March 21, 2024 • 38 mins
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As we sat down with Emily Pantelides from Pantelides PR, the energy in the room was palpable, charged with the stories of hope and transformation she brought with her. She guided us through the touching narratives of those whose lives have been irrevocably changed by Place of Hope, showcasing the power of faith and community in our South Florida home. Emotions ran high as she recounted the triumphs of events like Runway of Hope and the vital initiatives that support not just foster children but also brave survivors of human trafficking.
What does it take to break the relentless cycles of poverty and homelessness? This is one of the pressing questions we tackled, with Emily shedding light on the essential role of affordable transitional housing and the unifying strength of sibling bonds in foster care. Our conversation was a journey through the heartfelt endeavors of Place of Hope, from the importance of sharing compelling stories to the strategic communications that amplify their mission. We learned of the far-reaching impact of their faith-based approach, seeing firsthand how it guides children and families toward a future filled with healing and opportunity.
Wrapping up our time together, we reflected on the profound significance of Place of Hope's work in combating the pressing issues of homelessness, abuse, and poverty. It was a moment of gratitude, as Emily expressed her appreciation for aligning with such a reputable organization, and for the unwavering support of those who help spread the message of hope. As we bid farewell, we urged our listeners to connect with and actively support Place of Hope's noble cause, reminding everyone that their engagement truly makes a world of difference in the lives of young people.
Takeaways
- Place of Hope has a strong reputation and is rated number one in the nation by Charity Navigator.
- Affordable housing is a crucial aspect of Place of Hope's work, providing stability and breaking the cycle of poverty.
- The continuum of care offered by Place of Hope ensures that children and young adults receive support and guidance throughout their journey.
- Faith plays a significant role in the work of Place of Hope, providing hope and guidance for both the staff and the children they serve.
- Heartwarming stories and events like Runway for Hope highlight the impact of Place of Hope and raise awareness in the community.
- Communicating the multifaceted work of Place of Hope can be challenging, but transparency and storytelling are key to conveying their mission.
- Place of Hope's success is attributed to the leadership of Charles Bender and the dedication of the entire team.
- The critical mission of Place of Hope is to provide support and care for children who have experienced abuse, homelessness, and poverty.
- Transparency in fundraising is important, and donors can trust that their contributions go directly to supporting the programs and services of Place of Hope.
Host: Charles L. Bender III, Founding CEO and Board Member of Place of Hope
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Producer: Maya Elias
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Charles Bender (00:02):
Hello and thank you for tuning in to Ambassadors
of Hope.
I'm your host, Charles Bender.
We're so excited that you'vetuned in to hear from local
South Florida leaders who aremaking a difference in our
community and region through ourcharity Place of Hope.
Ambassadors of Hope PlacingHope in a Child's Future.
Maya Elias (00:22):
Hello, I'm your producer, Maya Elias.
In this episode of Ambassadorsof Hope, Charles Bender
interviews Emily from PR.
They discuss the multifacetedwork of Place of Hope and the
impact it has on the community.
Emily highlights the importanceof Place of Hope's reputation
and the role of faith in guidingtheir mission.
They also discuss thesignificance of affordable
(00:44):
housing and the continuum ofcare provided by Place of Hope.
Emily shares heartwarmingstories and discusses the
success of the Runway of Hopeevent in North Palm Beach.
She also emphasizes thecritical mission of Place of
Hope and the transparency oftheir fundraising efforts.
Please continue listening onfor the rest of this episode,
all right.
Charles Bender (01:06):
Well, good morning and welcome to
Ambassadors of Hope, the podcastfor Place of Hope Today.
I'm pumped, I'm excited We'vegot Emily from PR, also my
good friend and who I say is thegreatest PR company around by
far, bringing tremendousattention to Place of Hope.
We know that the show is allabout highlighting ambassadors
(01:28):
of Place of Hope.
Where does that mean?
It's people that are involvedwith us doing great things every
level.
So many different ways to beinvolved and to help support the
kids and the young people wetake care of.
And, Emily, I look at you aslike our communications voice.
So thank you for being heretoday to talk a little bit and
so that people can learn moreabout you and what you do.
Emily Pantelides (01:46):
Thank you for having me.
It's not that exciting what Ido, but I'm so excited to talk
about what we do for Place ofHope because we represent all
sorts of businesses, werepresent hospitals, sports
teams and we have representedmany charities.
But I don't know if I'm allowedto say this, but I'm just going
to.
My favorite is Place of Hope,Not just because of the impact
that we've helped make, butbecause of the impact you guys
(02:06):
make on our community and I'mexcited to talk about that.
Charles Bender (02:09):
Well, it's so important.
Like people probably even know,ultimately, what is PR?
You know I've confused it withother things in the past and
marketing and this and that, butthe reality is you've created
this voice out in the communityfor Place of Hope and letting
people know, from the bigexciting things all the way down
to some of the smaller thingsthat we just together really
believe people should know aboutbecause of this wonderful
(02:29):
community we live in.
But you know, people don'trealize what goes on in these
kids lives.
Emily Pantelides (02:33):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot of charities in
our area and that's great.
We're a very charitable really,the organization and county.
But the thing is, I think whatPlace of Hope does and doing PR
for Place of Hope is essentiallyjust telling people your story
and making sure peopleunderstand there's lots of
charities that help children butthere's not a lot that are
rated number one in the entirenation by charity navigator.
(02:54):
So making sure people know that, and how many years in a row or
year after year?
Charles Bender (02:58):
I mean it's been , I think, five in a row for
that.
Emily Pantelides (03:00):
So I mean I think that's the number one
thing.
Actually, I tell people becauseI think that's you don't get to
say that that's so unique,charity number one, not just
here in our area, in the entirenation.
That's a message I think is soimportant All the branches of
Place of Hope, how we talkedabout earlier, that you do human
trafficking, which is somethingthat people don't think about.
Maybe they think that you justbring in foster kids, but I mean
(03:21):
just all these different armsand PR just lets people know all
the different arms of Place ofHope.
Charles Bender (03:25):
Yeah, there's no shortage of stories or good
things for you guys to magicallythrow out there.
The way that you do, what doyou think is the first?
So, even before you came onboard with us and you knew what
Place of Hope was doing and soforth which is part of why you
said yes and you may have justanswered the question Charity
Navigator might have somethingto do with it what's the thing
you think that really broughtyou in to inspire you to be a
part of the mission of Place ofHope?
Emily Pantelides (03:46):
I would say the reputation 100%.
Place of Hope's reputation,because I've worked in this
charitable world for a while nowthrough PR, through
volunteering, and unfortunatelythere are some unscrupulous
charities out there, or not eventhat, but people who really
want to help but they just don'thave a system of how to do it
correctly.
Place of Hope's reputation,before I even was involved, was
(04:09):
something I said.
That's someone I want to beinvolved with and quite frankly,
you know it trickles down fromthe top.
I say that all the time.
You are a great leader and Ithink people like to emulate
what you do and how you've doneit, because you've created this
charity out of nothing andturned it into a beacon of hope
for kids and for adults.
You know you've put so manyadults out there who are working
members of the community.
That is truly changing ourworld and I just wanted to be a
(04:32):
part of that.
Charles Bender (04:33):
Well, we've done that together.
As you know, it is a tremendousteam.
You're part of that team.
Maya.
Here is a part of the team.
We have a tremendous team ofpeople and that includes all the
ambassadors.
It's the people who sew intothis mission on a daily basis.
Whether they're on the payrollor not doesn't matter, but
that's been one of the beautifulthings we've been able to build
over time.
And then that team continues tobuild upon itself because it's
(04:53):
no longer just a few people thatare inviting people in its
larger group of people, invitingpeople in, and, as part of why
we're doing this show, is toshow people out there, some of
the great folks that areinvolved with us, and what they
do to make it all come togetherat the end of the day.
You came in knowing probablyyou know foster care, other
things.
You've mentioned that we dosome anti-human trafficking
(05:13):
things now and over the years.
What's one of your favoritethings you think about Place of
Hope that we do?
Emily Pantelides (05:19):
It's a good question because it's something
we focused on a lot in ourefforts to do PR for Place of
Hope, and that's honestly whatyou're doing with affordable
housing.
I think it's really importantthat what we're doing at Place
of Hope is not just you know, ofcourse you're going to take in
kids and younger kids, but whathappens when they turn 18?
What happens when they don'thave a place to go?
What's that stat?
(05:39):
I learned 60% of children infoster care who leave foster
care end up either in jail orpregnant within the first 12
months.
I mean, I heard that was one ofthe stats that moved me when I
came to Place of Hope.
I said how do you have a highschool graduation rate of 100%?
How does that happen?
I mean, those are the thingsthat I think our community needs
to know about that.
(05:59):
It's not just bringing kids inand keeping siblings together,
which I also think is a hugething that I love about Place of
Hope, but this affordablehousing, where you are the
largest builder and that's notthe right word, but I can't
think of it the builder ofaffordable housing in our area.
Creator.
Charles Bender (06:13):
Affordable transitional housing by far.
Right now.
We have more on the plate.
We probably have more that'salready open, but more coming
well in excess of any othergroup that's out there doing
this right now.
Again, thanks to our team andthe people that are out there
supporting us for sure.
Emily Pantelides (06:27):
Think about that need.
I mean, where we live, peoplecan't even afford to live here
and we're telling kids who don'thave the support system oh okay
, go out and find your job, goout and find a house, go out and
find an affordable apartment.
It does not happen.
So the fact that you cansupport them and say, okay,
you're turning 18, here's a goodplace for you to live, here's
where you're breaking the cycle,because so what happens is when
(06:49):
a kid can get out there andsupport themselves and afford
their housing, and their kids dothat, and then their kids do
that, that's done.
That's the whole point of it.
That's what I love.
Charles Bender (06:57):
Yeah, we want to break the cyclical nature of
poverty and everything that'stied to it and that's why our
model is one of yes, we're goingto provide you the affordable
transitional housing.
But the word transitional is sokey because it means it's not
forever.
It's not just affordablehousing, it's for such a time,
it's for, you know, has purposebehind it in terms of the time
frame and all the things thatyou're going to learn while
you're in our quote care.
(07:18):
You know, even over 18, or youmight be a single mom with
dependent children that reallyneeds that help, because if
you're otherwise trying to makerent payment in this community
and you're working two and threejobs and then you got childcare
, there's a good chance you'renever going to get ahead, and
that's just not okay, and that'swhy you know it started off as
well.
It'll be the kids that age outof foster care.
But, as you know, we soon afterlearned that wow there are just
(07:41):
a lot of young people out therethat are in desperate need of
stability so that they can evenlook forward at the things that
will make them successful.
But if you're mired up in themiddle of it, you're not even
going to get a chance to youknow, look forward in any way,
but if we can provide thestability together.
So I think you answered, youknow, my next question, which
was going to be what?
What do you think is one of themost impactful things we're out
(08:03):
there?
Emily Pantelides (08:03):
doing, but there's so many.
I mean the sibling group thingis big to me.
I have three kids and the ideathat one would have to go
somewhere and one would have togo in another direction, keeping
kids together as a family, Ithink that's huge and there's, I
mean I don't know that there'sany other organizations that
actively do that in our area.
Charles Bender (08:21):
You know there's .
I think everybody makes a goodeffort to if they're in the
space, because most peoplerecognize that that's what's
healthy for children.
It's just that we built ourmodel specifically for that.
We said, hey, if there's two andthree and four and five kids,
which oftentimes there are- youknow, nationally, statistically,
they will get separated, andit's interesting that even the
American Medical Associationwill tell you that that most
(08:43):
often creates more trauma forkids.
And so why would we do that?
Well, typically it's onlybecause there's not that many
people or places that can do it,that can keep them together
successfully, and so that's whyit's always been, from day one
of our founding, you know, oneof our core values, and the next
being, when it comes to fostercare, various levels of care, as
you know, we do maternity careand we provide, you know,
emergency shelter and so forth.
(09:05):
But you know, from day one, itwas how do we take these kids
who have bounced around thesystem, you know, sometimes no
fault of their own, sometimes bypicking up some behaviors that
you know aren't, you know, outthere to people don't want to,
you know, really be a part of ona daily basis or so forth.
And it's just sometimes kidsare therapeutically in advance
of where most people can handle.
But those have always been ourcore issues and you know, and
(09:26):
unfortunately they haven'tchanged, they haven't gone away,
it's just a lot of kids in needand that's why you're here and
that's, unfortunately, why weneed to keep supporting Place of
Hope and regionally too.
So we're excited to do a littlebit of that work up in the
steward area as well asaffordable transitional housing.
But you know we're a faithbased organization and how do
our values of who we are and thewhy we do what we do, how does
(09:47):
that line up with you personally?
Emily Pantelides (09:49):
Yeah, well, I think that's probably why Place
of Hope is so blessed, becausePlace of Hope is very forward
and just out there saying that.
You know, we are faith basedand I have been very active with
my company to say that we are afaith based company.
You know, when I startedPantoledis PR, I worked in news
for many years, which is notreally a place where you can
talk too much about your faith.
But I said when I leave newsI'm going to actively put John
(10:11):
316 on my website so people knowI'm going to make sure that I
try to align myself with peoplewho believe what I believe.
And you know, I just think thatHaving a faith is what guides
you throughout life and having afaith is what helps you.
When you see children hurtingand in pain, you can say, well,
there's a bigger plan, there'ssome reason for this and I think
(10:31):
that you know personally myfaith is what's guided me in
everything I do.
But I do 100% believe that Godbrought me to place of hope and
my firm to place of hope forsome specific purpose.
I even think it's probablybeyond what we're doing right
now.
I think there's probablysomething else, because I just
feel it so strongly, I think Itold you one time I walked into
your office and there was justthis thing there that really
(10:51):
struck me.
It was like this moment where Iwas like, oh, this is a God
thing, I mean, and everything iseverything is a God thing.
I don't really think it'scalled a coincidence.
I think it's called God put youthere for a reason, and
sometimes it's for you to learnthe lesson, or sometimes it's
for you to help, or sometimesit's for you to glean something
from someone else.
But I'm here for a reason, soyou're stuck with me for a while
.
Charles Bender (11:11):
I love it.
I love it.
You know, we feel the exactsame way after all these years
of seeing God provide.
You know, obviously there'sreputational things out there.
People hold place of hope inhigh regard and we're grateful
for that.
But we also divert immediatelyfrom the attention of that,
because we really do know that,at the end of the day, all good
things come from the Father,above the heavenly life he
provides.
(11:31):
And we've been in the toughtimes, like everybody else in 08
, you know, and we survived itand we survived it.
Well, you know, a little bit ofcuts here and there, but and
then every single year he hasjust continued to provide and
it's too easy to sit back andthink, well, I had something to
do with that, or I said, no, godprovides, he just brings in
people and he uses people andtheir talents and their
treasures and their time andit's.
It's pretty amazing to watch.
(11:52):
One of the things that probablyenergizes me the most to this
day, all these years later, isseeing people come in and give
of what they have to give and itjust all works together in
perfection at the end of the day, because we're able to care for
more and not have to worry, soto speak, of how it's going to
be provided for.
Emily Pantelides (12:10):
And like finding what your gift is from
God.
Like sometimes it's not thegift.
You know, I am very okaytalking in front of people.
Maybe that's a gift, but maybesomebody's gift is.
They can so really well andsome I don't know, I'm making
this up as a blanket.
I mean it doesn't have to bethis big, small thing.
These gifts that God gives you,you can use, you know, through
your job, you can use them everyday.
Or you can do something sosmall and make such a difference
(12:32):
, and that is what I see a placeof hope.
These people who are usinggifts that maybe they don't even
know is a gift from God to makethe charity better.
Charles Bender (12:40):
What are some of the outcomes you've seen in
your time working directly withPlace of Hope, on the team that
you're most proud of?
One of them I want you to speakabout, which is the event that
you just shared for us the otherday, but even maybe end with
that, but some of the thingsyou've been able to help make
happen from a communicationsperspective, a PR perspective,
that have just we all know, havejust sewn in to helping us go
(13:02):
to the next level.
Emily Pantelides (13:03):
That is so hard because there's so many.
I mean the strategy behind whatwe're doing for Place of Hope,
and each client has a differentstrategy, but for Place of Hope
I felt like saturate, saturate,over and over again.
Let people hear this message,let people know what Place of
Hope is, because you do so much,from the human trafficking to
the affordable transitionalhousing.
There's so much.
But let people hear, place ofHope, our strategy with you guys
(13:24):
was just saturate.
Get everywhere TV, radio, paper, glossy magazines, whatever it
is get you guys out there.
So, out of all of those stories,which one was the most
impactful?
I mean every single one,because I think every single one
leads to more awareness.
And maybe you didn't see it onthe six o'clock news that night,
but maybe you saw it on Placeof Hope's social media when they
replayed that story.
So, to say, a favorite,probably the most recent one we
(13:47):
did, is the one that sticks outin my mind because we had Samson
and Melita, who I heard theirstory kind of from the beginning
to the end.
I hadn't heard a story in suchdepth.
They came from Haiti, they wereabused and they came here and
he said something like you know,I didn't want love.
I didn't understand love, andPlace of Hope showed me love.
Charles Bender (14:05):
You said that he realized it wasn't the end of
the story either.
Did?
Emily Pantelides (14:08):
he stop here Did.
Charles Bender (14:10):
He knew he his own eggshell had to crack a
little bit because there was afuture for him.
Emily Pantelides (14:13):
And the best part of it is what we just
talked about, the breaking thecycle, because he has kids and
his sister, I mean, didn'tinterview together with ABC
locally and they said we nowlove our kids, we now treat our
kids not the way we were treatedwhen we grew up and I thought,
boom, that's it.
Because if you're abused I meanI don't know the statistics,
but you typically abuse yourkids you don't know any better.
(14:35):
You know you parent in a waythe way you were parented, and
so the fact that I heard them,it just really stuck with me.
You changed a generation.
Boom right there, becauseMelida has three kids.
I think he had what two?
Charles Bender (14:46):
Yeah, and he has beautiful kids too.
Oh, my goodness.
Emily Pantelides (14:49):
And it was just a great story and I thought
, I'm trying to think of whatthe reason was we did that story
.
Oh, because it was domesticviolence.
Charles Bender (14:54):
That's right.
Domestic violence Awarenessmonth last month it was.
Emily Pantelides (14:57):
I think it was last month.
Yeah, I think it was.
But I didn't also realizedomestic violence can be also.
It doesn't have to just behusband and wife, it can be a
mom, a dad.
That was something new for me.
So I'm not really answeringyour question because there were
so many good ones?
Charles Bender (15:11):
No, I think you have, but now you got to talk
about the event that you justshared, because the intricacies
of it are what's so importantand how the community just
jumped up behind it at a verylow cost to place of hope to
produce this Awesome event.
Emily Pantelides (15:26):
Well, it was fun.
I mean, this was just somethingthat was super fun and the
groundwork was already there.
So you basically do somethingvery similar in Boca where you
team up with Saks Fifth Avenueand you do a fashion show.
But we called ours runway forhope and it was basically we
would pick some prominent peoplein the community and they would
fundraise for us, and we kindof used a model where it's
peer-to-peer fundraising andeach person was just, you know,
(15:48):
having little cocktail partiesor asking friends, and the goal
was we wanted each person tohopefully hit at least ten
thousand dollars, which Ithought was a very lofty goal.
Right, I was like who's gonnahit that?
And almost all of them did,yeah, and and exceeded and
exceeded.
And I think what ended uphappening was, you know, people,
everybody who was touched bythat was like what are you
(16:08):
fundraising for?
So it spread the message, placeof hope, a little more.
And then, you know, theculmination was this beautiful
fashion show at Saks FifthAvenue, which is a little lap of
luxury.
Charles Bender (16:17):
Hundred and something.
Tickets sold as well.
Emily Pantelides (16:19):
Right a lot of new faces, a lot of new faces,
because you know, all thechampions brought people in
right.
But it was fun that we got towatch them walk the runway with
a real model and you know, Ijust think it was a wonderful
way to highlight what place ofhope is doing.
I always say it was my favoritethings together fashion, place
of hope and friends.
Charles Bender (16:39):
Hey, listen, maybe somebody's gonna be
listening to this too.
That could think, wait, I wantto be a part of that and we
could pick up some of our newChampions that through that, our
models for the, for the nightof and so forth, the
peer-to-peer fundraiser becausewe're doing it next year.
We are definitely doing it nextyear.
That was so successful andunique and, like you said, just
fun and also you know.
So everybody did a great joband our winner was Meg
(17:01):
Weinberger.
She raised I don't, it was like20,000 20 plus thousand dollars
and I think the thing I loveabout that the most is
peer-to-peer fundraising.
Is, you know, again, very lowcost of place.
Oh, and all new people comingin who are giving mainly because
of relationships yes, becausethey can look and see it's a
trustworthy charity and it's agreat cause, but then they're
doing it because of theirfriends and so forth as well.
(17:23):
So it was fun.
Thank you for doing it.
Emily Pantelides (17:25):
Oh my gosh, I had a blast.
I always say I've shared a lotof events, but I did very little
for this, because place of hopeis such a well-oiled machine.
You're the right people workinghere who care.
Again we go back to the faiththing, I think there's there's a
Bible verse that says work asif you're working for God.
I'm paraphrasing people herearen't working because they want
the paycheck or they wantwhatever.
I'm sure that helps too, butthey're working for a higher
(17:48):
power.
So all the people that who areplanning the events are like
putting the programs in acertain way because that's for
God.
It's not just you know,necessarily, and that's what I
think is the difference.
That's the blessing that placeof hope is no doubt about it.
Charles Bender (18:00):
I'm worth so grateful for that every single
day that we show up for Work, ifyou want to call it that.
But it's interesting to one ofthe things we did here.
We don't typically do this, butwe told all the champions and
supporters that the funds raisedthis time in this event we're
gonna go specifically to provideTherapeutic intervention for
(18:21):
human trafficking survivors inour care, because we do
something really unique.
We place them into our existingprograms, dependent upon their
age and what you know kind ofthe backgrounds where they could
fit, but then we bring thesewraparound services to them
strategic case management,targeted case management and
this level of therapy that'sdirected at what they've walked
through in life, which you knowthere's.
You have to find the rightcounselors for that, but we have
(18:43):
to pay for that market rate.
The system doesn't just say letme pay for that.
We have to go out there withreal money and pay for these
services because we're not gonnaget to the point you described
to some of the other kids livesof you know, making a full
circle and becoming successfulin life if they can't break
through and find some degree ofhealing.
Yeah, and then the future tofocus on as well, so.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Welcome back.
Eight local celebrities in afierce competition to raise
money to help abused, abandoned,neglected and trafficked
children, right here in our areaof the fundraising, campaign
will come to a head on therunway of hope, a fashion show
at Sacks of Palm Beach Gardensand all the proceeds will
benefit place of hope here totalk about the event place of
hope, ceo Charles Bender, thankyou for being with us, and model
(19:25):
Kai Lassen, welcome.
Thank you so much, excited tohear how you're involved.
But we want to start with youtalk a little bit about place of
hope for people who perhapsaren't very familiar, because I
know you Do so much for ourcommunity.
Well, it's a great team effort.
Charles Bender (19:36):
We're a comprehensive child and families
organization.
So we take care of abusedchildren who have to be removed
for imminent danger, go intofoster care.
Kids who age out of foster care, who have no where to otherwise
know where to go, transitionthem to healthy adulthood, human
trafficking survivors and soforth.
From here to Stewart.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
And I feel like, when you say that it feels like what
that can happen here, and itdoes, certainly does yeah, and
the numbers are pretty high inFlorida, unfortunately.
I've had the pleasure oftouring some of your, some of
your facilities and it's justamazing what you guys do right
here, and Events like this makeit possible.
So tell us about the fashionshow.
Charles Bender (20:12):
Absolutely, and we have eight wonderful models
that are competing to raisemoney for our children and our
survivors, and it couldn't beanything cooler.
It's a peer-to-peer fundraiser,so it's very unique and they're
working really hard to make itsuccessful and Kai a model, and
I know you.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
You have your own hatline right, so tell us a
little bit how you got involvedin what you're doing and how you
raise money.
You know it all kind of cametogether very organically.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
I recently found out that I wasn't able to have
children and I was reallywanting to get involved in a
charity, and then they gave me acall and asked if I would be
involved in doing thepeer-to-peer champion and it
just all kind of came togetherand I'm very blessed to be a
part of it.
And so tell us how thecompetition part works.
So basically, there's eight ofus and they're all incredible
people and we're on the samepage and they're all incredible
people and we've actually allworked together to kind of help
(20:57):
each other.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
So it's kind of just a fun work together but let's
raise money, but let's have acompetition, and so like, can
people go to you a site for youto donate on your behalf?
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Yeah, if you go on the website, you can find all of
our names and you can click onwhoever you would like to donate
for and help raise money.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
It's all for good cause, so it really doesn't
matter who you choose Absolutely, and tell us a little bit about
where this money goes.
Is there a specific thing thatyou guys are really working
towards right now?
Charles Bender (21:24):
Yes, we have a comprehensive therapy and
counseling program for victimsof human trafficking and it's
super important cause.
They need that therapeuticintervention to lift them to the
next level to be successful.
So you know our budget.
There is close to $100,000 ayear for counseling and therapy.
The goal for this event is$100,000, we're about to hit it
any second now.
So because of them and whatthey've all done.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Unfortunately, there is a need for what you do, but
glad that you guys are able tohelp meet that need.
Charles Bender (21:55):
Continue of care that we have that place of hope
.
Why would you say that thathelps add to our success?
You know we joke around aboutthe bubbles of place, of what
are those things?
Cause it can be confusing oreven overwhelming for people
like that Place of hope.
I thought you were a volunteerguy.
I didn't know you were doingaffordable housing.
Wow, I didn't know you didmaternity care.
But how do you think thatactually helps us in the long
run?
Emily Pantelides (22:14):
Well, I will say, as a PR person, it's my
hardest challenge with place ofhope, because I want an easy
message.
I want people to just say wehelp homeless, abused, abandoned
kids, boom done.
But there's so much more toplace of hope and it is one of
the greatest parts.
But you know, doing my job, Iwant people to understand every
facet.
I say it's a treat with all ofthese branches and I want you to
understand all the branches,cause that's where your donation
(22:36):
goes, or that's where yourvolunteer time goes.
It's really from the beginningto the very end that you're
helping.
I mean, we talked about this.
You come in to the system, youcan stay here.
I mean you're not gettingkicked out at 18, you can stay.
You can get supported from thejob, from the career, from the
whatever it is.
I think that.
And then you add this humantrafficking element in it, which
(22:56):
is a whole nother ball gamethat you're dealing with that
people I don't even know if theyunderstand the depth of what
you're doing.
I mean, you talked about theservices we raise money for, but
you're going down a wholedifferent angle here when you're
helping these people.
You're giving them careers,you're giving them homes, you're
giving them, I mean, a wholenew life, a whole new lease on
life, and I just think it'sreally important that people
understand that it isn't justwe're not just talking about an
(23:17):
old school orphanage where youput people in and then you just
kind of kick them out when theyget 18.
This is something where you'renot only bringing the kids in,
you're in this beautiful cottagemodel which you know you have.
I know you've got toward thenation teaching people about
this cottage model, but I thinkthe idea is that you can start
there and you can end up andhave 100% graduation rate.
(23:38):
I mean that to me wasincredible when we did a story
on that.
We did a new story whenevergraduation is.
What is it?
I don't even know anymore.
But yeah, I mean, that issomething that I think is really
amazing that place of hope does.
You can take kids who had youknow could be written off and
made them graduate high school.
Then they're going to graduatecollege and then they're going
to get jobs and be thriving,productive members of Palm Beach
(24:00):
County.
So, even if you don't care atall about foster kids, you do
care about where you live.
You care about it being safe.
You care about when you go toPublix that the cashier or
whomever it is, has a purpose.
You do care about these things,even if you don't know they're
touching you every day.
Charles Bender (24:15):
So you know it's really good, really good.
You know it's interesting.
I've always said that you cansee the front page of the Palm
Beach Post or Miami Herald orwhatever.
It is a Sun Sentinel and theremight be some really egregious
abuse case where kids werebrought into the system, so
forth.
But and then that's usuallylike the latter part of the
story, where DCF has stepped in,department of Children and
(24:36):
Families, kids have been removedfrom that environment which was
horrendous.
This, that and the otherhappened there.
But then people think, oh, insome ways we move on and we go
back to work when we do this andend of the story, right,
because they're in foster care.
No, all you have to do isreally crack open the egg of
looking at how does foster carefunction throughout the nation
and not such great outcomes fora lot of these young people.
And so that's where the realstory comes in.
(24:58):
For Place of Hope, which is allthat you just described, how do
you think that using yourexpertise in PR over the years
has how's it different withPlace of Hope?
Or is it different Because one?
Maya Elias (25:08):
of the things I like about you guys.
Charles Bender (25:09):
Every Thursday we have this meeting with this
big dump truck that we have,because, thank God, we have all
this great stuff to talk about.
We back up the dump truck andunload it on you and your team,
but you have to use yourexpertise in that system of
communications and the outletsfor it, the effective ones, the
ones that really don't matter.
How do you go about that?
But is it different with Placeof Hope?
Emily Pantelides (25:28):
I mean it is.
You know, the truth is, what wehave to do is straddle the line
of you're our client.
We want to tell Place of Hopestory.
At the same time, I have abackground in news.
I know that I can't just go tothem and say Place of Hope is
the best, please put them on TV.
It's just not going to work.
So what we have to do is digand find a newsworthy story,
which I mean what's great aboutyou guys is there's no shortage
(25:49):
of that.
I mean, we are very lucky withyou where you know some other
places where, like oh gosh, no,you got to have this and things
have to be timely, things haveto be.
There's a whole slew of thingswe do to try to get something on
the news.
But I mean, I think with Placeof Hope, you guys are really
wonderful in the sense that youhave what we like to call
characters.
You have people who will comeout and actually champion for
(26:09):
Place of Hope, kids who havegrown up in Place of Hope and
who want to say how great it is.
They don't want to run away andgo somewhere else, which is
actually really wonderful.
But you know, the strategy isyou know I just go back to you
do so much.
My hardest thing is how do Imake sure that story we just put
on ABC where we were talkingabout domestic violence month
relates back to peopleunderstanding?
(26:29):
Well, you don't just help, youknow people who are involved in
domestic violence.
You have to do X, y and Z, andthat I mean in the blessing and
the curse, if you will, becauseit's a blessing that you have so
many wonderful things.
But you know, in my job,keeping things simple, we have
an acronym called KISS.
It says keep it simple, stupid.
So Place of Hope is so hard tokeep simple because of
(26:50):
everything you do.
So that's the challenge.
But you know, as anorganization, I think that what
we try really hard to do isevery Thursday we come and we're
like well, this is somethingthat we'll push for, this
mission, this will push for thisidea, and that's kind of how we
try to co-sehesively put a goodstrategy together for you guys.
Charles Bender (27:05):
Well, you guys are the best of the best at it.
You've got us all over theplace which is great because, as
a result, we do meet morepeople.
We remind those that are we'vebeen blessed over the years by
our donor base.
When I say donor base, it meansvolunteers, it means people
doing material support, drivesin their companies and churches
and temples and other groupsthat come around us, keeping
(27:26):
them with us over the years.
I think we've really shatteredthe statistics in that, because
they are truly part of the team.
They are truly ambassadors andso forth.
Tell me for you what's aheartwarming story?
Now, you might have justmentioned one a second ago,
because of.
Samson and Melita which theyare just incredible young people
, but what's a heartwarmingstory that you've covered and
(27:48):
learned about.
Emily Pantelides (27:48):
You know, one was probably before I was
thinking about this, before Iworked for you guys.
I was at, I think I was areporter.
I worked here for the CBSaffiliate and I did do a story
on Place of Hope.
I can't remember what it was,but there was a little boy and
it was here at the Paxton campusand he came up to me as I was
doing the story and he grabbedmy leg and he said what do you
(28:09):
do?
And I said I'm a reporter.
And he said someday I want tobe a reporter.
And I said well, you know whatyou can do, anything you can do,
you know whatever.
And we talked about that and Ileft and I was like you know
that kid, he's a somehow.
I know this is going to soundsilly, but it made things human
for me.
It made things real for me.
I was like it was just a smallthing, but he like touched my
leg and he cared about what Idid.
(28:30):
I was like he's a real personand this charity is helping a
real little kid.
I don't know what happened tohim.
I hope he didn't become areporter for his own sake.
Charles Bender (28:39):
Yeah, true.
Emily Pantelides (28:41):
I think that that was a moment, even before I
worked here, that I was likeokay, this is, this is different
.
And because you know, I did do alot of things before as a
volunteer, I helped animals,which I still think is certainly
important, but you helped theleast of them.
Right, and certainly animalsare important, but you know,
after you have children itchanges and I think to myself,
(29:01):
the least of them are trulychildren, who cannot speak for
themselves, who don't knowbetter.
You know, I was talking to afriend the other day about Place
of Hope and just really quickly, I said I don't know how you
break out of the cycle,truthfully, because I was
blessed, you know, I was raisedin a home with two parents and
they said you go to college andthese are the things you do and
they really kind of, but if youdon't know that, how do you get
(29:22):
out?
Right, I mean, I can'tconceptualize a kid who can
break free from you knowwhatever the abuse is or
whatever you know, and say Iwant something better.
Because how do they know whatbetter is?
And the only way they know isthrough Place of Hope.
Charles Bender (29:35):
Well, you're going to hear personally.
You're going to hear a story asa member of my CEO leadership
council at Place of Hope, emilyPanley.
We do have a young man who grewup at Place of Hope with
siblings and is going topartially talk to you guys as a
group, as another leadershipgroup obviously, show his level
of gratitude at the same time.
But yeah, it's pretty amazingstuff.
I know the feeling, by the waythat you just described, with
(29:56):
that young boy, obviously havingbeen here for so long.
But just the other day welaunched a leadership council of
our youth and former youths andthey were all.
They were those that could comefor the first meeting.
I think we had close to 10, youknow, on their own volition,
they came because they wanted tobe a part of it.
They're going to serve, goingforward, just like any other
advisory council, and justlisten to them tell their
(30:19):
stories with each other, becausethere were some that were here
way back and there's some thatare here now or they just were
here not long ago and they movedon.
Whatever it is, they didn't allknow each other, and just to
hear them tell their stories, Itell you what I had to wrap us
at the end and I could almostnot talk.
You know what I mean, becauseit's just, it's been a blessing
to be a part of allowing that totake place in their lives,
(30:40):
because it does take a degree ofdeliverance and healing in
order to even really start tolook forward like that.
So that's the special sauce, ifyou will.
Emily Pantelides (30:50):
Well, if I might add one other special
moment, before I actually evenworked for Place of Hope, I was
at some event in Boca don't knowwhat it was, but you were there
and I remember being like Ireally want to talk to him, but
I was so nervous and intimidatedto talk to you.
Not that you're intimidating inany way, but you just have such
a great reputation that you'vebuilt and I truly, truly believe
Place of Hope is because of youand I know you're not going to
(31:13):
toot your own horn, but foranybody who's listening, what
you have done for thisorganization is God working
through you, exactly what you'resupposed to be doing in your
life, and it is truly this placeand everything around is
because you helped build it.
I mean, obviously, throughGod's help, but you are
incredible and a great team ofambassadors that's for sure, I
know all of that.
But also I'm going to give you alittle credit, because it is
(31:34):
people follow, people that arecharismatic.
I mean, I wanted to talk to youlike there's something, there's
you're great at helping Placeof Hope, and you know it
wouldn't be where it is withoutyou.
That's the truth.
Thank you very much.
It's true, it's true.
Charles Bender (31:47):
What message would you convey to the
community?
That's really, you know the themost, the best message you
could say about why the Place ofHope mission is so critical.
What's the component of it,like, what are we doing to
address homelessness, abuse,poverty, how we go about it.
What would you convey?
Yeah, listen, you're ourmessage maker, so you know, gosh
, that's too much pressure.
I know it's a good one.
Emily Pantelides (32:07):
I'm not going to do it right if you say I'm
the message maker.
Charles Bender (32:09):
Well, I know you said that the faith based
component is a is a is a hugepart, and you're absolutely 100%
right.
And, by the way, that's not anexclusive thing, that's an
inclusive thing.
That's just who we are and whatwe do.
We serve everybody, but it'sit's why there's so much success
.
That's a big part of it, forsure.
Emily Pantelides (32:25):
I mean sure, if you wanted to distill it to a
faith based thing, I think youknow we are bringing children to
God.
We are bringing people to God,you know.
I believe that they're beingeducated about that.
There's something greater toyour life and I think you just
want to go to that granularlevel.
I think that, thank God, I havea faith, because all the bad
things that happen in life ifyou don't have a faith, if
(32:46):
you're not taught a faith byyour parents, and how are you
going to get through your life?
I always wonder that.
So if you want to just startthere, that is probably the
biggest thing you're doing.
I will just say that.
But on a bigger level, you aremaking our community a better
place and you are.
I mean you are helping.
There is nothing more importantthan helping kids Honestly, I
mean kids who cannot helpthemselves.
(33:07):
You are giving them a hand andyou are saying I will help you,
I will teach you, I will makeyou better and I will make our
community a better place to live.
I always say if you don't careabout charity, you don't care,
you don't have a heart, youdon't care about empathy,
whatever it is.
You do care that your communityis safe.
I mean, if you think about thatstatistics, they go to jail.
Why are they going to jail whenthey leave foster care?
Because they probably committeda crime which is probably in
(33:28):
your backyard.
Do you want your car stolen?
I mean, if you want torationalize it like that, you
are doing something that makesthe community better.
That's helping people thatdon't even know they're being
helped.
And then I mean, just thinkabout the children in general
who are being taught that theycan have a life, that they can
have a career, that they can dobetter.
I mean, there's nothing moreimportant in our life than
helping other people and doingthat every day and supporting
(33:51):
that and being a part of that inany small way.
You know we were put on thisearth to do something and if,
even if it's attending an event,if that's all you can do, even
if it's giving $1, you didsomething to change somebody
else's life.
Charles Bender (34:03):
We've had people that have given, who have just
dropped.
You know, a donation at thefront doesn't say I'm leaving
right now, I don't want to seeanything else, I don't want to
know anymore because I don'tthink I can handle what.
You know the realities of what'staking place and then, but I
know I want to be a part of itor I feel called to be a part of
it.
We've been blessed over theyears by people.
I love to say this because itreminds us that we had no hand
(34:23):
in it whatsoever, other than,you know, god providing it,
putting it on somebody's heart,but checks that come in from
around the nation that we, youknow, don't even know who the
people are.
Or you know someone includes usin their trust in the state and
will documents, and you knowwe're starting to see more and
more of that over the years now,where people just they do it
and they don't even tell usabout it and then all of a
sudden they pass on and you know, and then all of a sudden we
(34:47):
see this tremendous blessing ofa donation and it's just like
wow.
So thankfully for the thingsthat you do to communicate that
out for us, for the excellenceof our team and our core
leaderships been together almost, you know, over 20 years now.
You know, I think people wantto invest in things like that
and we're super grateful forthat.
That's for sure.
Emily Pantelides (35:04):
That's the other really quick thing I want
to say, because it's reallyimportant, I think, for me to
see where the dollars go.
It's very important, especiallyin this community and
especially with the manycharities I've worked with.
I put my mark of approval onones that I can see where the
money is going, because a lot oftimes there's not transparency
and place of hope is transparent.
Every dollar we raise.
(35:24):
At that event I know where it'sgoing and there's something
very special about that and thatis where you go.
You look for transparency in acharity and you look for where
the fundraising dollars go andit goes where you say it does.
So I am grateful for that.
Charles Bender (35:37):
Well and for people who this is important for
.
You know the campuses and thelocations and the programs are
right here where so many of uslive and that's important.
You know the story you gaveabout the young boy that you met
as a reporter.
You know it was right here inPalm Beach Gardens.
And so I had two very goodfriends and mentors and
investors in Place Opa.
The years, both have gone on toheaven at this point but Tim
(35:58):
Henry and John Thomas, twoleaders at Place Opa, they both
used to say just one look.
And their point was when you'retalking to somebody about Place
Opa, why it's special, that'sone thing and you can trust what
we're saying and so forth andyou can verify.
But to come and see it andexperience is the next thing,
and so that's what we hope youknow.
that's part of, again, why we dothis show.
Ambassadors for Hope, thank youfor being such an awesome guest
(36:20):
and bringing such energy to theshow today and we just
appreciate you.
And, like I said, the best PRcompany out there.
If anybody's looking for publicrelations need for their
company or their chair orwhatever it is, you got to take
a look at Emily Pannelli.
He's in our team because youguys do the best work out there.
So thank you Just doing hiswill.
Emily Pantelides (36:38):
Thanks for being a good friend, Thank you.
Thank you for having me, Thankyou.
I love that I associate my namewith an organization like Place
Opa.
It's really like backwards.
It's my honor, so thank you.
This is like it really is a joy.
I said when I started my firm,when I left news, I said God,
like my whole life was news,Like why are you taking me?
And I said just bless me forgood clients.
(36:58):
And I think he really did thatand so thank you for being one
of the best.
Charles Bender (37:02):
Awesome and thanks for listening today.
Everybody, thank you forlistening.
Please be sure to subscribe andshare with your friends so you
don't even miss a thing, and ifyou really gained value today,
please be sure to give us a fivestar review so, of course, we
can be put in front of morelisteners.
For details and show notesabout today's podcast and how
you can connect with and supportour guests, please go to
(37:23):
placeofhopecom, forward slashpodcast and please don't forget
to email us atpohpodcastatplaceofhopecom and,
for sure, follow us on socialmedia.
Ambassadors of hope placinghope in a child's future.
Hello and thank you for tuning in to Ambassadors
of Hope.
I'm your host, Charles Bender.
We're so excited that you'vetuned in to hear from local
South Florida leaders who aremaking a difference in our
community and region through ourcharity Place of Hope.
Ambassadors of Hope PlacingHope in a Child's Future.
Maya Elias (00:22):
Hello, I'm your producer, Maya Elias.
In this episode of Ambassadorsof Hope, Charles Bender
interviews Emily from PR.
They discuss the multifacetedwork of Place of Hope and the
impact it has on the community.
Emily highlights the importanceof Place of Hope's reputation
and the role of faith in guidingtheir mission.
They also discuss thesignificance of affordable
(00:44):
housing and the continuum ofcare provided by Place of Hope.
Emily shares heartwarmingstories and discusses the
success of the Runway of Hopeevent in North Palm Beach.
She also emphasizes thecritical mission of Place of
Hope and the transparency oftheir fundraising efforts.
Please continue listening onfor the rest of this episode,
all right.
Charles Bender (01:06):
Well, good morning and welcome to
Ambassadors of Hope, the podcastfor Place of Hope Today.
I'm pumped, I'm excited We'vegot Emily from PR, also my
good friend and who I say is thegreatest PR company around by
far, bringing tremendousattention to Place of Hope.
We know that the show is allabout highlighting ambassadors
(01:28):
of Place of Hope.
Where does that mean?
It's people that are involvedwith us doing great things every
level.
So many different ways to beinvolved and to help support the
kids and the young people wetake care of.
And, Emily, I look at you aslike our communications voice.
So thank you for being heretoday to talk a little bit and
so that people can learn moreabout you and what you do.
Emily Pantelides (01:46):
Thank you for having me.
It's not that exciting what Ido, but I'm so excited to talk
about what we do for Place ofHope because we represent all
sorts of businesses, werepresent hospitals, sports
teams and we have representedmany charities.
But I don't know if I'm allowedto say this, but I'm just going
to.
My favorite is Place of Hope,Not just because of the impact
that we've helped make, butbecause of the impact you guys
(02:06):
make on our community and I'mexcited to talk about that.
Charles Bender (02:09):
Well, it's so important.
Like people probably even know,ultimately, what is PR?
You know I've confused it withother things in the past and
marketing and this and that, butthe reality is you've created
this voice out in the communityfor Place of Hope and letting
people know, from the bigexciting things all the way down
to some of the smaller thingsthat we just together really
believe people should know aboutbecause of this wonderful
(02:29):
community we live in.
But you know, people don'trealize what goes on in these
kids lives.
Emily Pantelides (02:33):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot of charities in
our area and that's great.
We're a very charitable really,the organization and county.
But the thing is, I think whatPlace of Hope does and doing PR
for Place of Hope is essentiallyjust telling people your story
and making sure peopleunderstand there's lots of
charities that help children butthere's not a lot that are
rated number one in the entirenation by charity navigator.
(02:54):
So making sure people know that, and how many years in a row or
year after year?
Charles Bender (02:58):
I mean it's been , I think, five in a row for
that.
Emily Pantelides (03:00):
So I mean I think that's the number one
thing.
Actually, I tell people becauseI think that's you don't get to
say that that's so unique,charity number one, not just
here in our area, in the entirenation.
That's a message I think is soimportant All the branches of
Place of Hope, how we talkedabout earlier, that you do human
trafficking, which is somethingthat people don't think about.
Maybe they think that you justbring in foster kids, but I mean
(03:21):
just all these different armsand PR just lets people know all
the different arms of Place ofHope.
Charles Bender (03:25):
Yeah, there's no shortage of stories or good
things for you guys to magicallythrow out there.
The way that you do, what doyou think is the first?
So, even before you came onboard with us and you knew what
Place of Hope was doing and soforth which is part of why you
said yes and you may have justanswered the question Charity
Navigator might have somethingto do with it what's the thing
you think that really broughtyou in to inspire you to be a
part of the mission of Place ofHope?
Emily Pantelides (03:46):
I would say the reputation 100%.
Place of Hope's reputation,because I've worked in this
charitable world for a while nowthrough PR, through
volunteering, and unfortunatelythere are some unscrupulous
charities out there, or not eventhat, but people who really
want to help but they just don'thave a system of how to do it
correctly.
Place of Hope's reputation,before I even was involved, was
(04:09):
something I said.
That's someone I want to beinvolved with and quite frankly,
you know it trickles down fromthe top.
I say that all the time.
You are a great leader and Ithink people like to emulate
what you do and how you've doneit, because you've created this
charity out of nothing andturned it into a beacon of hope
for kids and for adults.
You know you've put so manyadults out there who are working
members of the community.
That is truly changing ourworld and I just wanted to be a
(04:32):
part of that.
Charles Bender (04:33):
Well, we've done that together.
As you know, it is a tremendousteam.
You're part of that team.
Maya.
Here is a part of the team.
We have a tremendous team ofpeople and that includes all the
ambassadors.
It's the people who sew intothis mission on a daily basis.
Whether they're on the payrollor not doesn't matter, but
that's been one of the beautifulthings we've been able to build
over time.
And then that team continues tobuild upon itself because it's
(04:53):
no longer just a few people thatare inviting people in its
larger group of people, invitingpeople in, and, as part of why
we're doing this show, is toshow people out there, some of
the great folks that areinvolved with us, and what they
do to make it all come togetherat the end of the day.
You came in knowing probablyyou know foster care, other
things.
You've mentioned that we dosome anti-human trafficking
(05:13):
things now and over the years.
What's one of your favoritethings you think about Place of
Hope that we do?
Emily Pantelides (05:19):
It's a good question because it's something
we focused on a lot in ourefforts to do PR for Place of
Hope, and that's honestly whatyou're doing with affordable
housing.
I think it's really importantthat what we're doing at Place
of Hope is not just you know, ofcourse you're going to take in
kids and younger kids, but whathappens when they turn 18?
What happens when they don'thave a place to go?
What's that stat?
(05:39):
I learned 60% of children infoster care who leave foster
care end up either in jail orpregnant within the first 12
months.
I mean, I heard that was one ofthe stats that moved me when I
came to Place of Hope.
I said how do you have a highschool graduation rate of 100%?
How does that happen?
I mean, those are the thingsthat I think our community needs
to know about that.
(05:59):
It's not just bringing kids inand keeping siblings together,
which I also think is a hugething that I love about Place of
Hope, but this affordablehousing, where you are the
largest builder and that's notthe right word, but I can't
think of it the builder ofaffordable housing in our area.
Creator.
Charles Bender (06:13):
Affordable transitional housing by far.
Right now.
We have more on the plate.
We probably have more that'salready open, but more coming
well in excess of any othergroup that's out there doing
this right now.
Again, thanks to our team andthe people that are out there
supporting us for sure.
Emily Pantelides (06:27):
Think about that need.
I mean, where we live, peoplecan't even afford to live here
and we're telling kids who don'thave the support system oh okay
, go out and find your job, goout and find a house, go out and
find an affordable apartment.
It does not happen.
So the fact that you cansupport them and say, okay,
you're turning 18, here's a goodplace for you to live, here's
where you're breaking the cycle,because so what happens is when
(06:49):
a kid can get out there andsupport themselves and afford
their housing, and their kids dothat, and then their kids do
that, that's done.
That's the whole point of it.
That's what I love.
Charles Bender (06:57):
Yeah, we want to break the cyclical nature of
poverty and everything that'stied to it and that's why our
model is one of yes, we're goingto provide you the affordable
transitional housing.
But the word transitional is sokey because it means it's not
forever.
It's not just affordablehousing, it's for such a time,
it's for, you know, has purposebehind it in terms of the time
frame and all the things thatyou're going to learn while
you're in our quote care.
(07:18):
You know, even over 18, or youmight be a single mom with
dependent children that reallyneeds that help, because if
you're otherwise trying to makerent payment in this community
and you're working two and threejobs and then you got childcare
, there's a good chance you'renever going to get ahead, and
that's just not okay, and that'swhy you know it started off as
well.
It'll be the kids that age outof foster care.
But, as you know, we soon afterlearned that wow there are just
(07:41):
a lot of young people out therethat are in desperate need of
stability so that they can evenlook forward at the things that
will make them successful.
But if you're mired up in themiddle of it, you're not even
going to get a chance to youknow, look forward in any way,
but if we can provide thestability together.
So I think you answered, youknow, my next question, which
was going to be what?
What do you think is one of themost impactful things we're out
(08:03):
there?
Emily Pantelides (08:03):
doing, but there's so many.
I mean the sibling group thingis big to me.
I have three kids and the ideathat one would have to go
somewhere and one would have togo in another direction, keeping
kids together as a family, Ithink that's huge and there's, I
mean I don't know that there'sany other organizations that
actively do that in our area.
Charles Bender (08:21):
You know there's .
I think everybody makes a goodeffort to if they're in the
space, because most peoplerecognize that that's what's
healthy for children.
It's just that we built ourmodel specifically for that.
We said, hey, if there's two andthree and four and five kids,
which oftentimes there are- youknow, nationally, statistically,
they will get separated, andit's interesting that even the
American Medical Associationwill tell you that that most
(08:43):
often creates more trauma forkids.
And so why would we do that?
Well, typically it's onlybecause there's not that many
people or places that can do it,that can keep them together
successfully, and so that's whyit's always been, from day one
of our founding, you know, oneof our core values, and the next
being, when it comes to fostercare, various levels of care, as
you know, we do maternity careand we provide, you know,
emergency shelter and so forth.
(09:05):
But you know, from day one, itwas how do we take these kids
who have bounced around thesystem, you know, sometimes no
fault of their own, sometimes bypicking up some behaviors that
you know aren't, you know, outthere to people don't want to,
you know, really be a part of ona daily basis or so forth.
And it's just sometimes kidsare therapeutically in advance
of where most people can handle.
But those have always been ourcore issues and you know, and
(09:26):
unfortunately they haven'tchanged, they haven't gone away,
it's just a lot of kids in needand that's why you're here and
that's, unfortunately, why weneed to keep supporting Place of
Hope and regionally too.
So we're excited to do a littlebit of that work up in the
steward area as well asaffordable transitional housing.
But you know we're a faithbased organization and how do
our values of who we are and thewhy we do what we do, how does
(09:47):
that line up with you personally?
Emily Pantelides (09:49):
Yeah, well, I think that's probably why Place
of Hope is so blessed, becausePlace of Hope is very forward
and just out there saying that.
You know, we are faith basedand I have been very active with
my company to say that we are afaith based company.
You know, when I startedPantoledis PR, I worked in news
for many years, which is notreally a place where you can
talk too much about your faith.
But I said when I leave newsI'm going to actively put John
(10:11):
316 on my website so people knowI'm going to make sure that I
try to align myself with peoplewho believe what I believe.
And you know, I just think thatHaving a faith is what guides
you throughout life and having afaith is what helps you.
When you see children hurtingand in pain, you can say, well,
there's a bigger plan, there'ssome reason for this and I think
(10:31):
that you know personally myfaith is what's guided me in
everything I do.
But I do 100% believe that Godbrought me to place of hope and
my firm to place of hope forsome specific purpose.
I even think it's probablybeyond what we're doing right
now.
I think there's probablysomething else, because I just
feel it so strongly, I think Itold you one time I walked into
your office and there was justthis thing there that really
(10:51):
struck me.
It was like this moment where Iwas like, oh, this is a God
thing, I mean, and everything iseverything is a God thing.
I don't really think it'scalled a coincidence.
I think it's called God put youthere for a reason, and
sometimes it's for you to learnthe lesson, or sometimes it's
for you to help, or sometimesit's for you to glean something
from someone else.
But I'm here for a reason, soyou're stuck with me for a while
.
Charles Bender (11:11):
I love it.
I love it.
You know, we feel the exactsame way after all these years
of seeing God provide.
You know, obviously there'sreputational things out there.
People hold place of hope inhigh regard and we're grateful
for that.
But we also divert immediatelyfrom the attention of that,
because we really do know that,at the end of the day, all good
things come from the Father,above the heavenly life he
provides.
(11:31):
And we've been in the toughtimes, like everybody else in 08
, you know, and we survived itand we survived it.
Well, you know, a little bit ofcuts here and there, but and
then every single year he hasjust continued to provide and
it's too easy to sit back andthink, well, I had something to
do with that, or I said, no, godprovides, he just brings in
people and he uses people andtheir talents and their
treasures and their time andit's.
It's pretty amazing to watch.
(11:52):
One of the things that probablyenergizes me the most to this
day, all these years later, isseeing people come in and give
of what they have to give and itjust all works together in
perfection at the end of the day, because we're able to care for
more and not have to worry, soto speak, of how it's going to
be provided for.
Emily Pantelides (12:10):
And like finding what your gift is from
God.
Like sometimes it's not thegift.
You know, I am very okaytalking in front of people.
Maybe that's a gift, but maybesomebody's gift is.
They can so really well andsome I don't know, I'm making
this up as a blanket.
I mean it doesn't have to bethis big, small thing.
These gifts that God gives you,you can use, you know, through
your job, you can use them everyday.
Or you can do something sosmall and make such a difference
(12:32):
, and that is what I see a placeof hope.
These people who are usinggifts that maybe they don't even
know is a gift from God to makethe charity better.
Charles Bender (12:40):
What are some of the outcomes you've seen in
your time working directly withPlace of Hope, on the team that
you're most proud of?
One of them I want you to speakabout, which is the event that
you just shared for us the otherday, but even maybe end with
that, but some of the thingsyou've been able to help make
happen from a communicationsperspective, a PR perspective,
that have just we all know, havejust sewn in to helping us go
(13:02):
to the next level.
Emily Pantelides (13:03):
That is so hard because there's so many.
I mean the strategy behind whatwe're doing for Place of Hope,
and each client has a differentstrategy, but for Place of Hope
I felt like saturate, saturate,over and over again.
Let people hear this message,let people know what Place of
Hope is, because you do so much,from the human trafficking to
the affordable transitionalhousing.
There's so much.
But let people hear, place ofHope, our strategy with you guys
(13:24):
was just saturate.
Get everywhere TV, radio, paper, glossy magazines, whatever it
is get you guys out there.
So, out of all of those stories,which one was the most
impactful?
I mean every single one,because I think every single one
leads to more awareness.
And maybe you didn't see it onthe six o'clock news that night,
but maybe you saw it on Placeof Hope's social media when they
replayed that story.
So, to say, a favorite,probably the most recent one we
(13:47):
did, is the one that sticks outin my mind because we had Samson
and Melita, who I heard theirstory kind of from the beginning
to the end.
I hadn't heard a story in suchdepth.
They came from Haiti, they wereabused and they came here and
he said something like you know,I didn't want love.
I didn't understand love, andPlace of Hope showed me love.
Charles Bender (14:05):
You said that he realized it wasn't the end of
the story either.
Did?
Emily Pantelides (14:08):
he stop here Did.
Charles Bender (14:10):
He knew he his own eggshell had to crack a
little bit because there was afuture for him.
Emily Pantelides (14:13):
And the best part of it is what we just
talked about, the breaking thecycle, because he has kids and
his sister, I mean, didn'tinterview together with ABC
locally and they said we nowlove our kids, we now treat our
kids not the way we were treatedwhen we grew up and I thought,
boom, that's it.
Because if you're abused I meanI don't know the statistics,
but you typically abuse yourkids you don't know any better.
(14:35):
You know you parent in a waythe way you were parented, and
so the fact that I heard them,it just really stuck with me.
You changed a generation.
Boom right there, becauseMelida has three kids.
I think he had what two?
Charles Bender (14:46):
Yeah, and he has beautiful kids too.
Oh, my goodness.
Emily Pantelides (14:49):
And it was just a great story and I thought
, I'm trying to think of whatthe reason was we did that story
.
Oh, because it was domesticviolence.
Charles Bender (14:54):
That's right.
Domestic violence Awarenessmonth last month it was.
Emily Pantelides (14:57):
I think it was last month.
Yeah, I think it was.
But I didn't also realizedomestic violence can be also.
It doesn't have to just behusband and wife, it can be a
mom, a dad.
That was something new for me.
So I'm not really answeringyour question because there were
so many good ones?
Charles Bender (15:11):
No, I think you have, but now you got to talk
about the event that you justshared, because the intricacies
of it are what's so importantand how the community just
jumped up behind it at a verylow cost to place of hope to
produce this Awesome event.
Emily Pantelides (15:26):
Well, it was fun.
I mean, this was just somethingthat was super fun and the
groundwork was already there.
So you basically do somethingvery similar in Boca where you
team up with Saks Fifth Avenueand you do a fashion show.
But we called ours runway forhope and it was basically we
would pick some prominent peoplein the community and they would
fundraise for us, and we kindof used a model where it's
peer-to-peer fundraising andeach person was just, you know,
(15:48):
having little cocktail partiesor asking friends, and the goal
was we wanted each person tohopefully hit at least ten
thousand dollars, which Ithought was a very lofty goal.
Right, I was like who's gonnahit that?
And almost all of them did,yeah, and and exceeded and
exceeded.
And I think what ended uphappening was, you know, people,
everybody who was touched bythat was like what are you
(16:08):
fundraising for?
So it spread the message, placeof hope, a little more.
And then, you know, theculmination was this beautiful
fashion show at Saks FifthAvenue, which is a little lap of
luxury.
Charles Bender (16:17):
Hundred and something.
Tickets sold as well.
Emily Pantelides (16:19):
Right a lot of new faces, a lot of new faces,
because you know, all thechampions brought people in
right.
But it was fun that we got towatch them walk the runway with
a real model and you know, Ijust think it was a wonderful
way to highlight what place ofhope is doing.
I always say it was my favoritethings together fashion, place
of hope and friends.
Charles Bender (16:39):
Hey, listen, maybe somebody's gonna be
listening to this too.
That could think, wait, I wantto be a part of that and we
could pick up some of our newChampions that through that, our
models for the, for the nightof and so forth, the
peer-to-peer fundraiser becausewe're doing it next year.
We are definitely doing it nextyear.
That was so successful andunique and, like you said, just
fun and also you know.
So everybody did a great joband our winner was Meg
(17:01):
Weinberger.
She raised I don't, it was like20,000 20 plus thousand dollars
and I think the thing I loveabout that the most is
peer-to-peer fundraising.
Is, you know, again, very lowcost of place.
Oh, and all new people comingin who are giving mainly because
of relationships yes, becausethey can look and see it's a
trustworthy charity and it's agreat cause, but then they're
doing it because of theirfriends and so forth as well.
(17:23):
So it was fun.
Thank you for doing it.
Emily Pantelides (17:25):
Oh my gosh, I had a blast.
I always say I've shared a lotof events, but I did very little
for this, because place of hopeis such a well-oiled machine.
You're the right people workinghere who care.
Again we go back to the faiththing, I think there's there's a
Bible verse that says work asif you're working for God.
I'm paraphrasing people herearen't working because they want
the paycheck or they wantwhatever.
I'm sure that helps too, butthey're working for a higher
(17:48):
power.
So all the people that who areplanning the events are like
putting the programs in acertain way because that's for
God.
It's not just you know,necessarily, and that's what I
think is the difference.
That's the blessing that placeof hope is no doubt about it.
Charles Bender (18:00):
I'm worth so grateful for that every single
day that we show up for Work, ifyou want to call it that.
But it's interesting to one ofthe things we did here.
We don't typically do this, butwe told all the champions and
supporters that the funds raisedthis time in this event we're
gonna go specifically to provideTherapeutic intervention for
(18:21):
human trafficking survivors inour care, because we do
something really unique.
We place them into our existingprograms, dependent upon their
age and what you know kind ofthe backgrounds where they could
fit, but then we bring thesewraparound services to them
strategic case management,targeted case management and
this level of therapy that'sdirected at what they've walked
through in life, which you knowthere's.
You have to find the rightcounselors for that, but we have
(18:43):
to pay for that market rate.
The system doesn't just say letme pay for that.
We have to go out there withreal money and pay for these
services because we're not gonnaget to the point you described
to some of the other kids livesof you know, making a full
circle and becoming successfulin life if they can't break
through and find some degree ofhealing.
Yeah, and then the future tofocus on as well, so.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Welcome back.
Eight local celebrities in afierce competition to raise
money to help abused, abandoned,neglected and trafficked
children, right here in our areaof the fundraising, campaign
will come to a head on therunway of hope, a fashion show
at Sacks of Palm Beach Gardensand all the proceeds will
benefit place of hope here totalk about the event place of
hope, ceo Charles Bender, thankyou for being with us, and model
(19:25):
Kai Lassen, welcome.
Thank you so much, excited tohear how you're involved.
But we want to start with youtalk a little bit about place of
hope for people who perhapsaren't very familiar, because I
know you Do so much for ourcommunity.
Well, it's a great team effort.
Charles Bender (19:36):
We're a comprehensive child and families
organization.
So we take care of abusedchildren who have to be removed
for imminent danger, go intofoster care.
Kids who age out of foster care, who have no where to otherwise
know where to go, transitionthem to healthy adulthood, human
trafficking survivors and soforth.
From here to Stewart.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
And I feel like, when you say that it feels like what
that can happen here, and itdoes, certainly does yeah, and
the numbers are pretty high inFlorida, unfortunately.
I've had the pleasure oftouring some of your, some of
your facilities and it's justamazing what you guys do right
here, and Events like this makeit possible.
So tell us about the fashionshow.
Charles Bender (20:12):
Absolutely, and we have eight wonderful models
that are competing to raisemoney for our children and our
survivors, and it couldn't beanything cooler.
It's a peer-to-peer fundraiser,so it's very unique and they're
working really hard to make itsuccessful and Kai a model, and
I know you.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
You have your own hatline right, so tell us a
little bit how you got involvedin what you're doing and how you
raise money.
You know it all kind of cametogether very organically.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
I recently found out that I wasn't able to have
children and I was reallywanting to get involved in a
charity, and then they gave me acall and asked if I would be
involved in doing thepeer-to-peer champion and it
just all kind of came togetherand I'm very blessed to be a
part of it.
And so tell us how thecompetition part works.
So basically, there's eight ofus and they're all incredible
people and we're on the samepage and they're all incredible
people and we've actually allworked together to kind of help
(20:57):
each other.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
So it's kind of just a fun work together but let's
raise money, but let's have acompetition, and so like, can
people go to you a site for youto donate on your behalf?
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Yeah, if you go on the website, you can find all of
our names and you can click onwhoever you would like to donate
for and help raise money.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
It's all for good cause, so it really doesn't
matter who you choose Absolutely, and tell us a little bit about
where this money goes.
Is there a specific thing thatyou guys are really working
towards right now?
Charles Bender (21:24):
Yes, we have a comprehensive therapy and
counseling program for victimsof human trafficking and it's
super important cause.
They need that therapeuticintervention to lift them to the
next level to be successful.
So you know our budget.
There is close to $100,000 ayear for counseling and therapy.
The goal for this event is$100,000, we're about to hit it
any second now.
So because of them and whatthey've all done.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Unfortunately, there is a need for what you do, but
glad that you guys are able tohelp meet that need.
Charles Bender (21:55):
Continue of care that we have that place of hope
.
Why would you say that thathelps add to our success?
You know we joke around aboutthe bubbles of place, of what
are those things?
Cause it can be confusing oreven overwhelming for people
like that Place of hope.
I thought you were a volunteerguy.
I didn't know you were doingaffordable housing.
Wow, I didn't know you didmaternity care.
But how do you think thatactually helps us in the long
run?
Emily Pantelides (22:14):
Well, I will say, as a PR person, it's my
hardest challenge with place ofhope, because I want an easy
message.
I want people to just say wehelp homeless, abused, abandoned
kids, boom done.
But there's so much more toplace of hope and it is one of
the greatest parts.
But you know, doing my job, Iwant people to understand every
facet.
I say it's a treat with all ofthese branches and I want you to
understand all the branches,cause that's where your donation
(22:36):
goes, or that's where yourvolunteer time goes.
It's really from the beginningto the very end that you're
helping.
I mean, we talked about this.
You come in to the system, youcan stay here.
I mean you're not gettingkicked out at 18, you can stay.
You can get supported from thejob, from the career, from the
whatever it is.
I think that.
And then you add this humantrafficking element in it, which
(22:56):
is a whole nother ball gamethat you're dealing with that
people I don't even know if theyunderstand the depth of what
you're doing.
I mean, you talked about theservices we raise money for, but
you're going down a wholedifferent angle here when you're
helping these people.
You're giving them careers,you're giving them homes, you're
giving them, I mean, a wholenew life, a whole new lease on
life, and I just think it'sreally important that people
understand that it isn't justwe're not just talking about an
(23:17):
old school orphanage where youput people in and then you just
kind of kick them out when theyget 18.
This is something where you'renot only bringing the kids in,
you're in this beautiful cottagemodel which you know you have.
I know you've got toward thenation teaching people about
this cottage model, but I thinkthe idea is that you can start
there and you can end up andhave 100% graduation rate.
(23:38):
I mean that to me wasincredible when we did a story
on that.
We did a new story whenevergraduation is.
What is it?
I don't even know anymore.
But yeah, I mean, that issomething that I think is really
amazing that place of hope does.
You can take kids who had youknow could be written off and
made them graduate high school.
Then they're going to graduatecollege and then they're going
to get jobs and be thriving,productive members of Palm Beach
(24:00):
County.
So, even if you don't care atall about foster kids, you do
care about where you live.
You care about it being safe.
You care about when you go toPublix that the cashier or
whomever it is, has a purpose.
You do care about these things,even if you don't know they're
touching you every day.
Charles Bender (24:15):
So you know it's really good, really good.
You know it's interesting.
I've always said that you cansee the front page of the Palm
Beach Post or Miami Herald orwhatever.
It is a Sun Sentinel and theremight be some really egregious
abuse case where kids werebrought into the system, so
forth.
But and then that's usuallylike the latter part of the
story, where DCF has stepped in,department of Children and
(24:36):
Families, kids have been removedfrom that environment which was
horrendous.
This, that and the otherhappened there.
But then people think, oh, insome ways we move on and we go
back to work when we do this andend of the story, right,
because they're in foster care.
No, all you have to do isreally crack open the egg of
looking at how does foster carefunction throughout the nation
and not such great outcomes fora lot of these young people.
And so that's where the realstory comes in.
(24:58):
For Place of Hope, which is allthat you just described, how do
you think that using yourexpertise in PR over the years
has how's it different withPlace of Hope?
Or is it different Because one?
Maya Elias (25:08):
of the things I like about you guys.
Charles Bender (25:09):
Every Thursday we have this meeting with this
big dump truck that we have,because, thank God, we have all
this great stuff to talk about.
We back up the dump truck andunload it on you and your team,
but you have to use yourexpertise in that system of
communications and the outletsfor it, the effective ones, the
ones that really don't matter.
How do you go about that?
But is it different with Placeof Hope?
Emily Pantelides (25:28):
I mean it is.
You know, the truth is, what wehave to do is straddle the line
of you're our client.
We want to tell Place of Hopestory.
At the same time, I have abackground in news.
I know that I can't just go tothem and say Place of Hope is
the best, please put them on TV.
It's just not going to work.
So what we have to do is digand find a newsworthy story,
which I mean what's great aboutyou guys is there's no shortage
(25:49):
of that.
I mean, we are very lucky withyou where you know some other
places where, like oh gosh, no,you got to have this and things
have to be timely, things haveto be.
There's a whole slew of thingswe do to try to get something on
the news.
But I mean, I think with Placeof Hope, you guys are really
wonderful in the sense that youhave what we like to call
characters.
You have people who will comeout and actually champion for
(26:09):
Place of Hope, kids who havegrown up in Place of Hope and
who want to say how great it is.
They don't want to run away andgo somewhere else, which is
actually really wonderful.
But you know, the strategy isyou know I just go back to you
do so much.
My hardest thing is how do Imake sure that story we just put
on ABC where we were talkingabout domestic violence month
relates back to peopleunderstanding?
(26:29):
Well, you don't just help, youknow people who are involved in
domestic violence.
You have to do X, y and Z, andthat I mean in the blessing and
the curse, if you will, becauseit's a blessing that you have so
many wonderful things.
But you know, in my job,keeping things simple, we have
an acronym called KISS.
It says keep it simple, stupid.
So Place of Hope is so hard tokeep simple because of
(26:50):
everything you do.
So that's the challenge.
But you know, as anorganization, I think that what
we try really hard to do isevery Thursday we come and we're
like well, this is somethingthat we'll push for, this
mission, this will push for thisidea, and that's kind of how we
try to co-sehesively put a goodstrategy together for you guys.
Charles Bender (27:05):
Well, you guys are the best of the best at it.
You've got us all over theplace which is great because, as
a result, we do meet morepeople.
We remind those that are we'vebeen blessed over the years by
our donor base.
When I say donor base, it meansvolunteers, it means people
doing material support, drivesin their companies and churches
and temples and other groupsthat come around us, keeping
(27:26):
them with us over the years.
I think we've really shatteredthe statistics in that, because
they are truly part of the team.
They are truly ambassadors andso forth.
Tell me for you what's aheartwarming story?
Now, you might have justmentioned one a second ago,
because of.
Samson and Melita which theyare just incredible young people
, but what's a heartwarmingstory that you've covered and
(27:48):
learned about.
Emily Pantelides (27:48):
You know, one was probably before I was
thinking about this, before Iworked for you guys.
I was at, I think I was areporter.
I worked here for the CBSaffiliate and I did do a story
on Place of Hope.
I can't remember what it was,but there was a little boy and
it was here at the Paxton campusand he came up to me as I was
doing the story and he grabbedmy leg and he said what do you
(28:09):
do?
And I said I'm a reporter.
And he said someday I want tobe a reporter.
And I said well, you know whatyou can do, anything you can do,
you know whatever.
And we talked about that and Ileft and I was like you know
that kid, he's a somehow.
I know this is going to soundsilly, but it made things human
for me.
It made things real for me.
I was like it was just a smallthing, but he like touched my
leg and he cared about what Idid.
(28:30):
I was like he's a real personand this charity is helping a
real little kid.
I don't know what happened tohim.
I hope he didn't become areporter for his own sake.
Charles Bender (28:39):
Yeah, true.
Emily Pantelides (28:41):
I think that that was a moment, even before I
worked here, that I was likeokay, this is, this is different
.
And because you know, I did do alot of things before as a
volunteer, I helped animals,which I still think is certainly
important, but you helped theleast of them.
Right, and certainly animalsare important, but you know,
after you have children itchanges and I think to myself,
(29:01):
the least of them are trulychildren, who cannot speak for
themselves, who don't knowbetter.
You know, I was talking to afriend the other day about Place
of Hope and just really quickly, I said I don't know how you
break out of the cycle,truthfully, because I was
blessed, you know, I was raisedin a home with two parents and
they said you go to college andthese are the things you do and
they really kind of, but if youdon't know that, how do you get
(29:22):
out?
Right, I mean, I can'tconceptualize a kid who can
break free from you knowwhatever the abuse is or
whatever you know, and say Iwant something better.
Because how do they know whatbetter is?
And the only way they know isthrough Place of Hope.
Charles Bender (29:35):
Well, you're going to hear personally.
You're going to hear a story asa member of my CEO leadership
council at Place of Hope, emilyPanley.
We do have a young man who grewup at Place of Hope with
siblings and is going topartially talk to you guys as a
group, as another leadershipgroup obviously, show his level
of gratitude at the same time.
But yeah, it's pretty amazingstuff.
I know the feeling, by the waythat you just described, with
(29:56):
that young boy, obviously havingbeen here for so long.
But just the other day welaunched a leadership council of
our youth and former youths andthey were all.
They were those that could comefor the first meeting.
I think we had close to 10, youknow, on their own volition,
they came because they wanted tobe a part of it.
They're going to serve, goingforward, just like any other
advisory council, and justlisten to them tell their
(30:19):
stories with each other, becausethere were some that were here
way back and there's some thatare here now or they just were
here not long ago and they movedon.
Whatever it is, they didn't allknow each other, and just to
hear them tell their stories, Itell you what I had to wrap us
at the end and I could almostnot talk.
You know what I mean, becauseit's just, it's been a blessing
to be a part of allowing that totake place in their lives,
(30:40):
because it does take a degree ofdeliverance and healing in
order to even really start tolook forward like that.
So that's the special sauce, ifyou will.
Emily Pantelides (30:50):
Well, if I might add one other special
moment, before I actually evenworked for Place of Hope, I was
at some event in Boca don't knowwhat it was, but you were there
and I remember being like Ireally want to talk to him, but
I was so nervous and intimidatedto talk to you.
Not that you're intimidating inany way, but you just have such
a great reputation that you'vebuilt and I truly, truly believe
Place of Hope is because of youand I know you're not going to
(31:13):
toot your own horn, but foranybody who's listening, what
you have done for thisorganization is God working
through you, exactly what you'resupposed to be doing in your
life, and it is truly this placeand everything around is
because you helped build it.
I mean, obviously, throughGod's help, but you are
incredible and a great team ofambassadors that's for sure, I
know all of that.
But also I'm going to give you alittle credit, because it is
(31:34):
people follow, people that arecharismatic.
I mean, I wanted to talk to youlike there's something, there's
you're great at helping Placeof Hope, and you know it
wouldn't be where it is withoutyou.
That's the truth.
Thank you very much.
It's true, it's true.
Charles Bender (31:47):
What message would you convey to the
community?
That's really, you know the themost, the best message you
could say about why the Place ofHope mission is so critical.
What's the component of it,like, what are we doing to
address homelessness, abuse,poverty, how we go about it.
What would you convey?
Yeah, listen, you're ourmessage maker, so you know, gosh
, that's too much pressure.
I know it's a good one.
Emily Pantelides (32:07):
I'm not going to do it right if you say I'm
the message maker.
Charles Bender (32:09):
Well, I know you said that the faith based
component is a is a is a hugepart, and you're absolutely 100%
right.
And, by the way, that's not anexclusive thing, that's an
inclusive thing.
That's just who we are and whatwe do.
We serve everybody, but it'sit's why there's so much success
.
That's a big part of it, forsure.
Emily Pantelides (32:25):
I mean sure, if you wanted to distill it to a
faith based thing, I think youknow we are bringing children to
God.
We are bringing people to God,you know.
I believe that they're beingeducated about that.
There's something greater toyour life and I think you just
want to go to that granularlevel.
I think that, thank God, I havea faith, because all the bad
things that happen in life ifyou don't have a faith, if
(32:46):
you're not taught a faith byyour parents, and how are you
going to get through your life?
I always wonder that.
So if you want to just startthere, that is probably the
biggest thing you're doing.
I will just say that.
But on a bigger level, you aremaking our community a better
place and you are.
I mean you are helping.
There is nothing more importantthan helping kids Honestly, I
mean kids who cannot helpthemselves.
(33:07):
You are giving them a hand andyou are saying I will help you,
I will teach you, I will makeyou better and I will make our
community a better place to live.
I always say if you don't careabout charity, you don't care,
you don't have a heart, youdon't care about empathy,
whatever it is.
You do care that your communityis safe.
I mean, if you think about thatstatistics, they go to jail.
Why are they going to jail whenthey leave foster care?
Because they probably committeda crime which is probably in
(33:28):
your backyard.
Do you want your car stolen?
I mean, if you want torationalize it like that, you
are doing something that makesthe community better.
That's helping people thatdon't even know they're being
helped.
And then I mean, just thinkabout the children in general
who are being taught that theycan have a life, that they can
have a career, that they can dobetter.
I mean, there's nothing moreimportant in our life than
helping other people and doingthat every day and supporting
(33:51):
that and being a part of that inany small way.
You know we were put on thisearth to do something and if,
even if it's attending an event,if that's all you can do, even
if it's giving $1, you didsomething to change somebody
else's life.
Charles Bender (34:03):
We've had people that have given, who have just
dropped.
You know, a donation at thefront doesn't say I'm leaving
right now, I don't want to seeanything else, I don't want to
know anymore because I don'tthink I can handle what.
You know the realities of what'staking place and then, but I
know I want to be a part of itor I feel called to be a part of
it.
We've been blessed over theyears by people.
I love to say this because itreminds us that we had no hand
(34:23):
in it whatsoever, other than,you know, god providing it,
putting it on somebody's heart,but checks that come in from
around the nation that we, youknow, don't even know who the
people are.
Or you know someone includes usin their trust in the state and
will documents, and you knowwe're starting to see more and
more of that over the years now,where people just they do it
and they don't even tell usabout it and then all of a
sudden they pass on and you know, and then all of a sudden we
(34:47):
see this tremendous blessing ofa donation and it's just like
wow.
So thankfully for the thingsthat you do to communicate that
out for us, for the excellenceof our team and our core
leaderships been together almost, you know, over 20 years now.
You know, I think people wantto invest in things like that
and we're super grateful forthat.
That's for sure.
Emily Pantelides (35:04):
That's the other really quick thing I want
to say, because it's reallyimportant, I think, for me to
see where the dollars go.
It's very important, especiallyin this community and
especially with the manycharities I've worked with.
I put my mark of approval onones that I can see where the
money is going, because a lot oftimes there's not transparency
and place of hope is transparent.
Every dollar we raise.
(35:24):
At that event I know where it'sgoing and there's something
very special about that and thatis where you go.
You look for transparency in acharity and you look for where
the fundraising dollars go andit goes where you say it does.
So I am grateful for that.
Charles Bender (35:37):
Well and for people who this is important for
.
You know the campuses and thelocations and the programs are
right here where so many of uslive and that's important.
You know the story you gaveabout the young boy that you met
as a reporter.
You know it was right here inPalm Beach Gardens.
And so I had two very goodfriends and mentors and
investors in Place Opa.
The years, both have gone on toheaven at this point but Tim
(35:58):
Henry and John Thomas, twoleaders at Place Opa, they both
used to say just one look.
And their point was when you'retalking to somebody about Place
Opa, why it's special, that'sone thing and you can trust what
we're saying and so forth andyou can verify.
But to come and see it andexperience is the next thing,
and so that's what we hope youknow.
that's part of, again, why we dothis show.
Ambassadors for Hope, thank youfor being such an awesome guest
(36:20):
and bringing such energy to theshow today and we just
appreciate you.
And, like I said, the best PRcompany out there.
If anybody's looking for publicrelations need for their
company or their chair orwhatever it is, you got to take
a look at Emily Pannelli.
He's in our team because youguys do the best work out there.
So thank you Just doing hiswill.
Emily Pantelides (36:38):
Thanks for being a good friend, Thank you.
Thank you for having me, Thankyou.
I love that I associate my namewith an organization like Place
Opa.
It's really like backwards.
It's my honor, so thank you.
This is like it really is a joy.
I said when I started my firm,when I left news, I said God,
like my whole life was news,Like why are you taking me?
And I said just bless me forgood clients.
(36:58):
And I think he really did thatand so thank you for being one
of the best.
Charles Bender (37:02):
Awesome and thanks for listening today.
Everybody, thank you forlistening.
Please be sure to subscribe andshare with your friends so you
don't even miss a thing, and ifyou really gained value today,
please be sure to give us a fivestar review so, of course, we
can be put in front of morelisteners.
For details and show notesabout today's podcast and how
you can connect with and supportour guests, please go to
(37:23):
placeofhopecom, forward slashpodcast and please don't forget
to email us atpohpodcastatplaceofhopecom and,
for sure, follow us on socialmedia.
Ambassadors of hope placinghope in a child's future.
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