Mother's Day & A Place for Hope

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome. This is Frankly Speaking,a show about nonprofit life. Frankly Speaking
is sponsored by the Salvation Army ofPalm Beach County. The host of Frankly
Speaking is Frank Morangos, the directorof Development ten Communication for the Salvation Army
of Palm Beach County. Did youknow that more phone calls are made on

(00:20):
Mother's Day than any other day ofthe year. In fact, these annual
chats with Mom often cause phone trafficto spike by as much as thirty seven
percent. Amusingly, while Mother's Dayis the holiday with the longest and the
highest number of phone calls, youwould not be surprised to learn that the
day with the most collect calls isFather's Day. Welcome to Frankly Speaking,

(00:43):
the weekly radio show of the SalvationArmy of Palm Beach County, and I'm
Frank Morangos, the Army's director ofDevelopment and Communications. Since many of us
will be celebrating Mother's Day tomorrow,I thought I would use my monologue this
week to discuss the importance of thetraditional family and more specifically, the role
that parents play in passing on faithto their children. And as with every

(01:04):
broadcast of frankly speaking, I wantto suggest the role that faith based nonprofit
organizations can play in helping parents withthis awesome responsibility. According to historical records,
the tradition of honoring mothers originated inancient Greece. The early Greeks thought
of their mothers as life givers andshowed great appreciation and respect to them.

(01:26):
Mother's Day actually finds its root inthe story in Greek mythology that focused on
the goddess Raea, who was consideredby the ancient world to be the daughter
of Mother Earth. As she representednature and fertility, Raya was referred to
as the mother of the gods.An annual jubilee was therefore established and held
in the springtime to celebrate and honorher. Although the Festival of Reya was

(01:49):
slowly discarded, the early Greeks continuedto set aside a day in the spring
to honor their nation's mothers. Unlikethe Festival of Reya. The modern version
of Mother's Day was started in theUnited States in the early nineteen hundreds.
The original impetus behind the celebration becamewith Anna Jarvis, who had the idea
of setting aside a day for honoringmothers after her own mother died in nineteen

(02:10):
oh five. Consequently, she organizedthe first Mother's Day in the May nineteen
oh seven as a worship gathering atan Episcopal church in West Virginia. As
the event gained national popularity, innineteen fourteen, the celebration was made official
when then President Woodrow Wilson signed ameasure declaring that Mother's Day should be celebrated

(02:31):
each year on the second Sunday themonth of May. While Mother's Day and
Father's Day are well recognized holidays throughoutNorth America, current attitudes and sensitivities have
unfortunately begun to shift. Some schools, for example, have begun to ditch
both days in a woke effort tomake everyone feel more included. Numerous communities

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have actually nixed the two traditional genderbased commemorations, combining them into a unified
day that comes in between and thatcelebrates all family guardians. Proposed titles for
this more inclusive holiday include Important grownUp Day, Special Person and Parents' Day.

(03:14):
I don't know about you, butI long for the days when media
personalities like Bishop Fulton Sheen, PaulHarvey, Emma Bombeck would celebrate Mother's Day
by publishing inspiring commentaries and elegies onthe importance of mothers and motherhood. Listen,
will I take a moment to beunfashionable and read a portion of one

(03:35):
of Bombeck's most famous tributes, entitledWhen God Created Mothers. When the Good
Lord was creating mothers, Bombeck wrote, he was in his sixth day of
overtime when an angel appeared and said, you're doing a lot of fiddling around
on this one. And the Lordsaid, have you read the specs?
She has to be completely washable,but not plastic. She has to have

(03:58):
one hundred and eighty moving parts replaceable, run on black coffee and leftovers,
have a lap that disappears when shestands up, a kiss that can cure
anything from a broken leg to adisappointed love affair, and six pair of
hands. The angel shook her headslowly and said six pairs of hands,
no way. In addition to chucklingat her description of a mother's superhuman like

(04:25):
eyes, whenever I read bombex nineteenseventy four column, I'm always touched by
her reference to a mother's hands sixof them. Apart from the other tasks
that these hands must assuredly undertake.I would suggest that at least two of
them must be firmly joined to thoseof her husbands, so that together they
can commit themselves to the responsibility ofpassing down the faith to their children.

(04:48):
Apart from mythology based celebrations, Holyscriptures replete with lessen laden hand and handclasping
narratives. Whold Testament personalities such asAbraham, Joseph, Moses, David,
and other prophets are all described asusing their hands to convey blessings, collaboration,
consecration, treaties, friendship, andeven marriage. When Jesus was asked

(05:11):
to name the most important biblical commandment, we are told in the Gospel of
Saint Matthew that he quickly turned toa selection in the Old Testament book of
Deuteronomy. You will love the Lordyour God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and withall your strength. Jesus responded by quoting
these verses, called the Shemah,because they were a mandate to Jewish parents
and now to Christians to faithfully passon their faith legacy to their children.

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These commandments that I give you todayare to be upon your heart, continues
the Shemah found in the sixth chapterof Deuteronomy. Impress them on your children,
Talk about them when you sit athome, and when you walk alone
on the road, when you liedown, and when you get up.
Tie them as symbols on your hands, exhorts the Shemah, and bind them

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on your forehead, them on yourdoorframes of your houses, and on your
gates. Apart from the Old Testamentschimah, the New Testament Gospels also employed
the image of hands to convey theimportance of passing on faith from one generation
to another. In a noteworthy episode, Jesus used his own hands to bless
children. Do not hinder them fromcoming to me, he cautioned, But

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the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to suchas these. So framed in such a
fashion, the liturgical hand clasp thatis often used in marriage ceremonies may be
understood as a couple's public concession ofJesus's exhortation. By joining their hands,
husbands and wives are pledging to passon their God centered relational faith to their

(06:42):
children. In the first chapter ofhis Second Letter to Timothy, Saint Paul
celebrates such a generational passing on afaith to his protegee, I am reminded
of your sincere faith, Paul writes, said Timothy, which first lived in
your grandmother Lois, and existed inyour mother Unus. And now, Paul
continues, I am persuaded that itlives in you. Also in this passage,

(07:05):
Paul acknowledges that he sees that faithwas passed down through three generations,
Loess the grandmother, Uness the mother, and finally in Timothy her son.
In addition to mythology and holy scripture, philosophers like Pythagoras and Plato also taught
that the family is the keystone ofsociety. Parents, they insisted, should

(07:28):
therefore be honored next to the gods. In like fashion. King Solomon insinuated
that the nurture of parents should notbe despised, but understood by the children
as fine jewelry. A father's instructionand a mother's teaching. He said,
in the very first proverb are agraceful garland for a child's head, appendant
around their neck. So consequently,the impact of households faithfully advancing proverb based

(07:54):
instruction, discernment parental influence on theirchildren would lead to the develop up and
of integrity and honesty and uprightness.The message handed down through history is clear.
In order for faith to continue throughthe generations of a family, there
must be a passing down as theGreek word tradition, but rathasses literally means

(08:16):
an authentic handing over of the faith. But unfortunately, our culture has been
moving away from such an understanding fordecades, and that move towards a more
secular world with no need for religionor God seems to be picking up speed.
It should not come as a surprise, therefore, that in such an
environment parents feel powerless and worry thattheir children will grow up and walk away

(08:39):
from their faith and the traditional valuesthat such faith conveys. The Shima underscores
the fact that faith is passed onwhen parents lead by example by living out
an authentic, godly life. Inthis fashion, the role of the parents
is to pass down the faith totheir children, who will in turn pass
it down to their children, whowill in turn pass it down to their

(09:01):
children. Only in this way canfaith thrive and survive from one generation to
another. Perhaps here is where faithbased nonprofit organizations can provide valuable support to
families. One of the earliest Artisticdepictions of hands passing on of sharing something
valuable with another individual is found inan early fifth century BC marble column that

(09:26):
is currently on exhibition in the AcropolisMuseum in Athens, Greece. The archeological
relief depicts Hera, the wife ofZeus and the goddess of marriage, joining
hands with Athena, the goddess ofwisdom in ancient Greek mythology, symbolizing the
Decree of Samos enacted at the endof the Peloponnesian War in four or five

(09:46):
BC. The hand joining between themythological patron deities of Athena and Samos commemorates
the respective city's military accord. Thehand class of Athena and Hera, however,
express much more than political solidarity.Their embrace may also be understood as
signifying the invaluable alliance of wisdom,strength, faith, and marriage. Hand

(10:13):
clasping, as a ubiquitous global greetinghad been declining during the COVID pandemic,
suggested alternatives included the elbow bump,foot shake, and the bow. Whatever
option was used to however, thehand class between a bride and a groom
continued to be enacted in most weddingceremonies. In fact, asking for a

(10:37):
daughter's hand in marriage will certainly remaina custom in many religious communities. In
the Orthodox Christian Church, for example, the celebrant joins a couple's right hands
to validate their pledge to serve,provide hospitality, and above all, to
pass on their faith tradition to theirchildren. Like the Orthodox Christian Church,
the Catholic Church also emphasized the importanceof the para until passing on a faith

(11:01):
through the grace of the sacrament ofmarriage, insists the Catholic Catechism. Parents
receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizingtheir children as the first heralds for their
children. Parents are encouraged to associatechildren from their tenderest years with the life
of the church, a life thatcan foster interior dispositions that are genuine preparation

(11:22):
for a life of faith, asupporting through one's lifetime, and in turn,
insists the texts, children will contributeto the growth and holiness of their
parents in many ways. Like Athenaand Hera, the household hand joining is
a sacred commitment of marriage filial solidaritywith spiritual wisdom While the social handshake may

(11:46):
one day become obsolete, the gestureseems in most married ceremonies will continue as
a vivid liturgical symbol of the spirituallegacy transfer between generations. But unfortunately,
once again, many high households todayhave unhinged their handshake role of passing on
their faith. Mother's Day provides anopportunity for each household to assess how we

(12:09):
are handling our respective priceless porcelains offaith. Scripture is clear the consequence of
sin is separation from God. Itis a primordial estrangement, a spiritual distancing
that is further exasperated when families unclasptheir hands. Passing on a life sustaining
legacy of faith is far more importantthan the temporal inheritance of cherished pottery or

(12:33):
financial portfolios. Parents should therefore notassume that their children will receive the religious
legacy of their faith tradition through osmosisand are merely as a result of summer
youth camps and irregular catechetical attendance,nor that they will be robotically value and

(12:54):
protect such a priceless inheritance. Onthe contrary, as the passing on faith
must continue to be refreshed with eachgeneration. Parents might consider using tomorrow's celebration
of Mother's Day as a most valuableopportunity to evaluate the resolve of the respective
familial hand class. When we return, it will be joined by Charles Bender

(13:16):
the third. He's the founder andCEO of the Place of Hope. It
is a faith based, family styleresidential agency here in Palm Beach for abused
and neglected children. I can't waitto talk with him about the valuable work
that his nonprofit organization is doing inour community. When you think of the

(13:39):
Salvation Army, you probably think ofa long history of public service and of
a faith based organization that's working todo a lot of good in our community.
But have you realized the extent oftheir work. I can tell you
that learning more about the Salvation Armyof Palm Beach County, it has been
remarkable to see how many different waysthey do the most good day in and

(14:01):
day out. For example, didyou know their Center of Hope is a
large ten acre residential campus that operatesthree hundred and sixty five days a year
twenty four to seven. They dothat to help people that are in the
most need, from financial donations todonating items and shopping at their store.
There are so many ways that youcan participate and be part of something truly

(14:22):
special, one hundred years in themaking. Visit Salvation Army Palm Beach County
dot org. That's Salvation Army,Palm Beach County dot org or call five
six one six eight six thirty fivethirty five six one six eighty six thirty
five thirty Thank you, May Godbless you well. Welcome back to frankly

(14:46):
speaking, I am joined today asI mentioned with Charles Bender the third,
Welcome to frankly speaking. Thanks forhaving I'm so excited to have you here
because you are the founder CEO overthe Place of Hope here in Palm Beach.
That's right, That's that's amazing.But before we get into that,
tell me a little about yourself.Where did you grow up? So I'm

(15:09):
I like to claim native Floridian andI don't tell people normally that I was
born in Connecticut because my parents movedto Miami when I was four months old,
and I've never lived outside the GreatState of Florida after that. If
you do, you go back toConnecticut at all, Nope, nope,
you stay here, that's right,Yeah, no taxes. I'm all Florida.
You're all Florida. Where'd you goto school? Graduated FAU. Grew

(15:30):
up north of the Tampa area forhigh school and middle school and all that,
But then I ended up graduating FAU. When you graduated, what did
you do? I got sociology andeconomics degrees, and you know, basically
just immediately started going into the peoplehelping business if you will need some affordable
housing and urban redevelopment planning, andthen kind of landed where I'm I mean,

(15:52):
your resume is quite impressive. Imean, you've received all kinds of
awards for the things that you've donethroughout the years, and it's it's really
a privilege to have you here.I frankly speaking, well, I think
it only represents the people that Ihang out with, to be honest with
you, So those awards for me, you know, they represent everybody that
I thank up the mission. It'svery humble of you, very nice of
you. Tell me about the Placeof Hope. Then how did that all

(16:15):
originate? Because you are the founderfrom what I understand, so I'm the
founding CEO, the founders for thevision that they received from God himself was
pastor or Is, Pastor Tom andDonald Mullins from Christ's Fellowship, and I
was attendant church there when they cameout one night with the vision for what
they wanted to do and what theyfelt led and called to do. And
then it went from there, andI like to say, from there,

(16:37):
you know, it's really a wholelot of people who have stepped up to
make the mission possible and still doto this day. And just as an
aside, do you know Dennis Hammond? I do, I do know Dennis.
Yeah, he was a good friendof ours. You know, he
established an investment firm there. Yeahfor a while. You know, did
you ever go up on the topfloor there, You know, I never

(17:00):
did. I knew where he was, but I never did get up to
see it. Yeah. So Iclosed the parenthesis because so many people have
been involved in that church, ChristFellowship, absolutely, and it's done so
many great things in the area.Yeah, we would have never been birthed
the mission if it wasn't for them. Yeah, I agree, And so
then what did it do? It'show old is it is? It's over
twenty years? Yeah, where orover twenty years already. I personally will

(17:23):
be there as CEO twenty four yearsin November twenty Yeah, right, I
wish right, you see this greatbeard here, Uh but no, it's
you know, it's really just becomea community thing. This is this We've
we've expanded regionally. We know,we serve all the way up to the
Vero Beach area, all the waydown to North Broward and serve thousands a

(17:45):
year now, so you can seethat. Obviously, that takes a lot
of great people, a lot ofgreat community leaders who's so into the fabric
of who we are. So whatis the mission? I'm sure our listeners
are so a lot of people thinkof us as you know, a foster
carriage and see or a child welfareorganization, and that is how we started.
But we based on need and theability to meet needs. You know,

(18:06):
we've grown into something much bigger.So now we're one of probably the
largest children and families organizations in allof South Large. Congratulations. We take
care of you know, single motherswith dependent children who are otherwise homeless,
and transitional affordable housing all the waythrough human trafficking survivors to children in foster
care at high levels of therapeutic need, some trauma. And you know,

(18:26):
we have a shelter for kids,we have a maternity home for pregnant teenagers.
So gotten into a lot of differentthings over the years based on need.
And you're a faith based organization,absolutely not apologetic about it. Now.
That's great you and as a matterof fact, you we're on the
Salvation Armies council at one point.That's right, Advisor. They opened up
their new facility in West Palm,that's right. Yeah, so we are

(18:48):
not strangers. No. I lovewhat the Salvation Army is all about and
have a huge impact in our community. So because we are faith based,
you know, you mentioned a numberof resources that you offer parents, single
parents as well as married parents tofamily parents. What about faith in my
In my monologue, I talked aboutthe importance of passing on faith from one

(19:11):
generation to another and the impact thathas I mentioned quite a number of surveys
to talk about the data support that. Do you talk about that with the
parents? Absolutely with everyone in ourcare. However, the model what's a
little bit different from some is thatyou know, it's it's a voluntary base
thing, so it's available, it'snot a forced or required you know,

(19:32):
And first of all, I don'teven believe in that model myself anyway,
as a man of faith. Soyou know, it's about who we are,
why we do what we do,and then where there is interest from
the individual receiving services, then itis completely available. Just not you know,
a mandatory parent of things, butit's just it's it's inherent to who
we are. Yeah, and Ithink that's really important to be who you

(19:52):
are as a mission. Can yougive a story perhaps of something positive that
happens, you mean, just sinceopening up? Yes, yeah, we
have a ton of them, andon our website we have these things we
call stories of Hope, and theseare just young people who have left our
care become adults and high functioning doinggreat things, shattering statistics. So anybody

(20:15):
can go to placelope dot com andread about them, but they literally happen
on an ongoing basis. We havefoster parents who were in our program right
now who for years felt led toadopt two particular siblings that were placed in
their care, and they really thoughtthat was going to happen, and ends
up that the system, the judiciarysent them back home with their family and
it didn't happen, and they wereobviously they wanted what was best for the

(20:37):
children. But about a year later, those kids ended up coming back into
foster care and we were able throughour network to get them back in our
care and into their care. Andfast forward less than a year later,
they are now adopted into a foreverfamily with our foster family. So we
have the you know, I alwayssay that every case is different. These
kids come out of highly traumatic instanceswhere there's rape and incest and physical violence

(21:03):
and all kinds of things. Andif you can get some of these kids
to just become functioning at eighteen andnot injure anybody and recreate that we win
and that success. But we havealso the kids that have gone off and
gotten their master's degrees and they getinto the fields others. So it's all
over. Yeah, So it's obviousthat God's hand is on this work.
Otherwise not to be as successful asit is, absolutely right, and that's

(21:26):
amazing. In the perfect world,what do you need that you don't have?
Now? What would you like tobe able to do? So?
You know what's interesting is we allknow in this community and in all the
South Larida that affordable housing is amassive issue. It's just means I hear
that from almost everybody that I haveas my guests. I asked him that
question, and affordable housing comes upover and over and over again. So

(21:48):
in the in the in the spacethat we're in, we we build and
provide what's called transitional affordable housing,meaning it's time limited. It's to get
you on your feet, it's toget you to a better living wage.
It's to get you the training andthe education you need to move on whether
you're going to own a home orgo out to market rate Reynolds, whatever
it is. So we train peopleon how to do that. We're building
a lot more of it right now, because think about it. If the
if the average person out there hasa problem finding affordability right now, how

(22:11):
much more so for these kids agingout of foster care, for these moms
that are that are you know,getting away from domestic violence and they have
dependent children, and you know,it's it's it's almost impossible for a lot
of them. And so what wedo is we provide them this affordable transitional
housing with a lot of requirements.It's a hand up program, and we
see tremendous success, So we're buildingmore. To answer your question, Stuart,

(22:33):
West Palm and Boca, how manypeople are you serving right now?
So we serve about seven thousand ayear in total. We have a lot
of outreach programs, a lot ofdifferent things we do on the residential side.
Point in time, Like if youwere to take a picture of all
the residential beds we have, ora few hundred a day, that's amazing.
So how many people on your staff? We hover right around ninety five.

(22:56):
Well, yeah, a lot ofpeople. I'm surprised that you don't
have white hair. Got a lotof great and so Mother's Day tomorrow,
Yeah, are you ready for that? Yeah? My my my own wife.
And then and of course and thenmy uh my middle child, my
daughter has, so we have I'mgrandparent now we're grandparents. This will be

(23:17):
her first Mother's Day as well.And then of course all of the foster
moms who care for our children.You know, we hold them in such
high regard because again, wouldn't beable to do it without them. You
know, they're the front line ofcaregiving and showing these kids a different way.
That's great because in our societies youcan tell now that there's all confusion.
Yeah, right, this confusion andthere needs to be a redefining almost

(23:41):
going back to truth, you know, what is reality? And if we
don't do that as faith based nonprofitorganizations in churches, who's going to do
it? Well, you know,you can think about it. Even the
American Medical Association will say that kidsthat have gone through trauma need consistency,
they need family and guess what,faith is very positive thing for brain development

(24:02):
when there's been drunk Amen. Amen. If people wanted to get in touch
with you to donate or to becomea volunteer, I don't even talk about
volunteers. I'm sure you're individuals andgroup and group days. We just had
a huge real estate firm out theother day helping out, you know,
and it's just it saves us aton of money. Placeshope dot com is
the best way to check out what'sgoing on and get in touch with us.
Well, that's fantastic. I can'tthank you enough for being on my

(24:25):
show, and I pray that Godcontinue to bless your ministry and your mission.
Thank you in the same back toyou and thanks for what you also
do with the Salvation Army. Becausethat's an amazing organization. Thank you,
thanks for being a guest on FranklySpeaking. Thank you, thank you for
joining me today on this broadcast ofFrankly Speaking, the weekly radio program of
the Salvation Army, which according toForbes, is the fourth largest nonprofit in

(24:47):
America. Each week, before weclose, I'd like to share a select
quote from William Booth or sometimes hiswife Katherine, who founded the Salvation Army
in eighteen sixty five. Today,I want to quote from a letter written
in nineteen old four, or entitledthe Spirit of the Army. As a
letter emphasizes the important role that parentsplay in nurturing faith in their children.
This principle of life is the mainspringand glory of God's universe. Booth wrote,

(25:14):
The tree partakes of the nature ofthe tree from which it is derived.
The animal partakes of the nature ofthe creature that it begets. The
child partakes of the nature of itsparents. So the soul born of God
will possess the nature of its author. Its life will be divine. So
till next week. This is FrankMorangles, the director of Development and Communications

(25:36):
for the Salvation Army of Palm Beach, County and you've been listening to Frankly
Speaking, a show at the crossroad of philanthropy, societal need, and
faith. My hope is that thisin every broadcast of Frankly Speaking, will
inform and help inspire all of usto become agents of good to those in
need in our Palm Beach community.If you'd like to share a question and

(25:56):
or suggest a future guest or topic, I would love to hear from you
at at frank Talk radio dot com.