Ep. 45 - Jamie Kendall On Fighting Hunger In Palm Beach County

Food prices are up, people are stretched thin, and the need is closer than most of us want to believe. Michael Nathanson sits down with Jamie Kendall of the Palm Beach County Food Bank to talk about what food insecurity looks like in Palm Beach County, and what it takes to meet that need with dignity.

They get into the scale of the work, including a network of more than 200 partner agencies, the food bank’s tours and day to day priorities, and the backpack program that sends weekend food home through local schools. Michael also shares a story from Boynton Beach that put the reality of hunger into sharp focus, plus why empathy matters when it’s easy to judge who “should” need help.

They also touch on life in South Florida and beyond, from Lake Worth and Boca Raton to Cleveland roots, plus a quick detour into favorite local restaurants and seafood. If you’ve ever wondered how to give back with time, talent, or treasure, this one makes it simple.

Contact Michael Nathanson:
Email: Michael@soldbythebros.com
Website: https://soldbythebros.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Food, Family, and Philanthropy, the podcast where we shine a light on the people who are making our community stronger through service, purpose, and heart. I'm your host, Michael Nathanson, and today's episode is one that hits home for so many families here in South Florida. I'm honored to be joined by Jamie Kendall from the Palm Beach County Food Bank, an organization that plays a critical role in fighting hunger across our community. Every day they work to ensure that children, seniors, veterans, and families who are struggling have access to something we all deserve: nutritious food and dignity. The Palm Beach County Food Bank doesn't just hand out meals. They support hundreds of partner agencies, strengthen food pantries, respond to disasters, and help build a safety net for those who need it most. And behind that mission is a passionate team led by people like Jamie, who truly believe that no one in our community should go hungry. Today we're going to talk about the real need for food assistance right here in Palm Beach County, how the food bank is meeting that need every single day, and how all of us as families, business owners, and neighbors can be part of the solution. So grab your coffee, settle in, and get ready to be inspired. Jamie.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Hello. Thank you. How do we do having me? That was great, great intro. Wow, we we do a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

You do. We do do a lot. We do it a lot. That's why you're here to help remember what it is everything that's. Absolutely. I am uh so honored for that you're here. Thank you for taking time out of feeding people to help get the eyes and ears out there and hopefully get you some more money, some more volunteers, and just help more people. That's what this is about. So thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Right. So there's times where I start off with a quick real estate update because that is the main gig. Uh and just to tell you, it's kind of similar to how it's been. It's been slow or people keep talking about picking up because of the interest rates. Not much. Just so you know, it's it's kind of staying pretty stable at the moment overall. Condo market is tough for everyone, but it is what it is. If you have questions, reach out, we'll grab a coffee and chat about it. But I would wanted to get in and start talking to Jamie. So we're gonna get into everything that you and your your amazing organization do. However, we got to start with the important stuff here.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Which is which kind of goes with your organization, food.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Are you a foodie?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

I am a foodie.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

You are a foodie. Awesome. So uh I know your organization is out of Lake Worth, right? Is where you're based.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

You live near there?

SPEAKER_01 2:35

I live in Boynton Beach. Boyton Beach, perfect.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

So good. So we're gonna get some restaurants. What's your favorite local restaurant?

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Uh well, it happens to be here in Del Rey. Okay. And it would probably be Rose's daughter.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Oh. I've never been. I went to mom's place. What's it? Oh my God, I'm having a brain far. I don't want to call it across the street. That's that's mom's place. I haven't been to Rose's daughter.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Oh, incredible.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

I can't remember what it's called. I have my wife is. I've heard it's absolutely amazing. Scratch kitchen, phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Great atmosphere.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Yeah. Just no, the food was fabulous. Awesome. Fabulous.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

I love that. Well, uh, now I'm definitely gonna get in there. And do you have a favorite local dish? It doesn't have to be from Rose's daughter. Is there a dish you're like this is my favorite?

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Like a local dish. Well, I love I love seafood. Okay. So uh yeah, any kind of seafood, fresh seafood, uh any of the of those types of restaurants, um, which we have plenty of.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Do you have a go-to for seafood?

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Oh city oysters. That's a good spot. We do city oyster every now and then. Um actually we prepare a lot of seafood at home.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Excellent.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

And go and get the fresh seafood.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

So we say we, does that mean you too? Or is we someone else?

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Oh, we someone's a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Because when my wife says to me, I think we should, that always means me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Um I'm kind of spoiled that way. So he does a lot of fresh fish.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Awesome. What's what's what does he have a specialty or is it?

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Um oh gosh. He does he does a little bit of everything. We like meta training dishes, so in the meta training diets, so he has a great cookbook, and sometimes I'll wake up in the morning and he'll have already been up putting the dogs out, sitting there looking through a cookbook, deciding what recipe he's gonna cook that evening, and goes out to the fish market while I'm off at work and get home and unbelievable meals.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Could you have another setting? Maybe I could stop I could stop by any night. Just let me know. I love good fresh fish. Uh that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

He can handle three big dogs.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

I can I can handle three big dogs, not a problem. Uh, I think that is awesome. Do you have a favorite fish?

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Like not really. Not really. I like everything that he's done. Um oh, he likes you know, snapper, uh yellowtail, I guess, is one of one of his favorites, and um uh hog snapper. Okay. Which I had never had before he started preparing it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Awesome. So can I give you a recommendation on a great fish dish?

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Uh so the Addison in Boca Ratone. Have you ever been?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

No.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

So it's a it's it's a restaurant, a function hall. I've been to they host weddings, it's an absolutely beautiful place. The best Chilean sea bass ever. It literally melts in your mouth as you eat it. It is unbelievable. And I tell everyone out there, go check out the Chilean sea bass at the Addison. I'm telling you, okay, you will thank me.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

All right. It is unbelievable. It's on the list.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Awesome. Do you ever travel?

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Awesome. Do you have a favorite out of town restaurant?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Just so you know, when I travel, I could tell you every city I've ever been, I could tell you what restaurant to go to, basically.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Oh. I you know, whenever we travel, we're always trying new things. I don't oh, geez. I don't know that I can actually pinpoint special.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

That's okay. Is there a meal that has stuck out potentially, perhaps?

SPEAKER_01 5:52

You know, there's a there was a restaurant up on Amelia Island that we went to that did uh a kind of a paella that was absolutely fabulous. And we went there a few times whenever we'd go up that way. And now I'm mastering paella, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Really? Oh yeah. Oh good. I'm definitely coming over then.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Oh, yeah. Awesome. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Awesome. You've though the mussels, scallops.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

We haven't done the mussels, we've done um done uh shrimp, scallops, uh chicken, the chorizo sausage. Awesome. Um, but yeah, that's where we're kind of playing around. Yes, well, can I at the farmer's market?

SPEAKER_02 6:26

There's yeah, there's yeah, and there's people that come to your house.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Oh, I haven't seen that. Well, maybe I didn't need to take this on the road.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Another uh a gig for you, a little side gig. Oh, you're not doing too much, right? So a little side gig. Another side gig. That's awesome. I love a good paella. My brother loves a good paella. Dan will get I'll get you some paella. Yeah, that's awesome. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Paella pan, the whole nine yards.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Very cool, very cool. I love it. And uh, I mean, listen, I could honestly talk about food all day long. Uh, but we do have to move on at some point. Uh sports. Are you a sports fan?

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Uh college football.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

College football. Who's your team?

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Georgia Bulldogs.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Georgia Bulldogs. You told me you're from Cleveland.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

I am from Cleveland. I've lived down south for many years and lived in Georgia for quite a I've I've been down South Florida for five years. So lived in Georgia for 20-something years and had my oldest daughter graduated from the University of Georgia, so I had a lot of money go that way. And so I feel like I need to support that team. That's awesome. But Ohio State as well. Okay. Yeah.

unknown 7:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Being from Ohio.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Yeah. Uh it's funny, small world. So I don't think he's still the coach. I don't I don't follow college football that closely. I'm from Boston originally, although we have more colleges and universities in Boston than literally anywhere else in the world. We don't we're not huge college fans because our best team is mediocre at best, typically Boston College. Like everyone else is we don't really have it, so we focus on the pro teams. Uh however, I believe that the other current, uh probably former coach of Georgia is from Boca. Grew up in Boca Raton. I can't remember his name, but I there's a lady I used to work with, Kathy Hopper, who used to date him in high school.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Really?

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Interesting. Yeah. Didn't know he's from Boca.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Again, I don't know if it's the current guy. I don't know who the coach is. I couldn't tell you.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Um, Kirby Smart's the the current coach.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Gotcha. Um don't think it was Kirby Smith.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Yeah, I don't think it was Kirby.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Maybe it was the guy before him. Yeah, could you? But uh that's cool, very cool. So my older son, Michael, uh, he's a senior in high school, so we're going through that whole college thing. And we just found out last Friday he got into his number one choice, which was University of Florida. Excellent. So there'll probably be some games, Florida and Georgia. Although I guess Florida hasn't been that great since maybe Tim Tebow.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

But um maybe they have a comeback coming.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Yeah, you never know. I'm just excited, and he's not a huge sports fan, but I did tell him you're still getting you're getting me tickets to everything because I'm gonna come watch. And cool thing is, right, I live in Boca, I support Florida Atlantic University. It's our hometown team. Absolutely. I my brother and I and my younger son, Jacob, we go to almost every single men's and women's basketball game.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Excellent.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

And I go to as many football games as I can. It's just that uh I coach basketball and it's always on Saturdays, so it's tough. I gotta be there for the kids over going to watch the college game. However, the first game coming up next year is Florida Atlantic at University of Florida, is the first football game of the year. So I already told my son, get me, I'm gonna be there. So get the ticket. I'll wear my Florida Atlantic hat and like a gator dad shirt or something, but it's very exciting.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Yeah, you gotta follow the money.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

And and the money will be going to Florida.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, oh I'm I'm realizing that quickly. Uh do you ever go to watch sporting events in person?

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Um, you know, not too long ago, my daughter and son-in-law were in from Atlanta. They live in Atlanta uh over Thanksgiving week, actually, and we went down and watched one of the hockey games, one of the Panthers games. That was really fun, right? Oh, a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Yeah, it's a great place to watch a game. So it really is. And it's not too far.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Right. No, no. Hop, skip, and a jump. I mean, we just jumped on the turnpike and and we're down there and um had never been to that arena. So it was a really fun evening. Yeah. A lot of energy.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Yeah, yeah. For well, especially all right, they won the Stanley Cup last year, I read about or something.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Um, again, I'm from Boston. And they state they keep saying that the Panthers are the are my Boston Bruins rival, but they're not really because they keep knocking us out of the playoffs. That's not a rival, that's a domination, but it's fine. Uh but my Patriots are in the Super Bowl, so I'm happy about that. Uh so right, we mentioned you're from Cleveland.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

You grew up there. West side of Cleveland, west side of Clemmetsted.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

North Elmstead, it's uh west side of Cleveland.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Awesome. So uh what was it like growing up there?

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Oh, oh, Ohio's awesome. And people don't realize how big Ohio is. I mean, for a small little state, there's a lot of large metropolitan areas, um, uh with Cleveland being my favorite. Um it it was a great Midwest, just good values. Yeah. Um you know, great area, a lot of um, a lot of historic places around downtown Cleveland.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Um Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or something. Yeah, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Uh, you know, some great the great stadium down there, the newer stadium. Grew up going to, you know, some football games, Indian games, and um just uh Guardians. Yeah. Well, gotta be politically correct now.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

I know, I'm just messing with they will always be called the Indians from me. Listen, but yeah, yeah, yeah. Um but yeah, so they um so it was just a a really neat, wholesome kind of place to grow up.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

Yeah. Um is there a f like I don't is there a food that Cleveland is known for or Ohio? Oh you know, a lot of regions they have no.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

So then I lived in Cincinnati after college. And in Cincinnati, of course, you have skyline chili, which is fabulous. I still make it. You can buy it at Publix in the freezer section. Nice. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So I can make the real authentic skyline chili. That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

So those cold winter months like we have here. I mean, is what when I woke up this morning, it was only 50. Yeah, it's a little chili.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

It's supposed to be really cold this weekend.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

Chili, yeah. 30s or something, two nights in a row. I don't know. That's crazy. Literally, it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

Um, so Cleveland, and you and you mentioned you lived in Georgia for a while too. Absolutely. St.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Simon's Island, um, off the coast of Georgia. Nice. A lot of people don't realize Georgia has a coast, but it does. Um, yeah, so I um I uh moved there after um after living in Cincinnati for a few years and moved to St. Simon's and raised my um kids there, and um, that was a a neat, neat place. Yeah. And that's how I kind of got um when I was there, got involved in land conservation and got into the nonprofit sector with land conservation.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

Good for you. I mean, listen, yeah, land can't speak for itself, so it needs people to fight for it, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:51

So, yeah. So um I kind of always joke that um I started off, you know, again in the nonprofit sector in land conservation and then moved into food banking.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Um, so I went from hugging trees to hugging people.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

And hugging trees was easier.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Oh, yeah, of course, right? Well, they can't respond.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Uh I think that's really cool. And I love uh so whenever we I told I I mentioned I'm from Boston. So we every now and then we'll drive up north. If as long as you don't have an agenda, it's not a bad drive, right? If you have to be somewhere at a certain time, it's terrible. But if you can just take your time, we always stop in Savannah. Yeah and there's I know it's so weird, but there's this great pizza place in downtown Savannah. Which one? I can't remember what it's called. It's at the end near the walk. There's the McDonald's where you can walk up to the window and order. It's right near there. Okay. The pizza is so good. Okay. And we went and um, my god, what's her name? Oh, Paula Dean has a restaurant there.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

We went there. I'm like, yeah, it was good, but can we go get some pizza?

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Like so interesting. So what um when I lived on St. Simon's Island and when I started in food banking, I worked for the food bank out of Savannah.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

And then after my daughters um graduated high school, I moved from St. Simon's up to Bluffton, South Carolina to work at our Savannah office. Yeah. Um, so I was in Savannah quite a bit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Quite a bit. Yeah, it's a it's a cute little place. Like I liked it.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

It's really quaint.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Friendly, nice, and that pizza, I'm telling you. So you said two daughters. Is that two daughters? All your kids? Yep, those are the two daughters.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Three dogs. Uh yes, grown. Uh one lives in Atlanta and uh my youngest daughter, Madeline, lives in New York.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

Awesome. On purpose in New York.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

On purpose, she loves it. Really? She loves well, she you know, she grew up on the small little island. My kids used to call it the Rock.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Um, didn't they didn't appreciate that they were growing up on a beautiful restored island where they could ride their bikes and and you know, be at the beach in five minutes and and all that good stuff. But no, she loves New York. And then my oldest daughter, like I said, lives in Atlanta. Loves Atlanta. Awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

And listen, it's only a a plane away.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Yeah, not far.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

Any grandkids or anything?

SPEAKER_01 14:49

No, not yet. Yeah. Waiting. Yeah. Hopefully someday.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

My parents said that it's worth having kids to get to grandkids. Oh, they're it's worth all the crap. It's worth all the crap to get to those grandkids.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

And uh listen, when when my brother doesn't have any kids, when we had our first, my wife Lydia and I had our first kid, my dad like changed. He was a different person after. He was like this tough, hard guy. Like he'd be watching TV, be like, Dad, can I watch the game? No, I'm watching this. My kids, he's like, What do you want to watch? Dora? Sure, no problem. I'm like, who is this guy? Who is this guy? Where was he? Uh yeah, it really changed him. And my mom, unfortunately, as she passed away uh about seven and a half years ago, but she loved her grandkids so much. All she did was talk about them. Everybody she worked with, who I still talk to, all she talked about was the grandkids and how much how happy she was, and it was the coolest thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

And uh just like with me, my brother and myself growing up, food equals love. So she would just make whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and it was it was awesome. So they were they're very fortunate to to have that. So awesome. So Cleveland, I've never been. Uh like I said, I've heard good stuff. I will go sometime, just not this time of year.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Yeah, no, definitely not.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Definitely not.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

So now let's get into what you do.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

All right, Palm Beach County Food Bank. I mean, I think the name says what it is, but tell us a little bit what you do. You are the executive direct CEO. CEO. I was your CEO.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

So CEO at the Palm Beach County Food Bank.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

How did you get that?

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Um, so I've been here five years, just five years. Uh I was in food banking in Savannah. Um I had a uh very large food bank there. I was a COO there for about uh 14 years, I think. And um ended up um having a headhunter one day call me about the job down here and and uh thought I'm not really looking to move, but the kids were out of college, everybody was settled, and um so I start, you know, I thought, what the heck, I'll talk to them. And uh one thing led to another and and got into some um you know great interviews with them. And then I thought, well, I better jump in the car because I've never been down there and see if I even like the area. But I knew I always have to be by water. I have to be by water, so I have to be by the coast. Um and so came down, thought great area, and uh really um looked forward to it. It was a young organization. We're still relatively a young organization, 14 years. Um, and I saw the room that they had to grow um to do more in the community, and I knew that I was coming with a skill set that could make that happen. So here I am five years later, and we are booming. I always say I'm working to put myself out of business, right? Yeah, but unfortunately that's not gonna happen in my lifetime.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

I hope you're out of business. Yeah, I do too. I do too. Today would be a good day.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Unfortunately, that's not the way it goes. The need is um the need is great. And a lot of people think yeah, Palm Beach County, Palm Beach, you know, you think in all the wealth that's here, and yes, we have tremendous wealth and we have um, you know, incredible um donors and and people that really support us, but you know, Palm Beach County is huge.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

And until I, you know, kind of started looking here and talking about the position here, I had no idea how big Palm Beach County is. And so a lot, you know, again, a lot of people just don't realize the need, but there's 192,000, 192,000 people in Palm Beach County that are food insecure.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

51,000 are children.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah, it's crazy. And I talk about this often, right? Because everybody thinks Palm Beach County, right? So I'm the chairman of the board at the YMCA in Boca Raton. I'm very passionate about the YMCA and what it does for our community, specifically the children is what gets me. I don't like to see children hurting, needing, whatever it may be. So for me, that's what I do. And people are always surprised to hear that at our Boca Raton YMCA, the land of the rich, one out of every three people that walks through our front door needs some sort of financial assistance, right? It's crazy. Another thing, which is crazy, right? So I've helped before my brother and I, and my wife has, and through the YMCA, we've volunteered many times at Boca Helping Hands.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Yeah, yeah, they're one of our agencies.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

So I've always been in the back packing the bags. The last time I did it, we actually were out front as the cars were coming through and picking up stuff, and I saw people I knew. And it was so humbling. I like I tear up thinking about it. I, for their sake, I saw them and I walked away because I didn't want them to feel terrible about it. Listen, you need help sometimes in life. Oh, yeah. So there shouldn't be shame. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

There is, there is. And and you know, um, we work with some great partner agencies. We have about 200 partner agencies um between schools that we work with and just uh book of helping hands, those type of um philanthropic organizations that do, you know, food pantries, soup kitchens, that kind of work. And um it's very humbling work. Yeah, it's very humbling.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

And yeah, people don't realize, and right now with the inflationary issues that everybody's facing. I mean, uh, you and I see it, right? You go to the grocery store.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

I spent$300 this weekend and we had nothing to eat.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

I right. I know. Sometimes I'll go and I'm thinking, oh, I'm gonna pick up a few things, and the next thing I know, it's like$80 something dollars and I don't even have a good bottle of wine. Yeah, what the heck? Yeah, and it's just um I I actually have said to somebody recently, I couldn't imagine feeding a family right now.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Yeah. It's not easy. Listen, I got four of us.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

I yeah, it's not easy. The prices are nuts. Yeah. Um, and so you know, a lot of people just they they need that little bit of extra help. And a lot of people think, oh, these people are coming, they're coming in the nice cars, or you know, we hear it all. We hear it all. And um, but you know, they don't realize they're they're not in that person's shoes. They don't know if that person borrowed that car, they don't know if that person's three months behind on their payments. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

And it's very easy to judge, you know, it's a lot harder to understand.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Absolutely, absolutely. And have empathy and sympathy. Um the shame that people might feel. Um, I mean, it's the United States, there's an abundance of food. Yeah. So much food waste happens that nobody, nobody should have to worry about food. Yeah. In the United States. Right. Just shouldn't be.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

I agree. Well, so what does your day look like? What do you do?

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Oh gosh. Well, um other than everything. Well, first off, I have a great team. Yeah. I surround myself with a great team.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

You got a big team. I was looking on your website. You got a lot of people. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

That's awesome. And um, and that's just continuing to grow as our programs grow and as our funding grows. But um, so I have a fantastic team that takes care of the day-to-day. I mean, everybody um comes to work with a mission in mind.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Um, just I I can't say enough about my team. I really can't.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Because I'm only as good as my team.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

And so, you know, it's um it's a lot of looking at what's relevant at the moment, um, what's happening. Uh you know, we've dealt with, you know, in October and November, we dealt with the government shutdown. Yeah. Um, you know, that's limit again right now, uh, today as we speak. Oh, really? Um I try not to watch the news. Yeah. And you know, so we kind of I we kind of have to pivot a lot um to make sure that we are um helping all the folks that Need assistance. So we have new programs. We're always looking at new programs, ways to expand our programs or tighten up our programs. Um, try new things. I'm a big outside the box person. So um, and my team knows that. So we kind of do some strategize things around our programs that um that some work, some don't. But if we don't try them, we don't know. Right. Um, so yeah, so my day, you know, talking with donors, um, giving a lot of tours. I love giving tours. People have no idea how big the food bank is. I mean, we have 50,000 square feet. Where is it located? We're um Batwell, Batwell Road, so right off a 10th. Okay. Um in Batwell. And so, yeah, a lot of people have no idea. But we have 50,000 square feet. Wow. It's it's a huge, a huge spot. We have a commercial kitchen that's newer for us. Um, so anyway, anytime I can get anybody through the doors, any of our donors or anybody that's just interested, come on over because then then they kind of get it. They walk out really understanding um how how impactful we are. Yeah, um, and what we do.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

So I pulled up a couple stats off of your website because I not I mean it's not good. There's stats that are people need to know about. Absolutely. I just pulled a couple. Sure. One in six children in Palm Beach County will go to bed hungry tonight. How many kids do you know?

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Right? I asked the world out there, how many kids do you know? One out of six in Palm Beach County is gonna go to bed hungry tonight. Honestly, I want to break down and cry just thinking about that. It's yeah. One in eight people in Palm Beach County are struggling to put food on the table, right? My eyes are tearing up. Sorry, I'm just I can't even read this right now.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Which one is it?

SPEAKER_02 23:46

You distributed 10.6 million meals with your network of more than 200 partner agencies in 2025. 10.6 million in Palm Beach County, which again it's big, but relatively speaking, it's a small area. 10.6 million.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

You put out 14 million pounds of food.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

That is right. Let that sink in for the viewers, the listeners. 10.6 million. So on that note, you need help.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

You need people to know about you, right? I didn't know about you before I knew about you. I knew there was stuff out there, but I didn't know about you before I knew about you, which means that a lot of people out there also maybe didn't know about you. So you need help. Money is always key, right? That's with everything. So you will accept donations.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

Two dollars, two billion dollars, and everything in between.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Yep, sure. Bring on the billions.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Excellent. Excellent. How about volunteers?

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Oh, absolutely. So we can't do what we do without our volunteers. So we have a volunteer center. Um, we have uh volunteers Monday through Friday. We have morning shifts, afternoon shifts. Uh, we do a few Saturdays a month. So people can go to our website, pbcfoodbank.org, and uh sign up to volunteer and come out. We have a lot of different volunteer activities. Uh, we do repacking of some bulk food that we get in. Um, we have our backpack program. So you're talking about the children that are in need. We pack backpacks every week that go out to the schools.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

And the schools know who those kids are.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

And they get the food out for the weekend. So we know those kids are getting breakfast and lunch at school. We know that on the weekends there might not be that much food for them at home. And they need that little bit, the family needs a little bit of assistance. So it's not just a child, we're sending food home for them. We're sending food home really for there's a family meal included as well. And so 5,700 kids a week. Wow. Get those bags. So it takes a lot of volunteers to pack those bags. So yeah, lots of great volunteer activity. It's a lot of fun. Um, it's high energy. There's music playing. We have volunteer groups that come in. Awesome. Um, we work with uh the School of Autism who brings kids over.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

My brother's on the board there.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Oh, great. Yeah, the kids love it. Um, come over and do that. We have um companies that come in and do, you know, some team building. Um, so and then we have individuals and we have some regular individuals that come like it's their job.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

And they are just the nicest folks, retired, um just wanting to give back. And they, you know, they have their own little group, you know, I'll come in and they'll all be sitting there having coffee, um, ready to get to work and kind of be kind of the the lead volunteers, if you will. So absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

That's great. So right. So last night I was talking about the podcast today with my wife, and she demanded that I ask you a question. Sure. And but you actually kind of already answered it. But I want to make sure that Lydia, you hear that I asked the question because I don't want to get in trouble. Right. So my wife works in a uh a title company, so real estate kind of related, and her and the ladies who work there like to get together and do some sort of give back with volunteer time. However, they're salaried nine to fivers and they can't go during the day. So she made she wanted me to ask anything at nights or weekends.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Saturdays. So we do a few Saturdays a month. So Lydia, come on out. Um and the girls. Um yeah, so we do we do Saturdays. And again, you can go to our website, hit that volunteer tab, and see all the shifts that we have.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

I will make sure you get the the the website literature. We have kids out too. Yeah, great.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

How old? Oh, we we take kids. As long as we're with parents, we can do, you know, 10 and up. Oh, awesome.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Because I know like Boca Helping Hands, I think you have to be eight, 16 or so I just it's a great idea.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

I actually want to get a um one one goal for this year is that I want to have a family night where even younger kids can come out with mom and dad um and do, you know, maybe have a little pizza party um and a packing event where families can come out so kids can learn at an early age to give back and to help. That's great. Um, so that's something to to look for. We're um I really want to strive to get that on the on the schedule this coming year sometime and start that.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Yeah. And listen, we can always talk with the YMCA, see if we can do something with the board members, see if we can do something with the teen groups there where we can absolutely do something because it's important. And and just so you know, so uh speaking of food, and this is not a pat myself on the back thing, right? Because it's not about that. It's about what we were able to do. Mr. James, James Rodriguez, who works at the YMCA in Boca Town, I've known him for I think I'm at 12 or 13 years now, one of the most amazing human beings I've ever met in my entire life. If he called me at 3 a.m. and said, I'm stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire, can you help me? I would be out there in a second. Uh I think it was in November of this past year. He just reached out and said, Mike, we've got an issue. I need you and your brother's help. I you're the first ones I called because I know you'll do it. There was a school in Boynton Beach, Congress Middle, that was having a severe, severe food shortage for those kids at home. To the point where there was one kid who was observed who took uh three chicken nuggets out of the trash, ate one, and put two in his pocket for his sister so she could eat something that it's real.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

The stuff is real. These stories are real.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

So I went to my, I'm part of an amazing networking group. It was called BNI. We meet on Wednesdays uh from 11:30 to 1 at Magianos in Boca Raton. I found a found out about this crisis that morning. I went to B and I and said, I need help. I need help. I need money because we need to go get food for these kids. There's Thanksgiving coming up. Christmas, they're gonna be on break, and they don't have food at home. So that amazing group of people, I raised in about 10 minutes$3,000.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

And me, Mr. James, and my brother Dan went to Costco and we bought$3,000 worth of food. It filled up my car, Mr. James's truck to the brim. We then went over and delivered that food to the school to help because they needed it. We then also did another thing where we had the teens help and we packed some bags full of more food because we got some more money to deliver a second time. And it was great that we were able to do that. However, that doesn't solve a problem. No, right? It gives you a very temporary like they were good.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

I have to eat every day.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Right? So there's a need. So take five bucks. Don't go to Starbucks. Although it's probably like 10 bucks at this time.

unknown 30:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

Don't go to Starbucks one day. Take that, give it to the Palm Beach County Food Bank. One day, two days, a week, a month, whatever it is, five dollars, fifty thousand dollars, it's all gonna help. Because imagine, and here's what I say imagine it's you. Imagine it's your kid who doesn't have food. Imagine it's your kid who's going to sleep with their tummy rumbling and there's literally nothing they can do about it. And if that doesn't motivate you, you might need to rethink your thoughts because there's such a need right here. And by the way, this is all across the world. We're just talking about right here in our backyard, in our home. So please find it in your hearts. Do something. Food is kind of important, right? You don't have it, you don't get energy. You don't get energy, you can't go to school, you can't go to work, you end up sick, hospitals, and dying.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

It's all comes back to food. It really does. And a lot of people don't realize all the social services that that happen um for our kids, for our families, for our seniors, that's a whole other topic. Well, the senior's a whole other, right? It's a whole other topic. But um, but all social services, it all relates to if you know, uh a child that's hungry, like you said, they're not gonna do well in school. Yeah, they're they have other things on their mind, right? They're on their lethargic. They they they need to be nourished.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Um mental health issue, I mean, it all comes back to what we all need to survive, and that's food. Everybody has to be nourished. Um and so, yeah, it's it's grave need, always, and it's not gonna stop.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

Always. And I, you know, speaking of seniors, right? I'm in the real estate world. I look at it this way. There's so many 55 plus communities, right? And there's a lot of we call it lower end, right? People who bought condos to live in for 30,000, 50,000, 100,000, whatever it is, lower end, right? They're not luxurious places, but it's a place to live. Now, over the last few years, right? So they bought their place. Maybe they have a mortgage, maybe they paid it off. However, they have every month association dues. And over the last five or six years, most condo communities, those dues have doubled or more, plus special assessments. So these people who are seniors that aren't working anymore, that are relying on a few bucks a month because they paid into their social security, are now struggling to pay their condo dues. Now, what do you do? Do I pay so I have a roof over my head, or do I buy food so I have stuff in my stomach? I don't know. Thank God I'm not in that position at this point.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Absolutely. And that's um, you know, we had and we had a senior. We had a senior come forward and call us. Oh gosh, it's it was about a year ago now. And it was a gentleman, and he's and and he was in tears, and he said, I've never asked for help a day in my life. I'm and I I don't know what to do. My wife and I did everything right. They were retired teachers from up north. They moved down here forever ago, um, bought a little condo. He said, We did everything right. We set ourselves up for, you know, a a modest retirement, but a retirement. And his wife had since passed away, and he said there was a special assessment. He said, I'm gonna lose our house. I'm gonna lose my condo. And I don't want to go to my kids, my grown kids, because I've I I don't want to ask them for help. And so he was also in, you know, looking for what food assistance might be out there and what he might be able to do to, you know, help help make ends meet. And so we we not only found him, you know, obviously sent him home with food, but also um where he could go for continuing um food assistance. Yeah. But we also said, all right, well, what what can we do? Are there any special programs? Um, our county government in Palm Beach County is like no other that I've ever seen. Our community service department, kudos to them. They really look out and do the best that they can for the constituents for the folks that live here. And so we kind of made some phone calls, found some different programs, and we were able to get him a little bit of assistance to help with that assessment fee. And and he was so incredibly grateful. But he did, you know, they they just were were hit and and you know you do it but those assessment fees are happening all over, especially with these older cactus.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

I know, I know. Listen, it's I don't know what's gonna happen in the future with this stuff. I I see foreclosures, I see people getting kicked out of their homes. It sucks. It sucks. And I don't know what's gonna happen. Some there has to be some sort of bailout from someone at some point. I just don't know what it is, what it looks like, when it is, or what will happen. But it's our eyes open, right?

SPEAKER_01 35:16

It's um yeah. So it's we the seniors, the seniors' stories are just Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

They're just hard.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

Yeah, absolutely. Well, let's talk about something a little happier now. Sure. Something maybe awesome.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:28

So we're gonna move now to the segment called The Book of Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna hand you this book that's called The Book of Awesome. It's not called Amazon. They just put some weird sticker on it that I can't get off. So it's called The Book of Awesome. Okay. What I'm gonna ask you to do is to open up to a random page. There's gonna be a bold headline at the top. Read that headline, and I'm hoping that it's gonna spark some sort of memory, thought, good feeling that you could share, maybe a little story. And if it's there's a couple like weird ones in here. So if it's a weird one, you're more than welcome to take them all again and grab another one.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

But please let's do it. Okay. Ooh, just anywhere, right?

SPEAKER_02 36:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

And this really is called the Book of Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

It is. How cool is that, right?

SPEAKER_01 36:07

It well, yeah, this big stickers. Okay, here we go. Putting potato chips on a sandwich. Sure. I uh oh, I think. Oh, I absolutely, yeah, I have actually.

SPEAKER_02 36:21

It changed my life, not in a good way. I didn't know that was a thing until I knew. Putting chips on a sandwich changes the sandwich. It's like gets that little crunch, that little s oh my god, I love it. That's an awesome one. By the way, french fries too. You know, to stay nice and skinny.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

Oh, fries on a sandwich. Yes, one of my favorite salads um from a restaurant up in Bluffton, South Carolina was called the Pittsburgh salad. Not sure why, but it had french fries in the salad. Magical.

SPEAKER_02 36:48

If only they got rid of the lettuce, it would be so much better.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

So much so yeah, put that's okay. No, that's very random.

SPEAKER_02 36:53

You can do a different one if you want to. Can we do another one? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

All right, here we go.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

Janine's not gonna kick us out yet.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

So oh, getting a trucker to blow a sworn. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

Show them the move. There you go, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Right. Kids don't know about that.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

They're too busy on their phones.

SPEAKER_01 37:09

Well, first off, we were in station wagons without seat belts. What were we thinking? What were our parents think? Facing backwards.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Can you do you remember? Of course I remember.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

We didn't have one, but I had friends who had them.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And oh yeah, we'd my sisters we'd be going on a trip somewhere, and I'd be, you know, that's that was always a fun thing to do. And when he got that trucker to to honk their horn, yeah. Everybody cheers. Oh, it was yeah, it was so weird, right? It was a thing.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

Is that is that like just a United States? Do they do that in other countries? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

I don't know. I don't know. That's uh get back to me, get a report to me.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

No, I'm just joking. Uh that's cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

I've I'm gonna have to buy this book.

SPEAKER_02 37:42

I still do it every now and then. Yeah, the book of amazon. Obviously. The book of awesome.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

All right, we're gonna have to get that. That's fun.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

Yeah, right. Just a little stuff, and there's some really cool stuff in there. There is, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

It starts conversations, right?

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Yeah, absolutely. So, right, we talked about it as what you do during the day. We talked about what your organization does. Do you have any uh events or collaborations coming up? Anything you want to share with the world?

SPEAKER_01 38:05

Uh well, we do. We actually um have a big event happening tomorrow, actually at FAU, uh, where we're doing a big pack to give back event uh where we have students and and folks that live out in Boca coming out. Um, can't think of the name of the building right now that's on the campus, but we will be doing a mass packing event. Uh so it's kind of like taking our food bank volunteer uh activities on the road.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

And so we have that coming up. And then uh on Friday, February 6th, so a week from today, we have our big empty bowls event uh that's hosted. Um, this is the 13th year, I believe, um, hosted by Bethesda by the sea.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

On Palm Beach, a beautiful church. And that is uh an annual event that we have every year. And we have a lot of the local restaurants, Palm Beach, West Palm. I can't remember if we have anybody down in Del Rey, we may uh make their signature soups. The chefs make their signature soups. So you can come out, it's a luncheon, um, and you get to come out and uh sample all the different soups. Oh, cool. And it's a simple meal, right? It's soup, you get a bottle of water, we do have a cookie, um, and bread. And it is sounds like a good meal to me.

SPEAKER_02 39:18

It is soup is my wife's favorite food, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Oh, it's wonderful. Yeah, great soups. I think we have like 22 different soups. And it's um the the theme is really eat simple so others may simply eat.

SPEAKER_02 39:28

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

It is, it is. It's a really neat event. We get great, great um response from the restaurants that want to, you know, give back and and make the different soups, and they all have their specialty soups.

SPEAKER_02 39:39

So that's really cool. I wonder if you have so my wife is from Brazil originally, and they have a soup there that is really good. And it's it's a hearty soup, and it was for like like the poor people, right? That's kind of like you make a big pot of it and scoop it out, and it's it's called canjuquinha, and it's this I don't remember what it is. It's almost like ground-up corn, and then they put like little pieces of rib meat in it, just so there's like a little protein, some. And on a cold day, put a little hot sauce on that. It is unbelievable. I don't know how to make it. That's one of those things. I don't care how it's made, I just want to eat it.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

Does your wife make it?

SPEAKER_02 40:17

She doesn't make it, her mother does, and our good friend Casio makes a really good one. Uh I don't know if you'll have it out there, but I think you should probably, I'm telling you, it would be a hit. It would be a hit.

SPEAKER_01 40:28

Sounds too much.

SPEAKER_02 40:29

I don't know how to spell it, though, but you'd have to look it up. So, right, we got a couple of events coming up now. This podcast will come out after the event tomorrow. So they won't know about this, but the next one.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

Look for next September, okay? September's Hunger Action Month and headquarters through January now. Um, September's gonna be here before we know it in the blink of an eye. But September's Hunger Action Month, and we uh have an event, don't have the date yet, but we do have an event um at the Kravitz Center, uh, where we'll have over a thousand volunteers come out for the day. And we do a mass packing event like we're doing tomorrow at FAU. Awesome. Um so everybody keep your eyes open for that one and uh make sure to come and join us.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

I'm assuming you have share it on social media. Absolutely. Yes, I'll share it and I'll get my people to share it as well. That's awesome. Uh any advice for people out there who want to get into nonprofit, engaging communities, like where where do you start?

SPEAKER_01 41:23

Wow. Um, so I've been in the nonprofit sector for about 30 years, 30 something years. Um gosh. You know, you just have to have a heart for the mission. Like I said, I started in land conservation because that was very important to me, and uh and ended up moving into food banking of all things. Um you just kind of have to have a heart for the mission. Uh you know, realize that that, you know, again, you you were saying, you know, everybody needs help every now and then, and that is so true. Um and my my kind of nonprofit philosophy, this is just me, um, is I am so willing to help people. I am so willing to help people, but I also want people to be willing to help themselves.

SPEAKER_02 42:07

Yeah. Well, that's important, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

It is because they there are solutions. There are things that can get them out of whatever bind that they're in.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

Um, and they just need to know what those avenues, what those avenues are. Yeah. Um, but it's just it's it's wonderful to be able to do what we do. Yeah. I mean, I I I thrive on the fact that I know that I and my team are making a difference in people's lives. Yeah. Every positive difference. Every single day, every meal. Every meal, one meal at a time, we are making a change. Yeah. Um, and again, nobody in our community should ever go hungry. Yeah. Ever.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

I agree. I agree. We need more places like this, more people like you. And just so you know, so again, we met today, right? We haven't met before. This just so you know, so this podcast is my first podcast. And it's her first podcast, by the way. I think she did great, folks. Make sure you leave five stars. Uh I this podcast didn't start out as a nonprofit-based podcast. It started out, it's the same name, Food, Family, and Philanthropy, where we talk about food, family, philanthropy, and sports. And I had a guest on at one point in the in the nonprofit world near the end of 2024. And it was a nonprofit that I hadn't heard of. And I'm out doing stuff all the time. I'm involved with the why and book helping hands and spirit of giving and all these things. And I said, if I don't know about these, that means that people probably don't know about them. So I made at that point, I made a decision to dedicate 2025 to the nonprofit world. So I brought in local CEOs, leaders, executive directors, and whatnot to talk about all these different nonprofits that half of them I never even heard of before. And uh, I decided the near the end of 2025 that I wanted to continue this because I'm now calling it my passion project, because more people need to know somebody sitting at home, right, may not not that they don't care about people going hungry, but their thing may be children, their thing may be foster care. Kids and their thing may be blind people. Whatever it is, there's something out there. So I want this. So the people sitting at home listen, whether it's one person or a thousand people, somebody is going to be affected by this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 44:13

Excellent.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

And somebody is going to hear about it. Volunteer at your place. Absolutely. Somebody is going to send a donation to you. Somebody is going to talk about it with someone else.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

And it it's that's the point of this podcast is we need more people, right? They talk about time, talent, or treasure. Yep. Everybody has at least one of them.

SPEAKER_01 44:31

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 44:32

Right. Some are blessed to have all three, but everyone has at least one. So you can give time, you can volunteer, you can give talent, right? You can help put events together, give advice, or treasure, you can give money. And uh it is so important. So someone out there, like I said, is going to see this and it's going to make a positive difference in our community. And that's what we're looking for. So to wrap up, I want to say, Jamie, thank you for coming. Uh this was awesome. And again, I hope you go out of business today.

unknown 45:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

Right.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

It's not going to happen, but I hope you do. And what you're doing is so important for our community. And the people that you work with all have hearts of gold. And just keep pushing in the right direction and doing right. And we'll get closer every day and just keep pushing. And whatever you need, reach out. Like I'll share anything just to help push in a positive direction. So thank you so much for being here too. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

It's this has been great. Um, thank you for for bringing up this topic to your uh podcast listeners, viewers. I would I get a little both. I guess, yeah, a little both. Um, so it is, it's very important. Um and you're right, time, talent, and treasure.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

Yeah. Sit back, give back.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

It makes you feel good.

SPEAKER_02 45:48

Absolutely. So to everyone at home, thank you so much for watching. Uh, remember, share this with someone who you think could watch it. Share because it can make a difference in someone's life or multiple people's lives. So share it. Subscribe so you know when the new ones come out. And of course, Janine always tells me I need those five star reviews. So please leave me a five star review. And again, for all those, I just want to say thank you for watching another episode of Food, Family, and Philanthropy.