The Most Important Award Show in History | Episode 156

The Most Important Award Show in History | Episode 156

Chapter Markers
0:02 Voices for Voices® Hayes Award Presentation
15:27 Navigating Mental Health Conversations
27:34 Strength in Family

What happens when you combine the power of community support with personal resilience in times of grief? Join me as I recount an emotional conversation with Dan Flowers, president and CEO of the Akron Canton Regional Food Bank, where we explore this very question. Dan, our first recipient of the prestigious Hayes Award, embodies the unwavering dedication we all need in our lives. Together, we share stories of our personal journeys, the profound impact of community support, and how pivotal figures like Dan can make all the difference for those in need, including returning citizens. I also reflect on the enduring influence of my father during my battles with mental health, reminding us all of the vital role of steadfast support systems.

Honoring my late father's legacy, I present the 2024 Founders Hayes Award to my parents, Patrick and Helen Hayes, shining a light on my father's military service and his selfless contributions. Through heartfelt discussions with students from Akron Firestone High School, I underscore the pressing need for mental health awareness and the importance of openly addressing these challenges, especially in times of personal loss. With an unwavering commitment as the founder of Voices for Voices®, I invite you on this journey of inspiration and advocacy, encouraging you to pursue your dreams with passion and to be a voice for yourself or others. Join us next week as we continue to celebrate the stories and achievements that shape our community.

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Chapters

• 0:02 Voices for Voices Founders Award Presentation
• 15:27 Navigating Mental Health Conversations
• 27:34 Strength in Family

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to another episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I am your host, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, justin Allen Hayes. Thank you for joining us for this episode and thank you for all the support you have provided and given us as an organization as we enter the ending of our third season of the TV show and podcast. This episode, as well as the other episodes you're seeing in December, the year in review and our award presentation episodes such as this one, are all sponsored by redwood living. Redwood living has been behind us ever since we started as an organization and actually before that, when we started as our a brand new day event that we held I guess it's four years ago and so this year we're taking a little bit of a different approach. I think it's a little bit better. We're able to reach more people in this manner by doing these types of shows at the end of December, to really give back to individuals and people who have made a difference, not only in the organization's that an organization but as us as individuals as well that there are certain individuals where you know we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them, but wouldn't be able to try different approaches, look at things a little bit differently, try different programs and try to just help as many people as we can. So that's what is behind our 2024 award presentation shows, as well as the first show that you saw in the first Wednesday of December, where we did a year in review. So we covered a broad range of topics, from personal as well as organization-wide, and we've mental health through all that and we just continue to try to do the best that we can, and so that's really what it's all about. If you can do us a big favor like, share, follow, recommend to friends and family this Voices for Voices TV show and podcast, we're over 150 episodes and going strong 52 new episodes here in 2024. 52 new episodes here in 2024. In 2025, we're already getting through those episodes, filming those as we speak, so we're going to continue this as long as long as we can.

Speaker 1: 3:24

So this episode specifically is the 2024 award presentation show for our what we are calling our Founders Award or the Hayes Award, with that being my last name, my parents last name, and that's what this particular episode is about Now. Last year you saw or may have heard at our Brand New Day event last October, where Dan Flowers, president and CEO of the Akron Canton Regional Food Bank, where he was our keynote speaker and he was our first annual Hayes Award recipient in November. One in specific was we, dan and myself. We were speaking about grief and how that just is affecting us as individuals having loss of our fathers, our dads, and how we're doing, and we really delved into some deep topics and that was really helpful. Just to talk with somebody, regardless of, you know, whether he's the head of a pretty large operation, just as a human, speaking about his feelings, his thoughts, what he was going through, as well as my feelings, my thoughts, what I'm going through. That I share with my psychiatrist and counselor, but to be able to talk a little bit more in a public way about it is a little bit different, as you can imagine, sharing information that's very personal with a lot of people, a lot of individuals, a lot of organizations, and so that was really helpful to have that conversation and to have Dan, with all the work that he's done well over 20 years at the food bank, working with over 700 organizations, helping, helping people feed themselves if they are going through a hardship, if they may be a are going through a hardship if they may be a returning citizen, someone who has been incarcerated, and they have put in their time, as we'll call it, and when they're released, many times, if not all the times, they're given the clothes and personal effects that they had when they were brought in through the criminal justice program and they might be given like $100 or a bus pass, something very small, and they're expected to go get a job, to be a healthy and a contributing member of society.

Speaker 1: 6:46

And as individuals we can be upset and, you know, a little bit angry about the crime and the things that individuals may have done. But I think we all can agree that we all have kind of skeletons in the closet, whereas nobody is perfect, as we know, and so while those acts are horrible, just can't even fathom, when you just look at individuals as individuals and as human beings, they may need a meal or two or a month worth of meals. Dan's organization is one of those that is helping provide that and that is a really good segue into our show here today, because Dan has been a friend of mine for about three years. I would say it was when we first kind of met up and did our first show in the old kind of radio audio studio. Radio audio studio. To be able to have somebody that is supportive and helpful is a great thing to have. And so with the award we're going to be presenting today, we think about individuals who have really been really been for, been there for us as an organization.

Speaker 1: 8:29

But then us as human beings, and specifically myself, and sometimes, you know, we, we kind of maybe overlook the, the impact that you know, our friends, our family colleagues may have on us and we're all human and that happens from time to time. But then we should also think about the times where we are being supported, whatever that may look like for you or to anybody, whatever that may look like for you or to anybody, when people, family members, are there to, whether to talk or just to be in the presence of and just know that there's somebody else there with us if we need help. And that was really most evident for me that I can remember when I was at kind of the lowest mental health-wise and my dad he, among other things, he would drive 35, 40 minutes to come sit with me for just about the whole day, not doing a whole lot, just sitting there and being there if I needed something, and that was as it was happening. I wasn't quite recognizing it as much as I do now how helpful something like that was to me, that it's not always we have to say something or we have to express ourselves in certain ways. We can just be in the presence of another individual and that was, I guess, one of the first times where, as an adult, I really appreciated that.

Speaker 1: 10:32

And on the other side, with my mom, I believe it was episode 24, where we had the first episode here in the Hudson Community Television TV studio. We had my mom and dad on and we talked about dreaming and talking about how they give back in their own ways. Among others, my dad does Meals on Wheels and really donates clothes, donates things that individuals may need, may need, and my mom, having worked at the school for many years when I opened mail from my parents and can dream it, you can do it, or something to that effect, and that was in my 30s that that happened. So for you individuals out there that think that right away, at 18, 19, 20, that things are going to happen a certain way or you have to find exactly what you're passionate about or exactly what you like to do. Some may come to you at an early age and others it may take a while, and so when I got that card, I really started to think that when I was growing up and going to college was where I I landed for, uh, the the rest of my time, for my undergrad as well.

Speaker 1: 13:04

As you know, over 10 years of teaching at the university level, marketing business courses, uh, you know whether it's undergrad, uh, mba, master's program, whether it's in person or whether it's virtually through Zoom, and then we have Voices for Voices, the organization that now is where we started as an event several years, four years back, you know, several years, four years back, and we have really evolved to be able to just try new things, try different populations of people, like how we can, how we can help be just a fellow human that has the same needs as we do. You know know, food, water, clothing, shelter, the like. You know we all need those as humans and if we don't have some of those, it's hard to get to that place where you feel secure as a person, as a family, where you're residing and to build, you know, on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. So Today we are. It's really, I'd say, bittersweet to have this award presentation because my dad, as mentioned in the previous episode earlier in 2024, previous episode earlier in 2024 he did everything the doctors that he did, all the physicals that, all the, all the infusions, all the, all the shots, all all the the time around, people that we didn't know, doctors and nurses, time in the hospital, out of the hospital, going for scans, doing all kinds of things that he really I don't want to do this, or he just really did what the?

Speaker 1: 15:27

It really, I mean it just took over his whole body and us as a family, with my mom, my sister, of just trying to spend as much time with him as possible and whether that was in the hospital, whether that was hospice, at home, we just tried to just be that presence around him. So he knew that his family was around him and on March 1st he, he passed away and as it was then and it is now it's, it's still hard to really fathom having lost anyone, but have that person be my dad, husband to my mom, pappy, to my daughter and nephews, my daughter and nephews, uncle and grandpa. It was, and still is, a hard thing to really get through. And so when, as we started to look at the awards as an organization, what we wanted to do. We decided, given the events that occurred on a personal level, that we wanted to do something a little bit different than just hold an event one evening. We wanted to break award presentations up into individual episodes so that we're able to give individuals their time, to be able to accept awards, accept the award, just be in the studio, be a part of the recording process with the cameras and the lights and the microphones and the screens and the clock, counting up or counting down how many minutes do we have left, how many seconds with cameras on, to really just experience that.

Speaker 1: 18:23

And so, when we got to the Hayes Award, the Founders Award, I wanted to honor my dad, my father for everything that he did and he's continuing to do in heaven. He did and he's continuing to do it in heaven watching over us. He is a military veteran. He put himself last, no matter what was happening. If I was at school and didn't have a car, he would come, drive, pick me up. He would drive up, sit with me for five, six, seven hours and those types of things. Now, looking back, I wish I had, as we do, more time with individuals that we love and we care about. So to move on to the award presentation that we as an organization, and then obviously me as an individual, want to present to my mom and then my dad posthumously as you see his photo, see the flag, you know from being a military veteran. We want to present the 2024 founders Founders Hayes Award to my mom and dad, patrick and Helen Hayes.

Speaker 2: 20:12

Thank you, justin. I'm humbled to receive this award. That's our family name and I, on behalf of your dad and myself, again thank you very much. We love you with all our hearts.

Speaker 1: 20:32

I love you Dad.

Speaker 2: 20:33

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 20:35

All the sacrifices that you both have and continue to make.

Speaker 2: 20:43

We love you. It's a beautiful word put in a special place.

Speaker 1: 20:49

thank you thanks for coming in and sitting. I wanted to be here.

Speaker 2: 20:57

I guess I just had a little short story that I thought I would share. When Justin was a little boy, you always loved sports and your dad, and I thought I would share. When Justin was a little boy, you always loved sports and your dad and I thought I wonder what Justin will be when he grows up. And we thought, oh, a baseball player, because you love baseball. And we thought, oh, the Cleveland Indians. They're the Guardians now. But God had a different plan for you. But God had a different plan for you. You became an author of the House of you and then you're the founder of Voices for Voices, which helps improve the lives of others with mental health and disability needs. And you know, you've always been a passionate person and I believe you're a brave, you're a friend and you're also a caring and loving son, husband and father, and I thank you for today.

Speaker 2: 22:01

Thank, you Justin we love you too.

Speaker 1: 22:06

Thank you sorry so you can see there's we're real people real emotions, and that's what us, as an organization, we're trying to communicate with our shows, our podcasts, the content that we are starting to do. Look at some current events and how mental health is related to that. Just to keep the discussion open about mental health and, given when my dad passed, my mental health was, as I mentioned in the previous episode, kind of like a pinball, and it still is and I don't think it will ever stop. You know there's good days, there's bad days, and what I want to share, if you're out there listening or watching, listening or watching that you don't have to wait until a level on passes or tragedies strikes. I can think of any number of the school shootings that have happened, where children are dropped off or they ride the bus and some of them they don't return home because one reason or another there's someone decides to take their life, and sometimes that's when individuals, when those type of tragedies happen, when mental health really comes to the forefront of being addressed, and so we're trying to end the kind of stigma still around mental health.

Speaker 1: 24:14

I was at a talk yesterday with two students from Akron Firestone and some agencies that help others, and they're from Akron Firestone High School and I don't know all the specifics, but apparently there was an incident that happened a couple weeks ago and the two students were talking about that and how that has impacted their mental health and what the community can can do and actions that that we can do. And they mention as high school students talking about you know mental health, and they also mention what we try to share on our show. Our, our content is we all have mental health. It is not something that just happens. One day we may be doing well or okay for a period of time and then maybe again, maybe a tragedy, maybe something happens, some trauma takes place and we're not sure, and that's when you or I maybe that we would go oh wow, maybe I should talk to someone. And talking to someone isn't bad. It's literally just like having a conversation, sharing information.

Speaker 1: 25:43

The individuals are non-biased and if they are biased you can go and move on to another counselor. There's nothing written in stone. Oh, I had this counselor or this psychiatrist to start, so I had to stick with them. I've been really lucky to have had pretty good transition when my psychiatrist and counselors were They've retired or moved on. That I was able to.

Speaker 1: 26:13

At the time it didn't feel like it was seamless. But looking back, I had a very short transition time of a month where I noticed some individuals where it might take two or three months to get in to see a mental health counselor, psychiatrist, because of, you know, the whole health care and the referral process. And well, we don't have any, we don't have any appointments until next march and it's like, okay, well, life isn't to just stop now and then pick up at that point, life is still going to continue. So people, if they're asking for help which is hard to do, I know personally it's very hard to do so that's really half the battle of just saying, okay, I'm open to talking and speaking with somebody and if that somebody isn't helpful, again, just you know, keep searching, keep looking until you find that fit, because if you don't feel comfortable with that particular counselor or psychiatrist, then you're not going to get as much out of it and you're not going to feel like you've been helped.

Speaker 1: 27:34

And with this award, us being able to present it to my mom and dad, patrick and Helen Hayes really gave me the it has and it's still just given me the strength of.

Speaker 1: 27:56

You know there's more things in life to do, there's more things to you know to live for than just money or certain events or going on trips and all those things are well and good, but if we're not feeling well and we don't have that team around us, it could really throw us for a loop, and that is the last thing I wanted to share is the last thing I wanted to share. So the 2024 Hayes Award we just presented to my mom and my dad apostimously for you, dream, keep dreaming, go after them and don't let anybody tell you that you can't or hold you back, because you can, and especially if it's something you're passionate about, then that's where I think you're meant to be, just like I think I'm meant to be here with Voices for Voices. So until next time, I am founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, justin Allen Hayes, and we will see you next week on another award presentation show. So until next time, please be a voice for you or somebody in need.