Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the weekly show here on iHeartRadio
ninety three nine one three five Kiss FM and Rock
ninety five to five. Today on the show, we have
our friends from every Mom Chicago joining us from the
Cancer Support Center and we're talking to visit Puerto Rico.
And Robin Rock will also be joining us today on
the show. So let's kick off the show.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
It's Paulina here with iHeartMedia Chicago and I am chatting
with Jamie Teratoots today and you are the executive, right
the founder of every Mom Chicago.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
That's right. Hi, nice to talk to you today.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yes, so nice to talk to you. Thank you for
your time today.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I came across you on social media and I just
love your mission, so I had to reach out to you.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
As a new mom. This is literally everything that I
find I don't know, like my.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
New purpose in life essentially is to assist other moms
any way that I can, right especially being a new mom.
So before we dive into you know, every Mom's Chicago,
can you give us a little bit of a background
about yourself.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
So, I am a mother of two daughters. My kids
are now five and eight years old, and I originally
from Atlanta, lived in New York City for about eighteen years,
and then moved to Chicago when my youngest was just
three months old, and I started Every Mom Chicago kind
(01:18):
of unofficially during COVID in March of twenty twenty, but
officially in February of twenty twenty one. My background isn't
really nonprofit. I actually worked for a major financial institution
for about ten years prior to starting Every Mom But
this really found me very organically and just grew from there.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Oh that's amazing. So kind of guide us through that
creation of every Mom's Chicago, you know, was it something
that you felt was like a need in the city.
Did you feel like you related because you are a
mom yourself and you wanted to help others or where
did that sort of come from?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, So initially it just was a mom posted on
one of my mom groups on social media that she
needed a car seat in March of twenty twenty, and
I had an extra infant car seat. She didn't have transportation,
so I brought it to her house on the West
Side and we just started talking about her situation and
what was going on. She was very young, she was
(02:18):
in transitional housing, she had lost her job due to
pregnancy related illness. There was just a lot going on,
and I started to realize she had this conversation that
she didn't really have any of the things she needed
for this baby who was coming very soon, and so
I asked her. I was like, you know, I bet
I have extra baby gear at home, and I'm sure
(02:39):
if I asked around the community there might be some extra.
Would that be helpful? She said yes. So I did
a social media post on my parent groups and the
response was overwhelming, and we put together an entire baby
shower worth of gear. I filled an entire SUV up
and packaged everything in tissue paper and gift bags. I
wont to feel really special and dignified for her. And
(03:03):
part of what I was thinking as I was putting
this together is she was a first time mom, and
no matter what your circumstances are, when you are a
first time mom, you just don't know what you need.
You really don't. You know. There's what you think you
need and then what you actually need. And so I
was thinking, how nice would it be if another mom
was just like, here's the stuff, here's the best of
what you can use. Here's all of the gear for
(03:26):
you to care for your baby and yourself in those
first few months. So I did this for a few
moms through volunteer work, and then thought, there must be
somebody doing this. How do I just connect these women
to whoever's already doing this? And I couldn't find anybody
not in Chicago, and I couldn't find anybody in the
US at the time. So I just started researching the
(03:49):
idea because in other countries it's a public health initiative
where they'll give you all of the gear, you know,
the baby box is what they call it usually, And
so I started researching and just kind of started thinking, like,
oh my gosh, this is a thing. Should I do this?
Because there's a lot of places to get pieces of
the puzzle, to get certain types of baby support or gear,
(04:14):
but not like, here's all of the things ready to go.
And so that's really how it started. And I think
this spoke to me in particular because I had a
fairly traumatic childhood and one of the things that was
really surprising to me as an adult is that having
my daughters and becoming a mom myself was actually one
(04:39):
of the most healing things for me and my trauma
than anything else. And so part of the mission behind this,
or the drive behind this is a lot of the
families we're working with have had traumatic experiences or backgrounds,
and if there's anything I can do to provide them
(05:00):
opportunity to have this experience of parenthood and to kind
of heal some of those traumas as well, I would
love to do that. It's being a mother has been
such an magical, amazing thing, and of course it's difficult
and challenging and frustrating too, but it has been an
incredible experience for me personally.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I love it, and I love that you are doing
this for moms because, believe it or not, until honestly,
like you get there, that's when you realize how much
stuff you really need and it you know, and it
goes so much deeper too. It's also for baby. And
then there's you know, postpartum, there's the mom. You know,
we as moms need you know, things too. I had
(05:42):
no idea, I'm not gonna lie about what I would
need post uh having like giving birth.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Oh exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I didn't realize that I'd be putting things in certain places.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
You know, exactly, and that's sort of the way we've
designed the kits as we do. So we do a
new kit, a postpartum kit, and a breastfeeding supply kit
to help kind of cover the different areas of where
mom might need support after giving birth and a little
bit before giving birth. So, because you just don't know
(06:14):
until you know, you.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Know, so, oh yes, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
So you know, as far as the items that you
do receive, are they mostly donated? Do you collaborate or
get them donated through companies organizations?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Great question. It's really a hybrid of all all of
what you mentioned. So we do take donations from the community.
Everything that we put in the kits is brand new,
but we do provide some auxiliary items like nursing pillows,
breast pumps, strollers, infant car seats, baby carriers, that kind
of thing, and those things, for the most part are
(06:51):
mix of new and used have been donated from the community.
We also we do fundraising and then we purchase items
wholesale to be able to maintain a certain level of
quality in the kits and purchase items in bulk. And
then we do also reach out to corporations products that
we really know and love will reach out to them
(07:12):
to see if they'll provide in kind donations and sometimes
we're very successful with that as well. Freeda Baby has
been amazingly generous, birts Bees, there's some smaller companies, Ninni
and Nisa, they've also been really generous.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So yeah, that is so cool. I love it.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
So what items do you find that are the most required,
are the most necessary right when it comes to helping
other moms, What items do you find that are like
the ones that we need the most?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
My gosh, it's hard to say. I mean, what is
needed most? I think when I think about the postpartum kits,
I think the extra thick maxipads are probably something that regardless,
most moms could really benefit from in those early postpartum days.
When I think about the breastfeeding supply kits, the prenatal
(08:10):
vitamins that are really important for passing on some of
those good good things to baby, or postpartum vitamins, the lanelin,
the milk storage bags, those types of things. And then
when I think about the newborn kits, baby aquafor a
thermometer is super important in terms of allowing the parents
(08:33):
to kind of check on baby's health and know when
you know, when they need to go to the doctor,
when they need to go to the hospital, that sort
of thing, you know, clothes. The kits contain over six
hundred dollars worth of supply, so there's a lot of
things that go in there, and I think, you know,
most of the things that go in are pretty essential
(08:57):
baby clothes, wipes, those sort of things.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, absolutely, and those are all very essentially you're right
about that.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
So for our listeners today who want to you know,
do they want to help or they want to be
able to provide some you know, resources to you as well,
Where can our listeners go to support?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
So you can go to our website every moom Chicago
dot org. We have a page where you can see
volunteer shifts. We host volunteer shifts in our office. We
also have kit and community nights where we invite anybody
from the community to come have some wine, have some snacks,
and do like a big assembly line where we make
all the kits. We also have a list of items
(09:41):
we accept for donation and there's a link of course
to donate on our website, which is hugely helpful because
that allows us to continue to purchase the supplies we
need for the kits.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Absolutely, thank you so much for you know, being here today.
Thank you for being here on the show. And one
last question too for moms who are looking or maybe
your resources or they want to reach out to see
if there's any opportunity for them to you know, be
able to you know, stop by or be able to
kind of you know, get support from you.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Where can they do that?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
So we distribute our kids through partnerships with hospitals, community
health centers, refugee resettlement agencies, homeless shelters, other types of
nonprofits who may already be working with the family. So
typically when we have a mom reach out directly, we
try to get a sense of, you know, where they're
planning to give birth, are they working with the social
work or that sort of thing, And if they aren't
(10:32):
working with one of our partners, then we'll try to
direct them to one of our partners. But it does
the request us have to come through a partner distributor.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Oh amazing. Thank you again so much, Jamie for being
here with us today. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Or thank you so much for having me Hi, it's
Paulina here.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
With iHeartMedia Chicago and today I am chatting with our
friends from Discover Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Dablin Tardi. How are you today?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Good?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Greating's from Puerto Rico. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I'm so jealous.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
You are literally on the island right now. You are
in Puerto Rico, and I just have to say, I
am so jealous. How is it right now over there?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
It's just perfect.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
You know that Puerto Rico has the longest holiday season
of the world, and actually this week we're celebrating our
most important festival of.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
The year, which is.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
So we are just ready to parry, ready to.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Dance, some music to be on Juan celebrating and closing
the holidays.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Oh that's so beautiful. I love it.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Well, thank you for taking the time to chat with
us today here in Chicago. You know, I know that
you were here recently at some of our local Puerto
Rican restaurants supporting local businesses, which was amazing. Also, you know,
spreading the message that we're going to dive into as
well about those interested and you know, wanting to visit
Puerto Rico before we dive into it really quick, could
you mind giving us a little bit of background about
(11:56):
you and yourself.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Of course, I have been working with this for Puerto
Rico for more than five years on the communications and
public relations side. My background is in public relations and journalism,
so I have been working with different entities here on
the island trying to develop communications and strategies to promote
small businesses and now in Discover, we are doing almost
(12:20):
the same thing, right.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
The idea is that we can.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
Bring prosperity to the people of Puerto Rico, bring businesses
for the true tourism industry, and making sure that we
are educating travelers to visit the island and also just
share the message about all the things that Puerto Rico
asss nation has to offer.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Absolutely so, Discover Puerto Rico is the official destignation marketing
organization right for Puerto Rico establishment legislation in twenty seventeen.
And you're a non profit organization and k you said
you focus on promoting authentic experiences centered on the island's
rich history, culture and so much more so I would
love to talk to you as well about you know,
Puerto Rico being a travel destination and from my understanding,
(13:02):
it's surgeon popularity as well.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Becoming the second most search location in the Caribbean. Is
that true?
Speaker 5 (13:09):
We have been seeing a bust on our tourism industry.
Actually on twenty twenty four until November twenty twenty four,
we're able to receive almost six point five million of
passengers to San Juan, which is our international airport, which.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Is Higuish for us.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
And this is part of the air force that the
entire industry is doing to promote the destination, to target
that constituous traveler that is interested in explore and know
more about our culture, our gastronomy and all of the
things that Porto Rico has to offer. We are a
very small island, but we have seventy eight municipalities, so
just imagine how expense and diverse can be the destination
(13:50):
and all the offerings that we have for different interests
and different travelers too.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Absolutely, so can we dive into that as well, And
maybe this kind of also bounds off of you know,
the destination itself, of what you know tourists can expect
and also like how they can also you know, definitely
take advantage of the beautiful island of when you know.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
They do visit. The Live Briqua campaign right.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It's to enhance the overall perception of Puerto Rico as
a destination and of course you know those who the island,
so when it comes to live Brica, right, your campaign
promise is a deeper and more meaningful experience all travelers.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
And what does that entail for you guys?
Speaker 6 (14:31):
Right?
Speaker 5 (14:31):
So, as you mentioned, we are the destination marketing organization
and one of our biggest commitments is to the centralized
tourism from San Juan. As you may know, someone is
our capital, so it's one of the most popular places
to come and visit. And what we want to do
is to make sure that we are educating travelers about
all the offerings that we have in the different regions
(14:52):
that we have. And this is important because bringing prosperity
to Puerto Rico can't only be only to San Juan.
We need to make sure that we are impacting different
communities that we are impacting and giving tools for the
communities to receive visitors but also to offer experiences and attractions.
So that's the type of tourism move that we want
(15:14):
to promote and that's why Liotriqua is created. The idea
of li Bourriqua was to enhance the overall perception of
Puerto Rico as a destination and obviously drive that consideration
and ultimately visitation to fee island. Something really important Tolanta
is that we are a US territory. So there is
a lot of Americans that doesn't know that they don't
(15:34):
need a passport, they don't neither need a change on
the currency. And that's one of the value propositions that
we want to push. We are trying to educate people
to understand that Puerto Rico has an identity and Puerto
Rico has a lot of things likes from museums to
astronomy to adventure. It's not only beaches, it's not only
(15:54):
also one.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
It is more than that.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Liqua is a callout to all of those visitors to
get im mersing to our culture, to get to know
our people. Where people that are so happy, that welcoming, right,
and that's something that you you you can experience when
you come to the island. Puerto Rico has a momentum
right now, like everybody's talking about Puerto Rico because of
(16:17):
the music and other elements, and we're trying to, you know,
compelling all of those elements into our campaign.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yes, oh, I love it.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And what about you know, small businesses and you know
the local communities that you've mentioned in Puerto Rico, you know,
for US tourists or for those who want to visit
the island. What's the best way to support the communities
right to support small businesses? Is it to because and
when I go to Google sometimes I'm like, I want to,
you know, check out the spot that, like, you know,
(16:50):
is like the local place people go, you know, and
I want to make sure that I'm really kind of
like just in the culture of it all.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
What's the best kind of way to do that? Or
like a website to go to Do you have any recommendations?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Yes, So, Discoorpuerto Rico dot com is our official website.
The idea is that that is the official guide for visitors.
Over there, you will see landing pages with information per region,
per municipality, with attractions, with restaurants, even with the calendar
of events, so you can participate on festivals, concerts and
(17:22):
you need it. The idea of that website is that
all the content is created by our local team, so
we make sure that all the information is operate and
that we are integrating local businesses. Now that you mentioned
how can we make sure that visitors are supporting local businesses.
My encouragement is to go directly to tourist attractions, to
(17:48):
tourist operations and operators right and making sure that you
are connecting with those communities that are developing experiences for visitors.
We have been also doing some being very specific, and
it is that if we want to promote the destination,
we need to actually connect with the communities and.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Offer tools for them.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
And we developed a very interesting program locally that is
called Idea, which is the Idea in English, and it
was a digital academy for local businesses. The idea was
that we went to every single municipality, We connected with businesses,
we gave them workshops, we help them to create their
(18:30):
social media so we promote and we have all the
information on our websites, but also we encourage visitors to
go and visit those social channels.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
And I think that's really important.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
You know, we need to sing singing the same song,
and at the end of the day, bringing visitors is
the ultimate purpose. But the idea is to connect them
directly with those businesses.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yes, absolutely, and I appreciate you being here with us
today and giving us all the information about the beautiful
island of Puerto Rico really quick for our Chicago listeners
of course, because that's where we are.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Where can we check out flights?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I know you guys, I believe added some whether it's
from Midway or O'Hare are two airports here. What do
the flights look like, the cruises all transportation modes to
get to the island.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Yes, So first you you mentioned a very important point.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Chicago has a very intense Puerto Rican community, which we love.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
And that's why it's a direct a market for us.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
So right now someone has great air access from Chicago
with daily non stuff flights from or Ord via American Airlines,
is Spirit and United Airlines. The good thing is that
the direct flight is only four hours and a half,
so it's a very short trip that you can take
and escape from the winter easily.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Another offer that we have available is that Southwest.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Is offering convenient daily service from MBW Midway and also
at the moment, we have almost thirty weekly flights to
shoot from San Juan from the Chicago area.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Perfect.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
That's so wonderful. We really appreciate you being here with us.
Today and for sharing all this information. Can you give
us a all more time a website to check out?
Or if you guys are on social media, where can
we follow?
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Of course you need to visit this Scarporto Rico dot
com for the website and follow us in our social
channels by the score Puerto.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Rico and we hope to see you all soon.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Here only I am I am Robin Rock and I
have the pleasure of welcoming Stacy Rogers. So, Stacy, you're
the director of the Midwest Central Region at Best Friends
Animal Society, and I'm really glad that you're here with
me today.
Speaker 7 (20:47):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
I'm familiar with Best Friends Animal Society, but a lot
of other people might not be. Can you tell me
a little bit more about it?
Speaker 7 (20:54):
Yes, So, we were founded in nineteen eighty four and
we're the pioneer of the nokal movement. We have the
largest no kill animal sanctuary in the country, which is
located in southern Utah. And then now we have a
network of over five thousand shelter partners throughout the country
and our regional program to really help on the ground
helping the shelters improve their life saving I love.
Speaker 6 (21:13):
Your mission, and I'm kind of wondering now as we
jump into a brand new year, a lot of people
have made New Year's resolutions, So how can pets really
help people kind of kickstart those New Year's resolutions.
Speaker 7 (21:24):
Yeah, I mean there's so many You get a built
in fitness buddy. If you get a dog, you're going
to have to get them out for walks and playtime.
And so you know, if you get even just thirty minutes,
five times a week of dog walking, that can be
the exercise that physicians recommend, and it's really a good
excuse to make it out the door. Or if you're
thinking about just destressing, having a pet in your home
(21:45):
can really help you with your anxiety and depression. They
say just eye contact with dogs can release oxytocin. Having
a cat and just petting it and having it with
you is going to be a great stress reliever. If
you're looking to make new friends, pets are just natural
ice breakers. If you're not somebody who usually goes out
and talks to strangers on the street, If you have
your dog with you, or if you're talking to somebody
(22:07):
and find that they have a cat, it's a great
way to find that commonality right away and have something
to talk about.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
I have to ask, and I think I already know
the answer to this question, but I'm going to ask
in anyway, why should people adopt a pet from a
local shelter or a rescue organization? There are so many
right now, why should people do that instead of purchasing
from a breeder.
Speaker 7 (22:27):
Yeah, we know that there's still lots of dogs and
cats at risk of dying in a shelter right now,
and that if just six percent more people chose to
adopt instead of going to a breeder a pet store,
it would end the killing of dogs and cats and
our shelters. So they definitely looking at adoption as the
first option. Knowing that there's a wide variety of dogs
(22:48):
and cats available and shelters all across the country, you
know a lot of shelters and you see dogs of
every size, age type out there available. So, knowing that
one of three shelters are still not yet no kill,
that have a really small gap of animals to left save,
it's so important just to get out and try to
(23:09):
adopt your next pet.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I agree.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
I know Chicago Animal Care and Control is they are
a kill shelter, and so what you just said six
percent would just be that's a lot of life saved.
And also, I think people should know that when you
go to a shelter, if you have a specific breed
in mind, you might just find exactly the kind of
dog that you're looking for. And you might be just
(23:31):
like me. When I went into the shelter looking for
a dog after I lost my Westy, I wasn't expecting
to adopt a pit bull. But boy, let me tell
you now, after adopting a pit bull, I am, I'm
a pit bull mom.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
I love it.
Speaker 7 (23:42):
Yeah, definitely. I mean I have two of my three
dogs they're pugs. They're both adopted rescues. So you can
find anything you want if you're looking for a pure
bread that. Also, I always encourage people go in and
just tell the staff what you're looking for personality wise
and let them kind of be a secret shopper for
you because a lot of times they pick a dog
that you might not have picked on first visual inspection,
(24:03):
but there's going to be a really great fit personality
wise and activity level wise for you.
Speaker 6 (24:09):
So let's talk a minute about the cold weather, because
we are going through a cold snap, and it looks
like we're not going to be out of the woods
with that anytime soon. So let's talk about how we
keep our pets safe when the weather gets cold and
it stays cold.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
I think one thing is just making sure that walks
and patty breaks are short, especially if it's below twenty degrees,
except when they're going to be most at risk of
hypothermia or frostbite. Knowing what areas of them get cold first,
like their paws, their ears, their tails. You can get
a sweater or a coat for them if they're a
dog that's more short haired, you can. Also if your
(24:42):
dog's outside you're walking a lot, especially on city streets
or sidewalks where there's going to be snow belt and
chemicals used. There is to try to see if you
can get them accustomed to wearing the little booties that
are going to protect their feet and if not, really
wiping their paws off when they come back inside. Also
just remembering to always keep your on leash, especially like
it's a snowstorm. If it's inclement weather, you definitely don't
(25:03):
want them loosen that, And making sure that they have
their appropriate ID tags on or their and their microchips
ready to go. And then also, you know, for cats,
there's a lot of community cats in Chicago and the
entire country, so making sure that you're checking the foot
of your car and maybe honking your horn before you
take off, just to make sure there isn't a cat
who's crawled up in there looking for a warm place
(25:26):
to hide out.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
That is great advice, all great advice. Wow, anything else
that you want to add today, Stacey, Chicago and.
Speaker 7 (25:33):
Those surrounding areas have lots of great shelters and rescues
from Animal Care and Control to all the different rescue
and shelter organizations. So I think people should definitely be
encouraged to go out and look to adopt their new pet.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
That is great advice and a lot of great pets
to choose from right now. And I really hope that
folks listen to, uh, listen to what you had to
say and go on out and check out hopefully their
new best friend. Stacy with the Best Friend's Animal Society,
thanks so much for joinings. Yes today, thank you for
having me.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
It's Paulina here with iHeartMedia Chicago, and today I am
chatting with our friends at the Cancer Support Center. I
am chatting with Darnisia Evans, who is the community outreach coordinator.
How are you today, I'm fine, Thank you awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Thank you for being here with us today. Darneisha.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I wanted to introduce you to our audience because I
know we've worked with you guys before at the Cancer
Support Center.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
So our friend Neil Stephanie Owens is such a great
friend of the show.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Darnisia, give us a little bit of a background about
yourself and your current role.
Speaker 8 (26:35):
Wow, okay, thank you for having me first of all,
and yes, Stephanie is the bestest. I am the outreach
coordinator for the Cancer Supports Center. We have two locations,
which is downtown Homewood as well as Mokina, Illinois. I'm
here and this is this my year anniversary as of today.
I started here after coming from Corporate America of eighteen
(26:55):
years and it was on my heart because I lost
my daughter to cancer four years ago.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
She was twenty four years old.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
So I have the worst background in cancer.
Speaker 8 (27:06):
But being able to help and support others go through
their journey and just try to keep it together, it
means a lot. It's the best job I could have
ever asked for, which most people think is crazy. But
every day we're here, we're helping people, were giving advice
the best way that we can just to keep going.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
And that's how I ended up here.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
Now I'm out there reaching out to hospitals and community
organizations and churches and schools to try to get them
all involved in what we do and to support our
services absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
And for those of the may not be as familiar,
can you give a little bit of a background about
Cancer Support Center and the work that you do.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Uh?
Speaker 8 (27:46):
Yes, The Kniser Support Center is almost like we are
called that hidden gym, and we're the place that no
one wants to go until they need us. So what
we offer here to Support Center, we do have counseling
for not only the the patient or whether they're in
treatment or not, but they're families, their friends. We also
have all kinds of classes such as yoga, pilate, sound bath,
(28:11):
We host our therapy, we have massages. But all of
these services are free thanks to our sponsors and our donations,
and all you have to do is call make an appointment,
and that's what we do for whoever needs the services.
But we stress it's not just for the cancer patient,
(28:31):
but it's also for their family and need.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yes, absolutely, I think sometimes like we don't you know,
think of that as well as it does come from
you know, family members, you know.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Going their givers.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Yes, and you yourself mentioned which thank you for sharing that,
and I am so sorry about your daughter.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I mean that is honestly like to me, I feel
like you said, you don't really know it or feel
it until you're in it.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Right exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
My heart does go out to you, and I love that.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
This work though to help other family members, right, caregivers
and everything you know in between. So with you guys,
and we are gonna be talking about the Ribbons of Hope, right,
Is that a new initiative that you guys have coming out.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
Yes, we have a new program starting now called the
Ribbons of Hope.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
It's taking over our Cicket Cancer initiative that we had,
and what we're gonna be doing is working with It's
gonna we're doing what the ribbons stands for, all color ribbons,
meaning all color cancer ribbons. Children, men, women, It doesn't
matter what color your ribbon is, We're gonna be there
(29:42):
to support you. So our first initiative is actually kicking
off on Monday. Me and Stephanie will be having our
first MLK Day at the Cancer Support Center and we're
gonna have our local Girl Scouts come out and they're
gonna make tie blankets for Project Kennedy as well as
the Cancer Port Center will have breast cancer beats.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
That's amazing. So when is this taking place and how
can we participate?
Speaker 8 (30:06):
It's taking place Monday from ten to twelve at the
Homewood location which is twenty twenty eight am Row in Homewood,
and it's just from ten to two cause again people
are off work and nobody really wants to do that,
but the Girl Scouts are like, we will be there,
so they're coming out the organization.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Yes, oh that is so sweet. Oh I love that.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Well, definitely, thank you for sharing and we want to
be able to support you guys as well all year long.
So what is a good website social media handle that
we can follow you at if we also wanted to
participate in Ribbons of Hope as well as throughout the year.
Speaker 8 (30:42):
Yes, and it is throughout the year, but it's ongoing program,
so we will be back on air with you next
year of course, but you can always go to our
website which is the Cancer Support Center dot com and
donate their dot org dot org and you can donate there.
You can buy check if you're local, just stop by
(31:03):
the center. However you want to donate is fabulous. Also
give us a call because we sometimes have volunteer opportunities,
especially for our high school students. They can get hours
for their community service. So we are always in need
because again cancer is that one disease that it lingers
and it goes nowhere. So we will always be there
for everyone.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Absolutely, Sarnisia, thank you so much for being here with
us today.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
We love your spirit.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
You know, we appreciate everything that you do for you know, anyone,
even listening even just to hear you know you talk.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
About your experience. Again, I think it's just really truly
healing to some. So thank you very very much.
Speaker 8 (31:42):
Here more than welcome.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
Thank you for having us guys.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Thank you one more time. When is the event and
how can we sign up?
Speaker 8 (31:49):
It is Monday, January twentieth at the Cancer Support Center
located in Homewood, Illinois, which is twenty twenty eight ALM
Road from ten to twelve, and again you can sign
up by just calling the Cancer Support Center or going
on to our website.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Awesome. Thank you so much, We appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
You're welcome. Thank you.
Hello, and welcome to the weekly show here on iHeartRadio
ninety three nine one three five Kiss FM and Rock
ninety five to five. Today on the show, we have
our friends from every Mom Chicago joining us from the
Cancer Support Center and we're talking to visit Puerto Rico.
And Robin Rock will also be joining us today on
the show. So let's kick off the show.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
It's Paulina here with iHeartMedia Chicago and I am chatting
with Jamie Teratoots today and you are the executive, right
the founder of every Mom Chicago.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
That's right. Hi, nice to talk to you today.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yes, so nice to talk to you. Thank you for
your time today.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I came across you on social media and I just
love your mission, so I had to reach out to you.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
As a new mom. This is literally everything that I
find I don't know, like my.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
New purpose in life essentially is to assist other moms
any way that I can, right especially being a new mom.
So before we dive into you know, every Mom's Chicago,
can you give us a little bit of a background
about yourself.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
So, I am a mother of two daughters. My kids
are now five and eight years old, and I originally
from Atlanta, lived in New York City for about eighteen years,
and then moved to Chicago when my youngest was just
three months old, and I started Every Mom Chicago kind
(01:18):
of unofficially during COVID in March of twenty twenty, but
officially in February of twenty twenty one. My background isn't
really nonprofit. I actually worked for a major financial institution
for about ten years prior to starting Every Mom But
this really found me very organically and just grew from there.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Oh that's amazing. So kind of guide us through that
creation of every Mom's Chicago, you know, was it something
that you felt was like a need in the city.
Did you feel like you related because you are a
mom yourself and you wanted to help others or where
did that sort of come from?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, So initially it just was a mom posted on
one of my mom groups on social media that she
needed a car seat in March of twenty twenty, and
I had an extra infant car seat. She didn't have transportation,
so I brought it to her house on the West
Side and we just started talking about her situation and
what was going on. She was very young, she was
(02:18):
in transitional housing, she had lost her job due to
pregnancy related illness. There was just a lot going on,
and I started to realize she had this conversation that
she didn't really have any of the things she needed
for this baby who was coming very soon, and so
I asked her. I was like, you know, I bet
I have extra baby gear at home, and I'm sure
(02:39):
if I asked around the community there might be some extra.
Would that be helpful? She said yes. So I did
a social media post on my parent groups and the
response was overwhelming, and we put together an entire baby
shower worth of gear. I filled an entire SUV up
and packaged everything in tissue paper and gift bags. I
wont to feel really special and dignified for her. And
(03:03):
part of what I was thinking as I was putting
this together is she was a first time mom, and
no matter what your circumstances are, when you are a
first time mom, you just don't know what you need.
You really don't. You know. There's what you think you
need and then what you actually need. And so I
was thinking, how nice would it be if another mom
was just like, here's the stuff, here's the best of
what you can use. Here's all of the gear for
(03:26):
you to care for your baby and yourself in those
first few months. So I did this for a few
moms through volunteer work, and then thought, there must be
somebody doing this. How do I just connect these women
to whoever's already doing this? And I couldn't find anybody
not in Chicago, and I couldn't find anybody in the
US at the time. So I just started researching the
(03:49):
idea because in other countries it's a public health initiative
where they'll give you all of the gear, you know,
the baby box is what they call it usually, And
so I started researching and just kind of started thinking, like,
oh my gosh, this is a thing. Should I do this?
Because there's a lot of places to get pieces of
the puzzle, to get certain types of baby support or gear,
(04:14):
but not like, here's all of the things ready to go.
And so that's really how it started. And I think
this spoke to me in particular because I had a
fairly traumatic childhood and one of the things that was
really surprising to me as an adult is that having
my daughters and becoming a mom myself was actually one
(04:39):
of the most healing things for me and my trauma
than anything else. And so part of the mission behind this,
or the drive behind this is a lot of the
families we're working with have had traumatic experiences or backgrounds,
and if there's anything I can do to provide them
(05:00):
opportunity to have this experience of parenthood and to kind
of heal some of those traumas as well, I would
love to do that. It's being a mother has been
such an magical, amazing thing, and of course it's difficult
and challenging and frustrating too, but it has been an
incredible experience for me personally.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I love it, and I love that you are doing
this for moms because, believe it or not, until honestly,
like you get there, that's when you realize how much
stuff you really need and it you know, and it
goes so much deeper too. It's also for baby. And
then there's you know, postpartum, there's the mom. You know,
we as moms need you know, things too. I had
(05:42):
no idea, I'm not gonna lie about what I would
need post uh having like giving birth.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Oh exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I didn't realize that I'd be putting things in certain places.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
You know, exactly, and that's sort of the way we've
designed the kits as we do. So we do a
new kit, a postpartum kit, and a breastfeeding supply kit
to help kind of cover the different areas of where
mom might need support after giving birth and a little
bit before giving birth. So, because you just don't know
(06:14):
until you know, you.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Know, so, oh yes, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
So you know, as far as the items that you
do receive, are they mostly donated? Do you collaborate or
get them donated through companies organizations?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Great question. It's really a hybrid of all all of
what you mentioned. So we do take donations from the community.
Everything that we put in the kits is brand new,
but we do provide some auxiliary items like nursing pillows,
breast pumps, strollers, infant car seats, baby carriers, that kind
of thing, and those things, for the most part are
(06:51):
mix of new and used have been donated from the community.
We also we do fundraising and then we purchase items
wholesale to be able to maintain a certain level of
quality in the kits and purchase items in bulk. And
then we do also reach out to corporations products that
we really know and love will reach out to them
(07:12):
to see if they'll provide in kind donations and sometimes
we're very successful with that as well. Freeda Baby has
been amazingly generous, birts Bees, there's some smaller companies, Ninni
and Nisa, they've also been really generous.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So yeah, that is so cool. I love it.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
So what items do you find that are the most required,
are the most necessary right when it comes to helping
other moms, What items do you find that are like
the ones that we need the most?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
My gosh, it's hard to say. I mean, what is
needed most? I think when I think about the postpartum kits,
I think the extra thick maxipads are probably something that regardless,
most moms could really benefit from in those early postpartum days.
When I think about the breastfeeding supply kits, the prenatal
(08:10):
vitamins that are really important for passing on some of
those good good things to baby, or postpartum vitamins, the lanelin,
the milk storage bags, those types of things. And then
when I think about the newborn kits, baby aquafor a
thermometer is super important in terms of allowing the parents
(08:33):
to kind of check on baby's health and know when
you know, when they need to go to the doctor,
when they need to go to the hospital, that sort
of thing, you know, clothes. The kits contain over six
hundred dollars worth of supply, so there's a lot of
things that go in there, and I think, you know,
most of the things that go in are pretty essential
(08:57):
baby clothes, wipes, those sort of things.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, absolutely, and those are all very essentially you're right
about that.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
So for our listeners today who want to you know,
do they want to help or they want to be
able to provide some you know, resources to you as well,
Where can our listeners go to support?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
So you can go to our website every moom Chicago
dot org. We have a page where you can see
volunteer shifts. We host volunteer shifts in our office. We
also have kit and community nights where we invite anybody
from the community to come have some wine, have some snacks,
and do like a big assembly line where we make
all the kits. We also have a list of items
(09:41):
we accept for donation and there's a link of course
to donate on our website, which is hugely helpful because
that allows us to continue to purchase the supplies we
need for the kits.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Absolutely, thank you so much for you know, being here today.
Thank you for being here on the show. And one
last question too for moms who are looking or maybe
your resources or they want to reach out to see
if there's any opportunity for them to you know, be
able to you know, stop by or be able to
kind of you know, get support from you.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Where can they do that?
Speaker 3 (10:11):
So we distribute our kids through partnerships with hospitals, community
health centers, refugee resettlement agencies, homeless shelters, other types of
nonprofits who may already be working with the family. So
typically when we have a mom reach out directly, we
try to get a sense of, you know, where they're
planning to give birth, are they working with the social
work or that sort of thing, And if they aren't
(10:32):
working with one of our partners, then we'll try to
direct them to one of our partners. But it does
the request us have to come through a partner distributor.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Oh amazing. Thank you again so much, Jamie for being
here with us today. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Or thank you so much for having me Hi, it's
Paulina here.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
With iHeartMedia Chicago and today I am chatting with our
friends from Discover Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Dablin Tardi. How are you today?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Good?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Greating's from Puerto Rico. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I'm so jealous.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
You are literally on the island right now. You are
in Puerto Rico, and I just have to say, I
am so jealous. How is it right now over there?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
It's just perfect.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
You know that Puerto Rico has the longest holiday season
of the world, and actually this week we're celebrating our
most important festival of.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
The year, which is.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
So we are just ready to parry, ready to.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Dance, some music to be on Juan celebrating and closing
the holidays.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Oh that's so beautiful. I love it.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Well, thank you for taking the time to chat with
us today here in Chicago. You know, I know that
you were here recently at some of our local Puerto
Rican restaurants supporting local businesses, which was amazing. Also, you know,
spreading the message that we're going to dive into as
well about those interested and you know, wanting to visit
Puerto Rico before we dive into it really quick, could
you mind giving us a little bit of background about
(11:56):
you and yourself.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Of course, I have been working with this for Puerto
Rico for more than five years on the communications and
public relations side. My background is in public relations and journalism,
so I have been working with different entities here on
the island trying to develop communications and strategies to promote
small businesses and now in Discover, we are doing almost
(12:20):
the same thing, right.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
The idea is that we can.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
Bring prosperity to the people of Puerto Rico, bring businesses
for the true tourism industry, and making sure that we
are educating travelers to visit the island and also just
share the message about all the things that Puerto Rico
asss nation has to offer.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Absolutely so, Discover Puerto Rico is the official destignation marketing
organization right for Puerto Rico establishment legislation in twenty seventeen.
And you're a non profit organization and k you said
you focus on promoting authentic experiences centered on the island's
rich history, culture and so much more so I would
love to talk to you as well about you know,
Puerto Rico being a travel destination and from my understanding,
(13:02):
it's surgeon popularity as well.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Becoming the second most search location in the Caribbean. Is
that true?
Speaker 5 (13:09):
We have been seeing a bust on our tourism industry.
Actually on twenty twenty four until November twenty twenty four,
we're able to receive almost six point five million of
passengers to San Juan, which is our international airport, which.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Is Higuish for us.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
And this is part of the air force that the
entire industry is doing to promote the destination, to target
that constituous traveler that is interested in explore and know
more about our culture, our gastronomy and all of the
things that Porto Rico has to offer. We are a
very small island, but we have seventy eight municipalities, so
just imagine how expense and diverse can be the destination
(13:50):
and all the offerings that we have for different interests
and different travelers too.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Absolutely, so can we dive into that as well, And
maybe this kind of also bounds off of you know,
the destination itself, of what you know tourists can expect
and also like how they can also you know, definitely
take advantage of the beautiful island of when you know.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
They do visit. The Live Briqua campaign right.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It's to enhance the overall perception of Puerto Rico as
a destination and of course you know those who the island,
so when it comes to live Brica, right, your campaign
promise is a deeper and more meaningful experience all travelers.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
And what does that entail for you guys?
Speaker 6 (14:31):
Right?
Speaker 5 (14:31):
So, as you mentioned, we are the destination marketing organization
and one of our biggest commitments is to the centralized
tourism from San Juan. As you may know, someone is
our capital, so it's one of the most popular places
to come and visit. And what we want to do
is to make sure that we are educating travelers about
all the offerings that we have in the different regions
(14:52):
that we have. And this is important because bringing prosperity
to Puerto Rico can't only be only to San Juan.
We need to make sure that we are impacting different
communities that we are impacting and giving tools for the
communities to receive visitors but also to offer experiences and attractions.
So that's the type of tourism move that we want
(15:14):
to promote and that's why Liotriqua is created. The idea
of li Bourriqua was to enhance the overall perception of
Puerto Rico as a destination and obviously drive that consideration
and ultimately visitation to fee island. Something really important Tolanta
is that we are a US territory. So there is
a lot of Americans that doesn't know that they don't
(15:34):
need a passport, they don't neither need a change on
the currency. And that's one of the value propositions that
we want to push. We are trying to educate people
to understand that Puerto Rico has an identity and Puerto
Rico has a lot of things likes from museums to
astronomy to adventure. It's not only beaches, it's not only
(15:54):
also one.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
It is more than that.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Liqua is a callout to all of those visitors to
get im mersing to our culture, to get to know
our people. Where people that are so happy, that welcoming, right,
and that's something that you you you can experience when
you come to the island. Puerto Rico has a momentum
right now, like everybody's talking about Puerto Rico because of
(16:17):
the music and other elements, and we're trying to, you know,
compelling all of those elements into our campaign.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yes, oh, I love it.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And what about you know, small businesses and you know
the local communities that you've mentioned in Puerto Rico, you know,
for US tourists or for those who want to visit
the island. What's the best way to support the communities
right to support small businesses? Is it to because and
when I go to Google sometimes I'm like, I want to,
you know, check out the spot that, like, you know,
(16:50):
is like the local place people go, you know, and
I want to make sure that I'm really kind of
like just in the culture of it all.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
What's the best kind of way to do that? Or
like a website to go to Do you have any recommendations?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Yes, So, Discoorpuerto Rico dot com is our official website.
The idea is that that is the official guide for visitors.
Over there, you will see landing pages with information per region,
per municipality, with attractions, with restaurants, even with the calendar
of events, so you can participate on festivals, concerts and
(17:22):
you need it. The idea of that website is that
all the content is created by our local team, so
we make sure that all the information is operate and
that we are integrating local businesses. Now that you mentioned
how can we make sure that visitors are supporting local businesses.
My encouragement is to go directly to tourist attractions, to
(17:48):
tourist operations and operators right and making sure that you
are connecting with those communities that are developing experiences for visitors.
We have been also doing some being very specific, and
it is that if we want to promote the destination,
we need to actually connect with the communities and.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Offer tools for them.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
And we developed a very interesting program locally that is
called Idea, which is the Idea in English, and it
was a digital academy for local businesses. The idea was
that we went to every single municipality, We connected with businesses,
we gave them workshops, we help them to create their
(18:30):
social media so we promote and we have all the
information on our websites, but also we encourage visitors to
go and visit those social channels.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
And I think that's really important.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
You know, we need to sing singing the same song,
and at the end of the day, bringing visitors is
the ultimate purpose. But the idea is to connect them
directly with those businesses.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yes, absolutely, and I appreciate you being here with us
today and giving us all the information about the beautiful
island of Puerto Rico really quick for our Chicago listeners
of course, because that's where we are.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Where can we check out flights?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
I know you guys, I believe added some whether it's
from Midway or O'Hare are two airports here. What do
the flights look like, the cruises all transportation modes to
get to the island.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Yes, So first you you mentioned a very important point.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Chicago has a very intense Puerto Rican community, which we love.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
And that's why it's a direct a market for us.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
So right now someone has great air access from Chicago
with daily non stuff flights from or Ord via American Airlines,
is Spirit and United Airlines. The good thing is that
the direct flight is only four hours and a half,
so it's a very short trip that you can take
and escape from the winter easily.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Another offer that we have available is that Southwest.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Is offering convenient daily service from MBW Midway and also
at the moment, we have almost thirty weekly flights to
shoot from San Juan from the Chicago area.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Perfect.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
That's so wonderful. We really appreciate you being here with us.
Today and for sharing all this information. Can you give
us a all more time a website to check out?
Or if you guys are on social media, where can
we follow?
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Of course you need to visit this Scarporto Rico dot
com for the website and follow us in our social
channels by the score Puerto.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Rico and we hope to see you all soon.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Here only I am I am Robin Rock and I
have the pleasure of welcoming Stacy Rogers. So, Stacy, you're
the director of the Midwest Central Region at Best Friends
Animal Society, and I'm really glad that you're here with
me today.
Speaker 7 (20:47):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
I'm familiar with Best Friends Animal Society, but a lot
of other people might not be. Can you tell me
a little bit more about it?
Speaker 7 (20:54):
Yes, So, we were founded in nineteen eighty four and
we're the pioneer of the nokal movement. We have the
largest no kill animal sanctuary in the country, which is
located in southern Utah. And then now we have a
network of over five thousand shelter partners throughout the country
and our regional program to really help on the ground
helping the shelters improve their life saving I love.
Speaker 6 (21:13):
Your mission, and I'm kind of wondering now as we
jump into a brand new year, a lot of people
have made New Year's resolutions, So how can pets really
help people kind of kickstart those New Year's resolutions.
Speaker 7 (21:24):
Yeah, I mean there's so many You get a built
in fitness buddy. If you get a dog, you're going
to have to get them out for walks and playtime.
And so you know, if you get even just thirty minutes,
five times a week of dog walking, that can be
the exercise that physicians recommend, and it's really a good
excuse to make it out the door. Or if you're
thinking about just destressing, having a pet in your home
(21:45):
can really help you with your anxiety and depression. They
say just eye contact with dogs can release oxytocin. Having
a cat and just petting it and having it with
you is going to be a great stress reliever. If
you're looking to make new friends, pets are just natural
ice breakers. If you're not somebody who usually goes out
and talks to strangers on the street, If you have
your dog with you, or if you're talking to somebody
(22:07):
and find that they have a cat, it's a great
way to find that commonality right away and have something
to talk about.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
I have to ask, and I think I already know
the answer to this question, but I'm going to ask
in anyway, why should people adopt a pet from a
local shelter or a rescue organization? There are so many
right now, why should people do that instead of purchasing
from a breeder.
Speaker 7 (22:27):
Yeah, we know that there's still lots of dogs and
cats at risk of dying in a shelter right now,
and that if just six percent more people chose to
adopt instead of going to a breeder a pet store,
it would end the killing of dogs and cats and
our shelters. So they definitely looking at adoption as the
first option. Knowing that there's a wide variety of dogs
(22:48):
and cats available and shelters all across the country, you
know a lot of shelters and you see dogs of
every size, age type out there available. So, knowing that
one of three shelters are still not yet no kill,
that have a really small gap of animals to left save,
it's so important just to get out and try to
(23:09):
adopt your next pet.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I agree.
Speaker 6 (23:10):
I know Chicago Animal Care and Control is they are
a kill shelter, and so what you just said six
percent would just be that's a lot of life saved.
And also, I think people should know that when you
go to a shelter, if you have a specific breed
in mind, you might just find exactly the kind of
dog that you're looking for. And you might be just
(23:31):
like me. When I went into the shelter looking for
a dog after I lost my Westy, I wasn't expecting
to adopt a pit bull. But boy, let me tell
you now, after adopting a pit bull, I am, I'm
a pit bull mom.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
I love it.
Speaker 7 (23:42):
Yeah, definitely. I mean I have two of my three
dogs they're pugs. They're both adopted rescues. So you can
find anything you want if you're looking for a pure
bread that. Also, I always encourage people go in and
just tell the staff what you're looking for personality wise
and let them kind of be a secret shopper for
you because a lot of times they pick a dog
that you might not have picked on first visual inspection,
(24:03):
but there's going to be a really great fit personality
wise and activity level wise for you.
Speaker 6 (24:09):
So let's talk a minute about the cold weather, because
we are going through a cold snap, and it looks
like we're not going to be out of the woods
with that anytime soon. So let's talk about how we
keep our pets safe when the weather gets cold and
it stays cold.
Speaker 7 (24:22):
I think one thing is just making sure that walks
and patty breaks are short, especially if it's below twenty degrees,
except when they're going to be most at risk of
hypothermia or frostbite. Knowing what areas of them get cold first,
like their paws, their ears, their tails. You can get
a sweater or a coat for them if they're a
dog that's more short haired, you can. Also if your
(24:42):
dog's outside you're walking a lot, especially on city streets
or sidewalks where there's going to be snow belt and
chemicals used. There is to try to see if you
can get them accustomed to wearing the little booties that
are going to protect their feet and if not, really
wiping their paws off when they come back inside. Also
just remembering to always keep your on leash, especially like
it's a snowstorm. If it's inclement weather, you definitely don't
(25:03):
want them loosen that, And making sure that they have
their appropriate ID tags on or their and their microchips
ready to go. And then also, you know, for cats,
there's a lot of community cats in Chicago and the
entire country, so making sure that you're checking the foot
of your car and maybe honking your horn before you
take off, just to make sure there isn't a cat
who's crawled up in there looking for a warm place
(25:26):
to hide out.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
That is great advice, all great advice. Wow, anything else
that you want to add today, Stacey, Chicago and.
Speaker 7 (25:33):
Those surrounding areas have lots of great shelters and rescues
from Animal Care and Control to all the different rescue
and shelter organizations. So I think people should definitely be
encouraged to go out and look to adopt their new pet.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
That is great advice and a lot of great pets
to choose from right now. And I really hope that
folks listen to, uh, listen to what you had to
say and go on out and check out hopefully their
new best friend. Stacy with the Best Friend's Animal Society,
thanks so much for joinings. Yes today, thank you for
having me.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
It's Paulina here with iHeartMedia Chicago, and today I am
chatting with our friends at the Cancer Support Center. I
am chatting with Darnisia Evans, who is the community outreach coordinator.
How are you today, I'm fine, Thank you awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Thank you for being here with us today. Darneisha.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I wanted to introduce you to our audience because I
know we've worked with you guys before at the Cancer
Support Center.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
So our friend Neil Stephanie Owens is such a great
friend of the show.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Darnisia, give us a little bit of a background about
yourself and your current role.
Speaker 8 (26:35):
Wow, okay, thank you for having me first of all,
and yes, Stephanie is the bestest. I am the outreach
coordinator for the Cancer Supports Center. We have two locations,
which is downtown Homewood as well as Mokina, Illinois. I'm
here and this is this my year anniversary as of today.
I started here after coming from Corporate America of eighteen
(26:55):
years and it was on my heart because I lost
my daughter to cancer four years ago.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
She was twenty four years old.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
So I have the worst background in cancer.
Speaker 8 (27:06):
But being able to help and support others go through
their journey and just try to keep it together, it
means a lot. It's the best job I could have
ever asked for, which most people think is crazy. But
every day we're here, we're helping people, were giving advice
the best way that we can just to keep going.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
And that's how I ended up here.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
Now I'm out there reaching out to hospitals and community
organizations and churches and schools to try to get them
all involved in what we do and to support our
services absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
And for those of the may not be as familiar,
can you give a little bit of a background about
Cancer Support Center and the work that you do.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Uh?
Speaker 8 (27:46):
Yes, The Kniser Support Center is almost like we are
called that hidden gym, and we're the place that no
one wants to go until they need us. So what
we offer here to Support Center, we do have counseling
for not only the the patient or whether they're in
treatment or not, but they're families, their friends. We also
have all kinds of classes such as yoga, pilate, sound bath,
(28:11):
We host our therapy, we have massages. But all of
these services are free thanks to our sponsors and our donations,
and all you have to do is call make an appointment,
and that's what we do for whoever needs the services.
But we stress it's not just for the cancer patient,
(28:31):
but it's also for their family and need.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yes, absolutely, I think sometimes like we don't you know,
think of that as well as it does come from
you know, family members, you know.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Going their givers.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Yes, and you yourself mentioned which thank you for sharing that,
and I am so sorry about your daughter.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I mean that is honestly like to me, I feel
like you said, you don't really know it or feel
it until you're in it.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Right exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
My heart does go out to you, and I love that.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
This work though to help other family members, right, caregivers
and everything you know in between. So with you guys,
and we are gonna be talking about the Ribbons of Hope, right,
Is that a new initiative that you guys have coming out.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
Yes, we have a new program starting now called the
Ribbons of Hope.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
It's taking over our Cicket Cancer initiative that we had,
and what we're gonna be doing is working with It's
gonna we're doing what the ribbons stands for, all color ribbons,
meaning all color cancer ribbons. Children, men, women, It doesn't
matter what color your ribbon is, We're gonna be there
(29:42):
to support you. So our first initiative is actually kicking
off on Monday. Me and Stephanie will be having our
first MLK Day at the Cancer Support Center and we're
gonna have our local Girl Scouts come out and they're
gonna make tie blankets for Project Kennedy as well as
the Cancer Port Center will have breast cancer beats.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
That's amazing. So when is this taking place and how
can we participate?
Speaker 8 (30:06):
It's taking place Monday from ten to twelve at the
Homewood location which is twenty twenty eight am Row in Homewood,
and it's just from ten to two cause again people
are off work and nobody really wants to do that,
but the Girl Scouts are like, we will be there,
so they're coming out the organization.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Yes, oh that is so sweet. Oh I love that.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Well, definitely, thank you for sharing and we want to
be able to support you guys as well all year long.
So what is a good website social media handle that
we can follow you at if we also wanted to
participate in Ribbons of Hope as well as throughout the year.
Speaker 8 (30:42):
Yes, and it is throughout the year, but it's ongoing program,
so we will be back on air with you next
year of course, but you can always go to our
website which is the Cancer Support Center dot com and
donate their dot org dot org and you can donate there.
You can buy check if you're local, just stop by
(31:03):
the center. However you want to donate is fabulous. Also
give us a call because we sometimes have volunteer opportunities,
especially for our high school students. They can get hours
for their community service. So we are always in need
because again cancer is that one disease that it lingers
and it goes nowhere. So we will always be there
for everyone.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Absolutely, Sarnisia, thank you so much for being here with
us today.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
We love your spirit.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
You know, we appreciate everything that you do for you know, anyone,
even listening even just to hear you know you talk.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
About your experience. Again, I think it's just really truly
healing to some. So thank you very very much.
Speaker 8 (31:42):
Here more than welcome.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
Thank you for having us guys.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Thank you one more time. When is the event and
how can we sign up?
Speaker 8 (31:49):
It is Monday, January twentieth at the Cancer Support Center
located in Homewood, Illinois, which is twenty twenty eight ALM
Road from ten to twelve, and again you can sign
up by just calling the Cancer Support Center or going
on to our website.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Awesome. Thank you so much, We appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
You're welcome. Thank you.
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