Introduction and Background on the March

Sam Young [00:00:00] Sa.

John Dehlin [00:00:31] Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Mormon Stories podcast. This is a special edition, it's an abbreviated edition, but it is a really, really important announcement. We are here to promote, to encourage, to plead, to exhort and to ask that everybody who can, who lives in Utah or who's willing to travel to Utah can show up to attend the march to end child abuse which is on October 5, 2019, starting at 8:30am in Salt Lake City during general conference weekend, actually during the Saturday general conference sessions.

John Dehlin [00:01:24] And this is a continuation of a multi part series that we've been holding with the Sam Young over the past few years, all with the goal of protecting children from child abuse, specifically within a church context. So because this event, the super important event, is happening in only a few days right now it's October 1st and we're talking about four days away. We are so excited to have with us Sam Young. We brought him back to Mormon Stories podcast to talk to us about this march and why everyone needs to show up. And we're also thrilled that Sam today is joined by Jan Broberg.

John Dehlin [00:02:08] Jan is one of the central figures in the amazing and disturbing and super important documentary on Netflix called Abducted in Plain Sight. So we have Sam and Jen here to talk to us about the march. Sam Young, welcome back to Mormon Stories podcast.

Sam Young [00:02:29] Thank you, John. I really appreciate you being willing to host me again.

John Dehlin [00:02:33] I'm thrilled. And Jan Broberg, this is your first time on Mormon Stories. Thanks for joining us.

Jan Broberg [00:02:39] Yeah, thank you. I'm thrilled to be here.

John Dehlin [00:02:41] Margi and I loved and were sickened by your documentary. I hope that's okay. Can it be both? Is that okay?

Jan Broberg [00:02:50] Both? Of course, it has to be both.

John Dehlin [00:02:53] All right. All right, Sam, so there's a lot of us to cut, a lot for us to cover today. Where do we begin? Tell us about what you've been doing and what we're going to be doing this Saturday.

Sam Young [00:03:05] Okay. So most people are familiar with what I was doing last year, which was the goal of protect LDS children was twofold. Eliminate one on one interviews and eliminate sexual questions being posed to our kids one on one, all alone with a child interview behind closed doors. We made some progress on that this year and good for the Mormon Church for doing something along those lines.

Sam Young [00:03:31] I commend them for that. I also commend many Mormons and bishops and even a couple of stake presidents for having taken a stand themselves to protect their own children, the children in their ward and the children in their state. That is super encouraging.

Sam Young [00:03:52] Now that was last Year. This year, our movement has expanded to protect every children child. So there are problems in the Mormon Church regards to children being harmed. However, they are not unique whatsoever. There are problems in every institution that is serving children. We're all familiar with the Catholic Church, the Baptist Church, Jehovah's Witness. You can go on and on and on. The gymnast was a sitting arrested what, a month ago who had abused the 30 people, 30 kids came forward that had been abused. So it's not a reflection on an institution being bad. It's a reflection that there's a bad practice that we need to stand up as a country and make sure that we are doing everything possible to eliminate the plague of child abuse. So that's what we're marching for, is to raise that issue to, to the national spotlight where it should be at this time.

John Dehlin [00:04:54] I love it. And so one of the things that I think is super important, none of us will forget those of us who are involved with Kate Kelly doing her kind of ordain women activities during General Conference. And it's been several years since anybody has tried to hold any sort of activist like event during General Conference weekend at or around Temple Square. While General Conference is going on. Can you talk to us about the strategy as it relates to the timing and the location of this event and why we should be super excited and super supportive of that action?

Strategy, Goals, and the General Conference Connection

Sam Young [00:05:41] Okay, the strategy. Well, John, I'm probably the worst strategist in the world, but here's something cool about it being the same day as General Conference. That is, people are here, people are watching, people are interested in what direction in receiving directions that will help themselves and their family. So we don't want to take away from General Conference. Good for them, good for the church for having this conference and addressing the world with good things, but so good for them. We don't want a conflict with that and we don't.

Sam Young [00:06:21] I would have wished that they would send a representative to march with us. In fact, this last weekend, an open letter to religious leaders here in town. The Tribune published that open letter that I'd written. So we'd love to have representatives. Actually, the LDS Church and every other church ought to be taking the lead in eradicating abuse. So anyway, we don't want to take away from it. It gives us an opportunity to raise awareness when people are watching.

John Dehlin [00:06:57] So what will. And it's gotta be useful or valuable to take advantage of the times people are going into their conference sessions or coming out of their conference sessions because that's a really valuable time to kind of help wake up active believing church members to what's going on. Can you tell us about the schedule for the event and to what extent some of the activism will be targeted at leaders and participants of general conference itself or is it totally separate and not meaning to sort of overlap?

Sam Young [00:07:35] It's totally separate. We're not targeting the members or the leaders. If this had happened on any other day, it would be the same target which is here who we're targeting. John, number one, parents. Parents are on the front line of protecting the children. They need to understand the dangers. They need to step up and be the adults. And our children can't fix this problem. The adults need to stand up and be adults. So we want to send the message raise the awareness for them and that they need to look at every institution their child participates in and make a decision. Do they have safe standards there?

Sam Young [00:08:12] If they don't have best practices? I'm recommending your child is more important than your church or that soccer club or that judo club or the driving school. Take your child to someplace that has state of the art best practices for protecting your child. So number one is for the raise awareness to the parents. Number two are the institution. So yeah, we want the leaders of the institution to pay attention but not just the LDS church.

Sam Young [00:08:40] That is not our focus. Our focus is every institution to implement strong safety procedures for our children. There are some institutions that have already done most of the things that we're advocating for, good for them. But there's a whole bunch of others that the efforts have been okay, sorry about this. Have been half assed and they should be talking about totally strong. And there are other institutions don't have anything. So institutions is the second thing. Listen up because you're going to stick out like a sore thumb. You are going to be super liable when the rest of the world knows what you're doing is wrong and you should change and you didn't and you harmed again.

Sam Young [00:09:20] Number three, we're reaching out. We want the legislators to hear us. You know the corporations lobby legislators to pass bills. Good for them. We need strong corporations, good corporations. They're an important part of our society. But sometimes the interests of the corporation but up against the interests of the child.

Sam Young [00:09:43] We want the institution or the legislators, we want the government to know, we want them to hear us that the child's interest always goes first. The advocates that are working to have laws passed, they don't have millions of dollars to pour into this. The Catholic Church a few years ago paid. There was an Article, I think it was this year that they paid $10.3 million to lobbyists, I think, in New York to prevent a bill from being passed that would have protected the children but may have worked against the interest of protecting the institution.

Sam Young [00:10:25] No, listen, we want the strong message to legislators. Enough is enough. We are looking out. It's time to put the interest of the child, number one. So those are the three folks, three levels that we're reaching out to.

John Dehlin [00:10:40] And so what will be going on, you know, what's the itinerary and what should people plan for in terms of how the event will go? And then we'll bring Jan in to talk.

Sam Young [00:10:51] Yeah, well, Jan, obviously is the most important part of this whole thing, so she needs to talk. We're so glad you're here, jan. Okay, so 8:00 clock at the City County Building. It will be open to start gathering. 8:30, we start the rally, which is mostly music and we'll be hearing the words of a survivor.

Sam Young [00:11:17] So. And we want to kind of have it festive and interesting for the kids. The fellow during the music, his specialty is kids music, but he also has some serious pieces. The piece that he's going to play right before we start the keynote speakers is a very poignant piece about child abuse, but couched in a way that you know what he's talking about, but the kids won't know what he's talking about. It's just very pointy. So anyway, we'll have music and a speaker and then at 9 o' clock, we continue the rally with our keynote speakers, which you want me to talk about who they are?

John Dehlin [00:11:55] Yeah.

Sam Young [00:11:56] Okay. We have a powerhouse lineup of great advocates for ending child abuse. We've got Jan Broberg on from the

John Dehlin [00:12:07] Netflix documentary Abducted in Plain Sight.

Sam Young [00:12:11] Yeah. And you know, when I first talked to Jan, I had the opportunity to meet her in St. George a couple weeks ago. And, you know, I don't know what I'm doing and asking people in the celebrity world to come be a part of this. And right off the bat she said, I want to make my life's work going forward saving every child on the planet from abuse. And I'm thinking, I think Jan's going to come to this thing before I even said a word, Jan.

Sam Young [00:12:45] So anyway, she'll talk more about her thing, but right there, I love that that's what her work is going forward. The second one is Tanya Brown. So many of us have it seared into our consciousness what happened at the time of O.J. simpson's trial.

Sam Young [00:13:05] It was a horrendous thing that happened to Nicole Simpson Brown, her sister Tanya Brown, who is going to be lived that nightmare of the death of her sister, all the trial, all the circus. She has now dedicated her life to advocate for victims in all kinds of circumstances. She's very familiar with the child abuse. That's anyway, she is a very strong advocate and so she'll be here. The third one is Matthew Sandusky. The name Sandusky kind of rings a bell with most people that are paying attention. His adopted father abused him from age 7 until 17.

Sam Young [00:13:48] He was adopted, I think while this Jerry Sandusky was abusing him. So Jerry Sandusky was a coach at Penn State University, has this legendary football program. It was all disgraced because he was facilitated. His people knew that he was doing something wrong.

Sam Young [00:14:11] Coach Joe Paterno kind of died almost in disgrace over all this. What a sad situation. So talk about somebody that's familiar with the horrors of child abuse. He lived it. Not just the experience, but also his adoptive. I mean this. So anyway, Matthew Sandowski is a nationwide, worldwide, world very renowned advocate to end child abuse. And I loved hearing him when I interviewed him saying, sam, my cause is to end child abuse. So anyway, our speakers start at 9 o'. Clock. They'll go until 9:30. 9:30. We start marching up State street to the state Capitol.

Sam Young [00:15:02] I don't know how long it will take to get there. I hiked it the other day. It took me 27 minutes and I wasn't walking terribly fast. But to move a thousand people that far, I don't know what that will take to move 5,000 people. I don't know what that will take to move 10,000.

Sam Young [00:15:17] I would love to have that challenge when we arrive. As people are arriving at the Capitol at 10:30, the and this hasn't been announced yet publicly, the One Voice Children's Choir is going to be greeting us with their performance.

Sam Young [00:15:39] Now, I don't know who I know who the One Voice Children's Choir is now, but I didn't like three weeks ago until we started chatting about it. When I talked to my kids in Texas, they knew who they are. So anyway, they'll be singing as people are arriving. At 11:15, we resume our rally with our speakers and we'll wrap everything up at noon. So that is the schedule this coming Sunday.

John Dehlin [00:16:07] Beautiful. All right, Jan, we're so delighted to have you on Mormon Stories podcast. Can you tell us just a little bit about your story for those who don't know and why you feel so passionately about supporting this march. March to save a child. Oh, wait. Okay, go ahead, Jen. I had you unmuted.

Voices from the Community and Personal Testimonies

Jan Broberg [00:16:31] Okay, great. Now you can hear me.

John Dehlin [00:16:34] Yep, we can hear you.

Jan Broberg [00:16:35] Good. I want to have a big, loud voice about this particular subject because having lived through child abuse by the hands of a family friend, I know that for many people, you want to not believe that it's somebody close to you because it's just too horrible to imagine. But it almost always is. It's either someone in the family, in the congregation, in the community, in the school, in the community center.

Jan Broberg [00:17:03] That's where the majority of child abuse happens. It's almost four out of 10 or 12 children that are sexually abused or assaulted before the age of 18. That's about 2 billion children. People that are walking around on the planet. That's way too many people who have gone through that kind of harm. So in my case, family moved into our neighborhood when I was nine.

Jan Broberg [00:17:26] They had five children. We met them at church. And for three years, this man, the father of his five children, became like a second father to myself, my sisters, our family. He was my dad's best friend. We did hundreds of activities with his family. He was a business owner. He looked like the nicest guy in the ward who was always out there helping everybody, including us, where he, you know, built. Took a big, big room downstairs and put walls up so we could each have our own bedroom, Owned a furniture store and helped us populate these bedrooms. And, of course, my bedroom was the one clear down at the end of the hallway.

Jan Broberg [00:18:02] And the entire time as he worked his manipulative magic, that most pedophiles seem to have an uncanny amount of ability to target not only the child, but their family members and to know exactly how to separate them. It's all grooming. You know, they have a special relationship with each member of the family. They get people to do things that they wouldn't otherwise do, and then they know that they can brainwash them or.

Jan Broberg [00:18:34] I don't know if brainwashing is a popular enough word. They can blackmail people. They can figure out how to have their way with the many, many, many tactics that are used. And I go around the country and I talk about all of those things, and we don't have time to do that here. But what my point is, is that we have to start reporting it. And so that begins with every institution, every religious institution, every business, every school, every, every single place where there's a hierarchy of leadership that does not allow for the child to Be to be the number one concern has to be called out.

Jan Broberg [00:19:19] We have to demand change. We have to do it in our family systems as well, so that we report on Grandpa, on the stake president. And I've heard every single story. I've had 30,000 stories that have come to me since the documentary came out in January.

Jan Broberg [00:19:38] And they all start the same way. Thank you for being my advocate or my hero. It was my fill in the blank, my doctor, my dentist, my bishop, my priest, my grandpa, the school teacher that got teacher of the year last year. She was everybody's favorite.

Jan Broberg [00:19:56] It's just horrific. And I'm sorry that there are any. Any institutions of any kind, any organizations or churches that would not report when they know that something is amiss. And as parents and as people who love children, we have to do the same. And many of us don't know what to do. We know that there's something off with somebody at that family reunion, but do we actually file a report?

Jan Broberg [00:20:26] Do we ever actually go that far? Or do we just turn our heads and not look and just keep our own children away from Uncle Henry? That's what we can't do anymore. We have to actually do something and raise our voices. And this march is an opportunity for people to come out and raise their voices for something that we all should be united in. There shouldn't be one person who should not show up on Saturday, March 5, to walk 30 minutes to hopefully get national news attention that this is a problem that we have and that we absolutely have to tackle. And now is the moment.

Jan Broberg [00:21:01] The children are the last of all of those that have had rights. Whether they're implemented correctly or perfectly or not, children are always the last. And here we are again in 2019, finally marching for children who have been abused by someone they know love and trust.

Jan Broberg [00:21:23] And it's the worst problem and the biggest problem of any of them. And the numbers are bigger than cancer. I hope people will come out and help us end the epidemic and do something about it. Thanks. That's what I have to say.

John Dehlin [00:21:38] Beautiful. Jan, we love you. We know you gotta run, but I'll finish up with Sam if you've gotta go. But we're so thrilled that you're supporting Sam. We're grateful for your work and your advocacy. And we're so delighted that we're going to get to see you face to face this Saturday, 8:30am in Salt Lake City at the march to end child Abuse.

Jan Broberg [00:22:00] Everybody come. Thank you.

John Dehlin [00:22:01] All right, Jan, take care. Thank you.

Jan Broberg [00:22:04] Bye bye.

Sam Young [00:22:05] Bye.

John Dehlin [00:22:06] All right. Sam, wasn't that beautiful?

Sam Young [00:22:09] Yeah. So when you say that Jan's thanking Jan for supporting me. Well, I really appreciate that. But really what we are doing is including Jan and Matthew and Tonya and every single other organization out there that is working to improve the situation with regards to abuse, whether it be training or recovery or seeking justice, getting laws in place. What I'm hoping is if we've got 5,000 people this March and really it should be 10,000, it should be 100,000. We've got 10,000, we've got 5,000 people that March. It goes to the national attention, it raises all votes, it helps Jan and what she's doing, it helps snap and what they're doing, it helps zero Abuse project and what they're doing helps prevent child abuse, Utah to do what they're doing.

John Dehlin [00:23:04] Anyway, if somebody wants to say, hey Sam, listen, the church already, you know, adjusted its policies. You know, the church is now allowing for one on one interviews. The church has been woken up. And so the Mormon Church specifically, they're fine. They've got this kind of figured out. Can you give a real, a quick impassioned sort of response to that as to why? There's still a lot of work to be done.

Sam Young [00:23:33] Okay, so first of all, we're calling for best practices policies. Best practices are there are no one on one interactions between an adult and a child. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it is the default to have one on one interviews. The policy that was changed was to allow another adult if the child desires another adult. That is not a safe policy at all. Can you imagine, you know, when we get in our cars, we've got seat belts now. When I was growing up, there was no seat belts. When they first started coming around, nobody liked seatbelts. It was an inconvenience.

Sam Young [00:24:13] Well, today if I get in my car, there's a ding, ding, ding, ding. If I start driving, it keeps bugging me to put my seatbelt on. If a policeman sees me, he pulls me over and gives me a ticket. We've passed laws to make us accountable. No longer it is the honor system that John's going to wear his seatbelt. No, it's the law and we're going to bug him until he puts it on. Can you imagine if we had a law saying the child sitting next to you in that passenger seat, they can wear the seat belt if they want, but it's their decision. It's not the adult's decision, it's not the state's decision.

Sam Young [00:24:52] The Kid gets to decide whether or not they feel they should. No, no, we don't do that. We don't put the onus on the child to protect themselves. So that's one. They made a change, but it really is way too little. And there's a whole other slate of policies that are not even existence.

Sam Young [00:25:12] And I'll just give you one. There should be no digital communications between an adult leader and a child without the parent being involved on that. That's a prime grooming method for a pedophile who you just heard Jan explain how smart these guys are or these women are, that you open that. Yeah, yeah. You can contact that child and nobody else is the wiser. No, no, that's a policy that has to be in place. You do not permit that. And there's a whole bunch of other policies that many churches have not put in place, including the Mormon Church. So does that answer your question, John?

John Dehlin [00:25:53] Yeah. So the church has a long way to go to implement best practice policies to make sure children get taken care of. Are we still finding out that there are bishops and stake presidents and stake high counselors and leaders that are abusing kids? Is abuse still happening in Mormonism over the past 12 months? What can you tell us about that?

Sam Young [00:26:14] Is that a leading question, John?

John Dehlin [00:26:17] Yes, it is.

Sam Young [00:26:20] So what is it like six bishops that have been arrested this year, sitting bishops and former bishops, other leaders in the church? No. It will continue to happen until these safety practices or the best practices are put into place. We cannot prevent it if we are lax in our policies. It will continue to happen. And yes, there have been several bishops that have been been arrested. I mentioned earlier this bishop that his job was in a driving school. The driving school. They need to have best practices. The church needs to have best practices. Here's a man that has access to the children all alone in his office, in his bishop's office and in the. In his driver's training car. And sure enough, at least 30 victims, including members of the church.

John Dehlin [00:27:12] Yeah. So we're still just week after week after week hearing about more instances of abuse. So as much as the church has tried to make changes, there's still a long way to go.

Sam Young [00:27:24] So, John, so we're talking about the Mormon Church because we're here in Utah and there's a lot of Mormons. That's our background. But it really is. This is targeted at. This is an ecumenical or whatever is the term for ecumenical when you apply it to secular institutions. It is with regards to everybody. The purpose of our march is we are sick and tired of every day, almost every day reading another story about another leader that has been abusing our children. No, we're calling on the adults. Now is the time to stand up to this. It's idiotic that we wait any longer. It's not idiotic. It's totally irresponsible to do that.

Sam Young [00:28:11] We need to be the heroes that our children would expect us to be. Now, something else along these lines of this is going to continue to happen until action is taken. This costs our society a whole bunch. Now it harms the children.

Sam Young [00:28:31] Some make horrible decisions based on they start to hate themselves. Clothing and addiction, homelessness, they go to violent crime, incarceration, suicide. I mean, all these things. Child abuse is the feeding system for all these ills in society. But get this to what our costs are.

Sam Young [00:28:53] Our churches, we've granted them tax exempt status. In the state of Utah, the budget to educate our children K to 12 is $6 billion a year. Now, I understand there's been stuff in the paper since I've been here that that's not enough and that we're, that Utah is not very good with regards to education compared to elsewhere, but let's not talk about it. It's just 6 billion educated kids.

Sam Young [00:29:19] The state also spends $5 billion to deal with the aftermath of sex abuse of child abuse. $5 billion to deal with the problems that come out of it. Six billion to educate. If we could eliminate child abuse, what happens to society? You can put $11 billion into education and have healthy children that are not plagued their entire life by what happened to them.

John Dehlin [00:29:58] I love it. So we're trying to be preventative as well.

Sam Young [00:30:02] That's what we're all about. We've got to get that prevention in there.

Responding to Critics and How Everyone Can Participate

John Dehlin [00:30:06] So do we want to address, you know, one of the, you know, you and I were talking a little bit before the show that there's always kind of naysayers out there and some of it's friendly fire of people that inexplicably who are friends of the cause but somehow don't end up being supportive or even oppositional to attempts to kind of move the needle. If somebody were to try and spread some rumor that Sam Young is getting rich off of this sort of thing or even making money. Do you want to address that just directly?

Sam Young [00:30:45] John? This has cost me so much money. Last year, after all was said and done, I was $33,000 in the hole. So I put $33,000 out of my, you know, it's my retirement savings that I'M pulling money from, and I don't have long before I have to start accessing those retirement savings. I'll never recover those retirement savings. So it was $33,000 of my cost last year. This year, it's probably going to be close to $150,000 out of my personal pocket by the time I'm done. This thing is not cheap. I've spent a whole bunch of money. We have the advertiser. We? Why am I saying we?

Sam Young [00:31:25] No, I'm saying we because there are people that have contributed to this cause, and I really appreciate Everybody that's donated. $1. I got my first $1 donation the other day. Thank heavens. Thank you very much. Whatever the amount is, thank you. It is us moving forward with this cause. Those things help do help, and I thank you.

Sam Young [00:31:45] But we purchased over $90,000 worth of advertising that has taken place over the last two weeks and will continue this week. Billboards, radio, tv, social media, display ads. Contract with a wonderful ad agency here in town that was not afraid to take on this cause. Most advertising agencies would not take on this cause. In fact, I had one ad agency, we were ready to go, ready to meet with them, and they backed out the day before.

Sam Young [00:32:21] It's not an easy place to do this. It should be the easiest of places where the church steps up and says, no, we want to protect our children, period. But last year, since I was calling out one policy in the church, I think that's kind of muddled some people's view of it. But I don't want to go into all the expenses. Just know that it's super expensive. Do this march. We're planning on 5,000. That entails a whole bunch of money to do that.

John Dehlin [00:32:54] Anyway, Sam's not getting rich. He's spending tens of thousands of his own dollars to make this happen.

Sam Young [00:33:02] So once the march is over, I've got to go home. I've been really absent from my business for two years as I've been doing this. Not totally, but if your mind isn't in the game of your business, it struggles.

Sam Young [00:33:16] But that's okay. I view this as an important cause. Now I do get fired because people say, that's not the way to do it. You shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have done this. You're doing that the wrong way.

Sam Young [00:33:27] Okay, well, I'm fine with that. I never knew how to do this. I was never trained at how you be an activist. What drives me is knowing what we're doing to our kids. Jan's story is horrendous. And I have read thousands of stories like, well, not maybe as egregious, not just as egregious as hers of self loathing suicide ideation, suicide attempts. In this last year, John, there have been three suicides of people whose stories are in my book on the website. Three suicides since.

John Dehlin [00:34:09] Oh, Sam, I'm so sorry.

Sam Young [00:34:11] So these are people that I've known, I've met, I heard their stories. You think they've recovered and they're on the road to recovery and then a suicide happens. You don't know. I had a conversation with someone that is now a doctor, and this person looked like she was totally recovered from the sex abuse she had as a kid. And I mistakenly said, you know, I'm so glad you've been able to get past the horrors that happened to you. She looked at me and corrected me and she said, I still have deep wounds inside. You just don't see them. You see part of me, but I have deep wounds still inside.

Sam Young [00:34:54] And that's what drives me, is what has happened to our kids and is still happening. By the way, I had a wonderful comment recently from somebody that marched last year. Her story is in the book and she sent this message. The physical act of standing up and marching for our kids was powerful and healing. What we'll be doing will be healing for many people.

Sam Young [00:35:20] Many people who come and were abused as children. They will feel empowered and they will feel healing just being part of that march. There are magical things that happen when we get together for a cause as worthy as this one.

John Dehlin [00:35:43] Yeah. So everybody needs to show up. So what's the ask, Sam? What? What? Those who are within the shot of our voices and who are watching or who are listening or watching to Mormon stories after we post this this afternoon. What can people do to support this event and get as many people out as possible?

Sam Young [00:36:03] Okay, every single person here can march with us. I don't care if you're in Algeria listening to this. Every person can march with us. And here's how you can. Number one is to march with your feet. If you're in Salt Lake City or anywhere close by and can come to the march, please come to the march. You will be a part of the civil rights movement of our time. The very first national march of its kind. You will relish this event the rest of your life. You'll share it with your children. Bring your children, bring your grandchildren, bring your neighbors, your friends, your family.

Sam Young [00:36:43] Come march with us. We need people there now. By the way, there Are people flying in, driving in from 27 states around the country. There will be people at that march from nine different countries. It is truly a national event. It's actually a global event. Now, the second week you march, if you can't do it with your feet here in Salt Lake City, is to march with your fingertips.

Sam Young [00:37:12] We have something that the marches of yesteryear did not have. They had to gather hundreds of thousands of people to gain the national attention. We're hoping to do that with 5,000. Please, 10,000 come. But we can have hundreds of thousands of people with us the entire course of the march at their computers. We are going to be live broadcasting just like this is live broadcast from the Protect Every Child Facebook page.

Sam Young [00:37:44] So here's what I'm asking you to do. Watch the march, comment on the march. You know, we're going to be doing interviews with survivors and parents and concerned citizens about why they're in the march, whatever story they want to tell.

Sam Young [00:38:00] It's going to be a fascinating thing just to watch what's going on, to listen, pay attention, like, comment. You can comment 100 times. What would happen if there were 100,000 views of this and 100,000 comments? It goes viral. And the third way to do it is to share it. I heard you mention that something went viral. One of your things went viral. I think there was like a thousand shares. I don't know what the definition of the viral is. What would happen if there are 5,000 shares of this thing? So there it is. March with your fingertips. This is a huge. It's every bit as important as marchers here in Salt Lake City.

John Dehlin [00:38:46] Beautiful. And I'm going to be there. I'm encouraging everyone to come. Let's have at least 5,000 people show up. But every person counts, regardless of how many end up showing up. But I'm going to be there. And let's all do our part. Mormon stories listeners, anyone? Friends, family, active orthodox Mormons, we don't care. Everybody should be able to stand behind better policies to protect all children, not just within Mormonism, but within every religious tradition and government, school, schools, et cetera. We did have a generous listener. Natalie Miller asked if you are accepting donations if somebody does want to help decrease the amount of out of pocket expenses that you've sacrificed. Sam Young, is there a way for people to donate?

Donations, Listener Support, and Closing Thoughts

Sam Young [00:39:39] Yes, and thank you very much for asking that, Natalie. First of all, there have been some generous donors. So where there's just a lot of expenses. Someone came about three weeks ago, said, look, because I was talking about spending $60,000 in advertising. Somebody came and said, you spend 60, I'll match half. I'll pay half of it. So somebody paid $30,000 to help us out with the advertising. That was amazing. In addition to that, we received about $14,000 worth of contributions. So we've got $44,000 in contributions, which is amazing, and I really appreciate that.

John Dehlin [00:40:13] And you've set up a 501 nonprofit, right. So these things are tax deductible.

Sam Young [00:40:17] You can. The easiest way to donate is to go to our Facebook page. Not a Facebook page, our webpage, which is protect everychild.com. so it's.com protect everychild.com and there's a donate button somewhere on there. If you are different, it depends on what device you're on. If you're on a computer, it's really easy to find. If you're on a phone, you have to press a button to get to the. You press the menu button and it shows up.

John Dehlin [00:40:44] Okay. Sophia is asking, will there be therapist resources available in the event that some people become upset or triggered by involving themselves in this march? Anyone standing by?

Sam Young [00:40:57] Such a good idea.

John Dehlin [00:41:08] Sam's writing it down.

Sam Young [00:41:10] That's on my list now. Thank you.

John Dehlin [00:41:14] Yeah, we're all just learning as we go. None of us were trained by the Mormon Church to be activists. Right?

Sam Young [00:41:18] That's exactly right. What I know is we've had to hire a whole bunch of police. We've had to hire the emergency people and a whole bunch of other stuff. But the therapist. That's a great idea.

John Dehlin [00:41:31] Yeah. So thanks, thanks for the suggestion, Sophia. Katie adds, individuals need to gauge what they can handle and practice self care. She says that I'll be there. That's true. Anyway, yeah. Let's encourage everybody to practice self care and to don't do anything that puts you in physical or emotional jeopardy.

Sam Young [00:41:55] Yeah. Good. Appreciate that.

John Dehlin [00:41:57] All right. Lots of listeners are here commenting. Lisa's writing, we will be there for each other, obviously, Katie and Sophia indicating. Rosalind writes, we will be supporting from Oz. I'm guessing that means Australia. Thank you so much, Rosalind, for showing interest. Yeah. Allison Low Bateman. I'm sure Allison's going to be there. She's writing in. Serena says, I wish I lived closer and could join. But Serena, we've just told you how you can march with your fingers or with your feet. So we're really grateful for everyone who has joined us today to listen. Sam, is there any other final words of encouragement or support or wisdom that you want to share we are in

Sam Young [00:42:47] an amazing point in history. If I could go back to the civil rights movement and have marched along the side of Martin Luther King or just been there marching, I would do that in a second. I think most people would look on that with envy to have been involved in a noble and honorable cause that was not easy to win.

Sam Young [00:43:15] That's where we're at today. This is the noble and honorable cause of our time, to save our children. Jan mentioned that, you know, asked the question, why is it that our children are last? I'm not sure I know the answer to that. What I know is I'm no longer willing to put the children last. And I'm hoping, no, we are going to lead in moving this issue to the very top front burner of our country. Come be a part of this historic, epic event that's going to happen here in Salt Lake City. There you go.

John Dehlin [00:43:57] I love it. Amy Rich Hey, Amy. She writes, I have also become an activist because of amazing people like you, Sam. So bless you. Larry writes, I'm with you. Larue writes, I will march with my fingers. Heather writes, I love you, Sam and John. We're coming from Arizona. Heather, please come up and shake my hand with whoever's with you. I'd love to personally meet you. Janet writes, thank you, Sam, for all your hard work. Courtney writes, sam, you are amazing and we love this cause. And yes, Sam deserves plenty of praise. But I know Sam's heart and he's doing this not for praise but for the kids. And I also know that there are many hard work workers standing behind Sam who helped to make this possible. And they're visible because they're not the front people. But I'm sure, Sam, there's a lot of people that have helped you in this. Is that right?

Sam Young [00:44:46] I want to express thanks to them right now. Last year there were a bunch of folks who were helping. Some of those couldn't continue. I mean, it takes a lot of time. And this year there's been several folks that have been extremely helpful. So I want you that are listening to hear me. You have been a great blessing to children because you have helped move this thing forward in ways I could never have done.

Sam Young [00:45:15] Since we're in Salt Lake and we're still in this Mormon community. Whether we're ex Mormon or not, we're still in the Mormon community. I got a kick out of the so I've been wearing my cape around. It starts all kinds of conversations. And at the this morning at the front desk, I was talking to Somebody and they asked me what it's about and I told them. And she had been abused when she is a child. She's very excited about this. But she said something.

Sam Young [00:45:41] She said, and this, the very first one is happening in Salt Lake City, my hometown. Go Salt Lake City. She was proud that the very first. And we should be, shouldn't we as a Mormon community be proud of that. Look, we've somehow managed to get in this position to lead out on having this very first national march to stand up for the human rights of our children.

John Dehlin [00:46:08] I love it. The comments continue to stream in. Lisa writes, we will be there for each other. Landon writes, love you, Sam. Thank you both. Katie writes, I'll wave at you, Diane. Diane writes, wish we could be there in person. We're marching with our fingers. So another finger marcher. Yeah. And Allison writes, see you Saturday with my family of five. So a huge thanks to everyone who is willing to support Sam Young. We love. What's that, Sam?

Sam Young [00:46:40] Can I say something else about marching with your fingers?

John Dehlin [00:46:43] Yeah.

Sam Young [00:46:43] It's kind of interesting. There's a couple of crime series that my wife loves. I think they're pretty good, too. I just never get a chance to watch them very often. One is Criminal Minds, the other is ncis. And there is a critical person in each one of those series. You've got the folks that go out on the streets and are feet on the ground, but they rely equally on the person that's back at the office in front of that computer marching across those keyboards. That is just how important it is in this movement to have those keyboard marchers. It is crucial. Don't look at what you are doing as being insignificant. It is super significant.

John Dehlin [00:47:31] I love it. All right, everyone, thank you so much to everyone who's joined us today. If everyone could please either share this podcast episode on all your social media, Instagram, on Twitter, on Facebook, that would go a long way. If you don't want to share this podcast episode, just go to the website that we've already shared with you. Protect EveryChild.com Feel free to share that website everywhere you can and just bear your testimonies on social media about how much you care about children, how much you care about children being protected, how much you believe in this cause of marching for children, and let people know about this event.

John Dehlin [00:48:19] Literally, if everyone within the range of my voice simply posted on social media that they're coming and or posted the details about this event and there was kind of this ripple effect, we could have kind of this grassroots, you know, almost viral effect in terms of marketing of getting people to attend this event. So please, any way you want to post on social media the information about this event. And let's all have an amazing time on Saturday and let's, let's protect thousands of children, maybe even tens or hundreds of thousands of children from physical or sexual abuse in the future by supporting this event. How's that sound, Sam?

Sam Young [00:49:07] Outstanding. Outstanding.

John Dehlin [00:49:09] All right, listeners, you guys are awesome. Thanks for joining us. And Sam Young, you're a superhero. To me, that cape is well deserved. And so you keep flying and you keep wearing that cape for as long as you can and you'll have my support.

Sam Young [00:49:25] We can all be superheroes. Everybody comes that march. Fingertips or feet, we're going to be superheroes for the children.

John Dehlin [00:49:34] Larue says this is very important. I feel passionate about this. Kathy says that they're traveling from Idaho Falls. Kathy, I hope you'll come up and shake my hand as well. Allison writes be on the live stream on Saturday morning, comment like and share the live stream. That's a great idea, Allison. You're awesome. And all right, Sam, we'll see On Saturday morning, 8:30am the actual physical location is, and I'm pulling it up right now. It is at the County Building, right, Sam? It's Salt Lake City and County Building, 450 S. State St. Again, 8:30. And the events will go till, what'd you say, 12:1, what is it, 12:12 noon. And hopefully we'll get a lot of people paying attention. All right, Sam, you're awesome.

Sam Young [00:50:28] Love you, John. Appreciate it.

John Dehlin [00:50:30] Take care, everybody. And we will see many of you on Saturday. Thanks so.

Sam Young [00:50:46] Much.

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