From Outreach To Impact: How Haven Homes Helps Survivors Rebuild

https://www.havenhomesofdetroit.org/

The clink of whiskey fades and a tougher story comes into focus: trafficking in Michigan isn’t a movie plot. It’s months of grooming, IDs taken, credit shattered, and a system that expects people to start over with nothing. We sit down with Aaron from Haven Homes Detroit to unpack how survivors actually rebuild—and what it takes for a small team to turn outreach into long-term stability.

Aaron traces the moment that changed everything: a young woman helped into rehab who was lured back and killed days later. That tragedy exposed the real gap—rescue without housing and documentation isn’t a fresh start. Haven Homes steps into that space with renovated transitional housing, trauma‑informed support, and practical milestones: restoring birth certificates and Social Security cards, repairing credit, teaching financial literacy, and building daily rhythms that make independence possible. With capacity for eight residents across two homes, they’ve already celebrated graduates whose lives now point forward.

We dig into Detroit’s unique dynamics: sports, conventions, and development bring demand; ownership patterns and bulk sales make housing acquisition hard; and while Michigan ranks among the top states for trafficking prevalence, public response still earns failing marks. Aaron talks partnerships with local services, the push for policy change with the Attorney General’s office, and the funding realities nonprofits face in election years. The mission is clear—scale beds, strengthen services, and keep survivors from ever returning to exploitation.

Want to help? Join the Hope & Toast Gala at the Garden Theater, support the June golf outing, or share this conversation with someone who needs to hear the truth behind the headlines. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell a friend—your signal boost can put another key in a survivor’s hand.

https://www.havenhomesofdetroit.org/

Chapters

• 0:00 Happy Hour Kickoff & Intros
• 1:16 Meet Aaron & Detroit’s Haven Homes
• 3:35 Childhood, Roots, And Family Moves
• 8:53 Why Haven Homes: Outreach And A Turning Point
• 13:45 What Trafficking Really Looks Like
• 18:35 Partnerships, Housing Gaps, And Detroit’s Market
• 24:10 Michigan’s Rankings, Policy, And Funding

Transcript

Speaker: 0:18

We're gonna drink a fine whiskey and smoke a really fine cigar.

Jamie Flanagan: 0:28

It is time for Happy Hour. It is the Man Cave Happy Hour Whiskey, Cigars, Spirits, the stories that go along with it. I'm Jamie Flanagan.

Matt Fox: 0:34

That over there is the sexy August Kitchlag.

Jamie Flanagan: 0:38

Oh, Matt Fox.

August Gitshlag: 0:38

You have to add that sexy in because we have a little bit of Foxy already named, buddy. And that's Matt Fox over there across to me in our in our usual spots. Yes. Yes. Happy New Year, fellas. Yes. Yes. We were fortunate enough to run into each other a few times during the holidays.

Jamie Flanagan: 0:54

So we got an extra body on board. We're going to get uh him in the the second half. Aaron's just gonna hang out because we have some business to take care of up here in the the first half. Yeah, pack show tonight. The first order, yeah, first order, first order of business. And but it's the house, but it's the uh Haven House. Haven house Haven House. So we're gonna get to Aaron and the Haven House of Detroit very, very soon. And we have our welcome cocktails. So it was welcoming. I feel better already. Cheers, cheers, cheers. And like, subscribe, leave a comment. All the podcast things and all the podcast plays, and uh yeah, so and the best thing you could possibly do is tell a friend. Haven Holmes, oh no, it's not well, it's it's a positive, it's a positive, positive amazing work that that you and your wife are doing, people facing challenges.

August Gitshlag: 1:43

Yeah, you're saving lives, you're out there saving lives, right? And I get that.

Jamie Flanagan: 1:46

So Aaron, before we dive in to the project, yeah.

Aaron Short: 1:51

Uh tell me about your childhood. Oh, my child. I did. I should have been thinking about this the whole time. Well, I grew up in Ohio, not an Ohio State fan.

Jamie Flanagan: 2:02

Hey, I can happily say way to go, Ohio.

Aaron Short: 2:05

I don't know how I avoided that. Oh, my uncles are Ohio State fans. What part of Ohio then? Northwest corner, cornfields and construction workers. Oh, fair play.

August Gitshlag: 2:14

So what would have been the local college that was D1?

Aaron Short: 2:17

D1, Toledo. Toledo. Rockets. Rockets. We're talking Swindusky area, rockets, Monroville, Bellvro. Well, there? Okay. Okay. Yeah, so about 30 minutes west of Toledo.

August Gitshlag: 2:29

I can always expect the only thing I don't like about Toledo is every single team down there is blue and gold. It doesn't make any sense to me. My high school is blue and gold. The the walleye, I've gone to walleye games. They're they're a riot, they're fun, but they're blue and gold. Yeah. And I can't wear that shit. And then they, you know, the Toledo Rockets, great name, everything you like about it. You want them, you know, stripes. You want them to wear stripes. You'll be all right.

Speaker 2: 2:49

God damn it.

August Gitshlag: 2:50

But anyway.

unknown: 2:51

So okay.

Aaron Short: 2:51

So an Ohio guy. Cool. Yeah, Ohio guy. Like my wife and I met in in college. Oh yeah. Yeah, school. Goshen college, Gosh, Indiana.

unknown: 3:01

Ghost.

Aaron Short: 3:02

That's a fresh one. I don't know that one. So that is 20 minutes from the greatest university ever, North Notre Dame. Fair play.

August Gitshlag: 3:09

So yeah, big Notre Catholic boy over here.

Aaron Short: 3:12

Not exactly. But big big Notre Dame fan. And so yeah, we we met there, got married in the early 20s. It doesn't happen anymore, but no, it doesn't. So yeah, we moved to Minnesota. So you're 25 now, so you're only been married for 25, yeah. Just like an 18-year-old son that he's arguing sports with. Uh yeah, we we moved to Minnesota for eight years before relocating back to Michigan. St. Paul or just south. Rochester. Was she originally a Michigan person? So she was originally from Illinois, Peoria area. How did you end up in Michigan then? Yeah, why'd you? Uh family. So once we start having kids, we move back to be a little bit closer instead of eight and a half hours. It was two hours, two and a half hours. It's easy.

August Gitshlag: 3:55

I have family members that didn't want to necessarily live near their in-laws, so they went to a different part of the four-hour drive, you know.

Aaron Short: 4:01

I mean, you get too close, then it's a little uncomfortable. Yeah, right, right. Two and a half hours about right. Yeah.

August Gitshlag: 4:06

I mean, but you you got married in your 20s. That's the age when people were living on the same street as their parents. Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. That was that same era. You know, that happened. Everyone that went to my high school lives in the same fucking neighborhood stuff. All of that. So anyway.

Aaron Short: 4:20

Yeah. I digress. No, we uh yeah, moved to Minnesota, moved back to Michigan. My wife's been in, she's a nurse practitioner.

Matt Fox: 4:28

Okay.

Aaron Short: 4:29

I've been in social work and strength conditioning at the collegiate level for most of my career. And then why do we keep having these guys under the podcast that have zero body fat?

August Gitshlag: 4:39

Yeah. I mean, it's starting to make you feel even older and more out of shape, you know. I don't know. But it is what it is. Once I can use some motivation, it's first for the year, you know, beginning of the year. Right, right, right. Anything I can do for you guys, yeah. We'll take it.

Jamie Flanagan: 4:52

This pomegranate will burn some fat for you. Sure. It will opens it up.

Aaron Short: 4:57

Jalapeno and lime, too.

Jamie Flanagan: 4:58

That'll make me spool. I'm not a jalapeno. It'll open it up and burn some fat. Anyway.

August Gitshlag: 5:01

But we we connected through uh Mrs. Vino. Oh, Mrs. Vino, yeah. And she's like, hey, I want you to, you know, I want to connect you with Aaron and the amazing work he's doing at uh Haven Homes. And they have the Scala coming up, and he wants to talk about it. You know, I was not aware of Haven Homes, and I'm on the board of directors of the Friendship House in Ham Tram. Oh, really? I do uh the food pantry, yeah, and you know, food and security, it's like a big deal right now. So we're I'm I'm putting a lot of my efforts into that more than any board member usually has to. It's usually, you know, we're we're putting it, we're going all in. Could you be so another charity that we anything I can get involved in, anything that we can help that we can use our goofballness here to get other people to hear about, we are all about it. And so I'm I'm grateful to Mrs. Vino for connecting us. Yes, and tell us more about like how this happened and how you ended up in this space.

Jamie Flanagan: 5:49

What, yeah, what is Haven House?

Aaron Short: 5:51

What is it?

Jamie Flanagan: 5:52

Yeah.

Aaron Short: 5:53

So my wife and I have been running with Love Runs, which was through a church in Plymouth area, um, raising funds while we're training to to you know donate to Mr. Maria and the SOAP project and different things like that. All in preparation for the Detroit Marathon. So my wife has ran four marathons, I think. You fucking nerds. No, not I'm doing the five K's. Okay, all right. I can do that. I can do that. I'm down. Five K's.

August Gitshlag: 6:19

I had a two and a half miles, yeah, with a flask in your pocket.

Jamie Flanagan: 6:22

Yeah, you and I remember Budapest very differently. All right, yeah. So you're training?

Aaron Short: 6:28

Um, yeah, so we're we're training for that, raising funds, and I started doing some outreach, which led me, which led us to Haven Homes in Detroit. So one night on outreach, uh, we were able to get a young lady off the streets, take her to rehab. She checked herself out three days later and went back to the same area that she was being trafficked from. And her handler stabbed her to death.

August Gitshlag: 6:51

Oh, so so that was kind of my I saw this like firsthand. You're just you're you're probably pretty new to the outreach. 100%. Yeah, I'd only been doing it maybe a year and a half, two years. Well, that's still a lot. I mean, most people don't last that long when they're doing that kind of work. Well, you're a social worker by training, right? Yeah, so there's a little bit of that. There's in your background. Okay, I can't. Absolutely, absolutely, yeah. The average volunteer doesn't handle that well. No, absolutely not. Emotionally, yeah. Right. It's it's a hard one.

Matt Fox: 7:15

There, it's a lot on a daily basis that you that you talk through that you see happening out in the world. It's a very difficult area to work in and stay positive, yeah.

Aaron Short: 7:24

Right, right. And so from that, we kind of recognize that there were there were gaps in the system, there were gaps and being able to provide services to this type of population. And so my wife being in strategic development for the last decade and my social work background. Now, you know, I have my my building builder's license to be able to renovate these homes that we're putting women into.

Matt Fox: 7:48

Okay.

Aaron Short: 7:48

Um, we had a lot of the components to be able to at least get it off the ground and then surround ourselves with the right people, general contractors, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so a lot of my subcontractors will do in-kind donations when we're renovating the homes. And then some of my some of the people that I've served with outreach on um actually came and worked for us then once we got it off the ground.

August Gitshlag: 8:07

Well, that that's that's where it comes a little full circle. If you can help employ some people that were, yeah, that's yeah, wow. Yeah, and these women are are primarily women that have been you had a much better definition that I can say that they were traffic. So this is what we hear all the time now. Oh, it's all about, you know, it's the it's kind of a buzz term 100% out there. This this traffic, but it's it's deeper than that.

Aaron Short: 8:29

Yeah, and so I think there's a misconception. You see the movies, you see a white van rolling up on you know a kid at the bus stop or whatever it may be, being abducted, and or a pimp with a purple hat, right? Exactly. It's very stereotypical, but that's not necessarily the case. So typically how it happens is these women andor boys are groomed. Social media is you know not helping with that. No, and so they're groomed over a period of time and really playing or you know, preying on the weaknesses of the individual. So whether it's you know, mental health disorder or issues with you know family structure or finances or whatever maybe, that's what they're preying on. And once they get their hooks in you, then it's hard to leave. Wow.

Matt Fox: 9:12

So the organizations, do the organizations like Easter Seals Mork, do they reach out to you or is it vice versa? You reach out to them saying, hey, we have resources for folks that are going that have been trafficked and we want to help them through a few items as well.

Aaron Short: 9:25

Yeah, that's a good question. One of the things that we've tried to do over the last three years now of providing services is create partnerships with all these other services within the community. So one of the the purposes of being in Detroit is there are services in Detroit, there's not enough housing to run transitional housing out of. Right.

August Gitshlag: 9:43

Well, I mean, they they say that Detroit had the most available houses to finally rehab. They didn't they tear a lot of it down? I mean, they're they did it's it's like affordable housing, isn't it's still a challenge, even though there's all these empty houses, a lot of them are still corporate owned by you know companies out of Germany. They own it.

Jamie Flanagan: 10:00

No, if you want to buy if you want to buy and flip a house, they're like, No, you gotta buy the whole block. Yeah, it's like they don't let you just buy like they they they're trying to sell swaths of land. What they did over at individuals who because Colleena were thinking about you know buying, flipping, renting, and and it's like no, well, you got to buy these 10 lots. We're like, what the hell are you talking about? You know, and that but that also takes them out of the equation, yeah.

August Gitshlag: 10:24

For getting transitional housing, yeah.

Aaron Short: 10:25

Yeah, and so our our goal was identifying the block and be able to buy you know house homes as we are able to increase our infrastructure and get more solidified financially. To your point, though, the developer came in and bought nine or ten at a time, which we can't compete with, right?

Jamie Flanagan: 10:42

Well, that's what the city wants. They want to get rid of it. It's huge because the city is so damn huge, right? And they want to get rid of it in large chunks. It's like we gotta, we gotta, we gotta move it, we're moving it out. It's it's time to go.

August Gitshlag: 10:55

And are you are you competing with the the group home aspect? Are you are these single family, multiple people? I mean, sometimes there's a strength in having people with shared trauma experiences being in the same space so they can talk and they can kind of you know they don't run away because they don't feel right.

Matt Fox: 11:11

I don't know which which way do you guys and pardon the expression like halfway homes or shelter. Yeah, it's a terrible. I don't hate all the terms. That's why I'm transitioning.

August Gitshlag: 11:20

That's why I put it.

Jamie Flanagan: 11:20

I know just throw a flag if we use something.

August Gitshlag: 11:22

Yeah, transitioning from drinking and laughing about blues and then going to serious stuff isn't our usual, but yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 11:29

I'll edit this into two professional conditions. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Aaron Short: 11:32

No, we're really not in competition. I mean, there there is not enough housing to go around. Um I mean, there could be 500 of these organizations across the state, and there's still not be enough housing for oh, of course.

August Gitshlag: 11:43

The more organizations, the less housing available, right?

Aaron Short: 11:45

Yeah, and so you know, Michigan ranks in the top ten in in the you know, nationally for human trafficking or commercial exploitation or any other variation of that.

Matt Fox: 11:55

And not a top 10 that we really want to be in.

Aaron Short: 11:58

Not a top 10, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, the the AG just came out with her most recent report, and we rank ranked as an F across the states. Yeah, why is that?

August Gitshlag: 12:09

What are we lacking here in Michigan?

Aaron Short: 12:13

That's a good question.

Jamie Flanagan: 12:14

Would it be because we got an F for the rating, but we were like number 10 in the in the in the escalation of the problem.

Matt Fox: 12:21

There are there are a lot of amazing people doing a lot of amazing things in Detroit, in Michigan alone.

Aaron Short: 12:26

Agree.

Matt Fox: 12:26

There's just not enough.

Aaron Short: 12:27

There's not enough, exactly right. Yeah, it is okay. That's what it is, yeah. And so I think I think you know it's gonna take system change, and that's kind of what you know I'm attempting to do over the next three or four years is you know, aligning myself with the AG's office and some of these other commissions to be able to make legislative change that provides more funding to and resources to these type of populations.

Matt Fox: 12:49

Yeah. It's an uphill, it's not a tremendous slope, but that's an uphill slope that you are going to be fighting. Absolutely.

August Gitshlag: 12:58

It sounds like the support hasn't kept up with the buzz.

Speaker 2: 13:01

Correct. Yeah, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 13:02

Is there is there a couple different facets with this too? Are there are there people that are being brought in from other countries and being trafficked? And then there's like runaways and people with addictions that are being abused here. Is it is there one that is more prevalent in Metro Detroit, or is it uh all just a big S show?

Aaron Short: 13:21

That's a tough one to answer. I I think if you look at the most recent bus, I know there was one in Oakland County a couple weeks ago. Southfield made the news a couple months ago, and you know, that particular individual brought somebody up from Louisiana. Okay, and so people are, you know, it's all about supply and demand. You know, the unique thing about Detroit, and the reason it ranks so high, is because uh there are so many sports teams downtown, everything is being developed. We we host North America's largest auto show, and I think there's a misconception that it's it's socioeconomically low income trying to seek out these type of services. And that's not the case. It's white-collar individuals that have the money to be able to do this.

August Gitshlag: 14:03

It's the CEOs wearing pantyhouse, right?

Aaron Short: 14:05

Yeah, yeah. We've heard about that.

August Gitshlag: 14:08

Wow.

Matt Fox: 14:10

What the the what you do on the daily basis, it's got to really it's got to affect you. How do you stay positive? That's a great question, man. How do you stay positive through everything that you're seeing and people that you're meeting and helping? Yeah, what do you do?

Aaron Short: 14:26

Well, I think the biggest thing is one, I'm going through this with my wife who's the co-founder. And so we can kind of console each other and we have we have our ebbs and flows with with how we're dealing with different things. But I think that the most positive thing is you know, hearing the success stories in in since 2023, since we started providing services, we've had three graduates of the program.

Matt Fox: 14:47

Okay, that's fantastic.

Aaron Short: 14:48

To be a graduate, you have to go through. So, what's the graduate? What does that entail? Yeah, and so so you have you have to meet certain benchmarks, you have to, you know, the ultimate goal is to heal from the trauma they've experienced. But on on top of that is hitting the benchmark, so making sure that we've gained their legal documents because most of them come to us without any you know, birth certificate, ID, you know, so on and so forth.

Matt Fox: 15:10

Is that obtaining like a guardianship over the individual to help them through things or not necessarily?

Aaron Short: 15:14

Okay, so all the women that we we provide services for are adults, and so there's it's almost if I if I can use the example, if you think about um the movie The Account with Ben Affleck, yes, right?

Matt Fox: 15:28

First or second one, first one, thank you.

Aaron Short: 15:30

Um I heard it's good. It's not bad. I heard it's very watchable, yeah. Absolutely great sequel. Yeah, but the first one there at the at the very beginning, he goes to the institute and they're putting together a puzzle, but it's upside down.

Matt Fox: 15:41

Yep, yeah, right. Yep, it's a great, it's a great uh thought of okay, that's who this kid really is.

Aaron Short: 15:47

Right, yeah, and so so we are essentially providing the opportunity to be able to put this puzzle together upside down. They've had everything torn apart from finances, credit scores well below 100. And putting all any at all, right, and putting all these pieces together alongside them.

Jamie Flanagan: 16:05

Well, I mean, that's how they're manipulated sometimes, is like they sort of totally stripped of all their identification, and and so that's how they get up, and and and and and so they can't do anything on their own because they have no, so they need an ID to get a job, to get an apartment, to get you know, into the more it's homelessness with a whole bunch of added shit, yeah.

August Gitshlag: 16:25

A hundred percent.

Jamie Flanagan: 16:26

It's uh yeah, so just uh getting all that paperwork back, you know, is a first step towards the next step.

Matt Fox: 16:34

And we're not just talking state level, we're talking federal level with social security numbers, with yeah, tax returns and all that. There, there's a lot that goes into that you have to work through. So the three you said you had three graduates?

Aaron Short: 16:44

We've had three graduates, yeah, since 23. That's fantastic. Yeah, yeah. And so our capacity is to be able to surf eight at a time. We have we've renovated two homes, and we can provide you know individual space up for up to eight residents at a time. Okay, and so we we walk through it with them, not only gaining the financial documents, but you know, teaching them life skills, financial literacy as we talked about earlier, and then you know, identifying what their goals are. I mean, ideally, they're responsible for whatever their trajectory is. Sure. And so we're just being able to come alongside them and be able to you know put those pieces together with them and connect them to the right resources.

August Gitshlag: 17:24

I think Aaron's just earned the number one draft pick for all the day. He gets a pick, yeah. Whichever one makes him happiest. Right. For him and his wife. So, what what do you have coming up? You have a you have a gala coming up, right? And that's what we first talked about, and uh what about like how can you know we help and promote that? Tell us about that. Tell us about the scala and how the you know what kind of money you're raising and what you're doing.

Aaron Short: 17:44

Yeah, so traditionally we we do a golf outing every June, which this is count us in. We are golf outing idiots.

August Gitshlag: 17:50

Golf outing? Yep. As long as we can just dump. Not a problem. We have like like we all wear like flamingos. You can do whatever you want to do. Okay, all right.

Aaron Short: 17:58

Whatever you want to game on. All right, we're in. Please invite us. We're in. The golf outing is all about a good time and just being out on the course and enjoying the uh is it a weekday outing or is it a weekend? It is a yeah, it's always the first Wednesday of June. Okay, all right. First Wednesday of June, and you can't jobby owner. I don't know.

August Gitshlag: 18:15

Friday, it's the first Friday or last, whatever. It's the first Friday of summer, never mind.

Matt Fox: 18:18

So anyway, so first Wednesday of June?

Aaron Short: 18:20

Yeah, first Wednesday of June. I think it's uh June 3rd this year at Fox Hills Golf Course. Oh, right on that in there. We did an outing there before. Yep, yeah, great course. We've been super successful with it. Um, but we wanted to be able to become more self-sustainable. And so this is our first gala. It's the Hope and Toast Gala. Yes, where's this at? Uh, this is gonna be at the Garden Theater on uh Woodward Avenue.

Jamie Flanagan: 18:41

Oh, the Majestic Complex. Is that the Majestic? No. Is this the Garden Theater? No.

August Gitshlag: 18:47

Oh, no, it's not. Uh it's different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll we'll link it.

Aaron Short: 18:51

Don't worry, don't worry, folks.

August Gitshlag: 18:52

We're gonna show you where it is. Yeah, we'll show it.

Aaron Short: 18:53

All right, we're gonna show you where it is. So it is February 28th, doors open at 6 30, full bar, 6 30 to 10 o'clock. We're gonna have live music and a DJ, live paddle auction, great curative food from Detroit, you know, culinary experts. Uh, Mrs. Vino is helping us provide provide us with a you know signature drink and a mock tail, but it really gonna be a great event. We're excited to be able to host our first one here.

Jamie Flanagan: 19:20

It's Kitty Corner from the Majestic.

Aaron Short: 19:22

Okay, that was in that area.

Jamie Flanagan: 19:24

Okay, right across here and over. Yeah, okay.

August Gitshlag: 19:26

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 19:27

All right. Aaron, it yeah, thank you. The work that you do. So the website, where is the website? How do people get connected for the golf hounding? How do people get connected for the gala?

Aaron Short: 19:39

Yes, everything can be found at havenhomes of detroit.org for the gala specifically bash backslash gala. We are at, I think we're at a hundred individuals currently registered. We're shooting for two to two hundred and fifty.

Jamie Flanagan: 19:54

Okay, nice.

Aaron Short: 19:55

We're expecting the AG to be there, some senators, representatives. It's gonna be kind of a community event. Sure. And really excited to be able to put it on there.

Matt Fox: 20:02

Yeah.

Aaron Short: 20:03

Great, great venue.

Matt Fox: 20:05

Just th thank you. I I can't express the gratitude that I have for the work that you and your wife that you guys put into. Hard work. So difficult.

Jamie Flanagan: 20:12

I cry about being a high school teacher.

August Gitshlag: 20:15

It's like I whine during election season as it was.

Jamie Flanagan: 20:19

It's like, man, that is hard work. Yeah.

Aaron Short: 20:22

Well, yeah, election season. I'm glad you brought that up because I mean this year, you know, we went through a funding freeze April to June. Oh my god. Government shutdown. I mean, that that hurts, you know, nonprofits across the board.

August Gitshlag: 20:34

It does. And like we don't even know the future of CDBG funds if you're involved in any of that of trying to capture any of that money. We don't know that in 2016, 2017, the current administration said that that was just a local slush fund that we have to stop.

Speaker 2: 20:47

Yeah.

August Gitshlag: 20:48

So we're like trying to get through one year of CDBG hoping that we can get another couple curb cuts so that we can have handicapped ramps in the suburbs. You know, so yeah, I mean that money is that dude. We don't know. It's all in flux. Always public service organizations are in flux right now. So we want to help you guys stay sustainable and we'll keep going from there. Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you, Aaron. So we are gonna liven things up though at the end here. So yeah, we're in no hurry. I mean, if there's more we need to talk about, but I have I have this Christmas present for the studio here. Okay, so Aaron, welcome to the Man Cave Happy. And in fact, they are gonna require a certain kind of glass, though. So excuse me.

Matt Fox: 21:24

I'm thinking, okay, if I had to take a guess, it would have to be Glenn Kerence.

Jamie Flanagan: 21:28

Okay, well, that's the other he's going to get champagne flutes. Oh, we're gonna have champagne cocktails, he's gonna or he's gonna get the coop glasses.

Matt Fox: 21:36

Yeah, who knows? So you and your wife met in college. We did, yeah, and how long you guys have been married now?

Aaron Short: 21:43

Coming up in 24 years. That's amazing.

Matt Fox: 21:46

Yeah, congratulations. I was right, Glenn Karens. I'm Glenn Karens.

August Gitshlag: 21:51

So a year or so ago, maybe a little longer than that, we had some fellows in here that came in with a whole bunch of bourbons that can we found some stuff that we're like, oh, I've never heard of that, I've never heard of that. And we do a lot of bourbons, we do a lot of places that all come out of like Tennessee and come out of Kentucky. But this particular one didn't come out of Tennessee or Kentucky. I think you guys can guess what's under the hat now.

Matt Fox: 22:12

I think I have a good idea. It better be what I think it is. Yep, there it is.

August Gitshlag: 22:18

Oh, Tennessee. Barrel-aged old soul out of Mississippi. Uh I was on my way to my brother's house for our family, my our siblings. We don't do presents anymore. We all get together and just you know, drink and play games and stuff because we all get together for that one that one night. And at his local party store where he gets his bourbon, where we stopped just to grab some literally barefoot Moscato for my sister. Right, right. This is sitting up next to the register, and a barrel pick of old soul. You're like, I'm like, shit, how much?

Matt Fox: 22:47

She goes, I go put it on there.

August Gitshlag: 22:51

I'll take it.

Matt Fox: 22:52

So how much? How much was what I would tell you like a little less than boing. I think folks can figure that out.

August Gitshlag: 23:02

So I oh I cracked it, but I did not drink it. Oh, yeah. I cracked it. I said, Oh crap, we gotta take this. I gotta take this too. That is dark. I don't think if I'm dark. Am I even allowed? So we wonder what like I mean, we had a bottle that they left here, and there was about this much when I left it here, and we had to literally hide it from each other. We played musical chairs with it so we wouldn't drink it when we came in. And it's Mississippi whiskey. No one knows. I mean, Mississippi is not a whiskey town.

Jamie Flanagan: 23:25

No, you don't totally always think it's I'm glad you're here to share with this.

August Gitshlag: 23:28

Little nip, nip.

Jamie Flanagan: 23:30

Get your little nip.

August Gitshlag: 23:31

These are higher. This is a higher, higher.

Matt Fox: 23:33

What's the proof on that?

Jamie Flanagan: 23:35

Get the cheaters out of here.

August Gitshlag: 23:38

Yeah, well, yeah. After this is yeah, 124.98 proof. Okay. Daddy's got to work tomorrow. This is uh from Harper Liquorland. So, yeah, it's that's why I cracked it and said nope with the boys. Yeah, the boys on a quieter night.

Jamie Flanagan: 23:52

Give me a school night pour. There you go.

August Gitshlag: 23:54

That's a school night pour. We didn't have a school night pour the night we tried this the first time. No, nope. We all had to like you know, Uber home and call in sick. That wasn't nuts night. They had like 15 bottles of barrel-age stuff we had to try.

Matt Fox: 24:07

Oh, yeah, that's that's reminiscent of what I remember.

August Gitshlag: 24:09

That's the same smell. Yeah, it's a different kind of yeah, that's nice. Yeah, isn't that cool?

Matt Fox: 24:16

Isn't it cool?

Jamie Flanagan: 24:17

You say that's all that's all 125.

August Gitshlag: 24:26

That is all 125 proof. I get the which of these is the is the bourbon mixer?

Jamie Flanagan: 24:32

Going past the gullet there.

Matt Fox: 24:35

The lemon, the lemon sour was what I was using. That would feel sacrilegious to do that. Yeah, I think that was really the um I'm where's the ginger root?

Jamie Flanagan: 24:41

I'm not mixing this with anything.

Matt Fox: 24:43

Pineapple ginger root? I don't know about that one either.

Jamie Flanagan: 24:46

Yeah, that pineapple ginger root was nice on the toilet. I'm just I'm just drinking this naked. Yeah, I think I'm just gonna do it. I'm just enjoying them naked.

Matt Fox: 24:56

Yeah, so I just want to reminisce over yeah, uh happy new year, guys. Happy new year to 2026.

Jamie Flanagan: 25:03

Aaron, thank you for being here and uh thank you for the work that you do. Um and your wife, thank you so much. Yeah, uh amazing stuff. We'll share all those links and kind of sin for the golf outing.

August Gitshlag: 25:14

We're always looking for a reason to skip work and do dumb stuff.

Matt Fox: 25:17

I put it in my calendar already, and I have to have a serious conversation with my boss, my leader.

August Gitshlag: 25:21

Yes, yeah, yeah. My my um vacation uh resets on June 1st, so that's perfect. Well, good for you. I have like you know, five weeks of vacation at kick in. So I'm like, all right, and all my sick time sniffle a little early summer cold.

Jamie Flanagan: 25:36

That's like my last week of school.

August Gitshlag: 25:38

Oh no, you're screwed. Well, I'll get I'll get the usual suspects. I'll bring in Balsam.

Jamie Flanagan: 25:43

Oh yeah, you'll be you'll be retired by then. I'll be phoning that in.

Matt Fox: 25:46

Yeah, okay. This is it. Last dance for you, man.

Jamie Flanagan: 25:51

Yeah, uh right. Cheers. Cheers, everybody.

August Gitshlag: 25:54

Hey, this guy next to me is Aaron. Cheers, Aaron House, uh, Detroit.

Matt Fox: 25:58

Hey, that over there is August Kitchland.

Jamie Flanagan: 25:59

That's Matt Fox.

August Gitshlag: 26:00

Like his name's Jamie Flanagan.

unknown: 26:02

Say it.

Aaron Short: 26:03

Jamie Flanagan. There it is, one of us. One of us. One of us.

August Gitshlag: 26:08

One of us. Cheers, everybody. Thanks for listening. Cheers.

Jamie Flanagan: 26:10

See you next time.