that actually ended up having to move out of their houses because they ended up losing their jobs and they couldn't pay their rent.
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I get a lot of guys that come up to me and say, I just got released from Rikers island, you know, and somebody told me this is the place to come, that you would help me out. You get me a pair of sneakers, you get me a pair of pants and a jacket. One thing I've been doing, like if it's snowing, we've fed during snowstorms because they'll line up, they don't care, they'll come and they'll line up in a snowstorm. We always took advantage over the years that we always had scaffolding where we do it on 34th street between 7th and 8th, but there's so much construction going on there now. We're a little concerned about this winter and not have. And I bought one of those 10 foot canopies, but I only have so much space to put in my car, so I can't get four of them and open Them up with the tables and with all the buys in with all the. And then people are kind enough to always. Things homeless people always need. Number one, socks. I collect backpacks. I don't even need them. New sleeping bags, blankets and sheets and pillows for people that live in shelters. They get the worst of the worst sheets and pillows. So I can give them a nice. Nothing like a nice blanket, you know what I mean? Some people come down with good down quilt blankets for people. I mean there's unlimited. Like I do 80% men, I do 20% women, but I do about 12 to 15 kids. Sometimes I can do 30 kids around the holidays because then they'll, you know, in Easter, I mean, I used to holiday.
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A
What does that mean? What do you give them?
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B
I give them. I just try to get them toys. I try on a nice way, ask them on the side what they like. One kid will tell me a remote control car. I mean, obviously I can't afford to buy one kid a hundred and fifty dollar gift. But you know, $30 here and $50 here. I also run a lottery with my childhood friends and the lottery is this the Powerball of the mega millions. If they go over 400 million on Facebook, they sign on to like buy in. It's $10 a person. So let's say when it was a billion dollars, which was only about a month ago, I can get as many as 80 people and then I'll go to cash and see if we win. If we don't win, we may not win, but I may get $300 back of the 800 that I spent. And they let me use that money to buy gifts for the kids.
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A
Oh, that's amazing.
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B
And I've been doing that for years and it's been a great success. It's been a great. People get crazy. What do you mean you didn't post it yet? I want to get in the pool. I want to get in the pool. And I picked up. It's the weirdest thing. Don't ask me why. I don't know if it's the funeral business part of it. I name every one of the pools and it's usually about somebody who died that week.
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A
Wow.
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B
So Hulk Hogan was one right. Now, Mean Joe Green just died two days ago. He was a football player for Pittsburgh. And then, you know, so on and so on. And then if it's not somebody who died, then I'll place. I'll pick somebody that's in a band.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Because of the music connection with me. But I think one of the greatest things about it in 11 years is that I got some great friendships from volunteers, really good people.
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A
How many people show up to help you out?
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B
Well, this Thanksgiving, I had 45.
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A
Really?
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B
And about 15 of them were children. Just parents brought them down and put them behind the table.
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A
Just like your mom did.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Just like the guy who got you into this.
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B
Yeah. And I think that's a great thing if you have children, you know, it doesn't always have to be. Go bring them to Bowery Mission on Thanksgiving. You could go any time of the year. You can go any Saturday. Or find out when your local food shelter feeds people and send them down. They could help stack, you know, cans on shelves and things like that. It just when they meet the people on the line, they see the children, the children see them. It's a good reality. Everybody's got their heads and computers and their phones and their iPads. They really, really need to know what's going on in the world.
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A
Yeah. And how connected we are.
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B
Right.
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A
Because there are a lot of people who are, you know, just one or two steps, one or two paychecks away.
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B
Oh, absolutely.
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A
Needing what you provide. Don't go anywhere more. Kennedy saves the world right after this. This is Ainsley Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52 episode podcast series, the Life of Jesus.
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B
A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort and understanding of the greatest story ever told. Listen and follow now@foxnewspodcasts.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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A
What is one of the bigger misconceptions people have about homeless people? Those in need, people you serve?
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B
The misconception is that they're lazy. And the thing is, you don't know what their mental status is. You don't know if they're alcoholics. You don't know if they're a drug addict. You don't know if they just hit hard times and they're depressed because they had, you know, we, some, we all hit a little bit of our lives go like this, but for some of them, it just seems to go down, down, down, and they just seem to, can't, can't get out of there when it, when it hits rock bottom. And I see people that are rock bottom. People showing up on my line with no shoes on. Yeah. People that come on. That's the greatest thing I get out of it. Like, if somebody gets on the line, they don't have a jacket. My five, six girls that are volunteers, they get on it right away. They start tearing open the bags that come out of my car and they try to locate a jacket and walk over and put a coat on the person. While they're waiting on the line, multiple different restaurants have come down and volunteered. I'm always open to anybody who has a restaurant in New York City. I would say, hey, Noel, I would love to be involved. They can come down at 8 o'. Clock. It's in front of 249 W 34th St between 7th and 8th Avenue. 8 o' clock every Wednesday. It could be raining hard, come down and it could be snowing. If you can make it down during the snowstorm, we're there. Like I said, if you feel you want to help in another way, you get my mailing address. And you could mail stuff from Amazon. There's never enough socks. You could never send me enough socks. Hats, gloves during the winter months.
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And even food. Like anybody who has a connection, I can take expired food. I've had a great seven day croissants for years. They had a place in New Jersey by Railway or by the Meadowlands. And I would go out there and they would give me 40, 60 cases. I couldn't get enough in the car and I gave them out for years. One time I went to Costco and they had.
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75 cases of expired Milky Ways. I gave them out to everybody online.
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A
Nice.
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B
Yeah. I had to stay away. I'm diabetic. You gotta understand, I'm diabetic. I had to look in the backseat and see, you know, three musketeers and the amount that was back there. But I showed control not to hit it.
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But it's no, it's been a phenomenal experience. I throw a Christmas party every year. I have it coming up December 13th at a church on 90th street at like 6 o'. Clock. It's $20 a person. Come in the door, pays for your drink and food. And then I raffle off things. I'm always looking for things to raffle off. So if you're a guy who owns a company and you want to give me Met tickets, jet tickets, Ranger tickets to raffle off, these things would help me out tremendously.
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Just I'm still going strong, as they say. I think in a year and a half I'll retire from the doorman because that'll be like 44 years.
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A
That's incred. Yeah.
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B
And I got great tenants. I almost don't want to leave. But, you know, you have to learn to live a little bit, especially working.
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A
I'm sure your wife says the same.
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B
Thing, but she's A little older than me, too. She's 67. She just retired from her business. You know, and that's another thing. My wife owned a summer camp and a daycare center in New Jersey for 30 years. I worked for her for 30 years as a youth counselor, too. I loved it. I freaking loved it.
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A
Where do you get this energy?
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B
People say it all the time. It's not Red Bull. I don't touch any of that stuff. That'll kill you. If you're 60 years old, drinking that stuff. It's poison.
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A
Yes.
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B
I don't mean to say that against them, but. Yeah, I just. I don't know where I get it. I don't know. Maybe it's my mother in heaven giving me a kick. Get off the couch.
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A
I mean, I believe that.
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B
Yeah. Yeah, she's been. Yeah. I've cried a few times when I've had a really good night, a really good night. But not every night's great down there, you know, it's like anything. Like last night, I had a. You know, I mean.
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A
But that's a testament to your commitment. Because times, you know, when it's tough, when, you know, people are fighting, when there's just a bad vibe, and you continue to do it week after week, and it's something greater than yourself, honestly.
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B
I did have a couple of days in my life in 11 years that I was like, this is it. I'm done. And then a couple of days would pass. I'm like, wait a second. I just can't do it like that. I just gotta mark it up and wait for another good night. And weirdly enough, the next week would be just great. Something great would happen on the following week. And a lot of it is just the way people would come over and thank you at the end of the night, you know, I really can't tell you how much I appreciate you being here and you giving me things. And it means a lot because there's not a lot of places that do that, you know, that just week in and week out can give them the ability to. I get a lot of stuff, believe it or not, from friends who, family members, pass away. Right. They have all their clothes. They kind of don't want to keep the clothes of their brother because it reminds them of their brother. And they have to clean out apartments for that reason. So they'll call me and say, listen, my brother died suddenly. Whatever, a heart attack at 58. Come over. I want to give you everything. And they would give me 14 big black bags of stuff, and it would Be awesome to put it on the table. And before I give any of the sneakers out, I would have my girls walk the line and they look at their people's feet to see who really needed it. Because there is a greediness sometimes, of course. You know, And I. And they would say, oh, wait, this guy really needs sneakers. What size for you? And they would run down, they'd open up the bag, they'd search it, and they'd run and they'd give it to them on the line. So another great thing in the town from New Jersey and Boonton is, like, during Halloween, I'd say, listen, anybody who doesn't want their kids eating candy, right, because they get so much. Yeah, you gotta see the amount of candy that gets dropped at my house after Halloween. And I love it. You know, I get bowls and I send new volunteers that have never worked for me, the bowls. And they would walk the line and they would give out the candy to the people on the line. It's. It's. No, it's super rewarding. It is. It's super rewarding. It pays nothing, but it pays in another way, you know, and hopefully you.
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A
Will encourage other people and especially with the kids who come to volunteer, a new generation of people who see this mission against something greater than themselves. Because when there are people like you in this world who are hard working and selfless, like, I know we're going to be okay, right?
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B
Yeah. And, yeah, I've been working two jobs my whole life. Honestly, I've always worked two jobs.
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A
Sounds like you're working five jobs.
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B
Yeah. I don't know, but there'll be a time where I'll send you a picture of me somewhere upstate in a house that has a lake right up to the back of the dock. And all my friends will be having drinks socially. And I'm the diabetic, will be having the fishing rod, like, calling out to the fish, like, where are they? Because I don't really have good luck. But I love to do it. But I mean, like, I have one of my childhood friends, Danny James Cain, and he has two. Two kids. And his daughter last year in her school, like, did a fundraiser for me, and she raised like $1,000. And then she got, you know, another thousand dollars worth of socks. I have other kids that go to Catholic school in the Story of Queens, and they've done these things for me. If you have children and you're wondering, how could you help me? I need backpacks. If they could collect a dozen backpacks that use. Don't have to be new. Call me and I'll come by and I'll pick them up. It may take me a couple of days. It doesn't happen overnight. But those are the kind of things. Backpacks, homeless. That's how they live. Everything's out of a backpack.
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A
Blankets.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Socks.
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B
Yeah. And I have people do the. Carry the care packages where they'll. They'll buy chapstick and toothpaste. And the list is on. You can look it up, the list of all the things you can put in these things. And they'll do them during the holidays. And you may have to spend $200, but you can get 12 kids to sit at a table and put them all together. I've had many families come together and ask me, what can I do? Can you make 125 peanut butter and jelly sandwich? They're. And they would come down with 125. And they would walk the line and give them out to everybody. And I think that's the good part of it, too. Not just put them on the table and they can walk by and take them, have them give them out. Just to see the ones that say thank you. And you get that good feeling, that really good feeling. I don't know when. I don't think it'll ever stop. You know, I think once I'm retired, I'll continue to do this. Maybe if something good comes my way down the road, I'll do it two days a week.
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A
Well, I wouldn't. I hope you win the billion dollar lottery. I really, really do. Like, I'm pulling for you.
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B
So it was about 40. Know the people.
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A
Yes. That's okay. You can spread it. And I know you're still gonna do amazing, great things. You have inspired me so much. I want to come down and see you on a Wednesday morning on 34th between 7th and 8th. I want to see how your operation works. I want to meet some of the people that you help.
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B
Sounds good. I would love to have you.
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A
Yeah. This is. This is so inspirational. And so people listening in other towns, they can take inspiration and maybe start.
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B
Oh, it's more easier than you think. It really is. It's all about just telling somebody you're gonna do something like that. And you'd be surprised how many people come forward and join you.
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A
Yeah.
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B
You know, there's people out there they want to help. There's a lot of people that want to help. People don't think that. I know. We walk past each other in the street, nobody's paying attention to say but there's people out there that care.
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A
Yeah. And the good ones will find each other. Noel McGuire, thank you so much.
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B
No problem.
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A
Thank you for all you do and great conversation. I appreciate it.
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B
No, very nice to meet you. Very nice to meet you.
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A
Thank you, dear. And remember, blankets, socks, backpacks, you can do it. This ASMN, Kennedy Saves the World. Along with Noel McGuire. I'm Kennedy.
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Listen ad free. With a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts and Amazon prime, members can listen to this show ad free on the Amazon music app. Oh, go ahead and leave me a review while you're there. I'd love to hear what you have to say. You've been listening to Kennedy Saves the World on the Fox News Podcast Network.