So thank you for those who are tuning in via webcam and those who are here physically present. I'm Deli, nice to see you. New faces and some familiar faces. This is our fifth annual community needs after our dinner for people with disabilities. In the beginning it started out with special needs family where the Muneer needed some people to help with this project. And I had to educate him that me and brother Ahmad are actually not technically special needs classification. We're technically people with physical disabilities, special needs disabilities, actually a different criterion. For those who do not know, like to know, it's more cognitive issues that they, oh, sorry for giving, cognitive blessings that they experience in this Dunya life. So for example, we do have anybody here who would like to share anything, that way we can include the audience. Anybody wants to share their, yes, that's right in the back. Yeah, okay. Urshman is their name brother, right? Urshman was, Assalamu alaikum, my name is Noor. And Urshman is the old Sunday school student at MCC.  But we are old, he got hit by encephalitis, inflammation of the brain. So prior to that, he already learned how to praise Allah, how to read Quran and fasting and everything. So Alhamdulillah, he continued to do that, despite, you know, his players of encephalitis and his own struggle, like, you know, getting the acceptance from the world because it's very hard to see. Like you don't see people who ask for disability, but he's not disabled. He has a special need and a blast child. And I am very thankful to God. He gave me such a good child and such a spiritual child that he's able to do what he wants to do. And inshallah, he will get what he wants to do. But it is just like, you know, when he's cream, my struggle is that because he has different kinds of ticks and it keeps spreading his body. Sometimes he move his neck. Sometimes he has a screen involuntarily, like you were seeing when he was doing Quran. But you know, worldly, we don't understand that that's not in his control because it's vocal ticks. I am physician myself and I work in Sutter system. So basically when he does that emotionally, it is hard to say when he tries to put khushu in salah and khushu when he's reading Quran. That's the time he has more vocal ticks than the rest of the education at school or doing anything else at home. So sometimes it's very hard for us when I bring him, he is coming here at MCC and doing this 20 rakat of tarawi here. And but it is hard because you know, people don't understand his illness and I won't blame them because it just need awareness and acceptance when we are aware, then we will be accepting the people like him or anyone else. And I think maybe if I don't have the child like him, even as a physician, we just tell, oh, you have this disease, you have this problem. Oh, do this, do that, it seems to be small. When you are facing this 24-7 in front of you, then it's entirely different experience. Hello, okay, there we go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Audio test. Thank you so much for sharing that. I do like to take this advantage to have the audience also speak. Is there anything else we'd like to share of a particular, especially need disability that they have? Your mom spoke for you, but what would you like to say? Thank you for sharing, brother. May Allah make it easy for you. Thank you. So the system which you said is a beautiful segue to what I would like to also say too. There are a lot of secondary conditions that come along with our special needs community and also with us with physical disabilities. We may have spinal cord injuries, we may have these issues or sorry, blessings in our brain, but the secondary ones are much more complicated as well. Me and brother Ahmad will dive into more of it, but to give you a little sample, not controlling your bladder, bowel issues, pressure sores, as you heard in his introduction, these are all examples of secondary conditions that we will experience. And so today, I mean, I'd like to go back and forth with green brother Ahmad, so I'd like to share the mic with him and then we're gonna continue on with the subjects. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. It's honor to be here with you guys and discussed some of our life experience and issue that we facing daily basis. And then I really appreciate sister Noor, what she shared about her son. It is amazing and I think it's a blessing he have you as well as a mother because unfortunately a lot of parents don't know how to take care of their child, their special need childs. And they both end up with a lot of depression because they don't know how to handle it. And but Masha'Allah, you are very well educated and you know what to do and may Allah give you patience and strength, guiding him to the right way. So my name is Ahmad Al-Kubaisi. Gonna share a little bit about my story if I'm sure most of you heard me speaking before but I would like to share a little bit again and discuss some challenges that we go through in our daily basis life, me and brother Abdullah. And I believe, you know, special needs and people with disability, we all have some common issues in our life, probably is different, but it's the same face, the same challenge. So I had my injury in 2007 by American Sniper that I got shot back in my country in Iraq and it's, you know, injured my spinal cord and kept me on the wheelchair, which I'm very thankful. I'm trying my best to keep my positivity in life and I move along a lot of difficulties over the time in my life and Alhamdulillah, it wasn't easy but the faith that we have as a Muslims, like sometime I hear some people online going through a very severe depression, which we all do sometime go through a down moment and feel depressed and feel lonely and, you know, we have our own weird feelings, but when we remember that we are Muslim, we have our faith in Allah, that's increase our patient and patient is something extremely important in life. That's also Rabbal-alameen Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he put the patient first than the pray. So he said, So what I learned over time, you know, and I did research why did Rabbal-alameen Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala put the patient first than the before the prayer because Subhanallah, I find out that if you don't have the patient, you're not even gonna continue our, you're not gonna even be able to continue your praying, your Ibadat because patient is something extremely important and I feel that Allah bless us with it as a Muslim that we have this connection with him. So sometime when we feel down, we remember our gratitude, our good things, like we do have so many things to be thankful for. So we pass, we pass over the difficulty, sometime take more time than what we think, but we go through it, which is it's blessing itself. So I started, you know, after my injury, I had a lot of dramas right after my injury. So I had, I started having the bad sores, as sister Ajman was mentioning, and that was something extremely difficult and severe for me after my injury, beside being on a wheelchair, but being in a wheelchair and you cannot use your wheelchair, that's also a different story. Like it's not, you cannot imagine it. So SubhanAllah, I started my journey with it for like five or six years with bad sores and it was severe. So I had the bones on my back was showing because there's no meat there and dealing with infection and it was extremely difficult, but I was very fortunate that Allah blessed me with special families. So my dad, he's a physician assistant and he do have some, he don't have a lot of background about people with disability because that's kind of like in you after the war, you know, physicians and medicals people start facing those kind of things. So, and then blessed me with my mom who would take care of me since day one.  Literally there is no word can describe how thankful I am to her. And I think I forgot to mention that before in our presentation, but I'm glad that I got the opportunity to mention that. And she held me so much and they made the life much easier on me and they were with me, supporting me, guiding me to go over the difficulty that I'm facing until I decided to leave my country and move to Jordan and it was shocked for them like because I wasn't independent. I wasn't, my mom was helping me with everything even the bathroom, even the shower, even whatever you name it. I wasn't independent at all, but I made my decision that I feel and I believe that my life will be better if I leave because I start facing a lot of health issue and there is no enough treatment for me back in my country. So that's number one reason was for me to take this decision and move forward with it. And Subhanallah, Allah was with me always and with everyone, but it was a special moment when I decided to leave my country by myself. I wasn't independent at all. I don't know what I'm gonna do in Jordan, but I just need to leave my country. I'm looking for a safer place. That was my number one target at that time and in 2010 I left my country. I went to Jordan, I stayed there for three years and also going through a lot of hospitals and surgeries and stuff like that. So Subhanallah, it was a big step for me to learn how to be independent, how to use the bathroom by myself, how to take care of my wounds because I do have, at that time, I remember I had three wounds, one big one in my bag and two on my side. So I have to do dressing for my wounds, three times a day. And that was something like, I was thinking it's impossible for me. But Subhanallah, over time, like from, so the first day I remember at the hotel, I did not look at my wound on the mirror because I was afraid of seeing my own wound.  I don't need to see my wound because it's, I don't feel it, but I am scared. So Subhanallah, after like a couple of days, I took the mirror and look at my wound and it was like really scary and it was severe. And I start also going to the hospitals back and forth. And then I spend most of my time in the hospitals in Jordan as well until I arrived to the U.S. Masha'Allah and I also end up in the hospital, not the first day of the second day. The second day I went to the hospital and I spent 14 months over there. So I spent 14 months in the hospital. It was extremely difficult, new culture for me, a new environment and such and such. So I like, I don't know what to do, but I always look at the bright side. There is something good will come out of it. I wasn't speaking any English during that time. And I spent 14 months in the hospital until I decided I sign up my chart to leave the hospital on my own responsibility because I didn't see any improvement. I mean, I saw a little improvement, but it's not huge improvement for my wound that I had in my bag. So all my friend was calling me like crazy and they were against me and they wasn't happy for me doing that decision. But I decided to do that because I don't see an improvement. And I know my buddy more than anyone else, more than a doctor, more than anyone. And then I was always asking my physician to let me meet a surgeon to talk to him. And they always, oh, you don't need that, you don't need that, you just have to be patient over time, over time, until they pushed me to that curve when I sign out my paper and I left the hospital. And Subhanallah, I start a new journey looking for a surgeon. I find the surgeon and he was a general surgeon. It's a friend of friend who recommended that person to me, this doctor. And he was like, you're absolutely right. Your wound won't heal without surgery. So Subhanallah, in 2015, I start seeing the light. I start moving into the right direction when I did my skin graft surgery in Alameda and my wound starts healing. That's when I start my hope again. So I'm gonna stop until here and give the mic to brother Abdullah. He can share more with you and inshallah you will learn more about me. JazakAllah, brother Ahmad. There are a few things I'd like to highlight on what he said. First, the sister who spoke earlier is that the community of the disabled are kinda invisible. This is something that is nothing new that's been going on since the time when the Prophet peace be upon him. So I like to highlight, there are many events that I've been in the past few weeks so I'm only giving them credit of the stories that they had taught me. I forgive my lack of knowledge but there is a Sahaba out there that was physically blind and he had the responsibility to give the event. Who gave him this role, the community did. He was perfectly enabled to give the event and however, since he's visually impaired, it's very fascinating that they didn't give him the one event that's simple, the Fajr. He was responsible for all four of the ones that are after and so he relied on the community members to assist them to see whether it fits time or not and so putting people in position into being a function in society is something that's very huge for the mothers and fathers of people with disability needs. Like everyone said, who is there in the beginning to supply support? The family members. But we are also an umma. Let us not forget that. Most of them is an event that I went recently and they had a board in the back to say what is this organization all about? When I was reading it, a lot of it was inclusivity, belongingness but what I didn't see that I had to write and put up there was to complete the umma. We are part of this and we need to be members in the muzzins. We need to be members of the workforce. This country of America, there's this thing called ADA. It gives rights to people with disabilities to have the needs that they need to be more independent. For example, ramps, elevators, parking spots. These are just as an example and so for me in the Islamic world, it's not there, forgive me. I went to Turkey recently and the musjids there are not accessible. When I went to the Majid Sophia, I was blessed to be assisted by the people. However, if I had an electric chair that weighs more than our manual chair, it would be impossible for me to visit the sites. So I had to put myself in their shoes and be like what about my other brothers and sisters who are in different situations? Hamdula, the special needs family. Some people are able to walk, able to use all their motor, their limbs. But for people like us in this constipation, we are paralyzing chest down and there are very limits but Hamdula, we can be carried, those are options. But for another example that I like to talk about that the secondary injuries that we're talking about, they're life threatening. Those who get sores, who get UTIs and all this, we could potentially die if we don't take care of it. And so we are blessed to be more in tune with our bodies. And so for those who think that this is a trial and tribulation, which it is, just remember that Kholawan or Allah swt is giving us a test to be more connected. That's how I see it. So just I like to just explain that a little more earlier but then for what I like to also talk about is that how is the masjid providing for us the ability to come. Now, I'll, this is the second time this happened to me. The two masjids that are setting the criteria of what a masjid should be is MCC and MCA. MCA is located in Santa Clara. It's one of the biggest masjid that I've been to and it's Hamdula a blessing. Now they're only, now this masjid has more than one handicap stall and over the years they had listened to us, mashallah, and so they have created a bathroom where it's much bigger for those with family that needs to enter with their child. Things happen, bladder move, bladder accidents may happen. And so people in our situation need assistance Hamdula and so our mothers or brothers and sisters can come in and help us. But if the facility is not able for us to get clean then the family members are not gonna show up.  Do I wanna have the masjid also be burdened with my burden? So Hamdula, they have more handicap stalls here but I don't wanna sound like I'm complaining but Hamdula, these handicap stalls do have these baby, what's the word, the family can help me, these baby stations. And so a lot of these baby station doors don't close, they actually come back and swing back down. And so open the door, you can't really open the door fully so you can't really fit in. So my request is that for those who are listening who have these facilities, just take a look around and test the water facilities to see whether if it is accessible, Hamdula, things do break down. So sometimes we have to just service them. And in other regards of course, it's parking lots, Hamdula. MCA is doing a remarkable job. Again, I cannot stress this enough, disability, it is invisible but us showing up to the masjid is a chance for us to bring changes. And so I've been going to MCA due to the fact because my wheelchair is broken, I don't have to go to work. So for those who are wondering why I'm here at work, my chair is still broken. But essentially what I've learned with MCA is that those who are managing the parking lot, you can actually give them your number. You can exchange contacts to see that, hey brother or sister, I'll be coming late, is there a spot that you can reserve for me in the front? Now if you guys go to MCA, you can see how, ma shala, many cars are out there. And there are very few parking lots that are accommodating. So they do set up cones, you do see the reserve signs here at this masjid too for the imams. And so, alhamdulillah, we are, you know, amongst that status where we need that special accommodation.  I'll give the mic to brother Ahmad because I'm running out of ideas. So one thing I want to mention that his wheel, his current wheelchair is a broken and I offered him to fix his chair right after this presentation and he refused. He said, how, I said, I'm gonna fix it for you. And he said, it's impossible. I said, nothing, it's impossible. So hopefully he have the time so he allow me to fix his wheelchair because it's literally in safe. So the situation that he is in right now, it's in safe. So we'll see. Okay, back to the topic. So we'll talk about the accessibility and how masjid, masha'Allah, especially MCC, it's doing a great job. And as brother Abdullah was saying, there's a lot of places here in the US. We don't need to talk about overseas because I lived, I'm from Iraq and I lived in Jordan. And I travel here and there and I know what accessibility mean when I leave the US. I don't feel it sometime because everything is, it's available, almost everything available for us. Like I can be very independent. I don't need assistance from anyone to put me in and out of the building. But that's impossible to find it somewhere else in the world. It's literally impossible. So I'm going to Jordan on the 15th of April, insha'Allah. And on my way here to the masjid, I was talking to my friend who's also in disability. So he's using a walker. He don't use a wheelchair in Jordan. And I was like, can you please check for me an accessible apartment over there? Because I need to rent an apartment because all my family gonna visit me in Jordan, insha'Allah. So it's really, really, really hard to just walk into a hotel or to apartment building to find accessibility. If it's not impossible, it is extremely hard. So that's one thing we most be very thankful for. And as brother Abdullah was mentioning, if you walk into a masjid, for example, and you do need some special accommodation, you just welcome to go and talk to the masjid representative and ask for your need. And let's try because we are in Oma. Let's try to make our environment more accessible for people with a special needs, people with disability. And I feel, I do really feel so happy, especially when I come to the MCC, which I don't think I've been an MCA a couple of time, but I find myself mostly here at the MCC. I feel like family, I feel like home. And masha'Allah, it's extremely accessible. I don't think there is any thing need to be adjusted. One thing we discuss about me and brother Abdullah before, you know, we're running our wheelchair anywhere and our wheelchair is like shoes and it's not clean, it's dirty. So when we enter the masjid, how can we prepare? So we were thinking about like having a special spot in the masjid and the prayer hall to use for our wheelchair. And I think last year in Ramadan, I discussed that with brother Manir and he is like, Abed, do you mind if you just wipe your wheels? And I said, absolutely not. I would, that's absolutely make me more comfortable. So Claudic swipes, baby wipes, just swipe your wheels and enjoy running around the masjid. And unfortunately brother Manir is not here today because I would need to ask him about also having like a small table by the bathroom that we use upfront and have some Claudic swipes for us. So when we use the restroom, we come out, we wipe our tires and be more comfortable and keep the masjid purifier and clean as much as we can. Yeah. That actually reminds me of what brother Ahmad said earlier about his sabr, I like to focus on that more. You may ask for sabr, but remember that Allah want to give you more child's and tribulations to test your patience. So if you may please ask for mercy because sometimes one cannot handle the test of sabr. So just be mindful of that. So just be careful what you pray for. Number two, I like to share what happened yesterday because I don't mind exposing our disabilities is the place where we can start making changes. When I was at MCA yesterday, there was a brother Shohet Webb and you know, the Guillaume night and they're giving lectures. I'm somebody who sits all day for Ahmad as well too. So I can't imagine for those who sit for hours on end. So I had the luxury mean brother Ahmad, we do have the strength to go down on the wheelchair. So I went on the floor, I used my seat cushion for support and then someone was so kind to bring me some chai. And so I don't know if you guys know, it is diuretic meaning that it helps produce more gear. And so when I was sitting there stretching for the next two hours, I noticed that I leaked. And so I looked down, I saw a puddle of urine and I got very embarrassed. I was like, what do I do? Oh my God. But right now there's an event happening. I'm sitting next to the sisters, aisle two. This is humiliating, but I was like, you know what? Just let me look around and see what I can do. I had my cafe on, so I use that to wipe up everything. I had my baby wipes. I had everything in my backpack. So I was still prepared. So for those who want to tend the masjid, make sure you bring everything you need, spare clothes, chucks, baby wipes. Hamdulillah, the masjids here do have the bidet. Some of them had to have showers. Unfortunately, the one in MCA, the shower does not have a bench for me to use. So I knew that was one toilet that I had the bidet. So luckily it wasn't number two because if it was number two it would have been impossible because just imagine the mess. Now forgive me for sharing this event, but life happens, things happen. And so I was so ashamed, I didn't even tell my mother.  But bless her soul. So I secretly just was able to clean up the brother that brought me chai. I was like, listen, this is a situation. I'm just gonna do this. He was like, no problem, brother. I'm gonna push you to the bathroom all as well. There was a slight of shame, but I'm in Allah's house. Why am I being ashamed? I was like, this is a blessing that I'm part of the ummah again. And I took care of it, alhamdulillah.  I was able to stay for Qiyam and then I let it go. I didn't let it fester. I didn't let it bother me. Parents, I understand that you guys have to deal with this every single day. When I got first paralyzed, my mother, bless her soul, she didn't want me to do anything. A mother's love is, it is an example of Allah's mercy and I cannot stress that it's enough to see that miracle in itself. A father's love is different. We all know this, but a mother's love is unique in that she will do anything for you. Just like brother Ahmad said, a mother will go into the shower and scrub your own back. And here I am, a grown man, but it's my mom. Again, it's a little shameful, but that's the situation. I'm giving her the blessing to do that. And so why rob the community of this opportunity to give blessing? Another thing that I wanna talk about is, now while brother Ahmad did share his story of how he got wounded, for this example, I will not. Maybe next year, you can look up the YouTube video, you can see what happened to me. But the point of the story is that, me and brother Ahmad talked about this, sometimes we may be having a bad day and we're out on the community and someone be like, oh, what happened to you? Why are you in a wheelchair?  And so we have to deal with this every single day.  It's just something that be mindful of because who are you? You know, hi, my name's Abdullah. What's your name? There's usually there's an etiquette involved into, you know, introducing yourself to a fellow brethren. The word salamu alaykum is something so powerful. If you actually look up the meaning, you're actually trying to give peace to the other person.  So just be really mindful. Sometimes, you know, we could give the opportunity to share the story. For children, I will always tell them my story because they're innocent and it's an opportunity to teach them something. While every individual is a potential believer, maybe we don't have the patience to educate them. And so I just want to share that with you because there are days where I do have my, I'm on a spiritual highness and I'm able to answer in a way where I can show that this is Allah's test for me. Who am I to think twice on his condition that he's given me? And so there are moments where I can do that, but just remember, we are human beings, you know? And so there are times where we may be a little spicy. That's really beautiful, brother Abdullah. We do always have to remind ourselves that, you know, we have the ability to do the change, but we have to be patient. And you know, we are here in one community and thanks to MCC for give us the opportunity to be more close to each other as a community, as a people with disability or special needs. And, you know, we can talk and invest more time on how can we help our community? How can we be better in our community? We can start that from ourself. And also one thing I wanna mention for people with disability there as an event been going for a long time. And I believe there is not a lot of people now about it. It's called Ability Expo. So the Ability Expo, it's basically made for everyone with disability, but mostly for physical disability, mostly. So what does that, what is the Ability Expo is? So unfortunately, they used to make it here in San Mateo, but since the pandemic, I heard they increase the leasing amount of the building and they no longer make it in Bay Area at all, fortunately. So the Ability Expo, it's giving you and giving the parents and giving the person who's in disability the opportunity to explore the world in a wide angle from so many different devices, a new way for accessibility, accommodation, device, vehicles, if you have like a sport like this event, I attend like three weeks ago, it was in LA. So I have to fly all the way to LA for two days to attend this event because it's remarkable. It's like I really can't miss it anymore, which I haven't attended for a couple years. So this year, and I promise myself, as much as I can, I will never miss this event again because it does have so many things, like something you thought of or a device that you're looking to or, you know, it's just unbelievable. And the most beautiful things for me that I was with my community. So it's a huge place full of people with disability, different kind. And also the most important things for me, I was thinking about it on my way to the airport that I was very thankful. Why? Because I can move my hand, I can do a lot of activities. But what I saw at the expo, people moving their power chair with their tongue, with their tongue, that's the only part of their body is moving. It is unbelievable. So we have to be extremely thankful. Like I move my head, I can't eat, I can't speak. I move my head, you know? So I was like, oh my God, that's unbelievable. So I'd be more thankful and I have to, you know, look forward to be better, to do better. And then I also would like, why I'm sharing this with people because like sometime people like feel down like why did Allah test me with these things? So that you know it's tested from Allah but you're asking why? Don't say why, say alhamdulillah. There is some people worse in a situation worse than yours. So I really highly recommend for people especially with physical disability, if you know somebody, if, you know, you have one of your family, if you take him to that place, that person will be extremely thankful to you. So in the same flight, I met one family also, flying from Richmond, California to LA to attend this event. So people coming all around the world, especially in the US, there is no excuse, just go and explore and take your child, take your, you know, take the person that's in need for that to go and explore and try different things. It's extremely amazing. We do have 15 minutes left for Tarzal. You wanna finish that thought? Yeah, so I think we discover everything. I really wanna leave the mic to you guys. If you have any question, if you have any thoughts, anything, feel free to ask because I am no longer feeling shy of answering any question, especially about my disability. Life is beautiful. It is easy. Yes, it is easy when we make it easy because it's all mindset. If we said easy, it's gonna be easy. If we need it to be difficult, we're gonna have a huge excuse from here to your home, right? Before I do more Q and A, I just have two things I wanna say before, sister. Now, there is an agency called Muslim. This is an agency, oh, sorry, a nonprofit that helps Muslims in this community and also across America and how the musjid or mosque can be more accommodating to people with special needs. Now, there is nothing for physical disabilities because Hamdallah, we can participate, but this agency, what they do is that to provide programs such as learn how to, children can learn how to read the Quran, memorization, learn how to lead prayer. They also make sure that the mosque is, I mean, of course with any institution in America, it has to be ADA compliance, but they are doing their due diligence to make sure that things are still available. What they're also doing is that they are providing services for family to go make Umrah. And so this is something that I've learned through MCC and so this is very remarkable. Now, I don't know if they have any financial aid because of course with the disabled community and especially this community, everything's extremely expensive. We all know this. And so, Alhamdulillah, maybe now that they know this that everything is just more expensive for us, perhaps we can proceed if there's accommodations for the finances as well. Alhamdulillah, last couple years ago when I came here, I met a brother who's special needs and so he was interested in doing physical activities. Bay Error Outreach and Recreational Program is not a Muslim agency, but however, it's a community place where you can partake in wheelchair basketball, skiing, scuba diving, canoeing, wall climbing, cycling, Alhamdulillah, there's so many options. And just like how brother Ahmad said that when you amongst other people with your situation, it does bring a sense of belongingness and I cannot stress that out of how amazing one will feel because when you see others with different abilities, you're just in awe and it does tap into your spirit and then you're like, wow, you're not alone. And so, I just like to stress these two agencies. And so, if you need to know their names or contact information, please come to me or brother Ahmad, the League of Specialists, again, it's a remarkable place too but I just wanna share those three resources for you, not for the Q and A. How many, I don't know, I can't answer that. That's all the Allah knows. I had a couple of questions that I wrote down while you guys were speaking. You guys kind of touched upon, for example, how people with disabilities are way more than just their disability. And one of the questions that I wrote down was, in your experience, do you guys have any type of strategies that people who do not have these types of disabilities that can help these people feel more welcome in their community? Like that's one of the, I have a couple more questions but maybe we can go one by one. Beautiful. Excellent. Okay, so 18 years of being in this situation, I finally learned the ability to use the power of, now you know me, I am a very silent person. It had a hard time asking for help. And so a lot of people don't have the ability to ask for help. And so it's really, really humbling when someone comes up to you and be like, hey brother, or sister, is there anything I can do for you? It's that simple. Sister, what was your question that we skipped? Thank you both for being so generous with sharing experiences. My question is, from the perspective of a month who does care for a child who may have extra needs. And I know there are a few moms in the crowd.  And so I'm curious like if you could, it's like a, it's a hard thing to know whether you know to feel in gaps or to just treat your kid like everybody else. Like knowing that he's already going to be perceived differently, you know, from the rest of the world. And so if there's any advice that either of you could give to, you know, ways to, yeah, make your kid feel like that sense of autonomy and also like just Tess, thank you. Subhanallah, this has been a lot of hard. Okay, so I'm glad that you said this. So one thing differently is that we were not born this way. So it's a bit different. I understand that we do have a taste of both worlds. So I know it'd be very different if you had someone who was born with this. But for me to, if I may, mother, forgive me if I'm putting on the spot, when I got hurt, I was a college student. And so I realized that my home was not accessible for me. And so that was the first thing that I've noticed that was disabling me even more. While my mother and siblings were there for me. Again, as my cousin said, I was not able to use my tongue and ask for help. There was a sense of shame and guilt because I feel like I did this to myself rather than this was a test from Allah Subhanallah. And so immediately I didn't, I feel like I was in the position to be independent in that household. While the hospital did provide everything for me. Accessible shower, accessible bathroom, getting on the bed, using the kitchen, they even had a modeled home for me to test to see how I can live independently. And that was beautiful, but when I came home and how my parents are not financially stable or well off where they were renting the place, it was very, I was very ashamed to ask the landlord to even do this. And so when I wanted to go back to school, I asked my beloved mother, I was like, please let me dorm there. Why can you take that time and hassle away from that formula? And so she said, no. I understand her anxiety. Hamdulillah, I was studying psychology. So I knew what she was saying. So likely I had one other parent. So I had to ask my father for his blessings and he gave me the blessings. So I went where? I left Fremont, California to go to Carson City. Sorry, yeah, in Los Angeles to see if I can dorm there. Hamdulillah, having an umma of Muslims, they're there. So mothers and fathers, don't be afraid. The community is strong. But this is again, a different type of disability. So I understand that it's different. Let me share something that because different environments, so we are here in the US and mom's heart, don't tell me about it. It's everywhere, same thing. So one thing I realized, sometimes for the parents, especially, they just like to give all the help, all the support and sometimes they don't think about it for the long term, down the road. So like, I need to help him with this. I need to help him with that. I need to do this for him. I believe that's not correct. It's not always, you know. You should give some responsibility to your child, I believe. So my situation was extremely different. I kind of like pull myself away and started my own self, start figuring out what do I need to do? Start figuring out what do I need to do. But by giving your child the responsibility and I know your heart with him, but you have to show him some responsibility. He have to learn something and instead keeping yourself the providers all the time. In your experience, what are some strategies that you've seen implemented that can create a more inclusive experience and environment for people with all types of disabilities? We talked about how the masjid can be accommodating, but it's very important to see that the parents see their child more financially stable and also in the love relationship, marriage opportunities, work opportunities. I understand finance is such a huge thing. So I don't know whether if the OMA can provide some sort of financial resources. Here in California and in America, there are certain states that will give you financial, like SSI, Social Security, to give you some little financial independence. However, through my experience is that once you lose low income status and become middle income status, there's a lot more trials and tribulations. As a part-time employee at Apple, my insurance has given me such a hard time to get a new wheelchair. Such accommodations that I need to go at the point like electric assist mobility devices are not accommodating. So unfortunately for those who are listening, low income is a good place to start and stay in that medium of income. That way you can learn a lot, what it means that will affect you if you make more money. Marriage, I understand that's something, I mean, that's the gift from Allah. So whoever plants that love, that seed in anybody's hearts, parents give them that opportunity. Don't be afraid of the divorce. Don't be afraid, just allow them to experience that because that gives you the opportunity of having a break. So I do think marriage will be a wonderful opportunity. So, thank you all for taking the test. I'm going to take a break.


comes Armstrong against Begavitch, save on the goalkeepers' legs. But Asmir Begavitch, for the first time this season, repels an opposition penalty. See, here comes a long throw from the right-hand side from Harding, bounces down in the city. The penalty, a tight fit. Balls with a wing, miles, sorry. After the shoot, Begavitch chips it away. Here come Forrest now, just outside the penalty. And the OB last for the shot. That's a good save from Begavitch. Because Luton was their first corner of the game, in towards Pott, headed to the back post. Another fantastic save. And Britain will play it back in film. There's a long ball back into the box. Begavitch comes and claims well, pucks the ball out of the sky and tries to get things moving quickly for Bournemouth up towards the half-way line. It's a huge throw. It's laden Junius Stanislaus down the right side. He's one-on-one through the legs of Chavelin. Junius Stanislaus lays it off to Dan Duma. And a huge throw from the goalkeeper, Asmir Begavitch. Here are Roswell down the left-hand side, swung in by Matic and head-on. Breaks to the edge of the box on O'Brien. Square, it goes now. Kuna will shoot deflection. Brilliant save from Begavitch. Little ball forward into Marla Sarr's onside here. Sarr all of a sudden sneaks around the back, and it's beaten away by Begavitch at the near post. In towards Wheeler, back to McLeary again. Lerner's there. Still Smith is out of position, and Begavitch... ...force Millwall to waste it. Begavitch with a great ball down the field to Dan Duma.


We're not in the business of scaring people and trying to like make them scare to their water. That's not what we do at all. But what I will say is the state of California did this giant cancer risk assessment for contaminants and drinking water. One of the contaminants that they evaluated was Chromium 6. Now LA, I think the number you said was one part per billion thereabouts, which is 1000 parts per trillion. So when the state of California went in and looked at what level of Chromium 6 has a negligible impact on cancer, they came back with 20 parts per trillion. 20 parts per trillion is just not economically attainable for a municipality like LA for every drop of water that they produce. What we argue a hydrovive is the water that goes in your mouth should be as close to those like cancer risk studies as possible. You can prioritize that water. Hello and welcome to start at the storefront. This is the Launchpad series. Over the past year of doing this podcast, we've grown and so have our guests. We've always strived to cover every aspect of the entrepreneurial journey from the ideation to the product launch and possibly even the exit. Most of our guests have been in the game for a while, but we know that those aren't the only stories worth telling. So we created this offshoot of the podcast to cover the companies that are just starting out. Today we talk with Eric Roy, founder of Hydrovive. They create water filters, but this isn't like the Brita that you might have in your fridge. These are water filters that are specific to your city's water data. It might not be something that you've ever considered, but the age of your home and city's infrastructure, the natural geology of the region, and your proximity to industrial sites, farms, and military bases all affect the quality of the water that comes out of your faucet. So without further ado, I present to you our conversation with Eric Roy. Welcome to the podcast. Everyone on today's show, we have Hydrovive and the founders with us, Dr. Eric Roy. Dr. Eric, thank you for joining. Tell everyone a little bit about who you are and about your company. Thanks for having me. Hydrovive is a water filtration company and basically what makes us different than all the other water filter companies out there is we optimize every filter we sell for the customer's water. We figure water across countries different, the filter should match the water. And we'll get into all, we'll get into the weeds on a lot of water quality and things to look out for, but I love the beginnings of your company. Can you just share with us a little bit about how you got into the space and what made you want to start this company? So I'm a chemist by training. So I've worked with, you know, doing R&D for department of defense, EPA sponsored research and things like that. And, you know, I got into the water quality world probably back in 2005 or so where we're developing membranes to purify water and to measure contaminants in water. But Hydrovive actually got its start. It wasn't actually supposed to be a company. It was a charitable effort. So basically, you know, I think everyone now is aware of the Flint led crisis that took place back in 2014 through, you know, arguably today. And Hydrovive really just started as a charitable effort to get high capacity led removal filters to families and child-centric organizations out in Flint. That's how we got started and eventually turned into an actual company. And what was the first step there? So, so I want to debunk some things because I think whenever people think of filters, they think of these ones that you can, you can buy and put in your fridge. And it's a little filter, right? It's like a pretty small size of a small cup. What is the thing that that filter doesn't do can't do? Because I realize your filter is a little bit bigger. So I just want to walk through a little bit of what is it that your filter is doing that a lot of them don't. Yeah. So saying the word water filters kind of like saying a car. You don't know if you're dealing with a Honda Ferrari dump truck or anything like that. So when people talk about water filters, usually what they're talking about is some sort of a pitcher, you know, from a large brand that you can get at a big box store or, you know, the thing that's in your fridge. And those technically, yes, water flows through them. So it's filtered. But the reality is they don't always do what you think they do. So with water filters, you have what's called active media and different types of active media remove different contaminants. So what we do is we actually put active media in that removes things like lead, arsenic, chromium six and things like that. So there's a pretty big difference. There are stuffs a little bit bigger. It's a little bit more expensive, but it actually works. And when you were first launching, when you say it was a charitable effort, you were just giving these away?  We didn't start charging until yeah, it was, yeah, it was not a business. Let's put it that way. Yeah. And at what point did you think, Hey, maybe we can solve this problem or at least help so many more people outside of Michigan? At what point did you start thinking maybe this is a business? It was grassroots. Honestly, Diego, it was, you know, I ran out of money. I'm not a wealthy man. So there was a limit to what I could do. So I was kind of talking to friends and family and being like, Hey, can you chip in and buy some materials or whatever? I set up a GoFundMe that was a colossal failure that, you know, didn't raise like $1,000 or something. But ultimately what I started doing is just kind of going door to door in Washington, DC. And what we learned is people wanted water filters. People were seeing that the filters that they were buying in the stores weren't working. So it kind of turned into, okay, we'll sell water filters and kind of spin the profits forward into, I don't want to say profit margin, we'll spin the margin forward and allow us to kind of make more filters for people. And that's really how it got started. And then, you know, in Washington, DC, no one's actually from Washington, DC. So they're all from somewhere else. So they're like, Hey, could you make a filter for Chicago? And like, yeah, why not? And that's kind of where it just, that's when it became apparent that there was market demand. That's fascinating. I mean, the one thing too, you know, I'm a civil engineer. And so I spent a little bit of time in wastewater treatment plants and at least toured a bunch of them. And some cities had fluoride like the county of Amherst, Massachusetts, we went to go visit the plant, they said their, you know, their population is generally young. They said, we have a lot of children here compared to other districts. And so what they do is they add a lot of fluoride, and they do that for the child's teeth.  And then all of a sudden I fast forward 10 years, I see all these campaigns around why fluoride's bad. And I'm looking at doing the research and I'm like, you know, is it bad like anything in mega amounts, of course, but it's I don't think these water treatment plants or at least my impression of it was, I don't think they're putting the amount in it. That's going to be what I would call harmful to the human body. But what was even more shocking to me was how these counties, states, everything's different. It's, there isn't like this universe, even though we think the EPA governs everything, I think they have suggestions and it's up to these cities governments, these local local communities to move into that. And so when you just said, someone asked you to make a water filter for Chicago, do you see just big differences between water quality across the United States? Oh, there's huge differences. So Chicago, for example, I mean, their source water is Lake Michigan, which is a surface water source. Chicago's water does not have arsenic in it, for example. But if you look at places in the Northeast, I'm from Maine originally. And if you look in the Southwest, where a lot of the groundwater has arsenic, that water looks different from a chemical perspective than a place like Chicago. And we think it should, you know, the filter should reflect that. Yeah, that makes total sense. And so at this point, where your companies at today are you solving for, I was just looking at the LA LA water department, they released a study that the last test of the waters in 2017, which I thought was seemed a long time, it was like, wouldn't they want to do this annually? But there is arsenic. And it says it's like under one, it's like 0.3 parts per billion of arsenic. But even that was surprising. I was like, that's, that's crazy. So does your filter at this point of where you're at, does it solve for removing for certain things now? Like, are you like for sure, just give us a window into some of those things? Yeah, I mean, arsenic, that's not a problem. We build arsenic removal filters all the time. I mean, again, the different types of active media are what remove the different contaminants. All the other water filter companies out there just mass produce one formulation. Whereas what we do is we actually take the time, look at the water, then build the filter correctly. So it's really just solving a math equation, essentially. And that's what we do in house. Yeah. And when you first launch, I imagine, I mean, the hardest part to this type of cell is, is education, right? You have to literally educate the consumer on what it is the water source is, why these things might be good or bad for them, and how your filter works. And so what, what was that like? I know you have this, it's amazing. You have a great blog now. It seems like you've put a lot of work into that. But what was that first step like in just in terms of educating the consumer? Yeah, it's just hard because it's kind of a new thing, right? So normally when consumers buy anything, what they do is they just look at the spec sheet. And because we don't just mass produce one thing, like our spec sheet, if you will, is kind of a different thing. So we actually have to be like, look, like the spec sheet doesn't actually matter if the thing that that filter is built for is not your water. So it's, it's more of a conversation that we have. I think there's a growing awareness of water quality problems in general. The media is doing a pretty good job covering a lot of these things. So the awareness is kind of there.  So it's not like we need to, you know, convince someone that, you know, lead is bad, for example.   So, you know, we kind of have our information offering and then we have our product. And fortunately, we're able to develop a product that, that reflects the information. And then at some point of your business, you end up on Shark Tank. At what point were you guys like, how long have you been selling the product before you got on Shark Tank? And what was the seed? You know, obviously a lot of companies goes on. And what was the thing that made you say I need to go on the show? So, again, this wasn't supposed to be a company. There are a lot of starts and stops. I had a full time job. I was actually part of another startup that then got acquired. So I mean, like there were starts and stops, right?  Like when, when like they're home and kind of making dinner and stuff, Shark Tank's playing in the background. So I was very aware of the show.  And, you know, I just kind of punched into Google how to get on Shark Tank. And it turns out there's a couple of different ways to do it. We literally just wrote an email to like pitch at sharktanktv.com. And apparently that's, I guess I was naive enough to think that that would work because as I understand, not many people do it that way. Most people go to open casting calls or they have some help, you know, getting on the show. But it worked out for us. So I mean, we didn't do anything fancy. Let's put it that way. It was, it was a surprise. Yeah, that's great. And then you got on the show and then you end up getting a deal with Mark Cuban. He basically doubles your, he doubles his take, right? So I think it's 400K at 10%. And then ended up being 400K at 20%. We've had a lot of people on the podcast that have been on Shark Tank. And one of the things that this one individual mentioned is apparently there's this, there's a girl out there who has tracked all of the Shark Tank episodes, what they offer, what the valuation, if a deal was made. And it turns out just after 10 years of data, what it, what actually turns out is that the Sharks will always either reduce their stake, right? So basically they always want 2X what you want. That's what happens every time. And so valuations always get cut in half. Almost, it's almost like a rule now. And I saw that with yours and I was like, oh, that's really interesting. Here it is. It happened again, more data. What has Mark been like to work with and how has he helped your company after the show? Yeah. So one of the things just to realize about Shark Tank, and I'm sure this is not a secret, is the show really is genuine in that the Sharks have no idea.  They're handed a card with your name and how to pronounce your company name. So after you kind of make an on-air deal, you go through due diligence where you actually meet the teams and kind of start working with them to see if it's actually going to be a good fit. And basically as we kind of went down that path, we both sides kind of agreed that it wasn't going to be a great fit. So we didn't actually end up closing with Mark. But his team was tremendous. I mean, it was just that due diligence process was really quite enlightening. And he has an absolutely stand-up professional team and they were great. We just had different visions for the company. Yeah. But the beautiful thing is you're on air. And so you get a tremendous amount of marketing. And now to some extent, you've been given an opportunity at scale to really educate the market on the problem. And so what has happened since then? And so what have you guys leaned into? You know, obviously, I think at this point, your company seems to be like pretty well known. What have you seen just in terms of marketing and in terms of sales? Yeah. I mean, we were on an upward trajectory anyway. So one of the things with us, we actually were told that we weren't going to air. So we were not counting on that at all. So we just kind of got back to business. I mean, you know, at that point, we were working on growth and things like that. You know, I'd started hiring people. I made my first hire in January 2018. So we're actually working towards incremental month over month growth. And basically what Shark Tank did for us, it kind of, obviously we saw the spike when our episode aired, but it also kind of changed the slope of that growth. So our trajectory changed. So it's just kind of one of these things where when you're a new company starting out, one of the questions you get a lot is like, are you legit? And it just really, really helps to be able to point to, you know, national exposure like that.  So there's, it's a bit of a truth stamp for us. And we do use it in our, in our marketing just kind of being, Hey, you might have seen us or learned about us on Shark Tank, but you know, here's what we're doing now. That's great. And for people listening, maybe who know nothing about water or who are debating getting into water filtration or what are some of the things that, you know, if you could just boil it down to three things whether they're either myths that you want to debunk or some things that people should really pay attention to in their water source. I just want to share something with them that, you know, any novice can understand. There is a lot of misinformation out there. There are a lot of articles written by people that have no credentials, no background, no expertise whatsoever. You had kind of alluded to fluoride, for example.  And as someone who actually worked in the chemical weapons field, I can tell you unequivocally that that is not, that's just not true. The other kind of takeaway from this, and you alluded to this earlier as well, is the role of EPA. So there are contaminants. And like you said, the EPA sets a base level standard for what is considered safe and legal. By definition, municipalities say that their water is safe if it complies with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Now, there are a number of contaminants that are known carcinogens that are not regulated. So when a municipality says we're in, we're completely in compliance with all of EPA's regulations, a lot of times we counter with, well, you can't be out of compliance for something that's not regulated. So, you know, for example, like there hasn't, there's been hardly any contaminants added to the regulated list in the past 30 years. Even though we've known of new things popping up, and you know, sometimes the states take the initiative to protect against those things, other times they don't. So it's just a very complicated thing.  Yeah, I just go back to like Aaron Brockovich, right? So the movie, that whole thing is about Chromium 6. Chromium 6 is still not regulated. Despite a Hollywood blockbuster film with Julia Roberts, Chromium 6 is still not regulated by the EPA. Period. So this is interesting. So in, do you think it will be at some point or no? Why do you think that is? Is it just impossible? Is it, are they basically just like, look, at this point it's in everybody's water anyway. And so we're just going to be liable for lawsuits. Like, what's the thought process? So if EPA places a mandate on states and municipalities to make something regulate, to have a regulated contaminant, the states and the municipalities are on the hook for hitting that standard. Now think about the water usage in your home.  And it's totally fine to flush your toilet with it. You just don't want to put it in your mouth, right? Or like over long periods of time, you don't want to put it in your mouth. So there's really no driving force, you know, municipalities don't want tighter regulations because then they have to comply with them. And that means they have to go to their tax base and no politician of any, no elected official, no matter what political party they're in, no one wants to go to their tax base and say we're raising your taxes. And honestly, it doesn't really make sense to like, you know, if you look at arsenic, for example, it's something we talked about earlier, EPA is regulated limit right now is 10 parts per billion for arsenic. Now, on all of their disclosures, they say that that standard is established by balancing the cost to remove it at the municipal level with the health impacts. So it's a balancing act, right? Now, we would argue that you should have a different standard for the water that goes into your mouth than the water that you flushed down your toilet. I don't think that's too profound, but the way that the EPA is written right now is every drop that enters the home that's on a municipal tap needs to hit a certain standard. So you can either make it a bar that no one can achieve, or you make it, you know, you balance the cost versus the risk. And that's what EPA does. That makes a lot of sense. And it's also unfortunate, but at least I can understand the logic I was looking at to go back to the LA water right now in LA, the, I think it's 1.1 parts per billion of chromium six presently. And so it's like, Oh, it's like, they literally tell you, they show you, here it is, it's there just to go to the other side of that. So if the EPA isn't going to do anything and companies like you are helping, is there any science to suggest any level of chromium six or a particular level of chromium six is not ideal for the human being? We're not in the business of scaring people and trying to like make them scare to their water. That's not what we do at all. But what I will say is the state of California did this giant cancer risk assessment for contaminants and drinking water. One of the contaminants that they evaluated was chromium six. Now you mentioned that LA, I think the number you said was one part per billion thereabouts, which is 1000 parts per trillion, correct? So when the state of California went in and looked at what level of chromium six has a negligible impact on cancer, they came back with 20 parts per trillion for that number. Now again, like their standard for the cancer study was negligible impact, which 20 parts per trillion is just not economically attainable for a municipality like LA for every drop of water that they produce. What we argue a hydrovive is the water that goes in your mouth should be as close to those cancer risk studies as possible. You can prioritize that water. Wow. I mean, that's powerful. I mean, that's for sure powerful. Again, I just want to reiterate, we're not trying to get people scared of their water here. And these are things that when they looked at these toxicological studies, they looked at really long-term impacts and things like that. So it's kind of chronic. It's not like if you drink it, you're going to get cancer. It increases your risk if you do it over a long period of time. Again, we're not trying to get people to be scared to drink in their water. I mean, that's not the business we're in. Other companies do that. We do not. I mean, there's plenty of people selling fluoride filter removals and it's like, I did the research and it was really the only because I had gone to the wastewater treatment plan and I had heard the engineers talking about why they had it. And now it's like, that's a very plausible conclusion. It makes sense. And given that they're adding it, I was like, there's probably enough research or they've done their due diligence and how much the human can handle. I don't think they would be blind about doing this. I mean, it's one of those things with fluoride where fluoride was introduced a long time ago to drinking water. And what we've learned, we've learned a lot since then. So they used to add four parts per million fluoride. And what they've done is they've reduced that number down to one because what they found is you could get the same, you get the same anti-cavity effects at that lower level as you do at the higher level. We also learned that when I say we, I mean, the scientific community, we learned that most of the benefit is actually from the water coming in contact with your teeth, not from you ingesting it. So, you know, it's one of those things where I can understand why people don't want it in there because fluoride is really the only thing added to the water that's intended to treat the human and not treat the water. So I can understand that argument. What we just tell people is it's not the conspiracy theory stuff that you're reading on the internet. I mean, there are some studies that have come out that have looked at IQ and fluoride levels, but it's not really translatable to the municipal levels in the United States because they're studying very, very high levels overseas where the fluoride levels were very, very high. And there were also other things that may not have been properly corrected for like poverty and things like that. So look, we tell people that if you really want a filter that reduces kind of the fluoride levels, we can build that for you, but we just really want to communicate this is not, you shouldn't be scared of your water because of fluoride. That's just the reality. Yeah. And it sounds like the approach you're taking is really around the cancer risks.  Yeah, with lead, lead is a neurotoxin. So I mean, you solve for lead, it's not just the cancer risk. It's the things that we know are really bad. The PFAS, the lead, the chromium six, the arsenic, fluoride, when you look at the toxicological data is way down on that list. So it's just, you shouldn't be prioritizing that.  And I'm like, oh, it's really interesting. And so that's always been my approach around water. It's like, well, I want great water for my coffee, so therefore I'm going to buy a filter. But in that, what's interesting about that is there's so many options, right? It's like, where do you begin? What do you trust? And then the other thing is you have to replace a filter at least every six or at least the one I have, I replace every six months, which is tied to my coffee machine. What does it look like for your product? And so your product is a little bit bigger. It goes under, I just want to give everyone a visual and obviously we'll put videos and all that good stuff, but give everyone a sense of your product and where it goes and how often you replace the filter. Yeah, absolutely.  So it works out well, right? It's not the prettiest thing out there, but it does a job that lives under the sink. It's about, it's about a foot tall, six inches wide. It's actually not too, too much bigger than this. Liz under your sink connects to the existing faucet. So all the water that flows through your faucets, cold water line is filtered. With ours, there's a replaceable cartridge just like what you're describing and you change that out every six months. That's awesome. And how much is it for people listening? Yeah, so the initial system is, is right now they're on sale. They're about 180 bucks and then the replacement cartridges are just under 60. So it's 10 bucks a month essentially. And I imagine there's a subscription program so they get emails or even automated just delivery of the new filter. That was our biggest request when we first really started trying to sell this. They're like, we just, can you just auto ship these things? So we gave that as, I mean, we, I think 95% of our customers, they just, they don't ever want to think about it. They know when they get it in the mail, it's good to go. And you know, as a result, we're able to, because we know it's coming, we can plan production around it and we can pass those cost savings on to the customer as well. When you think about your company and the trajectory and so it sounds like you have steady footing with this product. Do you think about other things, other aspects, different products that you can create? Yeah. So we've started surveying our customers basically saying, what do you want us to build next? And, you know, we get all kinds of stuff.   But, you know, it's something that we get asked for a lot. We get people that ask for whole house filters because they want to filter every, they just want to simplify things and filter every single drop of water that enters their home. You know, again, like there's trade-offs with that. And we want to play in the world of high performance filters. You know, we don't want to sacrifice performance. We also have people that ask for things like they're like, hey, what's our best, you know, shampoo for our water. So kind of the consumer goods type stuff. And they're like, look, we're already getting filters from you every six months. We'd love to get laundry detergent and, you know, cleaning supplies and stuff like that. So these are all things that we're considering and we're kind of weighing the market before we produce it. But ultimately, we're going to build what's in line with our company values and also what our customers want. Anything on the commercial side, like anything big that you might want to go into, whether it's like breweries or anything like that? So we, you had brought up coffee. We've built some systems for some coffee shops, some really high-end coffee shops in Washington, DC, and kind of they, it's funny because our restaurant and coffee shop, people don't like us talking about it. We're like their secret sauce. So like a lot of like the ramen shops and stuff like that, like they, we take care of them. We have a really great brewery partner that I guess I can disclose up in Baltimore. It's called Suspended Brewing Company. They love us. So they, we treat their water as well. Now, we don't really make any money on the commercial systems just because it's just, it's so much work to create those. And we just, we kind of break even on that. I mean, we're really focused on the residential market. There's a lot of companies that build giant systems, but those are big engineering firms. We'd rather take that type of technology and approach and, and unlock kind of a consumer world to that. I love it. And before we wrap, is there anything that you'd like to share with everybody? What are the few things that obviously go to your website, right? So get educated? Absolutely.  It's just, I guess if you're looking at starting these companies and you're looking to make a technical product, make sure your technology is right. And there's a lot of people out there that they talk about, you know, what their product will do as if it already does it.  We did it the exact opposite, where like our marketing is still trying to catch up to our product. I would just say, when you're dealing with people's, what's going into someone's body, if you're making claims about health, just don't be part of the problem, please, because it's just, it doesn't benefit anyone. It's short-term gains. You watch these companies explode. It just doesn't, it's not worth it. Yeah, I totally agree. The integrity is a huge component. And I think it's, you don't see it enough, but the companies that do follow it and it is part of their DNA and their ethos, I think they really stand the test of time and over time they win. At least I've noticed it. They can weather the storm.  So we're, we're in this for the long game. We have no desire to grow 200 fold over 12 months or anything like that. I mean, we're happy to, we're growing fast and we're, we're doing great, but we'll be here in 10 years. There's absolutely no question about that. I love it. And tell everyone to your social so that where they can follow the brand and follow you. Yeah, if you want to follow HydraViv social, I mean, we, we're most active on Instagram, it's at hydraviv underscore H2O. And I also kind of have a public Instagram handle as well, if you're interested in kind of the entrepreneurial behind the scenes. And that's at hydraviv underscore Eric. Awesome. Well, thanks so much for coming on the podcast, brother. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. Had a great time. Thank you.


HELLO FRIENDS I am S.R. Dhulange working as an associate professor in the department of mechanical engineering at Vulture Institute of Technology, Sholapur. Today we are going to discuss on work piece control theory. Now this work piece control theory is related with tool engineering as well as process engineering. Now we are taking this particular topic in process engineering. Learning Outcome Students will be acquainted with work piece control theory and understand 3-1 principle of location for process planning. Now under work piece control theory the first we are going to see what is 3-1 principle and what is redundant. Now under work piece control theory the 3-1 location system or the concept of location we are going to discuss based on the flat configuration work pieces. Now what is the location? Location is nothing but to maintain a dimensional and position relationship between the work piece and the cutting tool. And what is the meaning of the locator? Locator is an element which is used for the location. Now in order to constrain the degrees of freedom for a particular work piece when we are doing operation we require the location along with clamping. Now this is a cube wherein we are assuming that this is in space. Now when we are assuming this work piece is in space. So this is the x-axis of the work piece, this is the y-axis of the work piece and this is the z-axis of the work piece. Now how many moments will be there for this particular cube? Now along x-axis there will be two moments. Here I can say this is one side, this is another side. Along y-y there are two moments, one is upward, another is downward. Along z there are two moments, this one and that one. So along the each axis there will be six moments and these moments are called as moment of translation. So similarly along each axis there will be some moment of rotation. Now this moment of rotation is divided in two. Two that is one is clockwise, another is anticlockwise. So along x-axis there is one clockwise, one anticlockwise. Along y-axis there is one clockwise, another is anticlockwise. Along z-axis one clockwise and along z-axis one is anticlockwise. So there will be six moments of rotation. So you know there are six moments of translation and six moments of rotation. This is called as a twelve degree of freedom. Now in order to constrain these twelve degrees of freedom we have to make use of the locator and the clamp. Now here three to one principle suggest that you can take three mutually perpendicular planes in order to constrain some degrees of freedom. So that is shown here in this view. Now here one locator is taken at the bottom plane. This is the front view and this is the top view. So this is a rectangle indicates a symbol for the locator. Now this is a side view for that. Now because of this one locator it stops a linear moment downward along y-axis because the locator is kept at the bottom of the workpiece. Now the second locator is taken again at the bottom surface. So second locator stops the rotation about axis z-z. Now this is shown here one and two locators. So these are the two locators which are taken at the bottom. One more locator is taken at the bottom in order to see how many moments are restricted. So this is one, two and three. So when we take these three locators at the bottom so what will happen? The workpiece will not rotate along the x-axis. Similarly it will not rotate along the z-axis and it will not go in downward direction along the y-axis. Means by making use of these three points or these three locations we can constrain five degrees of freedom. One is x-axis rotation along x-axis clock anticlockwise rotation along z-axis clock anticlockwise and the moment of translation that is the locator will not allow the workpiece to come at the bottom. So it will constrain five degrees of freedom. Now next is this is three. Now why we have taken three pins? If suppose we take two what will happen? There is a possibility that the workpiece may rotate along either clock or anticlockwise because of the position of that locator. So that's why we are not going to take two locators at the bottom. Now because of the three we are going to get a plane because the plane passes through the three points. If suppose we take a fourth locator. Now the fourth locator at the bottom plane. What will happen? It will be unnecessary. There is no need for that particular location. So this is called redundant. Now so this is the first plane which is taken in order to constrain five degrees of freedom. Now the next plane is taken that is a perpendicular to the bottom plane. So this is the bottom plane and these are the two location points which are perpendicular to the bottom plane. Now because of these two what will happen? So this workpiece will not move in left direction. So this is a direction from my side it is a left. So it will not move along left direction. And this is axis y axis. So here this vertical axis is a y axis. Because of the plane this is a plane which we have taken in order to have a location by means of two points. So there will not be any rotation along this y axis. So there is no rotation along y axis.  And there is no movement towards the left side. So because of these two pins what will happen? We can constrain three degrees of freedom. That is the rotation along y y that is clock and anti. And one is the left side. Now these principles suggest that go for three mutually perpendicular planes. Now this is a plane which we have taken that is a bottom plane. And the second plane which we have taken that is a perpendicular to the bottom plane. So this bottom plane is having three point location. And the perpendicular plane to the bottom plane is having the two point location or the two locators. Now because of this bottom three pins and because of this side two pins we could able to constrain eight degrees of freedom. Now three mutually perpendicular planes are taken. In that case the third plane will be this one that is here it indicates six. So one two and three which are at the bottom. So this dot indicates on the triangle is that is the pins are kept at the bottom side. And fourth fifth that is the plane which is perpendicular to the bottom plane. And the third mutually perpendicular plane here this is a sixth locator. Because of this what will happen it will not move away from me in this way. So it will constrain one degree of freedom means what by making use of three pins at the bottom two pins at the another plane which is perpendicular to the bottom plane and the sixth pin which is mutually perpendicular to both the planes we could able to constrain five plus three plus one that is nine degree of freedom. Now here one more seventh pin is shown this is called as redundant as I already told. Now here the sixth is taken if suppose we take sixth and seventh on this plane it is not necessary because this sixth is constrain only one degree of freedom. So this is what a three to one principle which is required in the process engineering in order to have a planning for the process. Now these are the references. Thank you.