Scrappy Episode 10: ICAN

Chris Straigis – 0:01
From AAC Studios, welcome to Scrappy, the podcast about small companies doing big things. I’m your host, Chris Straigis.

Chris Straigis – 0:16
Henry Salinas, embraced and embodied the idea of service – service to his country, service to his community, and service to his family. He passed away in 2017. But his son Fernando, speaks of him with reverence and legacy.

Fernando Salinas – 0:36
A lot of the kids that were going to the Boys and Girls Club, you know, they were showing up with their bandanas and different colors, and there was a rival gangs showing up and, you know, in an effort to try to keep the peace, you know, so that the younger kids were not involved in any violence or affected by any violence from these teenagers. You know, he is just thought like I need to I need to do something I need to, I need to help these kids, they need it.

Chris Straigis – 1:09
Today we’ve arrived at Episode 10, the final episode of our first season. And I’d like to thank you for coming along to meet these incredible and inspiring people, each, in their own way are trying to make the planet a better place in ways both big and small, because they all have the drive to build a better world.

Chris Straigis – 1:33
You know, every so often, if you’re lucky, you may get a chance to meet a motivator like Jennifer Lynn Robinson, or innovators like Julie & Scott Brusaw of Solar Roadways, or a game changer like David Katz of Plastic Bank. Our goal here at Scrappy is to give you the chance to meet lots of these kinds of folks. If you haven’t yet, please go back and listen through the rest of the season to learn more about what makes the people tick. Then connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to hear updates about Season Two, which will be coming out a bit later this year. And it’s not too late to drop us a note if you know someone who might be a great fit to feature on an upcoming show.

Chris Straigis – 2:20
As a young boy, Henry Salinas left school to help tend farms with his family in the American Southwest. His tack towards service was evident, even way back then.

Fernando Salinas – 2:35
My father was born and Lubbock, Texas, his parents were migrant farm workers. They used to migrate, his family, his parents used to migrate working in the farms and the agriculture, migrating to California, Texas, Arizona. And they settled in Arizona when he was about four years old and then he started growing up and Chandler, going to the schools. He spoke Spanish first, you know and even though he was a proud American, never forgot that story where he went to kindergarten and he didn’t know how to, you know, ask to go use the restroom and he learned how to speak English. He sued to always say, like “you can learn really fast.” Chandler at that time was a very small town – mainly a lot of farms and, and agriculture there. Eventually he had to leave school early, I think around the eighth grade to to help out the family. So he was always, you know, raised with hard work. He was always a sociable person. He was always a joy to be around if you ask people that knew him when he was young.

Chris Straigis – 3:52
At 19. Henry found good work at a military base and would eventually see a new path to service. This time for his country.

Fernando Salinas – 4:04
He had started working at Luke Air Force Base, which was a base in Chandler. I think it’s closed now, was working there. He had got married, I think he was 17 or 18 years old, got married young, to a woman named Yolanda. And, you know, shortly after that, he enlisted in the army and, and they started training to go to, to Vietnam. So, went through boot camp, and they were scheduled to fly out just a few weeks later, and they had gotten his, you know, notice that his wife was given labor and that she was having some difficulty and so, the army had given him a permission to go down to see his wife and she ended up passing away during birth. And a couple days later, his his first son Henry, also passed away.

Chris Straigis – 5:13
Henry would stay in California for a few more years, finishing his stint with the army and eventually remarrying. And though the trauma of losing his first wife and child was always with him, he would once again start to build a family having two children before moving the family out of California, and back to his roots in Chandler, Arizona. Fernando would be born soon after.

Fernando Salinas – 5:38
In Chandler at that time, you had its old parts and it’s kind of newer parts. And we had bought the house in the newer side of Chandler. So that on that growing up on that street was like, like The Wonder Years, you know, like there were so many middle class families, everybody had kids, you know, just all around the same age everybody go outside and play kick the can, hide and seek. And so we, all this, just this one mile long street, you know, of kids of different ages just grew up with each other. And for many for many years, it was just a great, great time growing up. And so, you know, we grew up we played sports, he always, you know, kept us involved in sports. He volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club, got us into the Boys and Girls Club, went to church.

Fernando Salinas – 6:36
And he started the Thanksgiving meals and started doing that annually. I mean, just these terrific meals, I mean, he would, you know, cut all the watermelon and different shapes, you know, and just like if it was a, you know, five star hotel. and so, you know, a lot of the inner-city families would go in, they would just get this, you know, grand meal that was just, you know, lavish for you know, just for any standards, like in the ham and everything was just amazing, amazing, you know, everybody that showed up the people, the families that showed up the business, you know, volunteers are like, what, how is this? And he would organize, you know, use his recipes, but he would organize people that were volunteering and you know, just really lead them and motivate them and just, you know, have this beautiful energy.

Chris Straigis – 7:35
The Salinas family had settled into their life in Chandler, and Henry was becoming a staple of the community. But it was a rapidly advancing world, the 80s and early 90s would see a fast moving national evolution taking place. And with these unprecedented changes came some unexpected challenges.

Fernando Salinas – 8:04
So the early 90s, if you remember the, there’s a lot of gangs that started, you know, it just started happening, you know, the movies that were coming out the music, you know? And so things started changing and it depended on what, you know, kind of what area, the neighbor of Chandler, you you grew up in, whether you saw it on a regular basis or not. So, um, you know, a lot of the gang started happening. So you had, you know, some older established gangs in Chandler already, um, and they weren’t really, you know, as violent as it started happening in the early 90s. And then you had, you know, other groups that were not necessarily gangs, but just big groups of friends. But because of the gangs, you know, as they would go to festivals or, you know, concerts, you know, anytime there was a big group of guys, you know, it would always, you know, clash with others, you know, like were, you know, they would start asking where are you from, and, and whether they were associated with the gang or not, a fight would ensue. And so, a lot of these groups that were not gangs started kind of turning into gangs just to protect themselves, you know, and so it just kind of grew, you know, out of that, and, you know? So growing up, you know, I started seeing, you know, a lot of things on our, on our street. I mean, There were drive-bys, you know, on a regular basis, a lot of things starting to happen. And you know, and a lot of people, a lot of us young people were desensitized to a lot of this that we were seeing out on the, on the streets, you know, and you know, in the movies and everything was just, it was just there. So it was just kind of part of life, you know?

Fernando Salinas – 10:27
my dad saw these things happening and the change and, you know, with a, you know, with with everybody, you know, with the community with his, his son me, you know, getting involved and becoming rebellious. And, you know, he wasn’t really like a big preacher, you know what I mean? He wouldn’t just, like preach to you and talk your ear off, you know? And you know ‘why you shouldn’t be doing this, you shouldn’t be doing this,’ you know, he would just lead by example, show love, and talk to you and get on your level and, you know, just be a friend to you and listen to you, you know, and somebody you can kind of open up to. He was at the Boys and Girls Club, and these things started happening. And a lot of the kids that were going to the Boys and Girls Club, you know, they were showing up with their bandanas of different colors. And there was a rival gangs showing up and, you know, in an effort to try to keep the peace, you know, so that the younger kids were not involved in any violence or affected by any violence from these teenagers. You know, he just stopped like I needed I need to do something. I need a need to help these kids. They need it.

Chris Straigis – 12:02
At this point in his life, Henry dedicated his service to his family. He was commuting back and forth to Phoenix, waking at four in the morning and working all day. He’d come home to spend time with his children, driving them to sports, cooking, being an attentive father, and at the same time he had gone back to school to earn his GED. His plate was very full. And it was here that his life would evolve into something else, something bigger than him. His innate impulse to serve would begin him down a path that would take him through the rest of his life, all while changing the lives of countless others. It began with him just trying to clear his head after a long day.

Fernando Salinas – 12:46
You know, he started walking the streets, just to get out. And at first, you know, they didn’t, he wasn’t received, you know, and he was threatened by a lot of gang members, you know, they didn’t know him. They didn’t know his intentions. And, you know, he just stuck with it, you know, he walked all over Chandler and people were just like, who is this guy? But for me, it was just, he didn’t change. He was just, he never changed though, like who he was, you know?

Fernando Salinas – 13:20
So I just always knew, that’s my dad, there he goes. He just started befriending. You know, and he kind of knew, because he had worked in the prisons and in Watsonville, so he knew, and he had been in the army, So he knew there was a structure. You know, he knew that the young people were just, you know, following the leaders, and, you know, so and the leaders were following, whoever had led them before or a lack of. And so, you know, he’s still just really getting involved with the leaders, you know, and talking to them and saying, hey, let’s, uh, well, you know, let’s, let’s go play some basketball, you know, and he wouldn’t, he wouldn’t mentor them and, you know?

Fernando Salinas – 14:14
And he’d started listening to the, to the kids, you know, ‘we can’t play basketball because there’s another gang there and they they own that, you know? And, what, you know, so he would go over there and talk to them and, you know, kind of go through the same cycle of befriending them and, you know, so he would do that with each group with each game. And, you know, they would voice their concerns and what they thought about the other group, and so he was just really getting all the intel and good understanding of what was going on. Of course, a lot of it was, you know, a lack of the family structure or, you know, the siblings were in prison. And you know, it’s just kind of just domino effect and the poverty, you know, the lack of education and what none so the parks, some of the parks didn’t have lights and they weren’t being kept up by the city of Chandler, but yet there was other parks and, you know, brand new parks in nice areas, you know, newer housing, you know, with with beautiful parks, and, you know, so he, you know?

Fernando Salinas – 15:42
Eventually he would go out and, you know, he would go with him and say that let’s, you know, let’s go play ball and he would just, he would be there as the adult, you know, and would talk to the other games and said, “hey, let’s let’s you know, let’s have some peace for a little bit.” It started in the basketball courts out at you know, the evenings. And he would get some games competitive games going on between the games.

Fernando Salinas – 16:15
You know, of course, fights would break out every once in a while, but, you know, it took that that energy and you know, and put it into a positive competitive game and he would do that and they would, they would play tackle football, you know, or flag football ended up becoming tackle football. You know, and he understood that there were just young kids that had a lot of energy, a lot of strength and, you know, just needed some guidance and some activities, some positive activities.

Chris Straigis – 16:56
It wasn’t just the neighborhood kids and the gangs who came to know Henry. Parents in the community started to recognize what he was doing. And sometimes in desperation, they’d seek his help.

Fernando Salinas – 17:10
You know, he started getting some parents, other parents started calling him and when their daughters would run away, you know, with their boyfriend or something, they would say, you know, the kids would say, you know, you should call Henry, you know? And get his number and, you know, and the parents would get connected and, you know, he would answer phones at late at night, and two in the morning, three in the morning, you know, he would go pick up kids, you know, that were stranded or whatnot, you know? And, of course, throughout all this, you know, my mom’s is like, “what are you doing?” Even to this day? I don’t know how he did it.

Chris Straigis – 17:53
While, his outreach and community support continue to grow, Henry was finding bigger and better ways to raise the bar. And help kids in his neighborhood.

Fernando Salinas – 18:04
You know, he started getting connected with the parents and they started getting involved, you know?And they reached out and you know, to the local school, junior high, to the principal, they opened up to the school there on the certain days. He was very political, he loved politics, oh man, we would we would just debate back and forth. He was that, he loved it. He loved that we were just informed. And, you know, he would listen to the kids and say, you know, you know, you know, you can you can tell the city that you know, you are a resident of the city, you know, the city owes you. So he took the kids to the city of Chandler, to the council, City Council, brought them all, in all the gang, all these gang kids, you know, and set them right there. And said, “yeah, you can go up there and and talk to him and tell him what you’re needs are.” And he started organizing them and showing them how they can make change on through the, you know, democratic process and through the, through the city. And all this was new, you know, and so the kids started just getting motivated, like, ‘wow, you know, we can do this.’

Fernando Salinas – 19:18
And things started changing and other and city council members started getting involved in and one, Patti Bruno in particular. You know, she met my dad and they talked and she was like, ‘okay, this guy is like the real deal. He really loves these kids.’ She saw his vision. And, her being a part of Chandler for a long time she saw the same thing happening. Um, and, you know, she was there to help them and she was there since day one. Patti Bruno was always there.

Fernando Salinas – 19:58
So They ended up going to the schools, and they got the police department involved. And there was always a truce within that, he made the senior ranking of the gangs, you would call them together and say, “hey, we want to do this, you know, but we need some peace,” you know? They would do car washes, car washes was a huge thing, they start getting together on the weekends and doing a car washes and, you know, they never been to Disneyland or, you know, Magic Mountain, you know? And they’re like, man, we would like to go to the beach and my dad would say, “yeah, you can do it.” Like what? “Yeah, you know, we could just do some carwashes and raise some money, you know?” And the parents got involved, you know, and they started taking them out side of their, you know, their box. Just really started opening up their minds and, you know, they took them to just different places like that different field trips, you know, fishing and you know? My dad loved fishing, you know? I grew up, I mean, practically on the lake. I don’t know how he found the time. It’s just still crazy, you know, because he always took us fishing and you know, and boating and he had bought a boat and he would invite everybody, you know, it was all the family and whoever wanted to come, you know, neighbors, you know, he just shared everything that he had, which was not a lot. And so, you know, just just really, he was just doing everything. You know, you know, in his power and listening to other ideas.

Chris Straigis – 21:49
Henry realized that his mission needed more organization. It needed some kind of structure. It needed a home base.

Fernando Salinas – 21:58
So yeah, I think he felt that he needed to give them, they needed something to call home. And eventually they got a small little little office space in Chandler and there was no money, and he would use his money, they would, other parents would you know, give part of their salary just rent this place, just to have a you know, a building to start something you know, because the schools w as not it wasn’t theirs you know? So once they got the building, this building was just a little office space, and then you know, they were continuing to look like and you know, we’re growing we’re getting more kids, you know, some of these kids don’t have food you know? We need to find a place that maybe has like a little kitchen and refrigerator, and maybe a basketball court. So they found the next place they’re in downtown Chandler and and you know, they had a basketball court there, you know, they a little gym, a little kitchen, and they started doing more and just getting food from the food banks and, and helping kids. And these kids needed tutoring and he, you know, knew that a lot of these kids were failing so you know he would reach out to you know some of the kids that were doing really well in school, and and university students, and say hey, can you come and tutor some of these kids? And just other people from the community from Chandler would come and tutor.

Chris Straigis – 23:25
Henry kept this incredible pace for years. he continued to grow the network of kids and parents, the community tent would get bigger and bigger until they even outgrew their first location. By now they were, for all intents and purposes, of formal organization. And they needed a name.

Shelby Pedersen – 23:44
When Henry started ICAN he really wanted to improve the lives of youth living within the Chandler community and so Improving Chandler Area Neighborhoods was very, it resonated with him because he knew that if he can improve the youth lives and really get them engaged in something productive after school, he was going to be helping the whole community.

Chris Straigis – 24:06
This is Shelby.

Shelby Pedersen – 24:08
Shelby Pedersen and I’m the CEO and ICAN.

Chris Straigis – 24:11
She worked with Henry for years and now runs the show. She told me a little bit more about how Henry approached the organization that his outreach eventually became.

Shelby Pedersen – 24:21
So we’ve started using the acronym ICAN over the years instead of Improving Chandler Area Neighborhoods. And it’s great that it spells ICAN because it’s this empowering and uplifting, positive message to any child that participates in our program. I can do it or, you know, I can be that person I want to be, I can overcome challenges that I’m facing, whatever that is for them. It’s just a really powerful, uplifting statement. Henry was such a humble leader. One of the things I respected the most about him outside of his incredible vision was his humility. And he was always very good about even very early on saying, I need help with x, y and z, can you, you know, I need to find somebody who can do this so that ICAN can be great 10 years down the road. So he always was very upfront with, you know what he needed help with. He would go to the city council and ask for different things. And he found staff early on in areas where he knew he didn’t have an expertise. He was just a really, really humble guy that knew he didn’t have the skills to do every single thing.

Shelby Pedersen – 25:32
Well, he had this amazing vision, he had access to the kids, and he was this charismatic, amazing leader who could come in and put this place, could put this plan in place. He You know, he always chimed the same message and the same key things that he wanted to see ICAN do. And, you know, as a result, it’s been very drilled into our culture, what his vision was, and so there’s no question if you ask anybody in this building and anyone on our board with Henry’s vision was, you’ll get a variation, maybe different words, but the exact same story, you know? He wanted a free, safe place for kids to go after school that would make investments in them. You know, it wasn’t, you know, just a place for kids that wasn’t fun that didn’t have, you know, skill building, he wanted them to have some kind of investment made in their life for them to be better than they were walking in the door. The fact that it was free and accessible to all kids, despite what label had been placed on them was important to him. And that was that investment in the kids that Henry was so passionate about what what can we do to make their lives better?

Shelby Pedersen – 26:37
And it did evolve over time to be a whole lot more focused on not just keeping them busy after school but really giving them the skills to say no to the gang and to drugs and everything else in between. You know, how can we how can we use our time wisely in the after school setting with these kids to impress upon them the importance of staying staying away from drugs and staying out of gangs. So we started to offer programs to a wider range of kids, more age groups at that time. And again, that is only improved the program, it’s only made us stronger. Henry was such a special guy, you know, he gave hope to teenagers at the time who really, they didn’t see themselves as having any future. And, you know, we have alumni who have come back and said, you know, ‘I would have died, there’s just no question i would i would have died. And nobody thought I was worth anything. I you know, I was making horrible decisions and I was hurting myself and hurting others and, and Henry believed in me and Henry stuck his, you know, his arm out for me. And, you know, I took hold of his hand and we walked out of that situation together. And you know, he was the one person in my life that helped me.’

Chris Straigis – 27:53
Henry was making a fundamental difference in the lives of these kids, and quite frankly, on the entire town. he’d found his mission, his ultimate call to service. But then in 1997, Henry’s path shifted once again. Serious health issues blindsided the family, and would burden him for the rest of his days.

Fernando Salinas – 28:17
So he was, you know, working and I think it was 1997. In April, he just was having some difficulty walking and every time he would walk it was like his knees would give out a little bit. So, he went to the doctor and you know, just to get a checkup. He’s like, ‘hey, I had this going on at work and it’s kind of weird. My knees just kind of buckle in.’ So, you know, he called us from the hospital like, hey, I’m here. I’m getting checked out. And the next call we got is like, hey, your your dad’s in a coma. We’re like, what? It was hard to you know, hear like what my dad’s sick and like in a coma and we didn’t really understand that and so on. So, they had misdiagnosed him originally with the with Guillain-Barré and you know after so many things they ended up saying that he was he had Neurofibromatosis, which is a lot of the tumors alongside the spine and his brain.

Fernando Salinas – 29:25
So that that took a toll. He was in a coma for months. He used to talk to me about it and he could hear everything like he was still awake, right? So, he remembers everything, all the conversations, everything when people would come in and out, you know, and you know, the, the the praying people praying for him people talking to him. And he said he would just try to like move his finger because of the nurses would say, Henry, can you move you, and, you know, but he said he felt like, just like his spirit like numb like, not in a body, you know it just but he couldn’t do anything. But he was he said he would try to scream and just talk because then he eventually started hearing the doctors that had come in with me and my mom and you know, talking about you know, pulling the plug, you know?

Fernando Salinas – 30:25
You know, he said he was just trying to like to like move and kick like, and tell people ‘I’m alive, I can hear you, I’m here,’ you know? And, you know, they had talked to my mom and said, Hey, you know, he’s not gonna come out, if he does, you know, he’s gonna have brain damage and you know, this and that. And so she said, no, you know, we talked about now, you know, she said, ‘I know my husband. You don’t know him, he is so strong. He’s the strongest man I know.’

Fernando Salinas – 31:12
Shortly after, a couple weeks after, he started moving his toes, he started moving his eyes, you know? And you know, it was a long process, but he, you know, he opened his eyes, you know, he could talk again, and we brought him home. And he had to learn everything all over again – how to hold his head up, he had lost all of his muscle. He couldn’t even hold his head up. It was he was he would say it was like a baby he couldn’t walk, nothing – how to write again everything all over again. His drive and his spirit, you know, and the love and the support that he had from us, you know, just and all of his friends and family you know, just I can you know that the family from I can and Patty and Trinity and everybody that was there, I mean, just so much support. But he always said, he’s like, mijo, son. I’m gonna walk again. I’m gonna walk again and I’m going to be back to work. He’s always he’s always say that I’m gonna be back, to work, get back to work.

Fernando Salinas – 32:28
You know, so he eventually started getting stronger and he went up to out of the wheelchair to the, to the walker, you know, use the walker for a long time. And he, you know, one day we were moving, we were washing the car right there in the driveway. And I told him one day, “Dad, can you move the blazer,” we had a Chevy Blazer. “Can you move the blazer so I can move the Ford Explorer?” He’s like, “no, I can’t drive.” I said, “Who says?” He’s like, “your mom.” You know, it’s like, you know, “my eyesight is not that great anymore.” And I’m like, “dad, it’s just, let’s just move it, just move it into the, you know, to the road right there just back and reverse it,” because he loved to drive. That was his, he had so many passions, so many passions, you know, and he loved to drive and he was the greatest driver, greatest driver.

Fernando Salinas – 33:27
I hopped into the, he started it, I hopped into the passenger seat. And then he moved it into the road. And I said “dad, let’s just go around the block.” He’s like, “you sure?” Like, yeah. And that was it. You know it, you know, we went around the block and we went down the street. You know, we went to the Circle K and he’s, you know, he’s just, he felt, you know, like he he okay. He could do something. He has a purpose. We came back and my mom was outside on the street, you know, waiting and she saw him driving up and about lost her mind, she’s like “leep kiss doesn’t” you know what are you, in Spanish you know, what are you, “Qué estás haciendo?” “What are you doing? You can’t drive!” and he’s like “yes I can.”

Fernando Salinas – 34:25
So, you know, he started making the errands, small errands to Circle K just down the street, you know, for milk, for this and that. And just started getting some independence again. I mean everything he put his mind to and envisioned, you know, it was like the energy and the faith and, you know, just the the law of attraction and whatever powers in the universe, you know, would just magnet, you know, and into it, you know, and and it did and, you know?

Fernando Salinas – 34:56
He came to a full recovery and he started working again. At that time ICAN was, you know, being ran by a CEO, you know, so he’s like, you know, ‘I know ICAN is in good hands,’ you know, it was structured, you know, still providing, you know, what I had envisioned. And so, you know, they, they all would always would reach out to my dad, like, invite him, you know, and that’s the beauty of ICANN, they, they, they kept him at the core. You know, they knew everything he did, and they always kept him at the core and would ask him, you know, for his advice, and, you know, what do you think, you know? ICAN as always had the founders a part of it, you know, you have Eddie Upshaw, you have Patti Bruno, you have, you know, AJ, you just had a lot of these people that stuck with I can with the same vision. And he felt, you know, 100% at peace, you know?

Fernando Salinas – 35:17
But then he had some relapses, you know? He had some relapses and, you know, he, we were, like, the second time we’re like, ‘man, we don’t we don’t think he’s,’ you know, we were like, he’s like, ‘no, it’s gonna happen.’

Chris Straigis – 36:22
Henry’s relapses were taking a serious toll. He struggled to fight back from paralysis, begin to work again, and then find him right back into sickness.

Fernando Salinas – 36:32
He went through three surgeries, you know, and then that’s when it started to change. You know, after the third surgery, they were like, ‘listen, you know, his spine is completely filled with tumors, his brain, they keep on popping up, you know, we need to try some radiation.’ So he started doing you know, chemotherapy, radiation treatment. You know, just treatment after treatment and you know, and that started having a toll on him. And you know, so he started losing its balance started getting weaker, and eventually just kind of, he was fighting, just therapy and the tumors just got in the way, neurologically, and he eventually, you know, couldn’t, couldn’t move anymore, he was immobile.

Chris Straigis – 37:39
By 2017, Henry was bedridden at home, in a coma, and under hospice care. He hadn’t opened his eyes for days. But then, just a day before his wife’s birthday, the strength he’d relied upon his whole life rallied one last time. He opened his eyes to spend some time with his wife once again, before taking his final breaths.

Fernando Salinas – 38:04
Towards the end. He was just surrounded with with family and friends and everybody, you know? Everybody loved him and he just… I wish you would have been able to meet him.

Chris Straigis – 38:36
Henry served his whole life. He was at his best and he was whole, when he was giving of himself to make the lives of others better, his family, his community. He was not one to passively observe, he was a doer. He understood that making deposits in the lives of others would reap untold rewards for generations to come. ICAN lives on and is stronger than ever. The legacy he built continues to foster the kids in Chandler with bigger and better programs, and it continues to grow in the light of its founder.

Chris Straigis – 39:15
Thank you for listening to Scrappy, you can go to scrappypod.com for show notes and links to ICAN. Please find us and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and connect to us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with Season Two which will be coming out later in 2020.