Hello, and welcome to a Tuesday edition of Good
News York, sponsored by Ads on the Go. Get ads
on the go .com. Shout out to Zach. This is a
very special episode. I am your host, Mike Brindisi.
You can follow me on all socials at MikeBTV.
And remember, we are on all socials at Good News
York, GoodNewsYork .com. New episodes Monday
through Thursday, 5 p .m. Eastern. As I said,
a very special episode. I'm joined by a very
special person who works for a very special organization.
And that organization is Aaron's Angels of Central
New York. With me, I have the director of Fund
Development and Communications, Jack Flance.
Thank you, Mike. Jack Flance. Thank you. And
oh, and shout out to our producer director, Danny
Tripodi, on the ones and twos. Again, I don't
know what ones and two. I hear the kids say it,
you know. Jack, you work for an amazing organization,
but you're an amazing person as well. And I feel
like in this industry with what you do, You kind
of have to be an amazing person and selfless.
And that's exactly what you are. We talked about
your background kind of off the air, but I want
to talk about your background first because it
plays a huge role in this whole story. So you're
now, as I said, the director of Fund Development
and Communication for Aaron's Angels. But let's
go back in time. And I'd love to hear your story
about how you got to this point. Well, first,
let me say you don't do this kind of work for
the income. You do it for the outcome. Oh, I
love that. Right? Wow. And so I grew up in food
insecurity. I grew up in the projects on the
south side of Utica. My parents, in their infinite
wisdom, thought moving me out of the best school
district in the city to the worst school district
in the city in Corn Hill was an upgrade. So growing
up in that tumultuous time in the 80s in Corn
Hill, I experienced food insecurity firsthand.
I went to bed hungry more nights than I care
to remember. And my household was a hostile household.
I walked on pins and needles around my dad. He
was an angry guy. It was a love -hate relationship.
I had a lot of love for the guy, but he was a
complicated guy. And he had a hard, hard life,
and he wasn't happy about it. But there were
also times when things were good. And he was
a great guy. And so it's a hard thing to balance.
But my whole career, I've always worked in communications
and in fundraising and development for nonprofit
organizations. And in March, I was working with
the United Way of the Mohawk Valley in development
and communications. that came to a stop, that
came to an end. And I was looking for something
to do while I was looking for work because I'm
the kind of person that if I don't have a daily
purpose, if I don't get up and have something
to do that means something, my depression takes
a hit. Where you and I on the same page. Yeah.
And so one day I decided to put a message out
on Facebook looking for someone to take a look
at my resume. and the founder of Aaron's Angels,
which is a whole nother wonderful story, Sheila
Dion, popped up and said, I'd be happy to take
a look at it for you. So the more I looked into
Sheila, I found Aaron's Angels of CNY, and I
looked at it, and you know, it just resonated
with me. Aaron's story, just food insecurity,
hostile environment, being treated the way she
did. just resonated with me to my soul. So I
thought I have to be involved. So I volunteered
as communications director from March until September.
And then in September, the board approved the
salary and brought me aboard full time. Congratulations.
What a story. And I said you and I are connecting
on so many levels because first of all, my father
grew up in East Utica and I'm very aware of the
area that He grew up in the area that you grew
up in and the life that he had. So I just completely
understand that. And I also understand that wanting
to have a purpose thing. Do you feel that doing
this work almost helps you heal a little bit?
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think back on the different
times that I experienced food insecurity and
I think to myself, this is my chance to make
sure that other kids don't have to live the way
I do. Jack, don't make me cry on a Tuesday. Let's
talk about food insecurity. You know, you and
I know what that means, but not a lot of people
do. Can you kind of just talk about what that
definition means? Sure. So food insecurity is
basically the feeling of not knowing when or
where your next meal is coming from. So I just
recently addressed a group of people in a setting
It was a check presentation of donation being
given the earnings angels and there were probably
50 people in the room And the first thing I did
was asked how many people in the room this morning
have kids And most people raised their hands
and asked how many of your kids had breakfast
today How many kids are going to have lunch today
because you may have happened and how many of
your kids when you get home tonight You're gonna
be able to have dinner with Imagine being a kid
coming home on a Friday and there's no food,
and then having to start Monday morning, having
to learn, having to concentrate, having to study,
and you're hungry. And I tell, you know, there's
times at the dinner table where my son or my
daughter will turn their nose to whatever dinner
I or my wife made. And I'm always quick to correct
them and say, I don't think you understand. There
are kids right now in this town that aren't having
any dinner. and you need to appreciate that stuff.
Let me give you three words, Mike, one in five.
One in five kids in Central New York go to bed
hungry on any given night. That's way too many.
Yeah. That's God awful. Yeah. I had the same
situation with my daughter. I have a 24 -year
-old daughter who's a graduate student now, soon
as we go. Congrats. And thanks. And when she
was growing up, I had her about half time, and
I made a lasagna one day. And I put the lasagna
in front of where we sat down to dinner. And
she looked in and said, Daddy, I want something
else. I said, sorry, kid, there's nothing else.
She said, well, I don't want this. Well, that's
how we have. I made her sit there for a good
hour. And I caught grief on social media about
it. But after about an hour, she ate it. And
after that, and she was only like five or six
at the time, she would eat anything I put in
front of her. She would try every food under
the sun. She tried Korean food, Japanese food,
Chinese food. I wasn't going to deal with one
of these kids that just eats chicken fingers
and macaroni and cheese the entire childhood.
Yeah. I love it. Aaron's Angels of CNY. a nonprofit
organization dedicated to feeding children in
need through school based programs. We're going
to get into that. But I feel like I'd be remiss
if I didn't talk about Erin and Erin's story.
Are you comfortable talking about that? Yeah,
it's hard. It's an emotional story. I gave the
presentation last week and I heard later that
I brought people to tears just by talking about
her story. So Erin was a little girl who was
in the Phoenix School District. and I didn't
know her, but working in this position, I've
talked to people who did know her, and there
were reports of her going through garbage cans.
When Erin was murdered by her stepbrother, her
stepbrother served nine years. The parents got
two years for neglect. And that's a whole nother
part of Erin's Angels where we're trying to pass
a New York State Children's Medal of Rights to
establish a minimum standard of care for all
children and increase the punishment and penalties
for anyone who commits abuse against children
14 years or under. So that's a whole nother.
We can do a whole week's episodes on that. So
when they did the autopsy on Erin, they found
no food in her digestive system. It takes two
days, Mike, two days. for food to process out
of your digestive system. And apparently she
lived in what would be considered by most people
a cage in her bedroom. Like an actual cage? An
actual cage, an animal cage. Yeah, she was kept
in her bedroom like that. And the condition she
lived in, to say it was squalor would be an understatement.
animal feces everywhere, it was just horrible.
And if we'd had the New York State Children's
Bill of Rights today, or back then rather, Erin
could very well still be with us. And so we are
doing everything we can do in her memory to assure
that other kids don't have to live the way she
did. Wow. Well, Jack, that was way worse than
I thought it was. You know, that is heartbreak,
as a human being, that's heartbreaking. But as
you know, as a parent, it always it hits a little
harder. That's disgusting. And this is good news,
York. So here's the positive spin on it. This
is why Aaron's Angels of Central New York exists.
Yeah. What is the mission statement of Aaron's?
Well, I've never been able to give it word for
word. But basically what we're trying to do is
bring together the people. the resources and
the means to feed the future of Central New York
in order to empower kids to be a kid, to live
life and not have to worry about food. No kid
should ever have to go hungry. No kid should
ever have to worry about going hungry. Absolutely.
So we're just trying to bring people and resources
together to make sure kids can thrive as kids,
but also can thrive as adults. That's wonderful.
If you go onto the website or any of the social
media for Aaron's Angels of CNY, it's overwhelming
in a positive way because it's not like you're
just out there giving food away. There are many
different programs, the Children's Bill of Rights,
the Phoenix program, summer meals. You guys are
doing so much. Can you talk a little bit about...
some of the programs and what you guys do on
a day -to -day basis. Sure, so one thing I'd
love to talk about is our scholarship program.
Sure. So we provide two $1 ,000 scholarships
to two Oswego County high school seniors. One
senior is from the Phoenix area, mandatory, then
the other can be from Oswego County. This past
year we gave out two scholarships. One was for
trade school. The gentleman wanted to go to trade
school. Another gentleman, his name was Douglas,
who is a volunteer for us, is studying web design.
And he was in the program. He got the meal bags
every weekend. And so he kind of went through
and understood what we were doing. And because
of the meal bag program, he had food on the weekends.
And now he's a college student. Studying design
and we have an event coming up on February 7th
called the purple party at Monterey's At 6 o
'clock and that the proceeds of that event fund
our scholarship program amazing Yeah, and so
the Phoenix program we talked about is kind of
the core, the meat and potatoes of what we do.
We have volunteers who come to the Michael Maroon
Elementary School every other Tuesday, and they
spend hours packing food bags for families in
need who are facing food insecurity. Once those
food bags are packed, those bags go to the teachers.
So when the kids are out of class, if they're
in gym, if they're in lunch or recess, those
food bags find their way into the backpacks and
go home on Fridays. And they do that for anonymity.
So there's no bullying, there's no teasing of
kids whose family have struggled with food insecurity.
And so we're all about inclusion. And we want
kids to not have to deal with food and being
hungry. in food insecurity, but we also don't
want to have them have to deal with being singled
out by other kids. Yeah. Right? That's beautiful.
What do you think the biggest, I mean, there's
so many, but is there one big issue that you
think might be at the root of all the food insecurity
out there for these young children? There's one
issue I can zero in on, but it's such a complicated
issue. Sure. Poverty, of course. It really comes
down to that. I agree. I'm in full belief that,
you know, these socialist safety nets are set
up. You know, you hear people, as soon as they
hear safety social net, they say it's communism.
And we're like, what? You know, the safety social
nets are so important because no child and certainly
no human should go hungry or go sick because
they can't afford healthcare. And that's, as
you said, that's a whole other issue. Do you
find that, because you guys are completely self
-funded, do you find that some of the changes
in state and federal government, did those directly
affect your organization? No, not really. You
know, we are... Well, I guess, actually, let
me take that back. So yes, because when we were
facing SNAP reductions a few months ago, if SNAP
goes away or if SNAP gets limited, that puts
an extreme amount of pressure and stress on programs
like ours. So we have a program called our Community
Giveaway. We get donations of boxes and boxes
of items from Amazon every month. I mean, there's
nothing to get 30, 40, 50 boxes of random items
from Amazon. We get everything from food to health
and beauty aids to cleaning supplies to car parts.
And you're working directly with Amazon through
this? Yeah. That's amazing. Amazon donates to
nonprofits, you know, all over. And so we have
a gentleman named Chuck. He goes to Chuck Gorman.
He goes to Amazon. with a van, loads up the van
with these boxes, brings these boxes to Aaron's
Angels, unloads them into our office. We have
volunteers who come in and sort these products
out, categorize them, and then we do giveaways,
and we have one coming up Thursday night, and
we invite people from different areas to come
in, and it's usually a two -hour process, and
they can bring two grocery bags, reusable grocery
bags, and they have seven minutes to go through.
and pick out whatever they need. Well, that's
fun. It's like supermarket sweep. Yeah, exactly.
But in a positive way, you know, helping people.
And so we when the whole snap thing was going
down, we did one of these giveaways and it was
the second highest number of people we had come
to one of those events. Wow. Sixty five people
showed up. Usually the average was about 40.
Wow. So when the state or the federal government,
when things happen where benefits get you know,
either stopped or limited, we see a tremendous
amount of increased demand. Yeah, that makes
it in need. Makes complete sense. Yeah. And as
you said, we're completely self -funded. So that
demand doesn't come with any funds to meet that
demand. Right. Right. Right. Speaking of events,
you are here. We do want to promote a couple
of events coming up, but you guys do a lot of
events. Yeah. What goes into the planning process
for that? Who's in who's in charge of that and?
And you guys come up with some amazing ideas.
Talk a little bit about that process. So we have
an incredible board of directors. And our board
is completely volunteer. And so we have folks
who are in charge of different events throughout
the year. And we have a fundraising committee
that I sit on. And the fundraising committee
meets once a month. And we assign tasks to different
people. And we put these events together. And
so this particular event with the Syracuse Crunch
was an opportunity I came across a few months
ago. I reached out, I found out they have a whole
program to support local nonprofit organizations.
And we have a fundraising game, Hockey for Hope,
on Saturday night on the 24th, seven o 'clock.
We have a link, it's erinsangels .com slash crunch,
where people can buy $22 tickets, which is an
affordable. for a sporting event. And it's a
game between the Syracuse Crunch and the Utica
Comets. So I chose that game purposely so we
could market it to both areas. I could appeal
to the Syracuse Crunch fans, I could appeal to
the Utica Comet fans. And so we get a percentage
back of every ticket that is sold through that
link based on how many tickets we sell. And we're
gonna have a table in the concourse. There's
going to be an in -game silent auction through
the Crunch. We're going to have four baskets
that we're going to auction off. And the Syracuse
Crunch will have some items that are going to
auction off. And all those proceeds come back
to us. But at our table, we're going to be auctioning
off four Caribbean vacations. Wow. Yeah. And
so you can come to our table. You can write in
your bid and bid on those trips. That's amazing.
Yeah. Yeah. And just again, to plug that, Aaron's
Angels of Central New York will partner with
the Syracuse Crunch for a hockey night fundraiser
on January 24th at 7 p .m. That's aaron'sangels
.com backslash crunch. But also another one you
guys have going on. You mentioned it earlier.
You're going to hold your annual Purple Party
on Saturday, February 7th to honor Aaron Maxwell's
heavenly birthday and raise funds for the organization's
Feeding the Future Scholarship program. And that's
going to be at Monterey's, located at 688 County
Route 10, number 90. And that starts at 6 p .m.
Talk a little bit about that event. So we're
going to have a spaghetti dinner, $10 per person
or $5 for kids five and under. We're going to
have music. We're going to have a quartet from
the Oswego Valley Snow Belters. They're to entertain,
we're going to have other bands. We're going
to have the Cool Kids. They're going to make
an appearance. They're a great band that also
plays another event that we've done in the past.
We're going to, it's just going to be a great
time. We're going to have food, we're going to
have music, we're going to have entertainment.
And we're going to have a purple contest, a purple
costume contest. Yeah. So we did an event back
in November called Friendsgiving right around
Thanksgiving. And we had so many people come
in and have such a great time. So we're excited.
We have those two events and then we have other
events that are happening throughout the month,
too. So in late March, we do our volunteer recognition
dinner where we give out volunteer awards. So,
you know, we have volunteers who work so hard
for us all year long. We need to show them love,
too. Absolutely. And so with the hockey game
though, we produced a video that I did send you
folks. It's a promo video where a gentleman named
Dan Frawley of In Motion Media volunteers his
time. And we set up a shoot at a hockey rink
with a couple of hockey players, 10 -year -old
hockey players. And that's to promote the hockey
game. So we have people from all walks of life
who volunteer and help us out. That's amazing,
Jack. Obviously, people can go to these events,
the one on February 7th, the one on January 24th.
That's one way people can help is by attending
these events. But because your organization is
doing so much, tell people, you know, if anyone's
listening or watching and they're like, man,
I really want to get involved, other than donating,
what are you looking for and how can people get
involved? Yeah, so. We have something going on
right now. There's information on our website
and on Facebook called our Super Bowl. S -O -U
-P -E -R. I'm a big fan of puns, Jack. I love
that. Me too, man. So, you know, we're looking
for people who want to conduct food drives of
cans of soup. And, you know, we're doing it strategically
now because what's coming up? Of course. Super
Bowl. I love it. Right? So we're always looking
for volunteers. We have... So we have committees
of people who work on different things. So we
have an advocacy committee who is working on
the New York State Children's Bill of Rights.
We can absolutely use people on that committee.
We have a committee for our scholarship fund.
We'd love to have more people involved in that.
We have our fundraising committee. And we have
a finance committee. We are also looking for
people that join our board of directors. And
you don't necessarily have to have experience
in fundraising. You have to have a passion for
wanting to make a difference in the lives of
other people. You have to want to try to increase
quality of life for others. That's basically
what we're looking for. So we need volunteers.
We absolutely add events, also on committees,
on our board of directors. And if somebody wants
to get involved just running a food drive in
their business or in their company. You know,
call us. Our information is on the website. We'll
figure something out for you. Yeah. Well said.
Well said. And you're right. You know, it's not
that you have to come from a background of food
insecurity or abuse to do the job, but you do
have to want to make a difference. Yeah. It's
not a collective paycheck kind of thing. Right.
And it shows with your heart and your story.
And I just so much respect. I appreciate that.
Give us the plugs. Where can people go? Whether
you wanna plug the events again, but websites,
social media, donation links, go ahead. So, erinjangelos
.com. We're on Facebook, we're on Instagram,
we're on Twitter, we're on YouTube. We recently
had a volunteer create a TikTok page, which I'm.
At my age, at this point in my life, I'm trying
to figure out how to work it. So really, you
can get all the information you need from our
website. You can reach me by email at jackataransangels
.com. My phone number is 315 -374 -0693. Giving
it right out. Send me an email. Go to our website,
give me a call, send me a smoke signal. I'll
get back to you. Carrier pigeons. Yeah. Why not?
The tunnel plant, Western Union. Sure. Whatever
it takes. Amazing. But we are all over social
media. We're on the web. So there's no way you
can't get ahold of us. Amazing. You're an amazing
guy. Jack Flans, Director of Fund Development
and Communications at Aaron's Angels, Feeding
the Future of Central New York. Remember, two
events coming up. Syracuse Crunch Hockey Night
fundraiser January 24th at 7 p .m. and also on
February 7th, it is Aaron's Angels of CNY kind
of celebrating Aaron Maxwell's heavenly birthday
and raising funds for the organization through
the Feeding the Future Scholarship program at
Monterey's. Jack, any final thoughts? Anything
you want to say? You know, I just want to say...
What we're trying to do is feed the future of
Central New York. We're trying to build the infrastructure
so that we're not just feeding kids today. Your
donation today feeds kids tomorrow. We want to
feed kids today, but we want to feed kids 20
years from now. So we're working on the financial
infrastructure and everything we need to do to
keep this going, not just today, tomorrow, next
week, next month, but 20 years from now. That's
awesome. That's so well said. Because in the
moment, it is great to take care of people and
children in the moment who are going through
food insecurity. But I love that you guys, you
think of long -term, of the long -term issue,
not just in the moment. Yeah. And you take care
of both. Yeah, and so we have kids who were in
the program and now they're in college. How does
that feel? Right? To see these success stories,
that must be the payoff, right? Yeah, absolutely.
And the gentleman I'm referring to, Douglas,
what a great kid. He actually came to our friends
giving event and volunteered at the event for
about eight, eight hours, good eight, 10 hours.
And we had, we recently had a seminar where we
brought in companies from all over central New
York to explain what the impact of hunger is
on community. We had Douglas come and do a presentation
and talk about his story. So on a dime, he's
willing to come back and do what he can to help
make sure that kids didn't, you know, that kids
have a future the way he does. I mean, you know,
if there is a God, you're doing God's work, Jack.
I mean, the full circle moment, you know, for
you of what you went through in your childhood
and what you're accomplishing now. And then to
see, like you said, Douglas Douglas. Yeah. Seeing
him come full circle, it just must be so much
pride. And he's an amazing kid. And I just can't
say enough about him. And I'm just so happy that
he has he's working towards something. going
into his future. Yeah. Well, listen, from all
of us here at Good News York, thank you for coming
on. You embody what this show is about, and we
are happy to help get the word out. Aaron's Angels
of Central New York, email Jack, jackataronsangels
.com. Remember, I plug the two events, but you
can go to all their social media websites, get
involved in any way you can. truly making a difference
in Central New York and in the world. You know,
there's one more thing I want to talk about.
Please. We have a petition on our website, our
Change .org petition. We're looking for people
to sign that petition so that we can show lawmakers
that residents of New York State want reform
as it applies to laws that apply to children.
So we're trying to pass this New York State Children's
Bill of Rights. We need people to go to our website,
go to that Change .org petition, sign it. I love
that. And you have my word, as soon as I'm done
here, I'm going to go sign that petition. Fantastic.
Thank you. Because kids, some of them, if not
all of them, they don't have the ability to speak
up. And sometimes we have to speak up for them.
And that's what you're doing. Yeah. That's what
you're doing. So they don't have a voice. We
are their voice. You are their voice. And I can't
thank you enough for coming on the show. Jack
Flans, Director of Fund Development and Communications
for Aaron's Angels. Head to Aaron's Angels. for
more information on how you can help. And with
that, another episode of GNY Good News York.
I'm your host, Mike Vrendisi. You can follow
me on socials at MikeBTV. You can follow us at
GoodNewsYork or GoodNewsYork .com, sponsored
by Ads on the Go. GetAdsOnTheGo .com. New episodes
Monday through Thursday, 5 p .m. Eastern, where
I just mentioned. And we will see you tomorrow.
Jeff. But in central New York, thousands of children
are facing something tougher than any opponent
on the ice. When a child is hungry, it's harder
to concentrate, harder to learn, harder to just
be a kid. Yet one in five children in our community
don't know where their next meal is coming from.
Aaron's Angels is fighting food insecurity right
here in CNY. And you too can join the fight against
childhood hunger. Join us January 24th as the
crunch face -off against the Utica Comets. A
percentage of all ticket sales directly benefit
Aaron's Angels. Together, we can keep kids in
the game.