195. Healing, Purpose, and Community Impact with Fred Foreman

Healing, Purpose, and Community Impact  with  Fred Foreman  Ep.195

In this powerful episode of the 90 Day Wins Every.Black Entrepreneur of Excellence Series, Coach SandyB sits down with Fred Foreman for an inspiring conversation about leadership, healing, faith, mentorship, and community impact. 

Coach Fred shares how his nonprofit, One Blood Movement of Unity, has spent years serving youth, mentoring families, and feeding more than 5,000 people every Thanksgiving. From overcoming homelessness and grief to building a life rooted in purpose, he opens up about the lessons that shaped him into the leader he is today. 

This conversation dives deep into authentic leadership, emotional healing for men, entrepreneurship, faith, and why understanding yourself is the foundation for changing your life and serving others. Coach Fred also shares how Every Dot Black helped him discover entrepreneurship and step fully into his purpose. 

If you’ve ever felt lost, overwhelmed, or unsure of your next step, this episode is a reminder that one moment, one conversation, and one act of kindness can change everything.

Topics include:

• Leadership and identity
• Mentorship and youth development
• Faith and emotional healing
• Entrepreneurship and community impact
• The power of service and compassion
• Why men need space to heal and cry
• Finding purpose through adversity

Listen now and be reminded that your story, your healing, and your purpose still matter.

Learn more about Coach Fred and his work with One Blood Movement of Unity. https://obmou.com

Transcript

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Episode 195. Welcome, new and old listeners. This is your host, Sandy B, and I invite you to enjoy this episode. Hello and welcome to the 90 Day Wins Every Dot Block Entrepreneur of Excellence series. I'm your host, Coach Sandy B, and today I get to talk with Coach Fred Foreman. How are you doing today, Coach Fred? I am good. I'm good, Coach Sandy. How you be? Thank you for having me, but how you be? I am well. I'm glad to talk to you today in this exciting series where we get to talk to members of the every Jack Black community. So before we get started, I like for each guest to tell me a little about themselves, and then we'll get started with my detailed questions. So if you don't mind, tell us a little bit about you. Okay. Uh from Playton, North Carolina. I'm uh I run a nonprofit here. It's called One Blood Moment of Unity. So it's designed to bring people back to understand we're all of God's children among the human race. I love to do it because it mentors the youth. That's my favorite part of it. And then we also get to feed the homeless and the needy for Thanksgiving. And that's roughly a little over 5,000 people that we feed every Thanksgiving year. I've been doing that for about 10 years, certified life coach. Uh it I do have one wife, and I have four beautiful children, two handsome young men. One's graduated college, the other one's still in college, and then I have two beautiful queens who have changed my life. I am very structured, I'm a veteran, but when I met them two right there, I'm straight butter now. So they get whatever they want out of their daddy and they know it. But but I love it. I love it. I love it. Thank you for sharing that. So let's jump right in. What inspired you to start your business and how did you turn it from a vision to reality? What inspired me the most is when I seen the hatred when I first moved to Clayton. We're we're originated out of the Raleigh area, and these young girls came into the school here and met into some young white ladies who thought they were I should be here. So I saw how they felt and I saw how I felt, and I saw how a lot of the blacks felt when I was coming through. So I would like to change that trajectory for children just in general. I never want them to feel like they don't belong. Yeah. So that's what inspired me to change. What makes this service unique in the industry and in the community that you are in? It's unorthodox. My my my uh my mentoring is unorthodox. I'm a military young man, so when I'm training the kids, I'm doing the same thing that we did in basic training. I I uh first two weeks, it's it's punishment. It's hard. But it's to bring everything in them out that's negative and unlearn things that they have learned. And then after that, we follow up with steps to become better and become the best version of themselves. Awesome. So let's talk about some challenges because dealing with young people is not an easy task. Let's talk about some challenges, challenges that you've faced along the way and how have you been able to overcome them? The most challenge really is bringing them in to parents who cannot afford. That's our biggest challenge. It's not really I've been mentoring for over 20 something years. So it's not a kid personality that I haven't met yet, if that makes sense. But uh the the biggest challenge is being able to afford a service. So my challenge now is to make it all free for all children. That's what what that's the goal that we have for 2026, is making it free for all children. So talk to me about that. What does that look like? How do you go about getting that support for the kids you want to serve? It is it is it is uh definitely a task. We uh because you know, you you're primarily asking people for money and people to su uh to really support you in the meeting. So you you're looking for sponsorships and advocates to really support that one child. We go to bigger places, people that have bigger pocket pockets, deeper pockets. You just have to be honest with it and shut up with it. This is what we're doing, and this is what we're trying to uh permit our children from doing, running the streets and doing something crazy, just living up their life. So we go to the big wheels and we ask for, you know, strong support. And thank God we have like a huge supporter coming in next year, 2026, to where we could possibly make it free for all these use. Yeah. How would it, what would it be like to not have to worry about that, to know that, you know, obviously you are bringing in the funds needed, but to also be able to provide the services and the programming. That's called sleep and rest. I I gain back sleep and rest. Because I don't care who you are, when you have a passion, when you love what you do, you lose sleep, you lose rest. People say it all the time, I don't take my work home. It's not work, right? But it but it is your work. And it's your heart, it's your love, you love to do it, you have a passion for it. You get encouraged by it just by waking up and being able to do it, but that will gain peace for me. Peace of mind is the most important, but that'll put me on different spectrum. Yeah, I can imagine. So it's a busy season coming up for you, right? You talked about your nonprofit feeding over 5,000 people. That's pretty impressive. Every Thanksgiving. So talk to me about this continued effort to show up within the community year-round. How do you balance community service with your personal growth? And talk about what impact has this work has on your spiritual journey. Joeling is the way you balance for me. That's just my thing. I love a journal and I love, yeah, I love to go fishing. So that that sits my mind away from the world, and I could be free for a few minutes, and I don't have to worry about a whole lot of things or that, you know, that we have done. And it gives me that that time, that like that real time, but just between me and God. It's nothing like that. Of course, you got it in the morning, right? You got it in the afternoon, whatever your prayer spirit schedule is, when you're fast to pray, that's that's up to the individual. Yeah. Like for me, it's been in here with his in his wilderness, in his you know, dynamic creation. That man created, is you know God created this this creek or this river or this ocean. You you know he created that. So when you when you get into that zone and I'm able to become free, it takes about spiritual side. And then I'm able to push that on to the ones that we offer. So you are able to get fed, so then you can get from that overflow. I love it. You just painted a beautiful picture for me. I don't even fish, but you got me fishing. Praise God. Because I love being outdoors. So you just painted a beautiful picture for me in that because I like you enjoy being outdoors. And so in the morning, I'll get up and I'll go to the park and I'll walk around. And in my mind, I'm mentally preparing myself to win the day. So I like that picture you drew for me because you just took me there. And I think that's so important because, like you said, you know, you desire to do so much and you are working within the community, and you know these everyday battles that people face, that they're coming to you to find solutions for. So having that time where you can go away and journal and have God speak to you and find freedom, that is that's a win, in my opinion. Thank you. And the God of the glorious, it is. We need it. Definitely. Yeah, yeah. Totally. So let's talk about leadership. And based on uh what I've read about you and the work that you do, leadership is a recurring theme in the work that you do. Would you say that? All day, every day. All day, every day. So, what does authentic leadership mean to you? And how can emerging leaders today model unity and compassion in a divided world? I always I go back to the individual. If you're united with you, that is that is one of the courses on the Cook Fried side. But if you understand yourself, you respect yourself, and ultimately you love yourself. It doesn't matter what environment that you go into. Doesn't matter. You understand that person, you'll respect that person, and you'll learn how to love them. Why? Because you already do it for yourself. It's it's not you against the world, it's you in the world. You don't have to be against anything. God didn't put us against anything. I don't think he put us, he's the one that fights all the battles. So how are we against anything? Yeah. And that's the way I look at it. And leadership. Everybody's a leader to me in their space. Yeah. Whatever their space is, whatever their strength is, that's their leadership. But what I teach people, what God taught me the same thing, is to understand me and respect me and love me. If I can do that, it works in marriages, it works in work relationships, it works in partnerships with uh different companies. It works everywhere you go because you know who you are. You can basket as grace and you can walk. Yeah. I love that because it's so important to have that sense of who you are. And I can tell as a coach, that is one of the number one things that people struggle with. You know, I hear and coach with a lot of women who talk about not knowing who they are, feeling their sense of, they don't have a sense of identity. And it starts with exactly what you said, knowing who you are and who you are, right? Who's your heavenly father, who is watching over you? It's it's really taking that deeper look into yourself and seeing and then figuring out what you want to improve on, right? And so I love the way you said starting with yourself first, because I think that's a key ingredient that people forget sometimes. For sure, for sure. Yeah. You see it every day, all day, in in men and women. And it's unfortunate, but we all have to learn something, right? Yes. And but we all, every coach needs a coach. Every therapist needs a therapist, every counselor needs a counselor, every preacher needs a preacher. We all need somebody to to help us and guide us in that right direction and to keep us focused and to keep us accountable for the direction that we are going. And you just gotta trust and believe in yourself. You don't do that, you can't expect your expectations can't be high to anyone else. We're leading these groups and we're leading over 400 members or 400 uh volunteers for Thanksgiving. Yes. If I'm not founded and grounded, they're lost. Yeah. They're confused. And then you cause frustration. Yes. And now that event will slowly dwindle. Because people are gonna talk, oh, that's a messy, they're they're not logistic, they don't know what they're doing. The talk, the negativity is about to flow through the community like clockwork. It'd be just white water, it'd be easy. It'll take this least resistance. And we as leaders, we gotta be stronger in self-first and grounded so that we can keep everybody else on a good focus level. That's just my belief and what I've been through over the last years running this operation. I love it. Thank you for sharing. So, like you just said, you've worked with thousands to embrace faith and purpose through your coaching and your mentorship. For those feeling lost or disconnected right now, what's one step they can take today to start walking in alignment with God's given purpose? My biggest favorite thing to do is I love a mirror. I always say the mirror is the only one that'll tell you the truth. That's the one that will not lie to you. So if I was talking with a client right now, I would definitely tell them get their Bible or their journal and get directly in front of the mirror. You can either start reading scripture to yourself, your favorite scripture, or you just start reading the word. Uniting you with you is bringing, God said that the greatest He that lives in me, the He that lives in the world. So when you're in you, the person you're uniting with, that's the one that's standing back at you looking in the mirror. That's the one that's living inside you. That's the one that says, You got this. That's the one that wakes you up and says, Yes, you can move. Yes, we can do whatever we put our mind to, and we can in our grace it. So getting in front of that mirror is so key, so important. Because you rebalance. Or every week, whatever you need. If some people need it every hour, some people need it every minute. Real encouragement. And get themselves back and geared up so they can keep moving. So my biggest encouragement for them is get in front of a mirror first before they do anything else. Get in front of a mirror and become real. Become very, very real. Tell the mirror the truth. Yeah. There's no reason to lie to the mirror. Tell the mirror the truth. It can take it. I promise you. I love that. That is really good stuff. So let's talk about technology. Sure. How do you use AI and technology in your business? AI helps me uh write my courses. Once I've finished up, you you put the intel in, AI jumps all over it and and puts it in a different perspective sometimes. You gotta go back and it's like a child, you gotta go back and recalibrate and say, hey, this is not what I said, this is not the direction I'm going. So AI is good, but I'm not against it. But I treat it like a child. You have to stay, you have to stay on it until you get to the right direction that you need it. Yeah. I like to tell everyone, AI is my assistant. So your assistant is only as good as the information you give it, right? Right. So to your point with a child, you have to correct your assistant sometimes. Sometimes they thought you wanted one thing, but in actuality, you wanted something else. I think the biggest thing is to not be afraid of it, right? To know that you are in control. So I like the fact that you said you treat it like a child because a child needs direction, right? You're not just gonna let the child run into the street. You're going to help the child to do whatever it is they need to get done. So it's the same type of way. You want to be empowered to use it, but you have to know that you're in control of it. Indeed. Indeed. I like that. We put that rest we'll appreciate that. You know, coaches, we buy, we buy. That's it. That's it. So let's talk about what inspired you to join every dot black. I love this question because everyone has their unique experience of how they came to this organization. So, what got you here? Oh my God. You know, this was pre-COVID. Your passion should already be paying you. If you're tired of watching the months roll by without the progress, you know you're capable of it's time to make a move. The win collective is where you stop thinking about your goals and start executing daily guidance, real accountability, and a community that refuses to let you play small. This is where ideas turn into income and consistency becomes your new normal. If you want this year to look different, you can't keep doing the same things. Join the win collective today and start monetizing your passion right now. Don't wait. Your next win won't happen without you. So if you're feeling the pull to reignite your passion and finally monetize what you love, you're not alone, my friends. That's exactly why I built the win collective on school. It's my private community where you will take action and we'll do it together. It's free to join, and it's where the real connection and accountability happens. Join today. For me. Wow. So I was just stepping into Fred. When I when I when I joined Every Dot Black, I was starting to learn who Coach Fred was. Okay. If that makes sense, you know. Yeah, yeah. So joining Every Dot Black put actually put me in a better headspace to understand who I really am and who I was becoming. Jimmy had something that that I didn't have and and I needed it. And and I wanted it. Yeah. So I I joined him years ago and used to speak at his uh Saturday mornings, his Monday, I think it was Monday nights. The Saturday mornings, I've been to the Dudley house when I was retired. Yeah. It's been a minute. But it it drew me in. It drew me in because it it it made me realize I didn't know what entrepreneurship was. I had no idea. I didn't know what career was into my 30s. Wow. So I was always trained to work. I didn't know the terminology. I didn't know there was a career. I I knew to go to work and but served my family. Wow. Entrepreneurship has always been I I never knew what the word meant. I never knew what it was. So when I met Jimmy and my everyday black guy, I was like, this is a black man doing something great, but not just for self. Yes. He's doing it for the community. So me that let me know he's found it in himself. He knows who he is. Yeah. I like that. That's a man drawing in a man. Does that make sense? It's pulling the man out of the man. So when I seen that man in him, and I'm I'm thoroughbred man. And I loved it. I loved that part. And it it just kept drawing me in more and more. I was like, this is who I'm becoming, Coach. So Coach Freight is starting to evolve at that moment. Yeah. Here we are today. Love it. I told you, I'm always impressed by the the story of what brought everyone together because it's like this beautiful tapestry of art, right? And everyone is bringing their own special color, their own special shape. And it's just this beautiful painting that comes together. So I love to hear that. And especially your perspective as a black man who wanted that knowledge and that understanding, and you had that discernment to know that this was different and it was what you needed to get you to that next level. So I love that so much. Thank you for sharing that. So let's talk about what you're excited about. We're almost at the end of the year. I know you have some exciting things coming, right? So share with me about what you're looking forward to. I know you're gonna be taking that fishing trip because you're gonna need it. Tell me what you got going on. I am ready for Thanksgiving. I don't want anyone to ever take it wrong, but it it's four days of cooking. Wow. And then we deliver over 5,000 plates that particular day on Thanksgiving. And those plates are fixed and made from the hour of 8 to 10. So that's two hours that we're pumping in 5,000 plates and shipping them out and getting them loaded and everything. Generally, I have everybody home by 10:30. The latest is 11:30, and that's the ones that stay back with me to clean up and make sure everything is situated. So Thanksgiving is my biggest. This is my biggest, this is my most stressful time of the year. I'm like, I'm sugarcoated. It's not it's not bad stress. It's it's really it's really good stress. I don't know what that means, but I just hurt before, so I decided to use it. But you just like what you do. That's what it is. So we we get it in, we get it in the hard. I am excited about it, but I'm also ready to be done with it. I'm sure. Yeah, is that that makes sense? There's no love lost, there's no shade, but it is a time of life that we're if feeding 5,000 is great, right? But let's let's look at the the the genuine math. Yes, we're able to do it. God has blessed us, right? To be able to do that. Yeah. But the fact that we have to do that. Yeah. So that that's the that's the two stress that that I take on. And and not everybody sees that part. They only see the one side, the glory side. You know, oh, we're able to feed 5,000 people. We we we just, you know, they they put it on their social media, they they blast it out, they they feel about good about a good deed. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with a good deed. Yeah. But the fact that we're in this type of country and we have to feed, you know, there there's a need, you know, with 5,000 people. Uh there's a good and a bad. Does that make it that? Good and the bad. So I I I would love people to look at that just a little bit more because the goal is not the five thousand. The goal is to bring the attention and bring that five thousand out of the situation. I've been homeless before, I know how it feels. To to not I know how it feels not to be long, I know how it feels not to be wallet, I know how it feels not to be fed and not to have anybody that feels like they love you. I I've been there I've seen it firsthand, it hurts like crazy. But I've also been to that point where you have to get up. And it only takes one incident or one word for somebody to get up. Yeah. And my prayer is to we be the only Bible that reads or we be that one message or that one act of kindness that gets them up. Yeah. And say, yo, let's go fight today. We're winners. We we lost that hour. We got twenty three left. Let's go fight them. So that's the goal. That is powerful. That is a powerful goal and So impactful because I'm just hearing you talk and just thinking about so many people that you can relate to in this time now. You know, you talk about being in the military, you talk about, you know, knowing what it is to be homeless, you talk about being a business owner and having to learn things that you didn't even know about, becoming an entrepreneur. So there's so many avenues and spaces that you are serving the community based on your experience. And so that it makes sense that you would be a coach. It makes sense that you would use your gifts to help others and to have compassion for others. Because I mean, if there was ever a time where we need organizations like yours that are truly there to help serve the community, because you see, all these services that we thought we had, they they have gone away. And so those people are still in need. So I want you to speak to your younger self. I want you to speak to that young Fred who is trying to figure it out. They hear all this stuff on the news, they're concerned, they don't know what type of future they're going to have. They have this young child, they have a young family. You know that person, right? And they're just trying to make another way. So you just talked about, you know, something that will allow for them to get up and win. So can you talk to that person today? Sure. I I would tell that young roster cheapest hair. That would be the first thing. I'm just messing. God, it'll it'll be a love, it'll be a blessing to talk to the younger version. The younger version lost his mother many over 30 years ago. So if I had to talk to any young version of me, I would say cry. As a man, we we and especially as black men, we weren't taught to cry. We were taught to suck it up and get over it. Well, I didn't mourn her death until thir three years ago. So it's been 33 years. Wow. Mourn until 30 years ago because I didn't know how. I didn't understand crying. So I had to go back and apologize to my young sons for raising them to be so strong that when they got into situations that they they ran into in college, they wouldn't cry. They were holding in. So when they hold it in, now they're sick. Not cares, you know what I'm saying? Mentally sick. And they get in their way. So if you had to talk to that young man, I would say cry, which is possible. What don't live off your emotions. Control them. Control them. Get a hold of them, understand your emotions, and get a hold of and let it out. Cry. So it cry. And it is men just don't cry in the dark. We cry in the morning, afternoon, in the evening, in the middle of the night. And that needs to be heard across the globe. Especially for for men that look like me. So I encourage everyone at any given moment when you feel that emotion, go somewhere, release it. Get it off of you. Journal it so that you can take it somewhere like you, coach Sandy, or me, coach, and let us guide you through it the proper way so you can still live your life and become the best version of you. At that moment, not 30 years down the road. That's good. I love to ask those questions because there is someone that I know is listening that can have that spark. Cause like you said, it just takes one spark. Maybe someone has told them this before, but they are hearing it from you, Coach Fred. You look like them. They believe based on what you shared. So something is going to click for them. And that's why I do this podcast. You never know by you just taking that one step to listen, to say something about this gentleman here, this Coach Fred. I want to learn more about him. And then you get to see how this gentleman was able to do all these things, right? So you never know. It just starts with taking that one step. And I believe that every Got Black is an amazing community where, you know, I would have never been able to meet you, Coach Fred, right? And so by being a part of this community where we can learn and grow together, I love the way you talked about how you were able to come in and it was the right time for you to just get all the knowledge from these amazing entrepreneurs that are a part of this community. And I think that is what I want to make sure everyone knows when they listen to these podcast episodes, that you can come be a part of a redap blog, just like Fred shared, just like I'm sharing, you can choose to decide you want to take that step. I love how you explained, Fred, that you know, you were learning who you were at that age. So coming into an environment like this where you are getting nurturing, where you are getting encouragement. I love that it's made clear that being an entrepreneur, you're going to have to put in work that you've never done before. But you don't have to do it alone. Indeed. That's the blessing for me. We can walk this journey together. Yeah. Teamwork, like dream work. That's it. That's it. So I am so glad that you were able to take the time to talk with me today on the 90 Day Winds podcast. And I wish you much success on your event this Thanksgiving. I know it will be amazing, and I know it's so impactful to the community. Indeed. And I'm always recruiting. So if you ain't doing nothing Thanksgiving Day, don't say no air. If you ain't doing nothing, feel free to reach out to me and come on out. I'll recruit everybody that I can in the get any chance I get. Because it's a lot to be done. And it's love. But I want to thank you too for having me. It's an honor to to talk with another coach. And you're right, 90 day wins. We just keep repeating them. So I love that title. I love that title. You know, you start, you finish, you you get done with that one, then you jump on the next ID. So I love it. Meaning every quarter. We're in the fourth quarter. Yeah. So let's rock it out. Taking the shot, coach. Put me in. That's what they tell me. Put me in. I'm ready to make that shot. Take it. Take it. Take it. So thank you. Thank you. It's an honor to talk to you. Honor to meet you. And I continue to I hope you uh have much, much success at what you're doing too. And if we can collaborate, let me know. Definitely, definitely. I'd love that. Talk with you soon. So you gotta be safe. Wow. That was a powerful conversation. I hope you're feeling inspired and ready to take action toward your 90-day wins. If today's episode gave you a new perspective or an extra push to go after your goals, I want to hear from you. Let's keep the conversation going. Share this episode on your socials and tag me at 90 Day Wins. I'd love to know your biggest takeaways. And if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, give me a finger. Read a five-star review and a comment. Your support helps more goal getters like you find this podcast and stay motivated on their journey. Remember, every day is a chance to win. Let's make it count. See you next time on the 90 Dayland Podcast. Go get your win every 90 days. Go get your win every 90 days. We have stopped the twist. I'm going out and I'm getting my windows on going out and I'm getting my windows.