On March 26, 2021 the Rush Limbaugh show held its first ever Great American Business Award, with special guest Kathryn Limbaugh. Out of thousands of applicants for this award (inspired by the late Rush Limbaugh himself), only 9 were selected to make finalist with one business winning the honor of the Great American Business Award. Of those 9 finalists, Back The Blue NC, Inc. was one and Founder/CEO Lindsay LiCausi was invited to be on the show to discuss with Kathryn Limbaugh the inspiration behind the organization. The following transcript comes from her interview on air. To view the full transcript please click here.
JOHNNY DONOVAN: It’s a special edition of Open Line Friday with the guide host Ken Matthews and special guest Kathryn Limbaugh and a celebration of great American businesses.
KEN: Thank you so much for joining us today. It’s great to be here with you. You know, every Open Line Friday is special, and that’s been the way it has been for 30-plus years: Your chance once a week an opportunity to determine what we talk about. That’s how Rush defined it.
Today’s Open Line Friday is an extension of that, but it’s even extra special. As you just heard our announcer, we not only will hear from many of you today, we have part of the inspiration of the Great American Business Award, Kathryn Limbaugh. It’s my pleasure to welcome you to the show. I feel blessed to be here with you, Kathryn.
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KEN: — just for parties and stuff like that. But thank you, Bob, and good luck ’cause we’re gonna have a grand prize winner before Kathryn leaves today. Let’s take another call, Kathryn. Let’s go to Franklinton, North Carolina, and this is called, the company, Back the Blue NC, Lindsay LiCausi. Hi, Lindsay, you’re on with Kathryn Limbaugh.
LINDSAY: Hello, Kathryn.
KATHRYN: Hi, Lindsay. Your entry really stood out to us. I know that you know that Rush and I are huge supporters of the police and started a campaign last year called Support Our Police, and this is something that really resonated with us. So tell us. Tell us a little bit about how you started your business and specifically how Rush inspired you to do so.
LINDSAY: Absolutely. First and foremost, I want to thank you for having me on the show today. My husband, Anthony, and I extend or deepest condolences to you and your family.
KATHRYN: Thank you.
LINDSAY: But the way I got started was, I am former law enforcement. I served as a child abuse and sex crimes detective for the Carroll County sheriff’s office in Maryland.
KATHRYN: Wow.
LINDSAY: A few years ago, my husband and I and our daughter, we moved down to North Carolina, and since then I have been raising my family. We now have three young children. So, unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get back into the law enforcement field yet. But when the defund-the-police movement started, I knew that there was something that I needed to do.
And listening to Rush as often as I could, he really helped inspire me and drive me to push for defending what is right, and I know that that is standing up for law enforcement, honoring their commitments and their sacrifices, and so that’s what gave me the idea to start Back the Blue NC. I thought the best way to start was name own backyard here in North Carolina. And it really all began as a Facebook support group but quickly grew.
KATHRYN: Great.
LINDSAY: We now have over 50,000 members online.
KEN: (whistles)
LINDSAY: So we started hosting rallies so that we, the silent majority, could go out there and peacefully demonstrate our support for the police and the fact that we oppose defunding and dismantling the police. And with that came a lot of fundraising. So I knew with the funds raised through our efforts that I wanted to give back into the law enforcement community, and that’s when I decided to incorporate and apply for nonprofit status.
KATHRYN: Good for you.
LINDSAY: We were granted our 501(c)(3) status back in December, and since then we have been able to assist the families of fallen officers here in North Carolina. We focused on the families where there are children left behind. Being a mother myself, I know how important it is for a child to have that parent in their life. And I wanted to make sure that they are taken care of at least financially. Even if we can’t help lighten the loss of their mother or their father in the line of duty.
KATHRYN: Good for you, Lindsay. I know that this is one in particular that would really resonate with Rush. I know he loves pies, he loves salsa. (laughing)
KEN: (laughing)
KATHRYN: But he definitely loves our police and so much so that the defunding the police was just something that really bothered him greatly.
We know there are people like you who are standing up for, as you say, the silent majority. That’s fantastic and encouraging and I encourage others, if you can grow this over 50,000 members in a short period of time, it shows there is a lot of support out there for our police and we can continue to support people like you who are doing great work.
KEN: Congrats again, Lindsay, and we’re gonna continue with the Great American Business Award finalist in just a moment, and when you’re not getting pied and candles and all the other things, all the way it’s great products on the show today.
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