Transcript of speech File

Purpose:  Announce the candidacy of Unaffiliated Candidate Todd Helm

Running to represent the 10^th Congressional District of North Carolina

Time: 3pm, 15 February 2024

Location:  2655 Wessex Road, Winston Salem, NC 27106

Introduction by Wally Olayinka : 

Mr. Todd Helm is a trustworthy, credible citizen of the United States of America. He goes to work every day. He pays his taxes. He is a son, a husband, and a father to three adult children.  

He is like you and me.

Mr. Helm first moved to North Carolina from Georgia when he was two years old. His parents later moved the family to Tennessee, but Mr. Helm returned to North Carolina, to Forsyth County, to attend college at Wake Forest University in 1983, where he had a job delivering the Charlotte Observer newspaper. In 1984, he worked as a counselor in McDowel County at Camp Ridgecrest for boys. In 1985, he worked as a youth minister in Iredell County at First Baptist Church Mooresville. In 1987, he took his first full-time job working for Forsyth Prison Chaplaincy and managing The Prodigal’s House, a half-way house for men recently released from Prison. 

Mr. Helm married Karen Reinert from Cary, North Carolina in 1989. After some time in Kentucky, the Helms moved to West Africa, where they worked teaching literacy in Guinee and then distributing humanitarian aid in a Somali refugee camp in Northeast Kenya. In 2001, after forming a non-profit organization to assist subsistence farmers, the Helms, with their three young children, moved to The Islamic Republic of Mauritania, where they lived and worked for nearly 10 years. Mr. Helm still runs this non-profit from his home in Winston Salem, and has now spent 20 years working in the midst of conflict to see families escape poverty. In the course of his life and work, Mr. Helm has witnessed Christians being jailed because of their faith. In 2009, a close colleague was murdered by Islamic extremists. And still, Mr. Helm has continued in his work. He is familiar with the task of turning enemies into friends.  

From 2015 to 2018, Mr. Helm worked within the Forsyth and Yadkin County School districts as a math teacher, though Todd and Karen’s three children were homeschooled for many years of elementary and high school education. 

Mr. Helm is an authentic and adaptable man, accountable to his family, his church, and to the donors and Board of Directors of Agricultural Development Initiatives, the nonprofit organization that he leads.  He is an effective communicator in French and in English.  He lives with compassion for others and with self-awareness of his own shortcomings.  Most of all he is grateful for God’s grace that has been revealed to him in his own family, in the church, and in the person of Jesus Christ.  

I present him to speak to you now.  

Announcement by Todd Helm

My name is Todd Helm.  I am the unaffiliated candidate running to represent the 10^th congressional district of North Carolina. The most important thing anyone can know about me is that I am a follower of Jesus Christ.  I met Jesus.  And he changed my life.   I encourage you to consider the person of Jesus and decide for yourself Who he is.

I want to thank you for allowing me this opportunity to introduce myself and to start a dialogue. Our form of government requires that the citizens talk to each other, and getting conversations started–is one of my goals through this campaign.

Do you remember when nobody wore a seat belt?  I do.

Do you remember when everybody drove 55 mph?  I do.

Do you remember when people smoked cigarettes in offices and everyone breathed in the smoke? I do.

My point is that cultures change.  Not all cultures are equal.  Sometimes a change in cultural norm is greatly needed.

We live in a strong and diverse nation, but we also live in a divided nation. We are standing in a stalemate looking for common ground. I believe a new coalition of Americans is coming together to lead our nation out of this season of dysfunction, and unaffiliated voters can lead in this change. Today, I invite you to be part of this new coalition, be a part of this team. Voting for the unaffiliated candidate will not be a waste of your vote. Voting for an unaffiliated candidate can create a body of men and women standing in the middle listening to the two sides, moderating the tone of speech,  and working to legislate based on common sense. Voting for an unaffiliated candidate moves us toward common ground. 

When I decided to pursue this campaign, the first thing friends said to me was, “Todd, the third party never wins.” The second thing they said was, “Todd, you don’t have the money to win.” So why am I here? I am here because winning an election is and ought to be about ideas and character – not money.  I am here because the ground where elections take place is and ought to be level. Each citizen gets one vote. One person, one vote. And on election day, the candidate with the most VOTES, not the most money, wins the election.  We find common ground when we agree that the voters will get it right. Harboring contempt for our political adversaries is not working.  Our nation is suffering.  The two-party system has us deadlocked in opposition.  This system is forcing our representatives to toe the party line. The parties are getting in the way of representing the will of the people. Do you want a representative who will do what is good for the Democratic party?  For the Republican party? Or do you want a representative who will do what is good for the people of Forsyth County, Yadkin County, Iredell – Lincoln – Catawba County.  I want my elected officials to behave with common sense. I want my representative to do what is in my interest  – what is good for me and for my neighbors, not what is good for the party.  If you do not want to waste your vote, you need to vote for the unaffiliated candidate.

This is not the only change I believe needs to be made. There are the three policy prescriptions I believe will help us to get back on common ground.  There are three policies I will work to change as your 10th congressional district representative.

First, we need a balanced budget.  Every organization, every family, every business in America that has a chance of surviving meets this condition: Money going in is greater than or equal to money going out.  A net positive, or at the very least a net zero. That is what a balanced budget is. Writing that balanced budget is the work of the House of Representatives, and we need the House to do its job.  And yet, the U.S. National debt is currently 34 trillion dollars. For the last 40 years, the Republican and Democratic parties have both consistently over-spent and under-funded the US government.  In 2019, for every dollar spent by the federal government, 22 cents was funded by the creation of new debt. Tax payers–our children–have to pay for that accumulation of debt.  I want to see us change our culture of government. Some people say it can’t be done. I refuse to accept that. Strong people live within their means, and we are a nation of strong people. Congress can spend the money anyway it wants to, but we cannot spend one penny more than the money we collect as government revenue. We cannot keep piling debt on our children’s generation.  A balanced budget makes every American stronger.

Second, we need to control the border.  We need legal and orderly immigration. We need a big wall, and we need a narrow door in that wall. I want people to show their passport, buy a visa, and come in through the door. We need to stop accepting asylum claims on the southern border.  Any claim of asylum needs to be adjudicated at one of our U.S. embassies abroad. There is no limit to the number of good people who want to come here.  If we allow anyone and who swims across a river or climbs a wall to claim asylum – people will not stop coming. We cannot favor economic immigrants coming illegally from the south at the expense of every other hard-working, honest man and woman who follow the rules and apply to come here legally. Respect for the law and for the people who enforce the law makes every American safer. Respect for legal channels of immigration keeps our country open to those who most need to immigrate. 

Thirdly, we need stable families. A stable family makes every child happier.  It is a terrible thing to disappoint a child. I look at my refrigerator door, I see the pictures of my wife of 34 years caring for our children at every stage of their lives, and I know that this is true: Every child needs a father and a mother. One man, one wife, one life. That is a stable family. I am sorry that divorce happens. I do not hate people who are divorced. But I do see how fatherlessness is killing our nation.  A man should leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. What God has joined together let no one pull it apart. One man, one woman, one lifelong union, one family – it is a wonderful thing. I want you to know that marriage is a great system.  I love my wife and I want my society to value this system.  Young people: finish school, get a job, get married, and then have children.  That is the way forward.

This is common ground.  Go after these things and we will have a more perfect union.  We need a balanced budget.  We need legal immigration.  We need stable families.  These are not all legislative goals.  These are goals for our society. These are goals for our culture.  A new coalition of Americans is coming together to lead us to change! Vote for the unaffiliated candidate.  Vote for character. Vote for common sense. 

You may not agree with all of what I’ve said today. That is okay. I look forward to waking up on November 6^th and learning who the new leaders are.  I look forward to it because I trust God and I trust our voters. I look forward to witnessing a handshake between the candidate who wins and the candidate who loses at every level. It is right to congratulate the one who beats you in a contest. As a softball coach of 8-12 year olds, I know and teach that a handshake is a symbol of good sportsmanship. If you do not want to waste your vote, at the very least vote for a candidate who has the character to settle the score and to accept the count at the end of the election.  

In a season of animosity and polarization in congress let’s look in a new direction.  If we keep doing the same old thing – electing Republicans and Democrats – we will keep getting the same old result.  

My name is Todd Helm.  I am the unaffiliated candidate running in the 10^th congressional district.  I am asking for your signature.  Please join us.  We need you.  Be a part of this change.  Let’s keep praying and asking God to help us to be one nation.  In the name of Jesus. Amen.

In Closing: If you are interested in being part of the change, then let me be very clear, we need for you to take action. Don’t just sit there.  Do something.  There are four ways you can help.

One: We need for you to sign the petition!  An unaffiliated candidate gets on the ballot by submitting the signatures of persons registered to vote in the 10^th District.  Unaffiliated voters, Republicans, Democrats, Voters who want to see change:  we need to submit to the State Board of Elections 7,902 signatures of 10^th district voters who support Mr. Helm’s petition to be added to the ballot.  

Go to my website https://helmforcongress.com,  Print the petition, Print your name. List your address. Sign the petition!  Mail it in.

If this is what the people want, then we will go forward.

Two: Volunteer.  Go to my website helmforcongress.com and sign up to present the petition and collect signatures at an early voting center.

Three: If you are having a gathering and you would like for Mr. Helm to come and speak then please reach out to us.  We would love to see that happen!

Four:  When you decide that Mr. Helm is the candidate that you want to vote for, we invite you to take a yellow post-it note and place it alone within a window pane on the front side of your house.  That is what we are doing.  We invite you to join us and to signal your support for Mr. Helm, the unaffiliated candidate, in this way. 

Thank you for your time and your attention. We look forward to getting Mr. Helm officially on the ballot as we collect signatures and build this coalition for change.