Finding Light in the Darkness with Ambassador of Hope Emily Pantelides

As we sat down with Emily Pantelides from Pantelides PR, the energy in the room was palpable, charged with the stories of hope and transformation she brought with her. She guided us through the touching narratives of those whose lives have been irrevocably changed by Place of Hope, showcasing the power of faith and community in our South Florida home. Emotions ran high as she recounted the triumphs of events like Runway of Hope and the vital initiatives that support not just foster children but also brave survivors of human trafficking.

What does it take to break the relentless cycles of poverty and homelessness? This is one of the pressing questions we tackled, with Emily shedding light on the essential role of affordable transitional housing and the unifying strength of sibling bonds in foster care. Our conversation was a journey through the heartfelt endeavors of Place of Hope, from the importance of sharing compelling stories to the strategic communications that amplify their mission. We learned of the far-reaching impact of their faith-based approach, seeing firsthand how it guides children and families toward a future filled with healing and opportunity.

Wrapping up our time together, we reflected on the profound significance of Place of Hope's work in combating the pressing issues of homelessness, abuse, and poverty. It was a moment of gratitude, as Emily expressed her appreciation for aligning with such a reputable organization, and for the unwavering support of those who help spread the message of hope. As we bid farewell, we urged our listeners to connect with and actively support Place of Hope's noble cause, reminding everyone that their engagement truly makes a world of difference in the lives of young people.

Host: Charles L. Bender III, Founding CEO and Board Member of Place of Hope

Title Sponsor: Crypto Capital Venture | Follow Dan Gambardello's on Twitter (@cryptorecruitr)

Link:  Visit the Place of Hope Website, PlaceOfHope.com

Connect with Place of Hope on social media: Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn

Email the Show: POHPodcast@PlaceOfHope.com 

Title Sponsor: Crypto Capital Venture | Follow Dan Gambardello's on Twitter (@cryptorecruitr)

Transcript

Charles Bender: 0:02

Hello and thank you for tuning in to Ambassadors of Hope. I'm your host, Charles Bender. We're so excited that you've tuned in to hear from local South Florida leaders who are making a difference in our community and region through our charity Place of Hope. Ambassadors of Hope Placing Hope in a Child's Future.

Maya Elias: 0:22

Hello, I'm your producer, Maya Elias. In this episode of Ambassadors of Hope, Charles Bender interviews Emily from PR. They discuss the multifaceted work of Place of Hope and the impact it has on the community. Emily highlights the importance of Place of Hope's reputation and the role of faith in guiding their mission. They also discuss the significance of affordable housing and the continuum of care provided by Place of Hope. Emily shares heartwarming stories and discusses the success of the Runway of Hope event in North Palm Beach. She also emphasizes the critical mission of Place of Hope and the transparency of their fundraising efforts. Please continue listening on for the rest of this episode, all right.

Charles Bender: 1:06

Well, good morning and welcome to Ambassadors of Hope, the podcast for Place of Hope Today. I'm pumped, I'm excited We've got Emily from PR, also my good friend and who I say is the greatest PR company around by far, bringing tremendous attention to Place of Hope. We know that the show is all about highlighting ambassadors of Place of Hope. Where does that mean? It's people that are involved with us doing great things every level. So many different ways to be involved and to help support the kids and the young people we take care of. And, Emily, I look at you as like our communications voice. So thank you for being here today to talk a little bit and so that people can learn more about you and what you do.

Emily Pantelides: 1:46

Thank you for having me. It's not that exciting what I do, but I'm so excited to talk about what we do for Place of Hope because we represent all sorts of businesses, we represent hospitals, sports teams and we have represented many charities. But I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but I'm just going to. My favorite is Place of Hope, Not just because of the impact that we've helped make, but because of the impact you guys make on our community and I'm excited to talk about that.

Charles Bender: 2:09

Well, it's so important. Like people probably even know, ultimately, what is PR? You know I've confused it with other things in the past and marketing and this and that, but the reality is you've created this voice out in the community for Place of Hope and letting people know, from the big exciting things all the way down to some of the smaller things that we just together really believe people should know about because of this wonderful community we live in. But you know, people don't realize what goes on in these kids lives.

Emily Pantelides: 2:33

Yeah, I mean there's a lot of charities in our area and that's great. We're a very charitable really, the organization and county. But the thing is, I think what Place of Hope does and doing PR for Place of Hope is essentially just telling people your story and making sure people understand there's lots of charities that help children but there's not a lot that are rated number one in the entire nation by charity navigator. So making sure people know that, and how many years in a row or year after year?

Charles Bender: 2:58

I mean it's been, I think, five in a row for that.

Emily Pantelides: 3:00

So I mean I think that's the number one thing. Actually, I tell people because I think that's you don't get to say that that's so unique, charity number one, not just here in our area, in the entire nation. That's a message I think is so important All the branches of Place of Hope, how we talked about earlier, that you do human trafficking, which is something that people don't think about. Maybe they think that you just bring in foster kids, but I mean just all these different arms and PR just lets people know all the different arms of Place of Hope.

Charles Bender: 3:25

Yeah, there's no shortage of stories or good things for you guys to magically throw out there. The way that you do, what do you think is the first? So, even before you came on board with us and you knew what Place of Hope was doing and so forth which is part of why you said yes and you may have just answered the question Charity Navigator might have something to do with it what's the thing you think that really brought you in to inspire you to be a part of the mission of Place of Hope?

Emily Pantelides: 3:46

I would say the reputation 100%. Place of Hope's reputation, because I've worked in this charitable world for a while now through PR, through volunteering, and unfortunately there are some unscrupulous charities out there, or not even that, but people who really want to help but they just don't have a system of how to do it correctly. Place of Hope's reputation, before I even was involved, was something I said. That's someone I want to be involved with and quite frankly, you know it trickles down from the top. I say that all the time. You are a great leader and I think people like to emulate what you do and how you've done it, because you've created this charity out of nothing and turned it into a beacon of hope for kids and for adults. You know you've put so many adults out there who are working members of the community. That is truly changing our world and I just wanted to be a part of that.

Charles Bender: 4:33

Well, we've done that together. As you know, it is a tremendous team. You're part of that team. Maya. Here is a part of the team. We have a tremendous team of people and that includes all the ambassadors. It's the people who sew into this mission on a daily basis. Whether they're on the payroll or not doesn't matter, but that's been one of the beautiful things we've been able to build over time. And then that team continues to build upon itself because it's no longer just a few people that are inviting people in its larger group of people, inviting people in, and, as part of why we're doing this show, is to show people out there, some of the great folks that are involved with us, and what they do to make it all come together at the end of the day. You came in knowing probably you know foster care, other things. You've mentioned that we do some anti-human trafficking things now and over the years. What's one of your favorite things you think about Place of Hope that we do?

Emily Pantelides: 5:19

It's a good question because it's something we focused on a lot in our efforts to do PR for Place of Hope, and that's honestly what you're doing with affordable housing. I think it's really important that what we're doing at Place of Hope is not just you know, of course you're going to take in kids and younger kids, but what happens when they turn 18? What happens when they don't have a place to go? What's that stat? I learned 60% of children in foster care who leave foster care end up either in jail or pregnant within the first 12 months.

Emily Pantelides: 5:47

I mean, I heard that was one of the stats that moved me when I came to Place of Hope. I said how do you have a high school graduation rate of 100%? How does that happen? I mean, those are the things that I think our community needs to know about that. It's not just bringing kids in and keeping siblings together, which I also think is a huge thing that I love about Place of Hope, but this affordable housing, where you are the largest builder and that's not the right word, but I can't think of it the builder of affordable housing in our area. Creator.

Charles Bender: 6:13

Affordable transitional housing by far. Right now. We have more on the plate. We probably have more that's already open, but more coming well in excess of any other group that's out there doing this right now. Again, thanks to our team and the people that are out there supporting us for sure.

Emily Pantelides: 6:27

Think about that need. I mean, where we live, people can't even afford to live here and we're telling kids who don't have the support system oh okay, go out and find your job, go out and find a house, go out and find an affordable apartment. It does not happen. So the fact that you can support them and say, okay, you're turning 18, here's a good place for you to live, here's where you're breaking the cycle, because so what happens is when a kid can get out there and support themselves and afford their housing, and their kids do that, and then their kids do that, that's done. That's the whole point of it. That's what I love.

Charles Bender: 6:57

Yeah, we want to break the cyclical nature of poverty and everything that's tied to it and that's why our model is one of yes, we're going to provide you the affordable transitional housing.

Charles Bender: 7:05

But the word transitional is so key because it means it's not forever. It's not just affordable housing, it's for such a time, it's for, you know, has purpose behind it in terms of the time frame and all the things that you're going to learn while you're in our quote care. You know, even over 18, or you might be a single mom with dependent children that really needs that help, because if you're otherwise trying to make rent payment in this community and you're working two and three jobs and then you got childcare, there's a good chance you're never going to get ahead, and that's just not okay, and that's why you know it started off as well. It'll be the kids that age out of foster care.

Charles Bender: 7:38

But, as you know, we soon after learned that wow there are just a lot of young people out there that are in desperate need of stability so that they can even look forward at the things that will make them successful. But if you're mired up in the middle of it, you're not even going to get a chance to you know, look forward in any way, but if we can provide the stability together. So I think you answered, you know, my next question, which was going to be what? What do you think is one of the most impactful things we're out there?

Emily Pantelides: 8:03

doing, but there's so many. I mean the sibling group thing is big to me. I have three kids and the idea that one would have to go somewhere and one would have to go in another direction, keeping kids together as a family, I think that's huge and there's, I mean I don't know that there's any other organizations that actively do that in our area.

Charles Bender: 8:21

You know there's. I think everybody makes a good effort to if they're in the space, because most people recognize that that's what's healthy for children. It's just that we built our model specifically for that.

Charles Bender: 8:31

We said, hey, if there's two and three and four and five kids, which oftentimes there are- you know, nationally, statistically, they will get separated, and it's interesting that even the American Medical Association will tell you that that most often creates more trauma for kids.

Charles Bender: 8:45

And so why would we do that?

Charles Bender: 8:46

Well, typically it's only because there's not that many people or places that can do it, that can keep them together successfully, and so that's why it's always been, from day one of our founding, you know, one of our core values, and the next being, when it comes to foster care, various levels of care, as you know, we do maternity care and we provide, you know, emergency shelter and so forth. But you know, from day one, it was how do we take these kids who have bounced around the system, you know, sometimes no fault of their own, sometimes by picking up some behaviors that you know aren't, you know, out there to people don't want to, you know, really be a part of on a daily basis or so forth. And it's just sometimes kids are therapeutically in advance of where most people can handle. But those have always been our core issues and you know, and unfortunately they haven't changed, they haven't gone away, it's just a lot of kids in need and that's why you're here and that's, unfortunately, why we need to keep supporting Place of Hope and regionally too.

Charles Bender: 9:36

So we're excited to do a little bit of that work up in the steward area as well as affordable transitional housing. But you know we're a faith based organization and how do our values of who we are and the why we do what we do, how does that line up with you personally?

Emily Pantelides: 9:49

Yeah, well, I think that's probably why Place of Hope is so blessed, because Place of Hope is very forward and just out there saying that. You know, we are faith based and I have been very active with my company to say that we are a faith based company. You know, when I started Pantoledis PR, I worked in news for many years, which is not really a place where you can talk too much about your faith. But I said when I leave news I'm going to actively put John 316 on my website so people know I'm going to make sure that I try to align myself with people who believe what I believe. And you know, I just think that Having a faith is what guides you throughout life and having a faith is what helps you. When you see children hurting and in pain, you can say, well, there's a bigger plan, there's some reason for this and I think that you know personally my faith is what's guided me in everything I do.

Emily Pantelides: 10:35

But I do 100% believe that God brought me to place of hope and my firm to place of hope for some specific purpose. I even think it's probably beyond what we're doing right now. I think there's probably something else, because I just feel it so strongly, I think I told you one time I walked into your office and there was just this thing there that really struck me. It was like this moment where I was like, oh, this is a God thing, I mean, and everything is everything is a God thing. I don't really think it's called a coincidence. I think it's called God put you there for a reason, and sometimes it's for you to learn the lesson, or sometimes it's for you to help, or sometimes it's for you to glean something from someone else. But I'm here for a reason, so you're stuck with me for a while.

Charles Bender: 11:11

I love it. I love it. You know, we feel the exact same way after all these years of seeing God provide. You know, obviously there's reputational things out there. People hold place of hope in high regard and we're grateful for that. But we also divert immediately from the attention of that, because we really do know that, at the end of the day, all good things come from the Father, above the heavenly life he provides.

Charles Bender: 11:31

And we've been in the tough times, like everybody else in 08, you know, and we survived it and we survived it. Well, you know, a little bit of cuts here and there, but and then every single year he has just continued to provide and it's too easy to sit back and think, well, I had something to do with that, or I said, no, god provides, he just brings in people and he uses people and their talents and their treasures and their time and it's. It's pretty amazing to watch. One of the things that probably energizes me the most to this day, all these years later, is seeing people come in and give of what they have to give and it just all works together in perfection at the end of the day, because we're able to care for more and not have to worry, so to speak, of how it's going to be provided for.

Emily Pantelides: 12:10

And like finding what your gift is from God. Like sometimes it's not the gift. You know, I am very okay talking in front of people. Maybe that's a gift, but maybe somebody's gift is. They can so really well and some I don't know, I'm making this up as a blanket. I mean it doesn't have to be this big, small thing. These gifts that God gives you, you can use, you know, through your job, you can use them every day. Or you can do something so small and make such a difference, and that is what I see a place of hope. These people who are using gifts that maybe they don't even know is a gift from God to make the charity better.

Charles Bender: 12:40

What are some of the outcomes you've seen in your time working directly with Place of Hope, on the team that you're most proud of? One of them I want you to speak about, which is the event that you just shared for us the other day, but even maybe end with that, but some of the things you've been able to help make happen from a communications perspective, a PR perspective, that have just we all know, have just sewn in to helping us go to the next level.

Emily Pantelides: 13:03

That is so hard because there's so many. I mean the strategy behind what we're doing for Place of Hope, and each client has a different strategy, but for Place of Hope I felt like saturate, saturate, over and over again. Let people hear this message, let people know what Place of Hope is, because you do so much, from the human trafficking to the affordable transitional housing. There's so much. But let people hear, place of Hope, our strategy with you guys was just saturate. Get everywhere TV, radio, paper, glossy magazines, whatever it is get you guys out there.

Emily Pantelides: 13:32

So, out of all of those stories, which one was the most impactful? I mean every single one, because I think every single one leads to more awareness. And maybe you didn't see it on the six o'clock news that night, but maybe you saw it on Place of Hope's social media when they replayed that story. So, to say, a favorite, probably the most recent one we did, is the one that sticks out in my mind because we had Samson and Melita, who I heard their story kind of from the beginning to the end. I hadn't heard a story in such depth. They came from Haiti, they were abused and they came here and he said something like you know, I didn't want love. I didn't understand love, and Place of Hope showed me love.

Charles Bender: 14:05

You said that he realized it wasn't the end of the story either. Did?

Emily Pantelides: 14:08

he stop here Did.

Charles Bender: 14:10

He knew he his own eggshell had to crack a little bit because there was a future for him.

Emily Pantelides: 14:13

And the best part of it is what we just talked about, the breaking the cycle, because he has kids and his sister, I mean, didn't interview together with ABC locally and they said we now love our kids, we now treat our kids not the way we were treated when we grew up and I thought, boom, that's it. Because if you're abused I mean I don't know the statistics, but you typically abuse your kids you don't know any better. You know you parent in a way the way you were parented, and so the fact that I heard them, it just really stuck with me. You changed a generation. Boom right there, because Melida has three kids. I think he had what two?

Charles Bender: 14:46

Yeah, and he has beautiful kids too. Oh, my goodness.

Emily Pantelides: 14:49

And it was just a great story and I thought, I'm trying to think of what the reason was we did that story. Oh, because it was domestic violence.

Charles Bender: 14:54

That's right. Domestic violence Awareness month last month it was.

Emily Pantelides: 14:57

I think it was last month. Yeah, I think it was. But I didn't also realize domestic violence can be also. It doesn't have to just be husband and wife, it can be a mom, a dad. That was something new for me. So I'm not really answering your question because there were so many good ones?

Charles Bender: 15:11

No, I think you have, but now you got to talk about the event that you just shared, because the intricacies of it are what's so important and how the community just jumped up behind it at a very low cost to place of hope to produce this Awesome event.

Emily Pantelides: 15:26

Well, it was fun. I mean, this was just something that was super fun and the groundwork was already there. So you basically do something very similar in Boca where you team up with Saks Fifth Avenue and you do a fashion show. But we called ours runway for hope and it was basically we would pick some prominent people in the community and they would fundraise for us, and we kind of used a model where it's peer-to-peer fundraising and each person was just, you know, having little cocktail parties or asking friends, and the goal was we wanted each person to hopefully hit at least ten thousand dollars, which I thought was a very lofty goal. Right, I was like who's gonna hit that? And almost all of them did, yeah, and and exceeded and exceeded.

Emily Pantelides: 16:03

And I think what ended up happening was, you know, people, everybody who was touched by that was like what are you fundraising for? So it spread the message, place of hope, a little more. And then, you know, the culmination was this beautiful fashion show at Saks Fifth Avenue, which is a little lap of luxury.

Charles Bender: 16:17

Hundred and something. Tickets sold as well.

Emily Pantelides: 16:19

Right a lot of new faces, a lot of new faces, because you know, all the champions brought people in right. But it was fun that we got to watch them walk the runway with a real model and you know, I just think it was a wonderful way to highlight what place of hope is doing. I always say it was my favorite things together fashion, place of hope and friends.

Charles Bender: 16:39

Hey, listen, maybe somebody's gonna be listening to this too. That could think, wait, I want to be a part of that and we could pick up some of our new Champions that through that, our models for the, for the night of and so forth, the peer-to-peer fundraiser because we're doing it next year.

Charles Bender: 17:19

We are definitely doing it next year. That was so successful and unique and, like you said, just fun and also you know. So everybody did a great job and our winner was Meg Weinberger. She raised I don't, it was like 20,000 20 plus thousand dollars and I think the thing I love about that the most is peer-to-peer fundraising.

Charles Bender: 17:37

Is, you know, again, very low cost of place. Oh, and all new people coming in who are giving mainly because of relationships yes, because they can look and see it's a trustworthy charity and it's a great cause, but then they're doing it because of their friends and so forth as well. So it was fun. Thank you for doing it.

Emily Pantelides: 17:52

Oh my gosh, I had a blast. I always say I've shared a lot of events, but I did very little for this, because place of hope is such a well-oiled machine. You're the right people working here who care. Again we go back to the faith thing, I think there's there's a Bible verse that says work as if you're working for God. I'm paraphrasing people here aren't working because they want the paycheck or they want whatever. I'm sure that helps too, but they're working for a higher power. So all the people that who are planning the events are like putting the programs in a certain way because that's for God. It's not just you know, necessarily, and that's what I think is the difference. That's the blessing that place of hope is no doubt about it.

Charles Bender: 18:28

I'm worth so grateful for that every single day that we show up for Work, if you want to call it that. But it's interesting to one of the things we did here. We don't typically do this, but we told all the champions and supporters that the funds raised this time in this event we're gonna go specifically to provide Therapeutic intervention for human trafficking survivors in our care, because we do something really unique. We place them into our existing programs, dependent upon their age and what you know kind of the backgrounds where they could fit, but then we bring these wraparound services to them strategic case management, targeted case management and this level of therapy that's directed at what they've walked through in life, which you know there's. You have to find the right counselors for that, but we have to pay for that market rate. The system doesn't just say let me pay for that.

Charles Bender: 19:14

We have to go out there with real money and pay for these services because we're not gonna get to the point you described to some of the other kids lives of you know, making a full circle and becoming successful in life if they can't break through and find some degree of healing. Yeah, and then the future to focus on as well, so.

Speaker 5: 19:30

Welcome back. Eight local celebrities in a fierce competition to raise money to help abused, abandoned, neglected and trafficked children, right here in our area of the fundraising, campaign will come to a head on the runway of hope, a fashion show at Sacks of Palm Beach Gardens and all the proceeds will benefit place of hope here to talk about the event place of hope, ceo Charles Bender, thank you for being with us, and model Kai Lassen, welcome. Thank you so much, excited to hear how you're involved. But we want to start with you talk a little bit about place of hope for people who perhaps aren't very familiar, because I know you Do so much for our community. Well, it's a great team effort.

Charles Bender: 20:04

We're a comprehensive child and families organization. So we take care of abused children who have to be removed for imminent danger, go into foster care. Kids who age out of foster care, who have no where to otherwise know where to go, transition them to healthy adulthood, human trafficking survivors and so forth. From here to Stewart.

Speaker 5: 20:21

And I feel like, when you say that it feels like what that can happen here, and it does, certainly does yeah, and the numbers are pretty high in Florida, unfortunately. I've had the pleasure of touring some of your, some of your facilities and it's just amazing what you guys do right here, and Events like this make it possible. So tell us about the fashion show.

Charles Bender: 20:39

Absolutely, and we have eight wonderful models that are competing to raise money for our children and our survivors, and it couldn't be anything cooler. It's a peer-to-peer fundraiser, so it's very unique and they're working really hard to make it successful and Kai a model, and I know you.

Speaker 5: 20:54

You have your own hatline right, so tell us a little bit how you got involved in what you're doing and how you raise money. You know it all kind of came together very organically.

Speaker 4: 21:03

I recently found out that I wasn't able to have children and I was really wanting to get involved in a charity, and then they gave me a call and asked if I would be involved in doing the peer-to-peer champion and it just all kind of came together and I'm very blessed to be a part of it. And so tell us how the competition part works.

Speaker 4: 21:16

So basically, there's eight of us and they're all incredible people and we're on the same page and they're all incredible people and we've actually all worked together to kind of help each other.

Speaker 5: 21:26

So it's kind of just a fun work together but let's raise money, but let's have a competition, and so like, can people go to you a site for you to donate on your behalf?

Speaker 4: 21:36

Yeah, if you go on the website, you can find all of our names and you can click on whoever you would like to donate for and help raise money.

Speaker 5: 21:42

It's all for good cause, so it really doesn't matter who you choose Absolutely, and tell us a little bit about where this money goes. Is there a specific thing that you guys are really working towards right now?

Charles Bender: 21:51

Yes, we have a comprehensive therapy and counseling program for victims of human trafficking and it's super important cause. They need that therapeutic intervention to lift them to the next level to be successful. So you know our budget. There is close to $100,000 a year for counseling and therapy. The goal for this event is $100,000, we're about to hit it any second now. So because of them and what they've all done.

Speaker 5: 22:12

Unfortunately, there is a need for what you do, but glad that you guys are able to help meet that need.

Charles Bender: 22:23

Continue of care that we have that place of hope. Why would you say that that helps add to our success? You know we joke around about the bubbles of place, of what are those things? Cause it can be confusing or even overwhelming for people like that Place of hope. I thought you were a volunteer guy. I didn't know you were doing affordable housing. Wow, I didn't know you did maternity care. But how do you think that actually helps us in the long run?

Emily Pantelides: 22:42

Well, I will say, as a PR person, it's my hardest challenge with place of hope, because I want an easy message. I want people to just say we help homeless, abused, abandoned kids, boom done. But there's so much more to place of hope and it is one of the greatest parts. But you know, doing my job, I want people to understand every facet. I say it's a treat with all of these branches and I want you to understand all the branches, cause that's where your donation goes, or that's where your volunteer time goes. It's really from the beginning to the very end that you're helping.

Emily Pantelides: 23:09

I mean, we talked about this. You come in to the system, you can stay here. I mean you're not getting kicked out at 18, you can stay. You can get supported from the job, from the career, from the whatever it is. I think that. And then you add this human trafficking element in it, which is a whole nother ball game that you're dealing with that people I don't even know if they understand the depth of what you're doing.

Emily Pantelides: 23:29

I mean, you talked about the services we raise money for, but you're going down a whole different angle here when you're helping these people. You're giving them careers, you're giving them homes, you're giving them, I mean, a whole new life, a whole new lease on life, and I just think it's really important that people understand that it isn't just we're not just talking about an old school orphanage where you put people in and then you just kind of kick them out when they get 18. This is something where you're not only bringing the kids in, you're in this beautiful cottage model which you know you have. I know you've got toward the nation teaching people about this cottage model, but I think the idea is that you can start there and you can end up and have 100% graduation rate. I mean that to me was incredible when we did a story on that.

Emily Pantelides: 24:08

We did a new story whenever graduation is. What is it? I don't even know anymore. But yeah, I mean, that is something that I think is really amazing that place of hope does. You can take kids who had you know could be written off and made them graduate high school. Then they're going to graduate college and then they're going to get jobs and be thriving, productive members of Palm Beach County. So, even if you don't care at all about foster kids, you do care about where you live. You care about it being safe. You care about when you go to Publix that the cashier or whomever it is, has a purpose. You do care about these things, even if you don't know they're touching you every day.

Charles Bender: 24:43

So you know it's really good, really good. You know it's interesting. I've always said that you can see the front page of the Palm Beach Post or Miami Herald or whatever. It is a Sun Sentinel and there might be some really egregious abuse case where kids were brought into the system, so forth. But and then that's usually like the latter part of the story, where DCF has stepped in, department of Children and Families, kids have been removed from that environment which was horrendous. This, that and the other happened there.

Charles Bender: 25:08

But then people think, oh, in some ways we move on and we go back to work when we do this and end of the story, right, because they're in foster care. No, all you have to do is really crack open the egg of looking at how does foster care function throughout the nation and not such great outcomes for a lot of these young people. And so that's where the real story comes in. For Place of Hope, which is all that you just described, how do you think that using your expertise in PR over the years has how's it different with Place of Hope? Or is it different Because one?

Maya Elias: 25:35

of the things I like about you guys.

Charles Bender: 25:36

Every Thursday we have this meeting with this big dump truck that we have, because, thank God, we have all this great stuff to talk about. We back up the dump truck and unload it on you and your team, but you have to use your expertise in that system of communications and the outlets for it, the effective ones, the ones that really don't matter. How do you go about that? But is it different with Place of Hope?

Emily Pantelides: 25:56

I mean it is. You know, the truth is, what we have to do is straddle the line of you're our client. We want to tell Place of Hope story. At the same time, I have a background in news. I know that I can't just go to them and say Place of Hope is the best, please put them on TV. It's just not going to work. So what we have to do is dig and find a newsworthy story, which I mean what's great about you guys is there's no shortage of that. I mean, we are very lucky with you where you know some other places where, like oh gosh, no, you got to have this and things have to be timely, things have to be. There's a whole slew of things we do to try to get something on the news. But I mean, I think with Place of Hope, you guys are really wonderful in the sense that you have what we like to call characters. You have people who will come out and actually champion for Place of Hope, kids who have grown up in Place of Hope and who want to say how great it is. They don't want to run away and go somewhere else, which is actually really wonderful. But you know, the strategy is you know I just go back to you do so much.

Emily Pantelides: 26:49

My hardest thing is how do I make sure that story we just put on ABC where we were talking about domestic violence month relates back to people understanding? Well, you don't just help, you know people who are involved in domestic violence. You have to do X, y and Z, and that I mean in the blessing and the curse, if you will, because it's a blessing that you have so many wonderful things. But you know, in my job, keeping things simple, we have an acronym called KISS. It says keep it simple, stupid. So Place of Hope is so hard to keep simple because of everything you do. So that's the challenge. But you know, as an organization, I think that what we try really hard to do is every Thursday we come and we're like well, this is something that we'll push for, this mission, this will push for this idea, and that's kind of how we try to co-sehesively put a good strategy together for you guys.

Charles Bender: 27:33

Well, you guys are the best of the best at it. You've got us all over the place which is great because, as a result, we do meet more people. We remind those that are we've been blessed over the years by our donor base. When I say donor base, it means volunteers, it means people doing material support, drives in their companies and churches and temples and other groups that come around us, keeping them with us over the years. I think we've really shattered the statistics in that, because they are truly part of the team.

Charles Bender: 27:59

They are truly ambassadors and so forth. Tell me for you what's a heartwarming story? Now, you might have just mentioned one a second ago, because of. Samson and Melita which they are just incredible young people, but what's a heartwarming story that you've covered and learned about.

Emily Pantelides: 28:16

You know, one was probably before I was thinking about this, before I worked for you guys. I was at, I think I was a reporter. I worked here for the CBS affiliate and I did do a story on Place of Hope. I can't remember what it was, but there was a little boy and it was here at the Paxton campus and he came up to me as I was doing the story and he grabbed my leg and he said what do you do? And I said I'm a reporter. And he said someday I want to be a reporter. And I said well, you know what you can do, anything you can do, you know whatever. And we talked about that and I left and I was like you know that kid, he's a somehow.

Emily Pantelides: 28:50

I know this is going to sound silly, but it made things human for me. It made things real for me. I was like it was just a small thing, but he like touched my leg and he cared about what I did. I was like he's a real person and this charity is helping a real little kid. I don't know what happened to him. I hope he didn't become a reporter for his own sake.

Charles Bender: 29:07

Yeah, true.

Emily Pantelides: 29:09

I think that that was a moment, even before I worked here, that I was like okay, this is, this is different.

Emily Pantelides: 29:16

And because you know, I did do a lot of things before as a volunteer, I helped animals, which I still think is certainly important, but you helped the least of them. Right, and certainly animals are important, but you know, after you have children it changes and I think to myself, the least of them are truly children, who cannot speak for themselves, who don't know better. You know, I was talking to a friend the other day about Place of Hope and just really quickly, I said I don't know how you break out of the cycle, truthfully, because I was blessed, you know, I was raised in a home with two parents and they said you go to college and these are the things you do and they really kind of, but if you don't know that, how do you get out? Right, I mean, I can't conceptualize a kid who can break free from you know whatever the abuse is or whatever you know, and say I want something better. Because how do they know what better is? And the only way they know is through Place of Hope.

Charles Bender: 30:03

Well, you're going to hear personally. You're going to hear a story as a member of my CEO leadership council at Place of Hope, emily Panley. We do have a young man who grew up at Place of Hope with siblings and is going to partially talk to you guys as a group, as another leadership group obviously, show his level of gratitude at the same time. But yeah, it's pretty amazing stuff. I know the feeling, by the way that you just described, with that young boy, obviously having been here for so long. But just the other day we launched a leadership council of our youth and former youths and they were all. They were those that could come for the first meeting.

Charles Bender: 30:35

I think we had close to 10, you know, on their own volition, they came because they wanted to be a part of it. They're going to serve, going forward, just like any other advisory council, and just listen to them tell their stories with each other, because there were some that were here way back and there's some that are here now or they just were here not long ago and they moved on. Whatever it is, they didn't all know each other, and just to hear them tell their stories, I tell you what I had to wrap us at the end and I could almost not talk. You know what I mean, because it's just, it's been a blessing to be a part of allowing that to take place in their lives, because it does take a degree of deliverance and healing in order to even really start to look forward like that. So that's the special sauce, if you will.

Emily Pantelides: 31:18

Well, if I might add one other special moment, before I actually even worked for Place of Hope, I was at some event in Boca don't know what it was, but you were there and I remember being like I really want to talk to him, but I was so nervous and intimidated to talk to you. Not that you're intimidating in any way, but you just have such a great reputation that you've built and I truly, truly believe Place of Hope is because of you and I know you're not going to toot your own horn, but for anybody who's listening, what you have done for this organization is God working through you, exactly what you're supposed to be doing in your life, and it is truly this place and everything around is because you helped build it. I mean, obviously, through God's help, but you are incredible and a great team of ambassadors that's for sure, I know all of that.

Emily Pantelides: 31:59

But also I'm going to give you a little credit, because it is people follow, people that are charismatic. I mean, I wanted to talk to you like there's something, there's you're great at helping Place of Hope, and you know it wouldn't be where it is without you. That's the truth. Thank you very much. It's true, it's true.

Charles Bender: 32:15

What message would you convey to the community? That's really, you know the the most, the best message you could say about why the Place of Hope mission is so critical. What's the component of it, like, what are we doing to address homelessness, abuse, poverty, how we go about it. What would you convey? Yeah, listen, you're our message maker, so you know, gosh, that's too much pressure. I know it's a good one.

Emily Pantelides: 32:35

I'm not going to do it right if you say I'm the message maker.

Charles Bender: 32:37

Well, I know you said that the faith based component is a is a is a huge part, and you're absolutely 100% right. And, by the way, that's not an exclusive thing, that's an inclusive thing. That's just who we are and what we do. We serve everybody, but it's it's why there's so much success. That's a big part of it, for sure.

Emily Pantelides: 32:53

I mean sure, if you wanted to distill it to a faith based thing, I think you know we are bringing children to God. We are bringing people to God, you know. I believe that they're being educated about that. There's something greater to your life and I think you just want to go to that granular level. I think that, thank God, I have a faith, because all the bad things that happen in life if you don't have a faith, if you're not taught a faith by your parents, and how are you going to get through your life? I always wonder that. So if you want to just start there, that is probably the biggest thing you're doing. I will just say that. But on a bigger level, you are making our community a better place and you are. I mean you are helping. There is nothing more important than helping kids Honestly, I mean kids who cannot help themselves. You are giving them a hand and you are saying I will help you, I will teach you, I will make you better and I will make our community a better place to live.

Emily Pantelides: 33:42

I always say if you don't care about charity, you don't care, you don't have a heart, you don't care about empathy, whatever it is. You do care that your community is safe. I mean, if you think about that statistics, they go to jail. Why are they going to jail when they leave foster care? Because they probably committed a crime which is probably in your backyard. Do you want your car stolen?

Emily Pantelides: 33:59

I mean, if you want to rationalize it like that, you are doing something that makes the community better. That's helping people that don't even know they're being helped. And then I mean, just think about the children in general who are being taught that they can have a life, that they can have a career, that they can do better. I mean, there's nothing more important in our life than helping other people and doing that every day and supporting that and being a part of that in any small way. You know we were put on this earth to do something and if, even if it's attending an event, if that's all you can do, even if it's giving $1, you did something to change somebody else's life.

Charles Bender: 34:31

We've had people that have given, who have just dropped.

Charles Bender: 34:33

You know, a donation at the front doesn't say I'm leaving right now, I don't want to see anything else, I don't want to know anymore because I don't think I can handle what.

Charles Bender: 34:39

You know the realities of what's taking place and then, but I know I want to be a part of it or I feel called to be a part of it.

Charles Bender: 34:47

We've been blessed over the years by people. I love to say this because it reminds us that we had no hand in it whatsoever, other than, you know, god providing it, putting it on somebody's heart, but checks that come in from around the nation that we, you know, don't even know who the people are. Or you know someone includes us in their trust in the state and will documents, and you know we're starting to see more and more of that over the years now, where people just they do it and they don't even tell us about it and then all of a sudden they pass on and you know, and then all of a sudden we see this tremendous blessing of a donation and it's just like wow. So thankfully for the things that you do to communicate that out for us, for the excellence of our team and our core leaderships been together almost, you know, over 20 years now. You know, I think people want to invest in things like that and we're super grateful for that.

Charles Bender: 35:30

That's for sure.

Emily Pantelides: 35:32

That's the other really quick thing I want to say, because it's really important, I think, for me to see where the dollars go. It's very important, especially in this community and especially with the many charities I've worked with. I put my mark of approval on ones that I can see where the money is going, because a lot of times there's not transparency and place of hope is transparent. Every dollar we raise. At that event I know where it's going and there's something very special about that and that is where you go. You look for transparency in a charity and you look for where the fundraising dollars go and it goes where you say it does. So I am grateful for that.

Charles Bender: 36:04

Well and for people who this is important for. You know the campuses and the locations and the programs are right here where so many of us live and that's important.

Charles Bender: 36:12

You know the story you gave about the young boy that you met as a reporter. You know it was right here in Palm Beach Gardens. And so I had two very good friends and mentors and investors in Place Opa. The years, both have gone on to heaven at this point but Tim Henry and John Thomas, two leaders at Place Opa, they both used to say just one look. And their point was when you're talking to somebody about Place Opa, why it's special, that's one thing and you can trust what we're saying and so forth and you can verify. But to come and see it and experience is the next thing, and so that's what we hope you know.

Charles Bender: 36:43

that's part of, again, why we do this show. Ambassadors for Hope, thank you for being such an awesome guest and bringing such energy to the show today and we just appreciate you. And, like I said, the best PR company out there. If anybody's looking for public relations need for their company or their chair or whatever it is, you got to take a look at Emily Pannelli. He's in our team because you guys do the best work out there. So thank you Just doing his will.

Emily Pantelides: 37:05

Thanks for being a good friend, Thank you. Thank you for having me, Thank you. I love that I associate my name with an organization like Place Opa. It's really like backwards. It's my honor, so thank you. This is like it really is a joy. I said when I started my firm, when I left news, I said God, like my whole life was news, Like why are you taking me? And I said just bless me for good clients. And I think he really did that and so thank you for being one of the best.

Charles Bender: 37:30

Awesome and thanks for listening today. Everybody, thank you for listening. Please be sure to subscribe and share with your friends so you don't even miss a thing, and if you really gained value today, please be sure to give us a five star review so, of course, we can be put in front of more listeners. For details and show notes about today's podcast and how you can connect with and support our guests, please go to placeofhopecom, forward slash podcast and please don't forget to email us at pohpodcastatplaceofhopecom and, for sure, follow us on social media. Ambassadors of hope placing hope in a child's future.