0:10

Welcome to Heal Talk Tuesdays with Liza.

0:14

Where transformation begins

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as we evoke embrace the evolve.

0:21

Greetings Greetings Greetings

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and welcome to Real Talk with Liza.

0:26

Today I have a special guest

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and you know none other

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that are retired and

0:31

chief of police of Glendale,

0:36

Carl Povilaitis. Welcome Carl. Thank you Liza. Nice to be here.

0:40

Right. With all these lights.

0:41

With all these lights.

0:44

Well I'm going to be talking

0:44

just a little bit with you about you,

0:49

about your history, about your

0:49

passion, about the things you love.

0:54

And then of course the

0:54

thing that we all love, the

0:57

reason we are here

0:57

together, is the yellow duckies.

1:01

Right. So. It is duck season.

1:04

Is duck season. Is it really duck season?

1:08

No. It's duck season in one day.

1:09

Right.

1:12

That's one thing I didn't even check

1:12

to see where is the real duck season.

1:19

I think that's in the fall but I totally

1:19

remember it's been a long time.

1:23

But it's duck season in

1:23

Glendale for a yellow duck.

1:26

And that's next month. That's next month. So.

1:29

So the adoptions are open. It's duck season.

1:32

It is duck season. It's going to be a fun not

1:33

only a fun event but today

1:37

is going to be fun because

1:37

we're going to do real talk.

1:42

We're going to do humor and

1:42

this is why I love this gentleman.

1:47

He can be serious when he needs to

1:47

be serious but who he is is just human.

1:52

But all heart. That's what I know you as.

1:57

So thank you for saying yes to

1:57

this interview.

2:04

My pleasure. You served with the Glendale Police Department for

2:06

approximately 32 years correct.

2:09

I did. Yeah.

2:11

So I was a little bit worried about the general community for the set. I'll add maybe get ahead of your questions

2:12

but because I didn't grow up in Glendale.

2:16

But Glendale has become home. I came here in 1990 when I

2:17

was hired by the Glendale Police

2:21

Department and shortly

2:21

after that I moved to Glendale.

2:24

And so Glendale really really become home. So I've had the

2:26

pleasure of both working

2:29

and really serving the

2:29

Canadian Glendale and

2:32

living here for the last

2:32

30, almost 33 years

2:34

now with 32 years

2:34

of police department.

2:37

Wonderful. I know I've known you since

2:38

you were in the black and white.

2:43

Yeah. I was finished. You were just listening.

2:47

And black hair. Yeah. I'm full head in here.

2:51

Things changed over 30 seconds.

2:54

We changed. We evolved. We evolved.

2:57

We evolved. We evolved. Yes.

3:00

We evolved. One of the things is how

3:01

has our community changed?

3:07

You know, but then the restaurant.

3:10

Well, this is a good food here. I can testify.

3:13

I can testify. That's a number of lunch meetings.

3:17

But you know, one of those

3:17

are a unique community.

3:20

It is a very, very special community that

3:20

I've gotten to know in a number of ways.

3:25

Obviously one of them is working

3:25

in the police department and being

3:28

very actively involved in community

3:28

policing throughout my career.

3:32

I've gotten to know

3:32

various classes, community

3:35

and the richness of the cultures

3:35

that are here in Glendale.

3:40

And it's like, you know, you

3:40

can find any kind of food, which

3:42

is almost like you can find

3:42

any kind of people in Glendale.

3:45

But I think, you know, what I also

3:45

see in Glendale is a willingness

3:49

of people to come together

3:49

to make this community better.

3:52

And I don't mean that

3:52

just from a standpoint

3:54

of public safety on

3:54

a police department.

3:57

And I mean that in terms of the various

3:57

organizations in this community that help.

4:02

It's like, you know, I've

4:02

always had a passion

4:04

for giving young people a good start

4:04

in life, a big believer in scholarships.

4:09

It's like, you know, I've met

4:09

various people throughout the years.

4:13

One of my friends had two

4:13

daughters, who won't say his name.

4:17

And he's older. So you're going to get a little older.

4:20

But he insisted that both his

4:20

daughters get an education.

4:23

Because he's a little enough to

4:23

come from the time where it's like,

4:26

for the most part, women may not

4:26

have been in professional careers.

4:29

But he did not want his

4:29

to party, depending upon

4:32

a husband for their

4:32

well-being and their success.

4:35

And I just kind of look at

4:35

that in terms of human beings.

4:37

It's important to give kids a good start. It's like, you know, an education is

4:39

something nobody can take away from.

4:44

They can take away your property

4:44

and, you know, that kind of stuff.

4:47

But what's up in your head? They can't do that.

4:49

And, you know, whatever

4:49

follows you, it's like, if you have an

4:53

education, you have the tools to

4:53

rebuild, retool, make the world better.

4:57

And this community really comes

4:57

together to make things better.

5:00

And there's a plethora of

5:00

organizations, you know,

5:04

we're here to talk about, "Kawanis" a little bit. But, you know, whether that's

5:05

your money in really society or, you

5:08

know, the various

5:08

scholarship foundations of

5:11

the community foundation, the Virginia Gos. And I know I'll leave all

5:12

sorts of people out because,

5:15

you know, for our own friends,

5:15

our friends over in Rotary.

5:18

You know, professional group. I mean, there's just a

5:20

lot of people who really

5:22

focus on the well-being of this community. And it's not just looking for

5:24

somebody else to do that.

5:27

There's people who will, there's sleeves and make it better. That's, I think, what's

5:29

really unique about my little. Exactly.

5:32

Well, we do have a lot of organizations

5:32

that give back to the community.

5:37

And there are organizations

5:37

that we know of that are

5:41

doing things for children

5:41

and making lives so better.

5:46

So, I know because I've been in

5:46

this community, in Glendale since 1976.

5:54

You have to be five years. And from the time that I was in

5:56

high school, our city has evolved.

6:04

And we do support our

6:04

police and fire department.

6:10

And because they too are the best, we

6:10

have the best first responders, I believe.

6:15

And that's because of

6:15

what the community does for

6:19

the police department and

6:19

what they try to do for us.

6:24

Which brings us to now

6:24

that you have retired.

6:28

You have more time to do more

6:28

civil work in community work,

6:32

which you are now more involved

6:32

with the Glendale Kiwanis.

6:37

Would you like to share a little bit

6:37

to our community who don't know

6:40

what Kiwanis stands for, even

6:40

though I've been there for 30 years.

6:44

As a member for you to explain,

6:44

because you are incoming president.

6:51

Yeah. So somehow, even when you say retirement,

6:52

I have more time for other things.

6:56

Somehow that time gets occupied. But there's always been a commitment

6:58

to trying to make, you know, my personal

7:02

goals, to try to leave this world

7:02

a little bit better than I found it.

7:06

Whether that's in terms of public safety, and I will agree that,

7:07

you know, the minimum amount of the

7:09

Glendale's public safety services, police and

7:11

fire are the best part. And we're very, very fortunate.

7:16

But that's also part of

7:16

a relationship between

7:19

the community and

7:19

its first responders.

7:21

Because if there's not a relationship

7:21

between the two, it doesn't work.

7:25

It can work, but it will not work well. And that relationship

7:27

and engagement is what

7:29

makes this place a

7:29

part from other people.

7:32

It's not only having to leave with

7:32

people in the organization, having good

7:37

people in the community and the ability

7:37

for people to work together towards that.

7:42

And I don't believe we're having

7:42

people involved in their community

7:45

because you can't really understand

7:45

the community unless you're kind of

7:48

getting out and getting to know

7:48

people and, you know, if you're not willing

7:52

to roll up your sleeves and do

7:52

some work, that makes it really hard.

7:55

And it's like, you know, if you're always expecting somebody

7:56

else to do something, then it's never going to get

7:58

done. Sometimes you got to go, okay, we can

8:00

make a difference here. It's supposed to look

8:02

at your right-wing, who can fix this problem

8:04

while maybe it's us.

8:06

And Kiwanis is one of those

8:06

service organizations in Lendel

8:10

that helps make the community

8:10

better and it focuses on kids.

8:14

And, you know, somebody that I knew from

8:14

a professional life used to say, you know,

8:19

up to the age of three you learned to

8:19

read and from three on you lead to learn.

8:24

So literacy is really important. So it's like, you know, I guess something

8:26

typical guy usually usually when I'm putting

8:31

something together, I don't read the

8:31

instructions until I have left over products.

8:35

But if you're doing it right, if you don't, you

8:35

know, someone hands you something like a puzzle

8:41

and hands you instructions, if you don't have

8:41

a read, you can then put the puzzle together.

8:47

I could then shoot me. You don't need instructions.

8:51

It's awesome. Some people could do that. Yeah.

8:54

Some people could do it very innately. Other people knew that. But the ability to read

8:56

gives us the, gives us the

8:59

ability to human beings to

8:59

learn something we don't know.

9:03

You know, if you don't

9:03

know how to fix your car

9:05

these days, I guess you go

9:05

to YouTube and watch that.

9:08

But you know, you can get

9:08

a manual out or something

9:10

and read, go, okay, this

9:10

is what I need to do that.

9:13

And that's a capacity

9:13

that, you know, we have.

9:16

Right. And giving people that

9:17

is something is the same. Can't take away from them.

9:20

And so when you look

9:20

at young men and women,

9:22

kids in our community,

9:22

they're our future.

9:25

And so, you know, we want them to be better than we are. We want to have a better place, have

9:27

more opportunities in order to do that.

9:30

We got to get them up to the right start. And so, Kiwanis looks at doing some things.

9:34

I mean, we've been involved in reading

9:34

this fundamental literacy programs.

9:39

We, we develop service leadership

9:39

programs in our, you know,

9:42

elementary, middle and high

9:42

schools and community colleges.

9:46

You know, to try to get other

9:46

people to come to the community.

9:49

I think he is. The K is the builder's

9:50

clubs, the circle K clubs.

9:53

Thank you. You know, for those that may

9:54

be developmentally disabled, the

9:57

action clubs so that everybody

9:57

can contribute in some way.

10:01

And Kiwanis, it's like, we have

10:01

people who contributed in some way.

10:05

I think some of my favorite projects over the years of the community brought

10:07

gardens over on Monterey. Because they're still there.

10:11

And it's like, you know,

10:11

that was growing and

10:13

growing and different

10:13

people come and go with it.

10:16

It's like, you know, but, you know, if

10:16

you don't have a big enough, you're

10:18

harder to live in an apartment and

10:18

you cannot grow any fresh vegetables.

10:21

They like you. That's now an opportunity. And it's still there

10:23

and it's still being used. Well, people don't know the things we did.

10:27

And it took a couple of days for us to do. I mean, some very generous people in the

10:29

community donated the lumber, you know,

10:34

Kiwanis and some of those kids groups that

10:34

we just talked about donated the labor.

10:39

And you know, and over a weekend we put

10:39

that together for other people to enjoy.

10:45

And I think, you know, if you're

10:45

looking for the essence of Kiwanis, it's

10:49

people who are investing of sometimes

10:49

their money, sometimes their labor.

10:53

A lot of times their time and energy to

10:53

invest in our younger generation to do that.

10:58

And it's that some of the things

10:58

we also do benefit, you know,

11:01

benefit adults as well because

11:01

we're also looking at families.

11:04

You know, getting people

11:04

off to that good start.

11:07

You know, if, you know, we're big supporters

11:07

of a sense, you know, if you have a

11:11

family and, you know, somebody's lost their

11:11

job and they don't have a place to go.

11:16

They don't have food. It's like trying to get all those

11:17

pieces back in place and get them

11:19

services and get them started, you

11:19

know, Kiwanis is more than really.

11:22

Kiwanis is more than

11:22

groups that that's there.

11:25

And we do raise funds and

11:25

we give to those organizations.

11:29

We give not only

11:29

scholarships, but we also

11:32

give back to some of

11:32

these big organizations.

11:36

I know we help the Red

11:36

Cross at one point, the

11:41

Salvation Army and the

11:41

Sentia, even the YMCA YWCA.

11:47

Any time that they have

11:47

come and apply for scholarship,

11:52

Kiwanis has also been very

11:52

open giving back to the community.

11:57

And that's what I said. It's really, it's there's there's

11:58

multiple pieces to Kiwanis, some of

12:01

which is financial support and

12:01

that's important to these organizations.

12:04

It's one of the organizations

12:04

that will support other

12:07

organizations that do

12:07

good work in the community.

12:10

And then there's also the part of us that you know will do

12:10

that if you will the physical labor or you know if you don't

12:17

think of the physical labor that will go in and work with

12:17

young people to help them develop and expand their horizons.

12:24

And also teach that you know it's

12:24

not all about what you can take from

12:28

something because if you need

12:28

something we want to make sure it's there.

12:32

But it's also important to give back. And when you say when I talk about

12:35

retirement, you know I consider myself very

12:38

fortunate, you know, the police department

12:38

was very good in the city of London.

12:41

It was was very good to me and I got

12:41

to tell you I really enjoyed my career,

12:45

but I also a big believer in giving

12:45

back and I will do all work in there.

12:49

But as I said my goal in retirement is

12:49

to continue to be able to work with you.

12:52

So you can go in anywhere

12:52

else you stay right here.

12:55

Stay right here. This is this is this is become

12:56

this has really become

12:59

home for for me and it's said

12:59

where else can you do that.

13:03

It's like, you know what I

13:03

said is I look at some of the

13:05

time that I am some of the

13:05

things that I think are important.

13:08

At least from a personal level. This allows me to give back and try to

13:10

help continue to build our community.

13:15

And it's a nice thing about being

13:15

part of a group like Kwanis is I'm

13:18

with a bunch of like minded people

13:18

who also will be who give other time.

13:22

In fact, maybe a lot

13:22

of give a lot more of

13:24

their time and energy

13:24

that I have over the time.

13:27

I know I have a little bit more

13:27

to give, but it's like I think that's

13:30

one of the coolest things about

13:30

the organization is people will do that.

13:35

But there's a third piece

13:35

of this where in order to

13:37

do this, as you said, we

13:37

financially support that.

13:40

Some of that comes from the

13:40

generosity of the membership, but other,

13:44

but we also do the fundraising

13:44

in order to make this all work.

13:49

And yet the community involved,

13:49

we'd love to see more people.

13:53

We're always looking for people to come join

13:53

us as part of the club, but we also looking for

13:58

people who may be they don't have the time, but

13:58

are willing to help us support these organizations.

14:04

And over the years this community

14:04

has been very, very generous.

14:07

Right. Well, we do meet on Fridays at noon.

14:11

And right here locally at the Alex Club.

14:16

Our members come together.

14:16

We have lunch. We have program.

14:20

And truly, Kiwanis is

14:20

a service organization.

14:24

And I know we have other

14:24

organizations in the community.

14:27

The reason I'm saying it's

14:27

very touching, especially folks

14:32

members that we have now who

14:32

benefited when they were young.

14:37

And it was Kiwanis.

14:40

I remember a story

14:40

saying we didn't have much.

14:44

And, or we have a member who

14:44

said, I, our family didn't have much.

14:51

And he was part of K-Kids.

14:54

And then went into the

14:54

builders and circle K.

14:58

So he was immersed in learning

14:58

what Kiwanis and service and getting

15:03

and volunteerism was throughout

15:03

from elementary and high school.

15:08

And when he became an

15:08

adult, he joined what we call it.

15:13

The big boys. Which nowadays we have

15:15

a lot of women in our club.

15:19

But it's the big club,

15:19

which is the adults, the

15:23

members who are professionals

15:23

that we meet once a week.

15:28

Hopefully most of us come in once a week.

15:32

But we're always there to give

15:32

even if we don't come every week.

15:37

And yet you are so wonderful in doing this.

15:41

Because you sit away from your

15:41

retirement and your passion back

15:47

into the kids in Kiwanis, which

15:47

your passion is flying in a way.

15:52

And sit on driving.

15:52

You fly to a lot of places.

15:57

Which is another time

15:57

we'll talk about Carl.

16:00

Hopefully you will grace

16:00

me with another time.

16:04

We'll talk about other things because

16:04

I truly want to talk to you about.

16:08

But today our intention is the duck race.

16:12

That's right. Right. We have lots of ducks

16:14

that need to be adopted. We do.

16:18

So I'm going to put the link right

16:18

after our YouTube, the information.

16:27

But the duckies need to be adopted.

16:30

So if you go to.

16:34

Let us know if you can

16:34

click on the duck race.

16:37

The duck race. Or you can go to duckswerkids.org.

16:40

The ducks for kids.org. Glendale.

16:44

Right. And then it's team.

16:47

Three. One. Three.

16:50

Six. Oh seven. Which is my team.

16:53

And find my name. And I'm going to put the link over there.

16:57

Because I want you to adopt

16:57

and help my team be the winner.

17:02

But we've got one. It's going to happen at the May 4th.

17:07

Where do you go park? Where do you go park? Right here in Glendale.

17:10

And there's going to be thousands of kids.

17:13

We're going to have vendors. Yes, we'll have vendors.

17:17

We'll have sponsors. We'll have sponsors. You're going to watch.

17:20

Where do you go park? There isn't a lake in where do you go park.

17:24

There isn't a lake in where do you go park. But by 11 o'clock in the

17:26

morning, there will be two lakes.

17:29

And upper lake and a lower

17:29

lake built in where do you go park?

17:32

For summer and the ballpark

17:32

of 20,000 rubber ducks.

17:35

About to race through the park. And all by the way, if you adopt a

17:37

duck, you have a chance to win $10,000.

17:40

That is the grand prize. Because this is our primary fundraiser.

17:44

And these ducks that you're

17:44

going to adopt, they're $5 each.

17:48

Or you can buy a kayak for $25.

17:53

And that gets you into

17:53

a drive for an extra $500.

17:56

I can't put the next $500. So there's a little bit

17:58

of chance to do that. But all the money that comes

18:00

from this duck race supports the.

18:04

organizations that we're talking about. It supports scholarships.

18:07

It supports kids. It supports early learning.

18:10

It supports really is fundamental. It supports leadership groups in schools.

18:16

It supports the census. It supports the salvation army.

18:20

It is part of what helps people who

18:20

need an extra hand in our community.

18:26

That's what does it. And you know what?

18:29

This is a great event just to bring the kids to. I know.

18:32

It's like so much fun. Kids and rubber ducks. I mean, just to watch

18:34

their eyes get really big. Has all these ducks go from

18:36

an upper lake to a lower lake?

18:39

And the event will run from a level of fun. It's a fun thing.

18:42

I'm going to take a look

18:42

at where that duck is going.

18:45

And because there's 20,000

18:45

ducks, we don't do it at just once.

18:49

We'll run several heats. So between 11 A.M. and 2 P.M.

18:53

The final race will be just before 2 P.M. That will determine where the winner is.

18:58

But kind of like a track meet, we

18:58

run heats in the winners of each heat.

19:02

Get set in the separate area

19:02

and then we do the final race.

19:05

Just gathering all those. It's so long. It's just a lot of fun.

19:08

And just to watch the

19:08

smiles on the kids' faces

19:12

and the looks of amazement and the enjoyment. And the pictures of the men would pick you

19:13

all the hair of the heat and go in here.

19:19

The somebody's going

19:19

to watch the ducks down.

19:22

It's just a-- And we have the police

19:23

department and the fire department. Fire departments there are

19:25

the fire departments there.

19:28

But their homes. Yeah. Fire departments, I can't do this

19:30

without the support of one of their fire.

19:33

Because we use water. We send them down and we pump

19:35

the water back up to the top lake.

19:38

And we recycle it. And we do it again.

19:41

But it's just a lot of

19:41

smiles on the kids' faces.

19:44

They just have a lot of fun watching that. So if you have kids and

19:46

May 4th, it's a Saturday.

19:50

So the first race starts at 11 o'clock. Feel free to bring your kids out.

19:54

Yeah. One of our affiliated Kiwanis clubs

19:55

will be cooking burgers and hotdogs.

20:00

Oh, that's right. It's a burger. I haven't seen the final menu, but there

20:02

will be some food and water out there.

20:05

And it's just a good way to spend a

20:05

few hours with your kids and get that fun.

20:09

Exactly. And if you find your way to buying

20:10

a duck or a five or a ten or a duck.

20:15

You know, help me, please. So I come on a competing team.

20:19

I should be. But it's the thing that I tell people is

20:20

competition should be good nature.

20:24

And realize that all this funding

20:24

goes back into our community.

20:28

Exactly. It all goes back. Our sponsors have been driven better.

20:31

So everything coming from this race

20:31

will be reinvested in our community.

20:35

You know, amazingly, this is our 19 year.

20:39

Our 19 year. And so over the 19 years, we've invested.

20:42

We've reinvested $1.4 million. Back into the community. Back into Glendale.

20:45

Back into Glendale. Back into Glendale. Back into Glendale.

20:48

Yeah. You know, that's the

20:49

generosity of this community. That's the hard work for the Kiwanis Club.

20:52

That's the generosity of

20:52

people who are viewing this.

20:55

And so, you know, is that I would

20:55

invite you to adopt some ducks.

20:59

You know, it's your chance to win $10,000. We have a couple of

21:01

$1,000 prizes in there also.

21:05

But, you know, by having

21:05

some fun and having that chance,

21:08

you also have an

21:08

opportunity to not only win

21:12

somebody but do some good with having fun. And please come out and see us on that day.

21:16

It's great to have kids. And even big, I'll say kids, you

21:18

know, little kids and the big kids.

21:23

They're big ducks. They're big ducks.

21:25

Yeah, we'll have some big blow-up ducks.

21:28

We should have a duck walking

21:28

around and set it all over the place.

21:32

We're like, "It's like a lot of people out in Detroit. Enjoy a couple of hours with us."

21:36

Right. And it's a nice. It's not only about money.

21:40

It's what the money does. It brings smile and it brings joy.

21:46

And it helps maybe one person,

21:46

maybe a group, maybe a family.

21:53

We never know who is the

21:53

beneficiary of your $1 or your $5.

22:02

And this duckie has been a part of my card.

22:04

This is my second card that my duckie.

22:07

It's already got a lot of sign.

22:10

But people who say, "What

22:10

is that duck in your car?".

22:14

Because it's always in the back

22:14

window and everybody gets to see that.

22:18

And I've had kids say, "Hi, passing by.

22:23

That's what we do. We bring smiles to your

22:24

face and your children's face."

22:30

So with that, I want

22:30

to say, "He'll come on."

22:34

He'll come on. He'll come on.

22:37

It's a wonderful organization with us.

22:43

It's really good people with

22:43

good hearts who really care.

22:46

And I'll just like the people who are

22:46

watching this, people have good hearts.

22:52

And so that's one of the

22:52

people who have good hearts.

22:56

That's what makes us so much. And we invite you to join us, not

22:57

only at the park, but also call me.

23:03

Let me know. And I'll be more than happy

23:04

to give you an application.

23:07

With that, I want to

23:07

say thank you so much

23:10

for being here, being

23:10

part of the community,

23:14

and giving back to the

23:14

community with Heart and Soul.

23:18

Thank you, Heart. Thank you. Thank you for the invitation.

23:21

It's always wonderful to see you. And with that, thank you for

23:22

being part of the real talk Tuesday's.

23:27

It's not always about healing. It's about giving.

23:30

See you next week. Bye-bye.