Argyle302

The Skateboard Duck glides down the sidewalk. Weeeee! Look at him go!! A short animation video I created years ago, spoofing The Duck Song duck.

Zeus enjoys an Uber ride to the airport, where he plans to board a plane headed for Tahiti for a well deserved, relaxing vacation on a beach, sipping on mai-tai's for his Christmas break. Zeus is contemplating being a volunteer on one of SpaceX's trips to Mars in the coming years. Elon Musk says that Zeus has "The Right Stuff" for the long, epic space journey. Stay tuned! If you enjoy this video, please click the "plus" button to give me a "Rumble". And comment if you like, and share as well. And you can always subscribe to my channel as well. I'm always coming out with new content on a weekly basis. Have a great day!

While riding my e-bike through Southlake Park, I came across a group of what looked like Canada geese swimming through the lake. The lead goose chose to lead the family ashore where I was able to get some close-up footage of them and the little baby geese snacking on grass. This footage was taken on Saturday May 28th around 11:41 AM. If you enjoy this video, please click the "thumbs up" plus button to give me a "Rumble". And "comment" if you wish, and "share" as well. And you can always subscribe to my channel as well. It's super easy to create a Rumble account, all you need is a user name and a password. I'm always coming out with new content on a weekly basis, so stay tuned! Have a great day!

While in Salida, Colorado, we decided to hike up Tenderfoot Mountain, a very steep hill with a "Big S" on the side of it. Spiral Drive snakes up to the top of it, but we took a few rough trails to the top, where a white abandoned lookout tower resides. Sorry for all the noise, but it was extremely windy up on the hill that evening. Featuring Mike, Alex and Preston. "When in Salida...... " Enjoy...... and please like, comment and subscribe! Home of Colorado's Largest Historical District, the annual FibArk Whitewater Festival, Artwalk, Fallen Bikers Memorial Rally, the Salida Hot Springs Aquatic Center, and a great whitewater kayaking course. Salida is nestled at the foot of the scenic Central Colorado Rockies on the western bank of the Arkansas River at an elevation of 7,038 feet. U.S. Highways 24, 50 and 285 meet near this historic railroad town making it the "Crossroads of the Rockies". Nearest commercial airports are Denver International, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. Downtown Salida is on the National Register of Historic Places and is Colorado's largest historic district. Because of the cool, comfortable summers and relatively mild winters, the area around Salida is called the "banana belt" of Colorado. Downtown Salida Historic Downtown District Salida was first established in the 1800s as a stagecoach stop and later as a stop over for travelers on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Downtown Salida is on the National Register of Historic Places. It has the finest collection of historically significant buildings in the state and is Colorado's largest historic district. A walking tour of the downtown district will bring this history to life. Art Galleries Salida named "Best Arts Community" in the West by Sunset Magazine. Visitors to Salida's historic downtown district will find a wide array of galleries exhibiting the stimulating works of local artists, sculptors, jewelers, potters, and goldsmiths. Many of these galleries are working studios and are housed in historically significant buildings. Gallery hopping is a great way to spend an afternoon in historic downtown Salida. Salida Walking Tours Salida Walking Tours guides visitors through Colorado's largest National Historic District. You'll hear incredible stories about Salida's wild west past, including gunfights, lynchings, great successes, and tragic fires. Private tours and nightly darkside tours also available. FIBArk Festival Salida is the home of the legendary FIBArk (First In Boating The Arkansas) Festival. This four-day festival held each year in mid-June is the venue for the oldest down river race in America. FIBArk draws whitewater raft, canoe, and kayak racers from around the world. This event includes North America's longest kayak race (26 miles) and a whitewater rodeo event where the only qualification is that the craft you race cant be a boat. The festival includes a full range of activities for spectators including live entertainment.

A video displaying three pumpkins that I carved into Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween. I started filming in daylight right before it started to get dark, so you can see the transition from lightness to darkness during the video. Listen for the dogs barking in the distance, and the train whistle miles away. Occasionally you can hear a loud car passing by or a motorcycle zooming on a near highway. And if you listen closely, you can probably hear the sound of a police car roaring after a criminal. The wind picked up more at the ending of the video and nearby crickets chirping. I also light a nice fire in front of the set-up to give the scene a little life with fire dancing across the faces of the pumpkins. I also lit a few tiki torches off to the side about 30 minutes in. Its hard to make it out, by the skeleton skull strobe light behind the middle pumpkin gets turned on about midway through the video as well. Put this video on in the background for your next Halloween party, and let the guests soak in the eerie ambience of the Jack-O-Lanterns. Or just set the volume to your desired level and try and relax or sleep to the sounds of urban life. Helpful tips: 1. Plug in your charging cable to your electronic devise. 2. Open this video, and hit play. 3. Set the volume to your liking. 4. Set the "loop" feature to "ON", If your YouTube platform provides it. 5. Dim your devices screen to your liking, for better room darkness. 6. Close your eyes and then slowly take in a deep breath, hold for 10 seconds, then exhale. 7. Repeat step 6 five to ten times. 8. If you have an eye pad, cover your eyes with it. 9. Place your device beside your bed and close your eyes. You will soon be hypnotized by the sounds of the flowing waters, and you soon fall into a deep sleep. 10. Make sure you set your alarm, because it might be hard for you to wake up in the morning. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it. Jack-O-Lantern on Wikipedia: A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved turnip, pumpkin or other root vegetable lantern, commonly associated with the Halloween holiday. Its name comes from the reported phenomenon of strange lights flickering over peat bogs, called will-o'-the-wisps or jack-o'-lanterns. The name is also tied to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a drunkard who bargains with Satan and is doomed to roam the Earth with only a hollowed turnip to light his way. Jack-o'-lanterns carved from pumpkins are a yearly Halloween tradition that developed in the United States when Irish immigrants brought their root vegetable carving tradition with them. In a jack-o'-lantern, the top of the pumpkin or turnip is cut off to form a lid, the inside flesh is scooped out, and an image—usually a scary or funny face—is carved out of the rind to expose the hollow interior. To create the lantern effect, a light source, traditionally a flame such as a candle or tea-light, is placed within before the lid is closed. However, artificial jack-o'-lanterns with electric lights are also marketed. It is common to see jack-o'-lanterns used as external and internal decorations prior to and on Halloween. Etymlogy: The term jack-o'-lantern was originally used to describe the visual phenomenon ignis fatuus (lit., "foolish fire") known as a will-o'-the-wisp in English folklore. Used especially in East England, its earliest known use dates to the 1660s. The term "will-o'-the-wisp" uses "wisp" (a bundle of sticks or paper sometimes used as a torch) and the proper name "Will": thus, "Will-of-the-torch." The term jack o'lantern is of the same construction: "Jack of [the] lantern." History: The carving of vegetables has been a common practice in many parts of the world. It is believed that the custom of making jack-o'-lanterns at Halloween time began in Ireland In the 19th century, "turnips or mangel wurzels, hollowed out to act as lanterns and often carved with grotesque faces," were used on Halloween in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. In these Gaelic-speaking regions, Halloween was also the festival of Samhain and was seen as a time when supernatural beings (the Aos Sí), and the souls of the dead, walked the earth. Jack-o'-lanterns were also made at Halloween time in Somerset, England (see Punkie Night) during the 19th century. By those who made them, the lanterns were said to represent either spirits or supernatural beings, or were used to ward off evil spirits. For example, sometimes they were used by Halloween participants to frighten people, and sometimes they were set on windowsills to keep harmful spirits out of one's home. It has also been suggested that the jack-o'-lanterns originally represented Christian souls in purgatory, as Halloween is the eve of All Saints' Day (1 November)/All Souls' Day (2 November).

I didn't win with this Kansas Lottery ticket I was gifted for Christmas, so since it's now worthless, might as well put some flames to it! Put it on a brick, place it out in the snow, and burn it! What else is there to do during this winter?

The Majestics Car Show and Car Hop competition at the Overland Park Hooters, Sunday June 23, 2013. Low Riders came from all over the midwest for this competition.

A loud screaming fire truck flies thru the intersection right in front of me. A fire engine, also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry, is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an incident as well as carrying equipment for firefighting operations. Some fire engines have specialized functions, such as wildfire suppression and aircraft rescue and firefighting, and may also carry equipment for technical rescue. Many fire engines are based on commercial vehicle chassis that are further upgraded and customised for firefighting requirements. They are normally fitted with sirens and emergency vehicle lighting, as well as communication equipment such as two-way radios and mobile computer technology. The terms fire engine and fire truck are often used interchangeably to a broad range of vehicles involved in firefighting; however, in some fire departments they refer to separate and specific types of vehicle. The design and construction of fire engines focuses greatly on the use of both active and passive warnings. Passive visual warnings involve the use of high contrast patterns to increase the noticeability of the vehicle. These types of warnings are often seen on older vehicles and those in developing countries.[1] More modern designs make use of retroreflectors to reflect light from other vehicles. Vehicles will also often have these reflectors arranged in a chevron pattern along with the words fire or rescue.[1] European countries commonly use a pattern known as battenburg markings.[2] Along with the passive warnings, are active visual warnings which are usually in the form of flashing colored lights (also known as "beacons" or "lightbars"). These flash to attract the attention of other drivers as the fire truck approaches, or to provide warning to drivers approaching a parked fire truck in a dangerous position on the road. While the fire truck is headed towards the scene, the lights are always accompanied by loud audible warnings such as sirens and air horns.[1] In some regions, a fire engine may be used to transport first responder firefighters, paramedics or EMTs to medical emergencies due to their proximity to the incident. The standard fire engine transports firefighters to the scene, provides a limited supply of water with which to fight the fire, and carries equipment needed by the firefighters for most firefighting scenarios. The tools carried on the fire engine will vary greatly based on many factors including the size of the department and the usual situations the firefighters handle. For example, departments located near large bodies of water or rivers are likely to have some sort of water rescue equipment. Standard tools found on nearly all fire engines include ladders, hydraulic rescue tools (often referred to as the jaws of life), floodlights, fire hose, fire extinguishers, self-contained breathing apparatus, and thermal imaging cameras.[5] The exact layout of what is carried on an engine is decided by the needs of the department. For example, fire departments located in metropolitan areas will carry equipment to mitigate hazardous materials and effect technical rescues, while departments that operate in the wildland-urban interface will need the gear to deal with brush fires. Some fire engines have a fixed deluge gun, also known as a master stream, which directs a heavy stream of water to wherever the operator points it. An additional feature of engines are their preconnected hose lines, commonly referred to as preconnects.[6] The preconnects are attached to the engine's onboard water supply and allow firefighters to quickly mount an aggressive attack on the fire as soon as they arrive on scene.[6] When the onboard water supply runs out, the engine is connected to more permanent sources such as fire hydrants or water tenders and can also use natural sources such as rivers or reservoirs by drafting water.

Zeus The Cat, while in a deep sleep dreaming of piles of cat food and wild neighborhood adventures, is suddenly startled and awakened! "What the '#&%@' was THAT!?? Oh well, back to sleep......" Zeus brushes it off and goes back to his deep sleeping, dreaming of more piles of cat food, piled a mile high. For whatever reason, this video starts playing at the 10 second mark instead of the beginning, at least on my Rumble feed. I hope that’s not the case for everyone else. Video footage courtesy of Sandy. If you enjoy this video, please click the "plus" button to give me a "Rumble". And comment if you like, and share as well. And you can always subscribe to my channel as well. I'm always coming out with new content on a weekly basis. Have a great day!

Alex purchased a virtual reality setup for his Play Station, and experiences the Spider-Man game for a the first time. His Spider-Man arms look deformed! But he finally succeeded in putting on the Spider-Man mask.

The tornado warning siren blares throughout the neighborhoods on the 2nd Wednesday at 11:00 AM. Fortunately, there was not a tornado in sight.

Zeus salivates as his cat-sitter presents dinner to him in an enticing manner. "Get in my belly!" Zeus demands! Disclaimer: No cats or any pets were harmed in the making of this short film. Zeus The Cat indeed was finally fed his dinner, after a long drawn-out fight between him and his cat-sitter. The video of this epic battle can be seen on PPV on September 31st, 20021, for the low price of just $199.95.

This is the latest sleep aid video I created ( original content ) to help people fall asleep easier and to stay asleep at night. It can also be used for just relaxation and meditation. Watch as these candles perched atop a wooden stump, while their flames flutter in the calming night breeze. Watch as the dusk of evening slowly melts into the blackness of night, illuminated by the three candle flames. Listen to this video before you go to bed at night, and soak in the sounds of a typical American suburban backyard. Listen to the gentle sounds of local birds, squirrels, crickets and locusts, blending a symphony of sounds to accommodate you while falling asleep. Occasionally you will hear sounds of other suburban noises such as a passing car, or a distant dog barking, or someone mowing their lawn. My challenge for you is: Start the video and see how far you can make it into the video before you fall into a deep sleep. I'm betting you can''t make it to 30 minutes. Made for those with insomnia, sleep troubles, or those who need stress relief. Google coordinates: ( Not disclosed ). Important tips: 1. Plug in your charging cable to your electronic devise. 2. Open this video, and hit play. 3. Set the volume to your liking. 4. Set the "loop" feature to "ON", If your YouTube platform provides it. 5. Dim your devices screen to your liking, for better room darkness. 6. Close your eyes and then slowly take in a deep breath, hold for 10 seconds, then exhale. 7. Repeat step 6 five to ten times. 8. If you have an eye pad, cover your eyes with it. 9. Place your device beside your bed and close your eyes. You will soon be hypnotized by the sounds of the flowing waters, and you soon fall into a deep sleep. 10. Make sure you set your alarm, because it might be hard for you to wake up in the morning. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it. I am looking for 10 people to try this out, and get back to me with how it worked for them. And maybe offer up some feedback as well. Have a pleasant evening, and I hope you sleep well!

Zeus catches a squirrel in his yard, and then plays with it for a while. That darned cat is nuts!

Zeus tries an epic jump, all the way up onto the wood bannister on his front porch. The crowd is on the edges of their seats in anticipation to see if he will make it, or not. Zeus is now contemplating on becoming a "stunt cat". Stay tuned!

Walking into my back yard, I came across a family of foxes playing. Of course the momma fox ( or daddy fox ) stood ground in protection of her little ones. As I moved in closer they all started to retreat to run and hide. It seems there was about 5 of them total, but maybe one or two more. How many foxes can you count? Also check out this other fox video: https://rumble.com/v13iwqd-fox-family-frolics-for-fun.html

I rigged up a simple and cheap toy for the foxes to play with in my backyard. I just hammered in a long metal spike into the ground, attached an elastic rope to it and on the other end of the rope, I tied a small foam noodle. I figured they would either play with it, or ignore it. Well the first evening it was out, I was able to catch one of the baby foxes playing with it for a second. A few days later, I went out to check on the toy, and the baby foxes rippled the foam noodle off the rope, so I had to reattach it. I'm sure they're playing with it lots more when I'm not watching. Footage take on Tuesday May 10th, 2022 about 10:04 AM. If you enjoy this video, please click the "thumbs up" plus button to give me a "Rumble". And "comment" if you wish, and "share" as well. And you can always subscribe to my channel as well. It's super easy to create a Rumble account, all you need is a user name and a password. I'm always coming out with new content on a weekly basis, so stay tuned! Have a great day!

Matt Lewis, the "Number 1 Elvis Impersonator", performs his Las Vegas act singing "Burning Love", along with his sizzling hot Vegas Showgirls at the 19th annual Kansas City Elvis Parade August 11th in 2006. Matt has the look, the voice and all the right moves of the legendary Elvis Presley. This was the stage show after the parade at The Barney Allis Plaza. Lyrics: words & music by Linde "Lord almighty, I feel my temperature rising Higher higher Its burning through to my soul Girl, girl, girl You gonna set me on fire My brain is flaming I dont know which way to go Your kisses lift me higher Like the sweet song of a choir You light my morning sky With burning love Ooh, ooh, ooh, I feel my temperature rising Help me, Im flaming I must be a hundred and nine Burning, burning, burning And nothing can cool me I just might turn into smoke But I feel fine Cause your kisses lift me higher Like a sweet song of a choir And you light my morning sky With burning love Its coming closer The flames are reaching my body Please wont you help me I feel like Im slipping away Its hard to breath And my chest is a-heaving Lord almighty, Im burning a hole where I lay Cause your kisses lift me higher Like the sweet song of a choir You light my morning sky With burning love With burning love Ah, ah, burning love Im just a hunk, a hunk of burning love Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love Just a hunk, a hunk of burning love" Also, check out this Elvis video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwiKpL3qaP4 "Thank ya. Thank ya very much!"

The family of foxes showed up in my backyard again the other morning, Saturday, May 7th, 2022. This time it was just the momma fox and two of her baby foxes. Once they spotted me across the lawn, the two baby foxes ran off quickly, and momma fox stood her ground, making sure her two baby foxes were safe before she ran away. But before running away, she had a few things to say to me, and they didn't sound very pleasant. She barked at me about four times before running off and through the wooden fence behind her. Hopefully they will come back for another video op. If you enjoy this video, please click the "plus" button to give me a "Rumble". And comment if you like, and share as well. And you can always subscribe to my channel as well. I'm always coming out with new content on a weekly basis. Have a great day!

Pancake , Zeus' cat brother, is caught sitting on top of Sandy's car in the garage playing with the garage door's pull cord. What a tough life Pancake has. If you enjoyed watching this video, please remember to "SMASH" that like button, and leave a comment if you desire to do so. And don't forget to subscribe to my channel, so you won't miss any future content, and more. It all only takes seconds to do. Thanks for watching and have a nice day!

A video of one of the iPad game apps I created a few years ago. The object of the game would be to roll the marble thru the maze of hedges by tilting your iPad, trying to avoid all the pitfalls, to get to the end where you would win prizes. I think I ended up creating 30 different levels, 30 different mazes for this game. It actually turned out really nice. I learned a little bit of xcode, enough to figure out how to create this game. It wasn't easy at all, but I ended up creating about 9 games total. Did I make any money on it? Not exactly.... Note: This game is no longer available on The App Store.

A puppet show at the Overland Park Fall Festival, Saturday September 25th, 2021. Kids seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. If you enjoyed this video, please hit that Rumble button, comment and subscribe! Thank you!

A drive through of what use to be the thriving Sprint World Headquarters Campus, now renamed the T-Mobile Campus. It now appears to be nothing more than an elaborate corporate ghost town. Tucked away in the heart of Overland Park, Kansas, hidden behind a Walmart Superstore, the massive campus is void of almost all human beings. One might catch a glimpse of a car driving down one of its parkways, on most occasions employees or workers of any kind are rarely spotted. I'm sure not too far in the distant future, the city will vote to demolish the tall building structures and replace this campus with Sun-blocking condominiums or towering apartment complexes. The Sprint World Headquarters Campus is a collection of 17 buildings encompassing 3,900,000-square-foot (360,000 m2) on 200 acres in Overland Park, Kansas that formerly housed the world headquarters of Sprint Corporation, an American telecom company. The buildings were designed by Hillier Architecture (which became RMJM in 2007) based on a theme which Sprint dubbed the "University of Excellence."[1] RMJM had also designed the Basking Ridge, New Jersey headquarters campus of the AT&T Corporation (now the headquarters of Verizon Wireless). The first buildings opened in 1997 as Sprint consolidated operations in 50 buildings in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Most of the buildings are four and five stories tall with the tallest structure being a 175-foot (53 m) clock tower. Included on the campus are an amphitheater for 3,000 people; parking garages for 12,500 cars; athletic fields, and hiking and biking trails with 6,000 trees that connect to public trails outside the campus.[1] 60 percent of the land area was left green.[2] At the time a Sprint official said Sprint opted for a low rise building rather than a tall structure because "communication doesn't happen as well when offices are vertical instead of horizontal." When it was built it was described as the largest office complex in the Midwest.[1] The building was enabled in 1989 when Overland Park gave the company a property tax abatement that called for 50 percent property tax abatement for 10 years and the remaining 50 percent paid initially over 20 years. Overland Park issued $1 billion in revenue bonds in 1997. The abatement expired in 2013.[3] The campus was designed to accommodate 14,500 employees and it reached its maximum capacity at the time of the Nextel-Sprint merger in 2004. Since then Sprint has been downsizing with 11,000 employees (7,300 Sprint employees, the rest contractors) in the complex in 2010. The headquarters for the merged company was consolidated in the building in 2008 when staff moved from Reston, Virginia.[4] In 2009 Sprint began subleasing portions of the complex allocating 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) to other companies starting with Sprint spin off Embarq (it eventually moved its headquarters to a different building outside the complex) Other subtenants include JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services which moved 800 employees to the complex from its offices on Ward Parkway in December 2009.[3] Other companies in the complex are Apria and CareCentrix with call centers there. KeyBank Real Estate Capital is also moving to the complex.[5] Sprint has announced plans to rebrand the campus including renaming a street from Sprint Parkway to Outlook to accommodate JPMorgan and rebrand the name on the entrances.[3] Sale In March 2019, Sprint sold the Sprint World Headquarters Campus to Occidental Management, Inc. At that time, Sprint leased space for employees to continue to work from on the campus.[6] Following an April 2020 merger between Sprint and T-mobile, T-Mobile choose to continue to lease office space at the campus. T-Mobile put a combined $36.7 million into updates for buildings on the campus throughout the first seven months of 2021, while also maintaining the original T-Mobile headquarters of Bellevue, Washington.[7] The new owner, Occidental Management, Inc., announced that the former Sprint World Campus would be renamed Aspiria, effective January 1, 2021. If you enjoy this video, please click the "plus" button to give me a "Rumble". And comment if you like, and share as well. And you can always subscribe to my channel as well. I'm always coming out with new content on a weekly basis. Have a great day!

A short animation where 'Yeti, the Friendly Snowman' helps describe how to build a snowman. So the next time it snows, and you're not sure about how to go about building a snowman, tune back in to this video to help you with the process. Yeti gives some really good ideas on how to decorate and dress your snowman as well. And for you girls out there, you can also make yourself a snow woman if you like. So, get you mittens and booties on, and go out there in the snow and have some fun! This video was created on 02-06-2024, using ElevenLab, CapCut, Adobe Express Animate From Audio, and iMovie. Race Car Duck: https://rumble.com/v49l7ve-race-car-duck.html If you enjoyed watching this video, please remember to "SMASH" that like button, and leave a comment if you desire to do so. And don't forget to subscribe to my channel, so you won't miss any future content, and more. It all only takes seconds to do. Thanks for watching and have a nice day!

A video I shot of me driving my Miata thru the icy, snowy back roads of Overland Park. It's a dangerous mission, but somebodies gotta do it! Music: Echoes of Time by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300029 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Echoes of Time v2 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300030 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Digital Bark by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100260 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ About "Ice Road Truckers" For 10 seasons, the drivers have battled it all from ferocious storms to freezing temperatures to bitter rivalries. And of course, they’ve confronted the deadly ice crossings that have tested their ability to survive. But now, as Ice Road Truckers reaches its landmark 10th season, they may have finally met their match as global warming and El Niño are creating a winter like no other before. Road authorities are warning that expected record warm temperatures will create a worst-case scenario resulting in a winter road season so short that there won’t be enough time to deliver all the supplies to the communities. This has always been the fear and this season it could become the reality. In Season 11, a sense of urgency descends on the ice road truckers. The roads are opening late and closing early. Every load could be the last one to make it up the trails. At any time, the roads could be shut down and tens of thousands of tons in freight won’t be delivered. It’s a rush from day one and the mission is clear: pedal to the metal and never let up. The communities are counting on them now more than ever.