September 17, 2025 • 48 mins
As communities across America grapple with tension and uncertainty, Montgomery County's 11th annual Friendship Picnic offers a powerful antidote to division. Nestled under the canopy of trees at Wheaton Regional Park, residents from all walks of life gather to celebrate what connects us rather than what separates us.
"Whatever happens around us here in Montgomery County, we're going to make it work across our various diverse lines, across cultural lines, across religious lines," declares Jim Stowe, Director of the Office of Human Rights and driving force behind the event. His vision of Dr. King's "beloved community" isn't just rhetoric—it's being lived out through food, music, and genuine human connection.
The magic of the picnic lies in its simplicity: "Zero drama, 100% fun, 100% food, 100% music." Children form instant friendships at the reptile petting zoo while adults sample unfamiliar cuisines and engage in conversations that go beyond superficial greetings. County Council members, public safety officials, and department representatives mingle with residents, breaking down barriers between government and the people it serves.
When asked why friendship matters, responses range from the profound to the practical. "Friendship is the family we choose for ourselves," reflects a visitor from New York. "We learn together and we grow together." A young boy offers the simplest truth: "Without friendship we would all be lonely."
In these divided times, the Friendship Picnic stands as a testament to what's possible when we focus on our shared humanity. As County Councilmember Andrew Friedson puts it, the event shows "hope at a time of despair" and demonstrates "what belonging and community really looks like."
Join us next September for this annual tradition that reminds us all: in Montgomery County, we're making community work, one friendship at a time.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I am so glad to see everyone here today.
It was more important this yearthan maybe in any year that
we've had thus far.
Our community is so like everycommunity across this country
right now very tense on edge,just really uncertain about
tomorrow their safety, justreally uncertain about tomorrow,
(00:31):
their safety, all those thingsthat have a way of somehow or
another dividing our communityand making people feel less
involved and less included inthe well-being of this community
.
So this year was reallyimportant and so I'm so pleased
that all of our departmentswithin county government are why
this is taking place this year,departments within county
government, of why this istaking place this year.
They helped pull together theresources, helped to also
support financially thisimportant event.
(00:51):
And I'm just so, so pleased tobe working with the kind of
people who are directors of thevarious departments within
county government in MontgomeryCounty and our leader, mark
Elridge, and also, obviously,our president of county council,
kate Stewart.
All their support because it'sjust critically important that
people understand that whateverhappens around us here in
(01:14):
Montgomery County, we're goingto make it work.
We're going to make it workacross our various diverse lines
, across cultural lines, acrossreligious lines.
We are going to make this work.
This thing called againmulti-community, multi-cultural
community and living in what DrKing said a long time ago was
the beloved community.
(01:34):
It's not just a myth, it's notjust a dream.
It can be a reality if we allbegin to pull ourselves in ways
that have us work together onthe problem to in fact confront
us.
Our differences will always bethere.
Let's focus on what makes usthe community that we are.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
You just heard from the Director of the Office of
Human Rights, Jim Stowe, sharingthe true meaning of why it's so
important to have days like theFriendship Picnic here in
Wheaton, Maryland.
What to have days like thefriendship picnic here in
Wheaton, Maryland.
Speaker 6 (02:09):
What Good day and welcome to what's Happening MoCo
, an authentic unscriptedpodcast from your Montgomery
County government.
Now here's your host, derrickKenney.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Jim, tell us a little bit about how long you've been
doing the Fincher Picnic andwhere it's located.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
This is our 11th year We've been here in Wheaton
Regional Park, a wonderful park,the Montgomery Park System, who
are one of our partners as amatter of fact, our biggest
partner is Montgomery Parks andthey've been just so helpful in
making this happen.
And then we've got all of theother partners around who make
this thing happen, so helpful inmaking this happen, and then we
got all of the other partnersaround who make this thing
happen, Our recreationdepartment as well, big Big,
again a friend of this event aswell, and so and could not do
(02:52):
any of this, obviously, unlesswe had in place folks with our
OMB Office of Management andBudget, shared Services to make
this all happen, and so we'revery thankful for all those
folks.
But we're in this park, and thepark provides a unique
opportunity for all of us to seethe beauty of what is and what
exists here in our county thebeautiful trees and those around
(03:13):
to celebrate.
But more importantly, I thinkwhat it does for us is gives us
the kind of canopy to be able tosee all this in one place.
Yeah, yeah and so no drama, nodrama.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
No drama Zero, drama Zero drama 100% fun, 100% food,
100% music, zero dramaactivities, all kinds of things
going on.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We've got a number of different kinds of foods that
people have and take advantageof.
We've got cabal food, we havekosher food, We've got again
traditional food here as well.
And so the idea is that try alittle bit of that, try things
that you are not familiar with,find somebody to have a
conversation with and maybe bein a position then to have that
person then share something withpeople maybe you don't know and
(03:54):
, by the way, also share withthem.
And so this is what this is allabout Again rides for the
children, all that kind ofactivities for them as well.
Speaker 11 (04:05):
We've got a petting zoo.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
We have a petting zoo that allows them to get up and
close in person with animals andso forth, and particularly this
petting zoo is a reptilepetting zoo.
And so folks get a chance tosee another side of that as well
, and so, again, we're excitedto be here, and so I hope folks
who have never been here beforeknow that in September we'll
always do this event, hopefullygoing forward, but you need to
(04:28):
be here and celebrate with us.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
All right, and it's 12 pm to 5 pm in September every
year.
That is correct, all right,fantastic, and Jim, we're asking
all people here today why isfriendship important here today.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Why is friendship important?
For the very reason.
I don't know about you, but youmay have what?
Maybe two or three friends yourentire life, yeah, and you have
a lot of acquaintances andpeople that you know and so
forth and so on.
But friends, when you have afriend, that means that that
person is there for you up anddown, in and out, good times and
(05:07):
bad.
And not only is that the case,but you also have a chance to be
able to be yourself.
With him or her you can trulybe who you are because that's
your friend.
And so the whole concept of thefriendship people want to bring
that concept to this kind ofsetting so you can develop the
kinds of relationships thatallow you to move beyond just a
(05:27):
casual hello and a casualgoodbye.
But remember what happens inbetween the discussion and the
conversation around so manythings that affect you and him
and her that need to be justtalked about and talked about
freely.
And so friendship means achance to have that kind of
intimate conversation, up closeand personal, in safe spaces.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
All right, and that's the friend of Montgomery County
, maryland Director Jim Stowe,officer of Human Rights, the key
organizer of the FriendshipPicnic in Montgomery County,
maryland.
Thanks, jim, good day.
Hope you're having mocha.
We're still live at theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic here in Wheaton, maryland, and we were joined by Council
Member Will Jawando.
(06:10):
Council Vice President WillJawando.
How are you today, sir?
I'm doing great.
It's good to be out, here We'vegot great weather.
It's fantastic weather, andthat's not the subject today.
The subject today, the questionI want to ask you, is why is
this Friendship Picnicsignificant?
The question I want to ask youis.
Speaker 12 (06:25):
Why is this friendship picnic significant?
Well, right now more than everand this is obviously an annual
tradition for us here we need tobe highlighting what binds us
together, not what pulls usapart, and there's so much
division right now.
You know, I just came fromchurch service with my family
and one of the reminders wasthat when you peel back our skin
and everything else, we're allthe same and we're called
(06:48):
whatever your faith traditionwhere you have none at all to
take care of one another and tobe in connection with one
another, and that starts withfriendship.
That's the basis of anyrelationship and we need to
remind ourselves about that,especially when there's people
at all levels of government andacross our country who are
trying to pull us apart.
Friendship is really kind ofthe base building block caring
about your neighbor and tryingto help them achieve what they
(07:12):
want to achieve in their lives.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
Wonderful, wonderful.
What are some of the thingsthat you find the most
compelling about today'sactivities?
Speaker 12 (07:20):
Well, I love, I love the kids, I love all the kids
that are out here.
You know you can, you canliterally, if you look over
there, like you can see thesekids being friends or making
friends or becoming friends fastfriends, yeah, you know, and uh
, that's one of the beautifulthings about children is that
they you know they'll meetsomeone first time.
They're like my best friend, youknow, yeah I have a
(07:40):
six-year-old and we need toremember that and uh, so I I
love.
And then, obviously, theresources.
Part of friendship, too, islike caring for people.
So you've got all thesecommunity resources, including
government resources, to makesure we help our friends with
what they need, and a lot ofpeople are struggling right now,
and that's an important part offriendship too.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
All right, wonderful.
Is there anything else you liketo leave with the people that
may be listening, any type ofresources or URLs that people
might be able to connectdirectly with you?
Speaker 12 (08:10):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I'm an at-large councilmember.
I'd like to help everybody.
You can go to Montgomery CountyMD dot gov and then click on
County Council and Will Jawando,or you can just Google Will
Jawando, j-a-w-a-n-d-o and allmy information and emails will
come up.
Happy to be of assistance tofolks.
And happy friendship day.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
All right, and thanks for stopping by today.
And that's what's happening inMoCo.
All right, thanks, man.
All right, thank you, all right, good day.
Good day, welcome to what'shappening in MoCo.
We're still live at theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic in Wheaton, maryland, andwe are joined by Councilmember
Andrew Friedson.
How are you today, sir?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I am doing great.
Speaker 5 (08:45):
All right, all right.
We've been talking quite a bittoday with residents and
officials and others about theimportance of the Friendship
Picnic.
Why do you find it importantthat we have events like the
Friendship Picnic?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Well, I don't think there is a better example of how
our community comes together,how we celebrate the breadth of
our diversity in MontgomeryCounty, than the Friendship
Picnic.
It is always an amazingopportunity for all of our
community-based partners to cometogether, for our community to
come together to be a light at atime of darkness, to show hope
(09:22):
at a time of despair, to makesure that we have a place to
channel what belonging and whatcommunity really looks like and
can be.
That's who we are in MontgomeryCounty, and we need to provide
venues and opportunities to dothat, now more than ever all
right, and one question, onelast question for you.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
We've been asking all the residents and all the
guests today why is friendshipimportant.
Why is friendship important?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Well, friendship is about coming together.
It's about understandingdifferences, appreciating one
another for who you are, for whowe are, and friendship is
really at the heart of whatcommunity is.
Community is really hard todefine, but you know it when you
see it, you can feel it whenyou're in it, and that's really
what friendship is about as well.
(10:10):
We don't have to be each other,but we need to understand each
other, we need to become friendswith one another, and that's
what the friendship picnic, tome, is all about.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Hey, well, thank you so much, Councilman McRee, for
being here today.
We look forward to great thingsas this council continues to
gear up for this next fiscalyear.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Take care Absolutely.
Let's celebrate who we are inMontgomery County and live our
values out loud.
Thanks so much.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
All right, thank you.
Good day, welcome to what'sHappening in MoCo.
We're still here live at theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic, and we are joined bynone other than Council Member
Sidney Katz, who's also thechair of the Public Safety
Committee.
And why is it, first of all,how?
Speaker 14 (10:48):
are you today, sir?
We're doing fine and, thankgoodness, the weather is fine
and it looks like everybodywho's here is doing just fine,
thank goodness, Indeed indeed.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
What is significant about today's event?
What's significant about theFriendship Picnic for Montgomery
County?
Speaker 14 (11:05):
You know I was just talking to.
I saw some friends just now andwe were chatting about the same
topic Montgomery County.
You know I was just talking to.
I saw some friends just now andwe were chatting about the same
topic.
Montgomery County is so very,very fortunate in so many ways.
We are truly blessed andfriendship is an important part
of that.
I've always said that acommunity is a family and we
need to make certain that ourfamily and at times, families
(11:28):
have discussions, but we alwayshave to remain friends.
We always have to appreciateeach other's viewpoints and to
and to discuss things in a in a,in a, in a right manner.
And, of course, this country isgoing through some terrible
times.
We need to make certain thatfriendship is the most important
thing that we do.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Wonderful, wonderful.
I think you really hit the nailon the head there and I know
you don't have a lot of timeleft, but it's very important to
people in Montgomery Countywant to know what is Council
Member Katz having for lunchtoday.
Speaker 14 (12:01):
What am I having for lunch today?
Well, I haven't even thoughtabout that, and of course, my
wife, if she's listening.
I'm having nothing but healthythings.
I'm not going to have any icecream, but for those of you who
might know me know that thatmight not be correct.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
There you are.
Well, thank you, sir, forstopping by today.
A great piece of stuff, thanks,it's always good seeing you.
All right, thank you, take care, good day, welcome to what's Up
, mimoco, we are still live atthe Montgomery County Friendship
Picnic.
We are talking to County PublicSafety Fire Rescue Chief
Smedley.
How are you today, sir?
Speaker 10 (12:37):
I'm doing well.
Thank you for asking.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
All right, Thank you for being here.
And one thing I'm asking ourofficials, you included why is
this friendship picnic importantfor the residents of the county
or the county as a whole?
Speaker 10 (12:53):
Well, you know, anytime you can get into the
community and build a bond and arelationship with the community
before the community resourcesare needed.
It's imperative.
It's imperative.
We want to know them and wewant them to know us, so that we
can understand what their needsare and make sure that we're
meeting those needs based offour mission.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Wonderful, wonderful.
And one thing I've been askingwell before.
I ask that I want to make surethat everyone knows if they
listen to the podcast, they knowyou, of course, already of what
you represent or who youcommand as fire and rescue chief
and what some of the things arethat you provide services for
residents of county?
Speaker 10 (13:38):
yeah, thank you for asking that.
So your montgomery county fireand rescue service is one of the
largest combination system firesystems in in the united states
.
We are consisted of not onlyour paid firefighters and
paramedics, but also volunteerfirefighters and paramedics,
along with a support staff ofcivilians, so we're just under
(13:59):
3,000 strong.
We have 37 fire stationscommunity-based fire stations
and we have 19 local fire andrescue departments embedded into
that department.
So a lot of what we do istraditional to the fire service.
We respond to emergency calls.
That could be anything fromaccidents on the roadway to
(14:20):
fires, rescues, and the majorityof what we do is emergency
medical services response.
What we do is emergency medicalservices response.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
And one thing I'm asking everyone today our
residents, children, our moms,dads, public officials why is
friendship important?
Speaker 10 (14:38):
Yeah, so you know, we in Montgomery County have a
very diverse community Just shyof 1.1 million people, and we
all come with different needs,desires and wants and we just
really want to.
Friendship is one of thosediverse communities, very
(14:59):
diverse, and we want to makesure that we are understanding
the culture and, again, justmaking sure that we're able to
have a conversation with themand build a relationship so we
can help each other and keepthem safe in their living space.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
Fantastic.
Well, thank you for talkingabout today.
Hope you have a chance toactually get out and enjoy the
diverse food and music andactivities here for family and
friends alike.
Thank you for having me Allright.
Thank you All right, good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco.
We are still here live at theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic, and we are with noneother than Jodi Finkelstein of
(15:36):
the Montgomery County Commissionfor Women.
How are you today, ma'am?
Speaker 16 (15:39):
So happy to be here at the 11th Annual Friendship
Picnic.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
All right, all right.
Thanks for having you.
Thanks for being here today andfor some people that are as
familiar with the MontgomeryCounty Commission for Women,
what is the Montgomery CountyCommission for Women and why is
it important for our residentsto be aware?
Speaker 16 (15:56):
Great question.
Thank you so much.
The Montgomery CountyCommission for Women was formed
by charter in Montgomery Countyin 1972 in order to ensure equal
rights for women and girls onthe local, state and national
level and of support theirfamilies.
Of course, we support women andtheir families through three
ways information and referral,advocacy, and a lot of education
(16:20):
and outreach.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
Fantastic, fantastic.
And since we're here at theFriendship Picnic today, why is
the Friendship Picnic importantand why the Friendship Picnic
important and why is friendship?
Speaker 16 (16:30):
important.
Oh, what a great question.
Friendship is so important onso many levels and in particular
now in this environment that wehave In America.
There seems to be so muchpolarization based on what you
believe or how you look, and Ithink that the Office of Human
(16:52):
Rights and the Committee on HateViolence tries to bring people
together.
And that's why this friendshipis so important, because it
brings people together from avariety of different backgrounds
, ages, races, religions, andthat's what community is all
about it's being able to get tosomebody that you don't know, to
not only build a friendship,but help bring together
(17:17):
differences.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Wonderful, wonderful.
Thank you so much for stoppingby today.
And what are you lookingforward to today in terms of
food?
There are all these nice foodplaces to have.
Have you even thought about it?
Speaker 16 (17:27):
Well, now that you said that I am smelling
everything from barbecue tovegetarian items, I'm looking
forward to everything.
Sometimes, my eyes are biggerthan my stomach.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
Right, Same here.
Same here, except my stomach isway bigger than my eyes.
And that's what's happening,MoCo.
Thank you, Jodi.
Speaker 16 (17:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Good day and welcome to what's HappeningCo.
We are still here live from theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic in Wheaton, Maryland, andwe have the sheriff, the county
sheriff.
Speaker 11 (17:56):
That's correct.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Maxwell Wee.
That's correct, maxwell Wee.
How are you today, sir?
I'm doing well, thank you, allright, what can you tell us
about being county sheriff thatyou'd like most residents to
know?
Speaker 11 (18:08):
Oh, absolutely Well.
First off, thanks for thequestion, Thanks for being out
here today.
It's beautiful weather, so manyof our residents don't exactly
know what the sheriff's officedoes, but we're actually the
oldest law enforcement agency inMontgomery County and today
we're the law enforcement arm ofthe court system.
So everything we do has someconnection to the court system
ensuring that our court staffand our circuit court is safe.
(18:29):
We actually also help run ourFamily Justice Center.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Oh, wow, okay, All right, now you're here at the
Friendship Picnic.
Why is the Friendship Picnicand other community gatherings
like this important?
Speaker 11 (18:39):
So it's incredibly important.
You know, over the years we'refive plus years outside the
pandemic there was a lot thatoccurred with police
accountability and it's veryimportant for me as our sheriff
to ensure we're connecting withour community, we're letting
folks know that we're here toserve them, especially in some
of our confusing times we'reseeing today.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Wow, thank you.
And I'm asking everyone I talkto today why is friendship
important?
Speaker 11 (19:06):
Well, by definition, we're all in this.
Together we're a community yeahand I will tell you.
Um, I've been working for thesheriff's office.
I'm in my 32nd year and I'vebeen a huge supporter of this
event, in particular over thelast several years, and I really
want all of our residents toknow we're all part of a greater
community wonderful, wonderful.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
Thank you for the service of yourself and your
fellow officers of the Serve andProtect the County.
One last thing before you gowhat are some of the numbers
that you'd like people to use inthe county when it's not an
emergency?
We know about 911, but there'sother ways to reach out to the
Sheriff's Office when you needhelp, but it's not as urgent as
(19:48):
an emergency emergency.
Speaker 11 (19:50):
That's correct.
That's correct.
So again, as you stated, mostpeople know 9-1-1, but the
non-emergency line to our countypolice partners is 301-279-8000
.
So if they have a police matterthat's not critical or an
emergency, that's the bestnumber to call.
If they have any questions forthe Sheriff's Office, they can
always call 240-777-7000 andthey'll be able to reach one of
(20:16):
our team members.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Hey, well, thank you, Sheriff Wee, for being here
today and thank you for servingour county.
Speaker 9 (20:21):
Absolutely have a great day down.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
You as well.
Okay, thank you, good day andwelcome back to what's Happening
.
Moco, we're still recordinglive at Montgomery County's
Friendship Picnic and we'rejoined by Bishop Paul Walker,
who is the chair of the PoliceAccountability Board.
Welcome to the podcast andwelcome to this great event
today.
It's a beautiful day.
Speaker 18 (20:43):
Awesome.
It is such a beautiful day, somuch excitement in the air and
love and camaraderie I mean it'sexciting out here right All the
good food.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Right, right, yeah, and one of the things I always
like to try to help people do isunderstand what some of the
resources in the county or someof the actions or activities
that are happening behind thescenes to help benefit residents
.
So let's talk about the PoliceAccountability Board and what's
its function and why residentsshould be aware of it.
Speaker 18 (21:12):
One of the main functions, of course, with the
Police Accountability Board.
Of course it's a group ofcitizens that sit on the board
and basically we have beenmandated by the state and
through the county to work inpartnership and camaraderie with
all of the LEAs here inMontgomery County to an effort
where we are pushing toward, ofcourse, better communications
(21:35):
and understanding between thepolice department and the
citizens of Montgomery County.
One of the things that we do iswe hear complaints,
unfortunately, of misconductwith the police and we take
those cases and we move thosecomplaints and we move them up
to the Administrative ChargingCommittee.
That committee then, of course,reviews the cases that have
(21:59):
been searched by the InternalAffairs Department.
They do all of theinvestigations.
They review those cases,recommend whether or not how we
move forward with any type ofadministration charge.
So the Police AccountabilityBoard is a board that reaches
(22:19):
out to the community.
That's about having thecommunity know and understand
that there is a place that theycan come and that there is a
place that is can come and thatthere is a place that is set up
to be a voice for the communityin reference to policing.
Now, it's not all the timenegative issues.
Sometimes there's a lot ofcelebratory issues.
(22:40):
There's a lot of good thingsgoing on in the police
department in the outreachcommunity, and they call it the
engagement community department.
We reach out with them, as wellas some of the other people
that you see here, even set upwith the table that we reach out
to and communicate withWonderful, wonderful.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
Thank you for sharing that information.
And now let's share a littlebit of good other information as
well about this picnic.
What do you like the most aboutthis friendship picnic?
That is an annual picnic.
Speaker 18 (23:06):
that's happened every year for the last 13 years
or so, except for the year ofCOVID and one other year.
Listen, you know we I have anonprofit organization outside
of the PAB.
My nonprofit organizationfocuses on food insecurity,
clothing and healthcare.
So we've actually been, and mywife was the former president of
the Friends who's out therecrowd waving us wife was the
(23:28):
former president of the Friends.
She was the former president ofthe Friends group, which is a
part of the Human RightsDepartment, so we've been here,
for the last, I say, five years.
We usually have a tent set upand so we come here.
The energy is always high.
The work that is done here,with just the camaraderie again
(23:48):
and the love that you feel here,is exciting.
Of course.
Director Jim Stowe and his teamdo a great job with putting
this together.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
All right, Hashtag power couple for the bishop and
his wife.
What can I ask you in terms offriendship?
Why is friendship important?
I'm asking everyone here today.
Why is friendship important?
I'm asking everyone here today.
Why is friendship here?
Speaker 18 (24:10):
important.
You know you can't havefellowship without friendship
and I know you asked me earlierbehind the scene not to give you
the semi-circle I mean not interms of quality but in terms of
length so I give you the shortversion of it Okay.
But you know you can't havefellowship and partnership with
(24:31):
good friendship, right?
I think friendship opens you upto honesty, purity,
transparency and organicness.
And if we're going to be friends.
I think it sets a tone and anatmosphere that says there's an
element of trust, atmospherethat says there's an element of
trust and if that element oftrust is there, then there's
nothing we can't do together asa team.
(24:54):
You know, because we do knowthat there's a writing that says
two is always better than one.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
Oh yeah, all right.
Well, thank you so much forstopping by and sharing your
wisdom with us today.
Appreciate it, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Thanks, Bishop.
Good day, welcome to what'sHappening, moco, we are still
live at the Montgomery CountyFriendship Picnic, and it
wouldn't be a friendship picnicwithout your good friends from
the Office of ConsumerProtection, michelle Escobar.
Michelle Escobar, michelleEscobar, and she's the host of a
(25:27):
podcast called ConsumerConnection.
All right, all right, tell us alittle bit about your podcast
and where can people hear it.
Speaker 20 (25:34):
So our podcast is on every other month.
We have one coming up inOctober and people can hear it
on our website.
People can get connected onSpotify, just where you hear
your different podcasts.
It's about consumer.
We want to educate, inform andempower people to take action
(25:58):
when they have a consumer issueand we want to just get
important information out therefor them.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
And this is an era of scams, and this is an era of
scams.
It's significant because scamshave now become an option for
some of the ill doers of society, as terms of bad jobs, to do.
How are you guys empoweringpeople?
What are some of the topicsthat you've covered?
That helps people prepare forscams?
Speaker 20 (26:26):
Yeah, so we're always giving tips.
We have done shows on the barscam scams Bitcoins, I'm sorry,
gold bar scams.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Gold bar scams okay.
Speaker 20 (26:43):
Bitcoins, financial.
Be wise with your finances.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Be wise with your finances.
Speaker 20 (26:48):
So that is important for us, because scams are so
out there.
Now with the technology, peopleare getting texts.
Don't click on any of thoselinks that are being sent to you
.
Be, careful what informationyou're giving out.
So we've done a variety ofshows but those tips are very
(27:11):
important for everyone.
And we're talking aboutfriendship today.
We're talking about keepingeach other, holding each other
up and helping each other out,because sometimes people, when
they're being scammed, they'rein a vulnerable state and they
feel cheated, and so we want tohold our people up and say our
county up and say hey, you havehelp.
(27:32):
We want you to have thisinformation, and if you have
information, then you feelempowered to take action.
Speaker 5 (27:37):
Right, fantastic, fantastic.
And now we're asking everyonetoday, not only our good friends
from Consumer Protection, butevery resident we talk to today,
why is friendship important?
Speaker 20 (27:48):
friendship important .
Yeah, it's important because,because we're a community and
and community we count on eachother for information, we count
on each other for support, andthat's one thing that we, as
consumer protection, as theoffice of consumer protection,
we want to be out here for thecommunity, for our friends.
We want people to know thatthey have someone they can trust
(28:10):
to come in and talk to and say,hey, something's going on with
me, because that's what friendsare for.
Something's going on with meand I need help.
Can you help me?
Speaker 5 (28:19):
Wow, that's what friends are for.
That's right, all right, so youheard it live here from the
Friendship Picnic.
Thank you, chelle, so much forstopping by.
Thank you for all that you do,and could you drop, uh, what is
your um your website address andwhat's your handle on social?
Speaker 20 (28:34):
britney at mcg ocp.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
There you go mcg at mcg ocp.
Find them on instagram.
They have a great instagramaccount and facebook and all
those things.
Thank you for all that you'redoing to help protect us from
scams and other ill-doers outthere trying to take advantage
of the residents, the fineresidents of Montgomery County,
maryland.
Yes, thank you so much.
All right, take care.
All right, all right, good day,welcome to what's Happening.
(29:01):
Moco, we are here at theFriendship Picnic in Wheaton,
maryland, and we are talking tonone other than the.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Lantisha Colvin.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
With the Office of Human Rights.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
And what is it that you do with the Office of Human
Rights?
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I'm a human rights investigator.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
All right, and you guys are one of the key
organizers of this event today.
What?
Speaker 4 (29:26):
is important about friendship or this friendship
picnic.
What's important to me aboutfriendship?
I think it's just love andloyalty having someone to depend
on and be there for you whenyou need them.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
Wonderful, wonderful and, from the perspective of the
Office of Human Rights, why areyou guys hosting this picnic
this year and I guess, in thepast years?
Speaker 4 (29:45):
To bring the community together and let them
know that you know we're herefor each other and if they need
something, we have them.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Fantastic.
And lastly, if someone has ahuman rights concern, how do
they get in touch with you guys?
Speaker 4 (29:57):
They can come into our office.
We're located at 21 MerlinAvenue, rockville, merlin, 20850
, suite 330.
We're right above the RockvilleLibrary.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
Fantastic.
Thank you for taking time totalk to me today all right, all
right you too.
Thank you, good day and welcometo what's happening, moco.
We are here at the MontgomeryCounty Friendship Picnic,
wheaton, maryland, and we aresitting with Chris from 311, a
part of the county's technologyenterprise business solutions
(30:28):
department.
Chris, how are you today, sir?
I'm doing well.
Thank you, derek.
All right, what is 311?
What is MC311?
Speaker 19 (30:37):
Sure, to make it very simple for everyone, 311 is
a simple, easy, accessible wayfor persons here in Montgomery
County to get access toMontgomery County government
services.
All right.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
All right.
And why is it important thatyou are here today at the
Friendship Picnic?
Speaker 19 (30:59):
To help fulfill that mission that I just stated, and
to do it in person so peoplecan understand.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
not only is 311 something you can reach via the
phone, online, but also inperson All right and what are
some of the best practices thatyou want residents to be aware
of when they call 311?
Speaker 19 (31:20):
First is for everyone to understand that our
agents are friendly,professional and are here to
help you, and so when you call311, they're going to guide you
through those services, they'regoing to help you understand
what it is the county canprovide for you and also they're
going to help you meet yourexpectations.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
All right, all right.
And now one last thing,specific to this friendship
picnic.
What is important aboutfriendship?
That we have this friendshippicnic, what is important about
friendship?
Speaker 19 (31:49):
The main thing I would say that is important
about friendship is buildingtrust.
It's people understanding thatfriendship and their services
that they're being offered bythe county.
It's all about trust.
Persons have to know that theycan trust that the county is
hearing them and we're here tohelp them meet their needs.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
All right, chris.
Well, thank you for being heretoday.
Look forward to talking to youmore in the near future.
Thank you, Derek, appreciate itAll right.
All right, all right, nowforward to talking to you more
in the near future.
Thank you, derek, appreciate itAll right.
All right, now we are talkingto.
What's your name, young man?
Abraham, abraham.
Abraham, do you know what afriend is?
Yeah, yeah, why is it important?
Why are friends important?
(32:28):
Because, it's okay.
Speaker 13 (32:34):
Because friends can help you.
That's right, because friendscan help you.
Speaker 5 (32:36):
That's right, friends can help you.
That's a great answer, abraham.
And what else can friends do?
Speaker 13 (32:44):
Play with you.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
That's right, friends can play with you.
Thank you so much.
Alright, good day.
Welcome to Los Angeles, mimoco.
We're still here in Wheaton,maryland, at the Friendship
Picnic and we're talking toStephanie, who is from Wheaton,
maryland.
Stephanie, how are you today?
Good Doing good so far.
All right, Stephanie.
We're here at the FriendshipPicnic and we're asking
residents one question why isfriendship important?
Speaker 7 (33:08):
I feel like the most important aspect is just being
there for each other and havingthose moments of fun, but then
also being able to, like, sharethe sad moments.
You're not always by yourself.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Yeah, all right, all right.
And what do you think about thepicnic?
You having a good time.
What do you like most about thepicnic this year?
Speaker 7 (33:29):
Honestly, the weather , like the weather, feels really
good right now.
And then there's a lot like I'mtalking new people and doing
this is kind of like a littlebit of a push, so I like it.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
All right, fantastic.
Well, thank you for talking tous today and have a great day,
thank you.
All right, thanks, good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco.
We are here at the FriendshipPicnic and we're talking to
Patricia Arnold from OnlyMaryland.
How are you?
Patricia, I'm very good, thankyou, I'm glad to be here, thank
you, thank you, all right, allright, it's a beautiful day here
(33:58):
today, and what are you lookingforward to at the Friendship
Picnic?
Speaker 15 (34:02):
To get to meet some of the community.
You know the people, theirculture, you know just to get
involved more with the communityand, you know, maybe somehow
assist them in a way.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
Wow, wonderful, wonderful.
And we're asking all residentstoday one question, and that
question is why is friendshipimportant?
Speaker 15 (34:30):
Because you can be of assistance to the people, you
can make more friends, you canlook out for the community, help
you know, input your ideas onit to make it better, that sort
of thing.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
Wonderful, wonderful Well.
Thank you for stopping by andtalking to me today.
Greatly appreciate it.
Thank you, all right, good day.
We're back with Liz from SilverSpring.
Wonderful Well, thank you forstopping by and talking to me
today.
Greatly appreciate it.
Thank you All right, good day.
We're back with Liz from.
Speaker 21 (35:00):
Silver Spring, maryland.
Liz, how are you today?
I'm doing really great, allright, All right.
Speaker 5 (35:02):
Move up just a little bit to the microphone.
All right, sure, thank you somuch.
Don't be afraid of it, it willnot bite you.
I've already gave it a hardtalking to when it knows better.
All right, how do you enjoy thepicnic today?
Thus far, Really wonderful.
Speaker 22 (35:15):
I talked to someone from the Office of Human Rights
and some of the initiatives theydo Really vibes with what I'm
all about All right, Very cool,Cool.
Speaker 5 (35:21):
We say that's what you're all about.
What are some of the thingsthat you're?
Speaker 22 (35:24):
you know that you find Making sure that everyone
has a safe space to bethemselves, and celebrating
differences as opposed to seeingit as something that divides us
.
Speaker 5 (35:32):
Yeah, fantastic, yeah , all right, and one question
we're asking all residents todayis one question.
Speaker 22 (35:42):
Why is friendship important?
Especially nowadays where, inmy opinion, this is the most
polarized we've been as a nation, it's so important to have a
great network and community ofsupport, have a great network
and community of support.
So friendship is so importantin terms of making sure that
we're all safe to share ourideas, our feelings, our
thoughts, even in our darkestspaces, unapologetically.
(36:03):
There's so much pressure to bethis way or do this something by
you know, whatever age you are,or even pressures that we
internalize in terms of what youlook like what gender you are
you know what sexual orientationyou are, that you need to be a
certain way.
So friends, true friends, arethe ones who show up for you and
can not only actively listen,but empathize and put themselves
in your shoes to even just bethere, you know, not just when
(36:25):
you need the most, but to bethat, um, that sounding board
Right.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
Wonderful.
Well, thank you so much foryour time.
Let's stop by the what'sHappening?
Moco podcast.
Speaker 23 (36:33):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
Good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco.
We're still here at theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic and we're here withanother of our young friends,
adrian from Germantown, maryland.
Speaker 13 (36:49):
Friendship is important because you can trust
people and the people who youtrust, you can really get along
with them.
Speaker 5 (37:00):
All right, thank you, adrian from Germantown,
maryland.
He just told us why friendshipis important.
Live at the Montgomery CountyFriendship Picnic High five,
buddy.
All right, thank you.
Good job, good job, good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco.
We're still here live at theFriendship Picnic.
We're here with our good friend, ashley from Clarksburg,
(37:21):
maryland, and she's withReadyCare.
How are you today, ashley?
I'm good, and you?
I'm pretty good.
I'm pretty good.
What do you like so far?
What's the thing you like themost about ReadyCare?
Speaker 21 (37:31):
So what I like the most about ReadyCare is that
we're able to come out to eventslike these and provide free
vaccinations.
Today, we're offering free flushots.
Speaker 5 (37:41):
Oh wow, Free flu shots.
Speaker 21 (37:43):
Get yours if you haven't got it.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
I want to say for the record people that listen to
the podcast we love free, welove free resources, we love
free 99 without the 99.
So that's great.
Yeah, it's just free.
No 99, all right, no 99, okay.
And that is that only for thefriendship picnic or there are
other times and opportunitiesthat people can get a free
vaccination for the flu shot sowe work in partnership with
(38:06):
black physicians and health carenetwork.
Speaker 21 (38:09):
We're independent business, but with them we come
to a lot of free events thatthey host.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
Okay.
Speaker 21 (38:15):
They offer different clinics around the county where
they do vision screenings,hearing screenings, they give
glasses and at those events wedo COVID and flu vaccinations
and sometimes blood pressurechecks.
Speaker 5 (38:28):
Oh wow, all for free, all for free.
That's wonderful.
That's wonderful that you'rehere today.
So you're here today supporting, in partnership with the Black
Physicians and HealthcareNetwork and providing free, free
, free, free resources to countyresidents.
And I've seen that table beingquite busy, so people are
getting.
How have you been doing overthere?
Speaker 21 (38:45):
Yeah, I think we're up to about 50 flu shots today
50 free flu shots today, wow.
Okay, six months and older.
Speaker 5 (38:51):
All right, that's wonderful, wonderful, all right.
So my my next question is thishave you had an opportunity to
have any fun here at theFranchard Picnic?
Speaker 21 (38:59):
I got some good food .
Speaker 5 (39:00):
All right, what'd you have?
Speaker 21 (39:01):
Jersey, mike's.
Speaker 5 (39:02):
Jersey Mike's.
Congrats to Jersey Mike's forbeing here today as a vendor.
I had a nice tuna fish sandwichfrom Jersey Mike's.
It was delicious Me too.
Oh, you did, okay, great, allright.
All right, it was pretty good,all right.
Now there's one question I'vebeen asking everyone today okay,
without a doubt, everyone.
Why is friendship important?
Speaker 21 (39:20):
friendship is vital to your health and well-being.
Right we all need friends, yeahfriends can make life great,
sometimes not so great, butthose aren't friends, right.
But I think friends and themeaning of this picnic and
friendship is fellowship, loveand finding common ground to
enjoy each other.
Speaker 5 (39:37):
Fantastic.
Thank you, what a wonderfulanswer, and thank you to you and
ReadyCare and the BlackPhysicians and Healthcare
Network for being here andsupporting us today.
Thank you.
Speaker 21 (39:46):
Thanks for having us .
Speaker 5 (39:47):
All right.
Take care.
Wonderful Uh-oh.
Good day, welcome.
Uh-oh, what is this?
That is Good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco, we are still here, live at
Montgomery County FriendshipPickpick in Wheaton, maryland,
wheaton Regional Park, and we'rehere with my good friend, tony
from Rockville, maryland.
He's with the Committee AgainstHate and Violence.
(40:07):
Tony, how are you today, sirGood?
You today, sir, good, good.
All right, tony told you yourname's not just tony, you have a
longer name.
You want to?
Speaker 9 (40:18):
share your official title and your name with the
organization?
Yeah, absolutely love to.
Um.
My name is tony chia.
I'm with the committee againsthate and violence.
I'm one of the voting members.
I'm in this committee.
We are mostly volunteers and wework together to advise the
county on different hate crimerelated tasks.
We obviously have thiswonderful friendship picnic,
which is our flagship event, butthank you for being here and
(40:42):
supporting all right and thankwell.
Speaker 5 (40:45):
It's been a pleasure being here today and we've had
so much fun engaging withdifferent people residents,
officials, elected officials andpeople that serve the residents
of the county.
But also we had a chance tohave a great sandwich, you know,
for free.
We had opportunity, we wereoffered free vaccination, so
there's a lot of resources andfun here to be had for everyone
(41:07):
everyone today and thank you forall the good work that you've
done in the Office of HumanRights to make sure that we had
the day this year, and this'sthe 11th annual Friendship
Picnic.
Why is it important that wehave this Friendship Picnic
today?
Speaker 9 (41:19):
Well, aside from the food that you know, obviously,
we all love food, that's rightand it was really important for
us to have it this year, becauseit's been a year of turbulence,
a lot of things happeningthroughout the US and in the
county and we just want to getpeople together enjoy good food.
Obviously, we have a lot ofdifferent partners coming here
to provide different services.
(41:40):
Like you mentioned, you can geta flu shot here.
You can meet people, differentpeople from the county, from the
police, from the healthdepartment, from everywhere.
Speaker 5 (41:47):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 9 (41:48):
Yeah, that's why we're here.
Speaker 5 (41:49):
All right, and there's one question I've been
asking everyone today,regardless of what they do or
how they're affiliated with thepicnic why is friendship
important?
Speaker 9 (42:01):
Tough question.
I mean, it's important becausewe live in a community together
and, at the end of the day, weare part of the neighborhood, we
are part of this community andfriendship is what brings us
together.
So that's why we have thispicnic.
Speaker 5 (42:16):
Wonderful.
Well, tony, thank you for beinghere today and thank you for
all you did to help make thispicnic happen.
Have a great day, thank you,all right, all right, good day
and welcome to what's Happening,moco.
We are back live from theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic and we're talking toTrina from Burtonsville and
we're asking her the onequestion, the only question that
matters today why is friendshipimportant?
Speaker 24 (42:37):
Friendship is important because it builds
trust and loyalty, and it'salways good knowing that you
have someone in your cornerthrough thick and thin.
That's why friendship isimportant.
Speaker 5 (42:51):
Fantastic.
Thank you so much for your time.
Really appreciate you beinghere today.
Trina, trina, trina, 3, 2, 1,good day.
We're back with what'sHappening, moco, and we're here
talking to Young Angel fromSilver Spring, maryland, and
we're asking him the samequestion we're asking everyone
(43:12):
today why is friendshipimportant?
Speaker 13 (43:15):
Friendship is important because without
friendship we would all belonely, and it's something good
to have friends and friendshipis very nice and we all need
friendship Fantastic, fantastic.
Speaker 5 (43:34):
And why are friends important?
Speaker 13 (43:36):
Friends are important because they help you
not be lonely, and they alwayshelp you.
Speaker 5 (43:42):
Fantastic.
Thank you for your time today.
Really appreciate it.
All right, good day and we'restill live.
We're still recording live atthe Friendship Picnic in Wheaton
, maryland, and we have thepleasure of sitting with Valerie
Moore from Bethesda, maryland,and she's going to answer our
(44:03):
question of the day, which iswhy is friendship important?
Speaker 13 (44:09):
Because it shows love and respect and kindness.
Speaker 23 (44:12):
As everyone can hear , I have cohorts here, I have a
team here.
Hi Hi Hi.
Mom, this is David.
I speak to my, but they'reactually three friends.
They're almost like they'rebrother friends, but they really
exemplify why ship is important.
It gives us opportunity to showthe importance of love and
(44:32):
kindness.
Right, we get to celebrate theways in which we're all more
alike than we are different, andwe get to practice why our
differences are also importantto helping us grow, learn and
evolve as people.
Speaker 5 (44:45):
Fantastic, great answer.
Thank you so much.
Are you guys having fun at thepicnic today?
Speaker 23 (44:49):
We are having an amazing time and it's great.
We're excited.
We came last year.
We were excited to see theywere doing it again this year.
As you can hear behind me, thekiddos are chomping at the bit.
They've already planned whatthey're gonna do today.
We're already looking for theice cream tickets.
So, yeah, we're excited.
Speaker 5 (45:07):
Thank you so much for stopping by today.
Speaker 23 (45:09):
Thank you, take care , good day.
Speaker 5 (45:10):
Welcome to what's Happening, MoCo.
And today we are askingresidents at the Montgomery
County Friendship Picnic onequestion, one question only.
Well, in some cases anadditional question why is
friendship important?
Why is friendship important?
Speaker 3 (45:29):
Friendship is important to me because
sometimes friends become, get ina bind and when they're in a
bind they need people aroundthem to support them and to lift
them.
Some people don't have that andsome people don't have family
to do that for them either.
But sometimes friendships thereare friendships that are not
(45:50):
that great for you.
They will bring you downbecause some people are
miserable and miserable peoplelove company.
So you got to be careful withfriendship.
But when you do find someonewho is really close to you, who
lifts you, keep that friendship.
Those are the ones that aregood for you fantastic, okay.
Speaker 5 (46:08):
Well, thank you so much for your time.
Appreciate you all, right.
Jasmine from wheaton, mary.
Well, thank you so much foryour time.
Appreciate you All, right.
Jasmine from Wheaton Maryland.
Thank you All right.
Good day, welcome to SomethingLoco, and today we are asking
residents one question, andwe're here with Jose from Silver
Spring, maryland.
Jose, how are you today, sir?
Speaker 17 (46:26):
I'm doing well.
Thank you very much for asking.
Speaker 5 (46:29):
All right, Jose.
Why is friendship important?
Speaker 17 (46:33):
All right, Jose.
Why is friendship important?
Friendship is important becauseit helps people stay united and
also, the more friends we have,the more protected we have in
the event of any things going ongoing wrong, and we always have
somebody to help us.
Always be in groups and lessbad things can happen to you
(46:55):
when you're in a group with yourfriends.
Speaker 5 (46:57):
Fantastic.
Thank you so much for your time, sir.
Thank you Actually.
I want to ask you one morequestion what do you think about
the picnic this year?
What's your favorite thingabout the picnic this year?
Speaker 17 (47:07):
Meeting the protection officers, meeting the
people around you, getting achance to talk to them and see
their personal views andeverything.
Speaker 5 (47:18):
All right, fantastic.
Well, thank you for talkingabout sir.
I appreciate it.
Thank you, that's Quotation,wheaton.
Thank you, all right, good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco.
This is Derek Kinney.
Here live at the MontgomeryCounty Friendship Picnic in
Wheaton, maryland, and we'retalking to Daniel.
Daniel's visiting us from NewYork City.
New York City.
How do you like MontgomeryCounty so far, sir?
Speaker 8 (47:38):
It's beautiful.
I went for a walk this morning.
It's a gorgeous place,wonderful community.
I'm really happy to be here.
Speaker 5 (47:45):
All right, all right, and so I have one question for
you, one question only why isfriendship important?
Speaker 8 (47:52):
Friendship is everything.
Friendship is the family wechoose for ourselves.
Friendship is a key way weexpress and learn in the world.
We learn together and we growtogether, and friendship is the
link that allows us to do that.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
Wonderful Well, thank you so much for stopping by
today, and we greatly appreciateyour answer.
My pleasure, have a great day.
Thanks for listening to.
What's.
Speaker 6 (48:15):
Happening MoCo.
Please greatly appreciate youranswer.
My pleasure.
Have a great day.
I am so glad to see everyone here today.
It was more important this yearthan maybe in any year that
we've had thus far.
Our community is so like everycommunity across this country
right now very tense on edge,just really uncertain about
tomorrow their safety, justreally uncertain about tomorrow,
(00:31):
their safety, all those thingsthat have a way of somehow or
another dividing our communityand making people feel less
involved and less included inthe well-being of this community
.
So this year was reallyimportant and so I'm so pleased
that all of our departmentswithin county government are why
this is taking place this year,departments within county
government, of why this istaking place this year.
They helped pull together theresources, helped to also
support financially thisimportant event.
(00:51):
And I'm just so, so pleased tobe working with the kind of
people who are directors of thevarious departments within
county government in MontgomeryCounty and our leader, mark
Elridge, and also, obviously,our president of county council,
kate Stewart.
All their support because it'sjust critically important that
people understand that whateverhappens around us here in
(01:14):
Montgomery County, we're goingto make it work.
We're going to make it workacross our various diverse lines
, across cultural lines, acrossreligious lines.
We are going to make this work.
This thing called againmulti-community, multi-cultural
community and living in what DrKing said a long time ago was
the beloved community.
(01:34):
It's not just a myth, it's notjust a dream.
It can be a reality if we allbegin to pull ourselves in ways
that have us work together onthe problem to in fact confront
us.
Our differences will always bethere.
Let's focus on what makes usthe community that we are.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
You just heard from the Director of the Office of
Human Rights, Jim Stowe, sharingthe true meaning of why it's so
important to have days like theFriendship Picnic here in
Wheaton, Maryland.
What to have days like thefriendship picnic here in
Wheaton, Maryland.
Speaker 6 (02:09):
What Good day and welcome to what's Happening MoCo
, an authentic unscriptedpodcast from your Montgomery
County government.
Now here's your host, derrickKenney.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Jim, tell us a little bit about how long you've been
doing the Fincher Picnic andwhere it's located.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
This is our 11th year We've been here in Wheaton
Regional Park, a wonderful park,the Montgomery Park System, who
are one of our partners as amatter of fact, our biggest
partner is Montgomery Parks andthey've been just so helpful in
making this happen.
And then we've got all of theother partners around who make
this thing happen, so helpful inmaking this happen, and then we
got all of the other partnersaround who make this thing
happen, Our recreationdepartment as well, big Big,
again a friend of this event aswell, and so and could not do
(02:52):
any of this, obviously, unlesswe had in place folks with our
OMB Office of Management andBudget, shared Services to make
this all happen, and so we'revery thankful for all those
folks.
But we're in this park, and thepark provides a unique
opportunity for all of us to seethe beauty of what is and what
exists here in our county thebeautiful trees and those around
(03:13):
to celebrate.
But more importantly, I thinkwhat it does for us is gives us
the kind of canopy to be able tosee all this in one place.
Yeah, yeah and so no drama, nodrama.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
No drama Zero, drama Zero drama 100% fun, 100% food,
100% music, zero dramaactivities, all kinds of things
going on.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We've got a number of different kinds of foods that
people have and take advantageof.
We've got cabal food, we havekosher food, We've got again
traditional food here as well.
And so the idea is that try alittle bit of that, try things
that you are not familiar with,find somebody to have a
conversation with and maybe bein a position then to have that
person then share something withpeople maybe you don't know and
(03:54):
, by the way, also share withthem.
And so this is what this is allabout Again rides for the
children, all that kind ofactivities for them as well.
Speaker 11 (04:05):
We've got a petting zoo.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
We have a petting zoo that allows them to get up and
close in person with animals andso forth, and particularly this
petting zoo is a reptilepetting zoo.
And so folks get a chance tosee another side of that as well
, and so, again, we're excitedto be here, and so I hope folks
who have never been here beforeknow that in September we'll
always do this event, hopefullygoing forward, but you need to
(04:28):
be here and celebrate with us.
Speaker 5 (04:30):
All right, and it's 12 pm to 5 pm in September every
year.
That is correct, all right,fantastic, and Jim, we're asking
all people here today why isfriendship important here today.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Why is friendship important?
For the very reason.
I don't know about you, but youmay have what?
Maybe two or three friends yourentire life, yeah, and you have
a lot of acquaintances andpeople that you know and so
forth and so on.
But friends, when you have afriend, that means that that
person is there for you up anddown, in and out, good times and
(05:07):
bad.
And not only is that the case,but you also have a chance to be
able to be yourself.
With him or her you can trulybe who you are because that's
your friend.
And so the whole concept of thefriendship people want to bring
that concept to this kind ofsetting so you can develop the
kinds of relationships thatallow you to move beyond just a
(05:27):
casual hello and a casualgoodbye.
But remember what happens inbetween the discussion and the
conversation around so manythings that affect you and him
and her that need to be justtalked about and talked about
freely.
And so friendship means achance to have that kind of
intimate conversation, up closeand personal, in safe spaces.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
All right, and that's the friend of Montgomery County
, maryland Director Jim Stowe,officer of Human Rights, the key
organizer of the FriendshipPicnic in Montgomery County,
maryland.
Thanks, jim, good day.
Hope you're having mocha.
We're still live at theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic here in Wheaton, maryland, and we were joined by Council
Member Will Jawando.
(06:10):
Council Vice President WillJawando.
How are you today, sir?
I'm doing great.
It's good to be out, here We'vegot great weather.
It's fantastic weather, andthat's not the subject today.
The subject today, the questionI want to ask you, is why is
this Friendship Picnicsignificant?
The question I want to ask youis.
Speaker 12 (06:25):
Why is this friendship picnic significant?
Well, right now more than everand this is obviously an annual
tradition for us here we need tobe highlighting what binds us
together, not what pulls usapart, and there's so much
division right now.
You know, I just came fromchurch service with my family
and one of the reminders wasthat when you peel back our skin
and everything else, we're allthe same and we're called
(06:48):
whatever your faith traditionwhere you have none at all to
take care of one another and tobe in connection with one
another, and that starts withfriendship.
That's the basis of anyrelationship and we need to
remind ourselves about that,especially when there's people
at all levels of government andacross our country who are
trying to pull us apart.
Friendship is really kind ofthe base building block caring
about your neighbor and tryingto help them achieve what they
(07:12):
want to achieve in their lives.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
Wonderful, wonderful.
What are some of the thingsthat you find the most
compelling about today'sactivities?
Speaker 12 (07:20):
Well, I love, I love the kids, I love all the kids
that are out here.
You know you can, you canliterally, if you look over
there, like you can see thesekids being friends or making
friends or becoming friends fastfriends, yeah, you know, and uh
, that's one of the beautifulthings about children is that
they you know they'll meetsomeone first time.
They're like my best friend, youknow, yeah I have a
(07:40):
six-year-old and we need toremember that and uh, so I I
love.
And then, obviously, theresources.
Part of friendship, too, islike caring for people.
So you've got all thesecommunity resources, including
government resources, to makesure we help our friends with
what they need, and a lot ofpeople are struggling right now,
and that's an important part offriendship too.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
All right, wonderful.
Is there anything else you liketo leave with the people that
may be listening, any type ofresources or URLs that people
might be able to connectdirectly with you?
Speaker 12 (08:10):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I'm an at-large councilmember.
I'd like to help everybody.
You can go to Montgomery CountyMD dot gov and then click on
County Council and Will Jawando,or you can just Google Will
Jawando, j-a-w-a-n-d-o and allmy information and emails will
come up.
Happy to be of assistance tofolks.
And happy friendship day.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
All right, and thanks for stopping by today.
And that's what's happening inMoCo.
All right, thanks, man.
All right, thank you, all right, good day.
Good day, welcome to what'shappening in MoCo.
We're still live at theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic in Wheaton, maryland, andwe are joined by Councilmember
Andrew Friedson.
How are you today, sir?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I am doing great.
Speaker 5 (08:45):
All right, all right.
We've been talking quite a bittoday with residents and
officials and others about theimportance of the Friendship
Picnic.
Why do you find it importantthat we have events like the
Friendship Picnic?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Well, I don't think there is a better example of how
our community comes together,how we celebrate the breadth of
our diversity in MontgomeryCounty, than the Friendship
Picnic.
It is always an amazingopportunity for all of our
community-based partners to cometogether, for our community to
come together to be a light at atime of darkness, to show hope
(09:22):
at a time of despair, to makesure that we have a place to
channel what belonging and whatcommunity really looks like and
can be.
That's who we are in MontgomeryCounty, and we need to provide
venues and opportunities to dothat, now more than ever all
right, and one question, onelast question for you.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
We've been asking all the residents and all the
guests today why is friendshipimportant.
Why is friendship important?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Well, friendship is about coming together.
It's about understandingdifferences, appreciating one
another for who you are, for whowe are, and friendship is
really at the heart of whatcommunity is.
Community is really hard todefine, but you know it when you
see it, you can feel it whenyou're in it, and that's really
what friendship is about as well.
(10:10):
We don't have to be each other,but we need to understand each
other, we need to become friendswith one another, and that's
what the friendship picnic, tome, is all about.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Hey, well, thank you so much, Councilman McRee, for
being here today.
We look forward to great thingsas this council continues to
gear up for this next fiscalyear.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Take care Absolutely.
Let's celebrate who we are inMontgomery County and live our
values out loud.
Thanks so much.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
All right, thank you.
Good day, welcome to what'sHappening in MoCo.
We're still here live at theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic, and we are joined bynone other than Council Member
Sidney Katz, who's also thechair of the Public Safety
Committee.
And why is it, first of all,how?
Speaker 14 (10:48):
are you today, sir?
We're doing fine and, thankgoodness, the weather is fine
and it looks like everybodywho's here is doing just fine,
thank goodness, Indeed indeed.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
What is significant about today's event?
What's significant about theFriendship Picnic for Montgomery
County?
Speaker 14 (11:05):
You know I was just talking to.
I saw some friends just now andwe were chatting about the same
topic Montgomery County.
You know I was just talking to.
I saw some friends just now andwe were chatting about the same
topic.
Montgomery County is so very,very fortunate in so many ways.
We are truly blessed andfriendship is an important part
of that.
I've always said that acommunity is a family and we
need to make certain that ourfamily and at times, families
(11:28):
have discussions, but we alwayshave to remain friends.
We always have to appreciateeach other's viewpoints and to
and to discuss things in a in a,in a, in a right manner.
And, of course, this country isgoing through some terrible
times.
We need to make certain thatfriendship is the most important
thing that we do.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Wonderful, wonderful.
I think you really hit the nailon the head there and I know
you don't have a lot of timeleft, but it's very important to
people in Montgomery Countywant to know what is Council
Member Katz having for lunchtoday.
Speaker 14 (12:01):
What am I having for lunch today?
Well, I haven't even thoughtabout that, and of course, my
wife, if she's listening.
I'm having nothing but healthythings.
I'm not going to have any icecream, but for those of you who
might know me know that thatmight not be correct.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
There you are.
Well, thank you, sir, forstopping by today.
A great piece of stuff, thanks,it's always good seeing you.
All right, thank you, take care, good day, welcome to what's Up
, mimoco, we are still live atthe Montgomery County Friendship
Picnic.
We are talking to County PublicSafety Fire Rescue Chief
Smedley.
How are you today, sir?
Speaker 10 (12:37):
I'm doing well.
Thank you for asking.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
All right, Thank you for being here.
And one thing I'm asking ourofficials, you included why is
this friendship picnic importantfor the residents of the county
or the county as a whole?
Speaker 10 (12:53):
Well, you know, anytime you can get into the
community and build a bond and arelationship with the community
before the community resourcesare needed.
It's imperative.
It's imperative.
We want to know them and wewant them to know us, so that we
can understand what their needsare and make sure that we're
meeting those needs based offour mission.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Wonderful, wonderful.
And one thing I've been askingwell before.
I ask that I want to make surethat everyone knows if they
listen to the podcast, they knowyou, of course, already of what
you represent or who youcommand as fire and rescue chief
and what some of the things arethat you provide services for
residents of county?
Speaker 10 (13:38):
yeah, thank you for asking that.
So your montgomery county fireand rescue service is one of the
largest combination system firesystems in in the united states
.
We are consisted of not onlyour paid firefighters and
paramedics, but also volunteerfirefighters and paramedics,
along with a support staff ofcivilians, so we're just under
(13:59):
3,000 strong.
We have 37 fire stationscommunity-based fire stations
and we have 19 local fire andrescue departments embedded into
that department.
So a lot of what we do istraditional to the fire service.
We respond to emergency calls.
That could be anything fromaccidents on the roadway to
(14:20):
fires, rescues, and the majorityof what we do is emergency
medical services response.
What we do is emergency medicalservices response.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
And one thing I'm asking everyone today our
residents, children, our moms,dads, public officials why is
friendship important?
Speaker 10 (14:38):
Yeah, so you know, we in Montgomery County have a
very diverse community Just shyof 1.1 million people, and we
all come with different needs,desires and wants and we just
really want to.
Friendship is one of thosediverse communities, very
(14:59):
diverse, and we want to makesure that we are understanding
the culture and, again, justmaking sure that we're able to
have a conversation with themand build a relationship so we
can help each other and keepthem safe in their living space.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
Fantastic.
Well, thank you for talkingabout today.
Hope you have a chance toactually get out and enjoy the
diverse food and music andactivities here for family and
friends alike.
Thank you for having me Allright.
Thank you All right, good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco.
We are still here live at theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic, and we are with noneother than Jodi Finkelstein of
(15:36):
the Montgomery County Commissionfor Women.
How are you today, ma'am?
Speaker 16 (15:39):
So happy to be here at the 11th Annual Friendship
Picnic.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
All right, all right.
Thanks for having you.
Thanks for being here today andfor some people that are as
familiar with the MontgomeryCounty Commission for Women,
what is the Montgomery CountyCommission for Women and why is
it important for our residentsto be aware?
Speaker 16 (15:56):
Great question.
Thank you so much.
The Montgomery CountyCommission for Women was formed
by charter in Montgomery Countyin 1972 in order to ensure equal
rights for women and girls onthe local, state and national
level and of support theirfamilies.
Of course, we support women andtheir families through three
ways information and referral,advocacy, and a lot of education
(16:20):
and outreach.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
Fantastic, fantastic.
And since we're here at theFriendship Picnic today, why is
the Friendship Picnic importantand why the Friendship Picnic
important and why is friendship?
Speaker 16 (16:30):
important.
Oh, what a great question.
Friendship is so important onso many levels and in particular
now in this environment that wehave In America.
There seems to be so muchpolarization based on what you
believe or how you look, and Ithink that the Office of Human
(16:52):
Rights and the Committee on HateViolence tries to bring people
together.
And that's why this friendshipis so important, because it
brings people together from avariety of different backgrounds
, ages, races, religions, andthat's what community is all
about it's being able to get tosomebody that you don't know, to
not only build a friendship,but help bring together
(17:17):
differences.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Wonderful, wonderful.
Thank you so much for stoppingby today.
And what are you lookingforward to today in terms of
food?
There are all these nice foodplaces to have.
Have you even thought about it?
Speaker 16 (17:27):
Well, now that you said that I am smelling
everything from barbecue tovegetarian items, I'm looking
forward to everything.
Sometimes, my eyes are biggerthan my stomach.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
Right, Same here.
Same here, except my stomach isway bigger than my eyes.
And that's what's happening,MoCo.
Thank you, Jodi.
Speaker 16 (17:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Good day and welcome to what's HappeningCo.
We are still here live from theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic in Wheaton, Maryland, andwe have the sheriff, the county
sheriff.
Speaker 11 (17:56):
That's correct.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Maxwell Wee.
That's correct, maxwell Wee.
How are you today, sir?
I'm doing well, thank you, allright, what can you tell us
about being county sheriff thatyou'd like most residents to
know?
Speaker 11 (18:08):
Oh, absolutely Well.
First off, thanks for thequestion, Thanks for being out
here today.
It's beautiful weather, so manyof our residents don't exactly
know what the sheriff's officedoes, but we're actually the
oldest law enforcement agency inMontgomery County and today
we're the law enforcement arm ofthe court system.
So everything we do has someconnection to the court system
ensuring that our court staffand our circuit court is safe.
(18:29):
We actually also help run ourFamily Justice Center.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Oh, wow, okay, All right, now you're here at the
Friendship Picnic.
Why is the Friendship Picnicand other community gatherings
like this important?
Speaker 11 (18:39):
So it's incredibly important.
You know, over the years we'refive plus years outside the
pandemic there was a lot thatoccurred with police
accountability and it's veryimportant for me as our sheriff
to ensure we're connecting withour community, we're letting
folks know that we're here toserve them, especially in some
of our confusing times we'reseeing today.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Wow, thank you.
And I'm asking everyone I talkto today why is friendship
important?
Speaker 11 (19:06):
Well, by definition, we're all in this.
Together we're a community yeahand I will tell you.
Um, I've been working for thesheriff's office.
I'm in my 32nd year and I'vebeen a huge supporter of this
event, in particular over thelast several years, and I really
want all of our residents toknow we're all part of a greater
community wonderful, wonderful.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
Thank you for the service of yourself and your
fellow officers of the Serve andProtect the County.
One last thing before you gowhat are some of the numbers
that you'd like people to use inthe county when it's not an
emergency?
We know about 911, but there'sother ways to reach out to the
Sheriff's Office when you needhelp, but it's not as urgent as
(19:48):
an emergency emergency.
Speaker 11 (19:50):
That's correct.
That's correct.
So again, as you stated, mostpeople know 9-1-1, but the
non-emergency line to our countypolice partners is 301-279-8000
.
So if they have a police matterthat's not critical or an
emergency, that's the bestnumber to call.
If they have any questions forthe Sheriff's Office, they can
always call 240-777-7000 andthey'll be able to reach one of
(20:16):
our team members.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Hey, well, thank you, Sheriff Wee, for being here
today and thank you for servingour county.
Speaker 9 (20:21):
Absolutely have a great day down.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
You as well.
Okay, thank you, good day andwelcome back to what's Happening
.
Moco, we're still recordinglive at Montgomery County's
Friendship Picnic and we'rejoined by Bishop Paul Walker,
who is the chair of the PoliceAccountability Board.
Welcome to the podcast andwelcome to this great event
today.
It's a beautiful day.
Speaker 18 (20:43):
Awesome.
It is such a beautiful day, somuch excitement in the air and
love and camaraderie I mean it'sexciting out here right All the
good food.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Right, right, yeah, and one of the things I always
like to try to help people do isunderstand what some of the
resources in the county or someof the actions or activities
that are happening behind thescenes to help benefit residents
.
So let's talk about the PoliceAccountability Board and what's
its function and why residentsshould be aware of it.
Speaker 18 (21:12):
One of the main functions, of course, with the
Police Accountability Board.
Of course it's a group ofcitizens that sit on the board
and basically we have beenmandated by the state and
through the county to work inpartnership and camaraderie with
all of the LEAs here inMontgomery County to an effort
where we are pushing toward, ofcourse, better communications
(21:35):
and understanding between thepolice department and the
citizens of Montgomery County.
One of the things that we do iswe hear complaints,
unfortunately, of misconductwith the police and we take
those cases and we move thosecomplaints and we move them up
to the Administrative ChargingCommittee.
That committee then, of course,reviews the cases that have
(21:59):
been searched by the InternalAffairs Department.
They do all of theinvestigations.
They review those cases,recommend whether or not how we
move forward with any type ofadministration charge.
So the Police AccountabilityBoard is a board that reaches
(22:19):
out to the community.
That's about having thecommunity know and understand
that there is a place that theycan come and that there is a
place that is can come and thatthere is a place that is set up
to be a voice for the communityin reference to policing.
Now, it's not all the timenegative issues.
Sometimes there's a lot ofcelebratory issues.
(22:40):
There's a lot of good thingsgoing on in the police
department in the outreachcommunity, and they call it the
engagement community department.
We reach out with them, as wellas some of the other people
that you see here, even set upwith the table that we reach out
to and communicate withWonderful, wonderful.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
Thank you for sharing that information.
And now let's share a littlebit of good other information as
well about this picnic.
What do you like the most aboutthis friendship picnic?
That is an annual picnic.
Speaker 18 (23:06):
that's happened every year for the last 13 years
or so, except for the year ofCOVID and one other year.
Listen, you know we I have anonprofit organization outside
of the PAB.
My nonprofit organizationfocuses on food insecurity,
clothing and healthcare.
So we've actually been, and mywife was the former president of
the Friends who's out therecrowd waving us wife was the
(23:28):
former president of the Friends.
She was the former president ofthe Friends group, which is a
part of the Human RightsDepartment, so we've been here,
for the last, I say, five years.
We usually have a tent set upand so we come here.
The energy is always high.
The work that is done here,with just the camaraderie again
(23:48):
and the love that you feel here,is exciting.
Of course.
Director Jim Stowe and his teamdo a great job with putting
this together.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
All right, Hashtag power couple for the bishop and
his wife.
What can I ask you in terms offriendship?
Why is friendship important?
I'm asking everyone here today.
Why is friendship important?
I'm asking everyone here today.
Why is friendship here?
Speaker 18 (24:10):
important.
You know you can't havefellowship without friendship
and I know you asked me earlierbehind the scene not to give you
the semi-circle I mean not interms of quality but in terms of
length so I give you the shortversion of it Okay.
But you know you can't havefellowship and partnership with
(24:31):
good friendship, right?
I think friendship opens you upto honesty, purity,
transparency and organicness.
And if we're going to be friends.
I think it sets a tone and anatmosphere that says there's an
element of trust, atmospherethat says there's an element of
trust and if that element oftrust is there, then there's
nothing we can't do together asa team.
(24:54):
You know, because we do knowthat there's a writing that says
two is always better than one.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
Oh yeah, all right.
Well, thank you so much forstopping by and sharing your
wisdom with us today.
Appreciate it, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Thanks, Bishop.
Good day, welcome to what'sHappening, moco, we are still
live at the Montgomery CountyFriendship Picnic, and it
wouldn't be a friendship picnicwithout your good friends from
the Office of ConsumerProtection, michelle Escobar.
Michelle Escobar, michelleEscobar, and she's the host of a
(25:27):
podcast called ConsumerConnection.
All right, all right, tell us alittle bit about your podcast
and where can people hear it.
Speaker 20 (25:34):
So our podcast is on every other month.
We have one coming up inOctober and people can hear it
on our website.
People can get connected onSpotify, just where you hear
your different podcasts.
It's about consumer.
We want to educate, inform andempower people to take action
(25:58):
when they have a consumer issueand we want to just get
important information out therefor them.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
And this is an era of scams, and this is an era of
scams.
It's significant because scamshave now become an option for
some of the ill doers of society, as terms of bad jobs, to do.
How are you guys empoweringpeople?
What are some of the topicsthat you've covered?
That helps people prepare forscams?
Speaker 20 (26:26):
Yeah, so we're always giving tips.
We have done shows on the barscam scams Bitcoins, I'm sorry,
gold bar scams.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Gold bar scams okay.
Speaker 20 (26:43):
Bitcoins, financial.
Be wise with your finances.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Be wise with your finances.
Speaker 20 (26:48):
So that is important for us, because scams are so
out there.
Now with the technology, peopleare getting texts.
Don't click on any of thoselinks that are being sent to you
.
Be, careful what informationyou're giving out.
So we've done a variety ofshows but those tips are very
(27:11):
important for everyone.
And we're talking aboutfriendship today.
We're talking about keepingeach other, holding each other
up and helping each other out,because sometimes people, when
they're being scammed, they'rein a vulnerable state and they
feel cheated, and so we want tohold our people up and say our
county up and say hey, you havehelp.
(27:32):
We want you to have thisinformation, and if you have
information, then you feelempowered to take action.
Speaker 5 (27:37):
Right, fantastic, fantastic.
And now we're asking everyonetoday, not only our good friends
from Consumer Protection, butevery resident we talk to today,
why is friendship important?
Speaker 20 (27:48):
friendship important .
Yeah, it's important because,because we're a community and
and community we count on eachother for information, we count
on each other for support, andthat's one thing that we, as
consumer protection, as theoffice of consumer protection,
we want to be out here for thecommunity, for our friends.
We want people to know thatthey have someone they can trust
(28:10):
to come in and talk to and say,hey, something's going on with
me, because that's what friendsare for.
Something's going on with meand I need help.
Can you help me?
Speaker 5 (28:19):
Wow, that's what friends are for.
That's right, all right, so youheard it live here from the
Friendship Picnic.
Thank you, chelle, so much forstopping by.
Thank you for all that you do,and could you drop, uh, what is
your um your website address andwhat's your handle on social?
Speaker 20 (28:34):
britney at mcg ocp.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
There you go mcg at mcg ocp.
Find them on instagram.
They have a great instagramaccount and facebook and all
those things.
Thank you for all that you'redoing to help protect us from
scams and other ill-doers outthere trying to take advantage
of the residents, the fineresidents of Montgomery County,
maryland.
Yes, thank you so much.
All right, take care.
All right, all right, good day,welcome to what's Happening.
(29:01):
Moco, we are here at theFriendship Picnic in Wheaton,
maryland, and we are talking tonone other than the.
Speaker 4 (29:09):
Lantisha Colvin.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
With the Office of Human Rights.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
And what is it that you do with the Office of Human
Rights?
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I'm a human rights investigator.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
All right, and you guys are one of the key
organizers of this event today.
What?
Speaker 4 (29:26):
is important about friendship or this friendship
picnic.
What's important to me aboutfriendship?
I think it's just love andloyalty having someone to depend
on and be there for you whenyou need them.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
Wonderful, wonderful and, from the perspective of the
Office of Human Rights, why areyou guys hosting this picnic
this year and I guess, in thepast years?
Speaker 4 (29:45):
To bring the community together and let them
know that you know we're herefor each other and if they need
something, we have them.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Fantastic.
And lastly, if someone has ahuman rights concern, how do
they get in touch with you guys?
Speaker 4 (29:57):
They can come into our office.
We're located at 21 MerlinAvenue, rockville, merlin, 20850
, suite 330.
We're right above the RockvilleLibrary.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
Fantastic.
Thank you for taking time totalk to me today all right, all
right you too.
Thank you, good day and welcometo what's happening, moco.
We are here at the MontgomeryCounty Friendship Picnic,
wheaton, maryland, and we aresitting with Chris from 311, a
part of the county's technologyenterprise business solutions
(30:28):
department.
Chris, how are you today, sir?
I'm doing well.
Thank you, derek.
All right, what is 311?
What is MC311?
Speaker 19 (30:37):
Sure, to make it very simple for everyone, 311 is
a simple, easy, accessible wayfor persons here in Montgomery
County to get access toMontgomery County government
services.
All right.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
All right.
And why is it important thatyou are here today at the
Friendship Picnic?
Speaker 19 (30:59):
To help fulfill that mission that I just stated, and
to do it in person so peoplecan understand.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
not only is 311 something you can reach via the
phone, online, but also inperson All right and what are
some of the best practices thatyou want residents to be aware
of when they call 311?
Speaker 19 (31:20):
First is for everyone to understand that our
agents are friendly,professional and are here to
help you, and so when you call311, they're going to guide you
through those services, they'regoing to help you understand
what it is the county canprovide for you and also they're
going to help you meet yourexpectations.
Speaker 5 (31:37):
All right, all right.
And now one last thing,specific to this friendship
picnic.
What is important aboutfriendship?
That we have this friendshippicnic, what is important about
friendship?
Speaker 19 (31:49):
The main thing I would say that is important
about friendship is buildingtrust.
It's people understanding thatfriendship and their services
that they're being offered bythe county.
It's all about trust.
Persons have to know that theycan trust that the county is
hearing them and we're here tohelp them meet their needs.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
All right, chris.
Well, thank you for being heretoday.
Look forward to talking to youmore in the near future.
Thank you, Derek, appreciate itAll right.
All right, all right, nowforward to talking to you more
in the near future.
Thank you, derek, appreciate itAll right.
All right, now we are talkingto.
What's your name, young man?
Abraham, abraham.
Abraham, do you know what afriend is?
Yeah, yeah, why is it important?
Why are friends important?
(32:28):
Because, it's okay.
Speaker 13 (32:34):
Because friends can help you.
That's right, because friendscan help you.
Speaker 5 (32:36):
That's right, friends can help you.
That's a great answer, abraham.
And what else can friends do?
Speaker 13 (32:44):
Play with you.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
That's right, friends can play with you.
Thank you so much.
Alright, good day.
Welcome to Los Angeles, mimoco.
We're still here in Wheaton,maryland, at the Friendship
Picnic and we're talking toStephanie, who is from Wheaton,
maryland.
Stephanie, how are you today?
Good Doing good so far.
All right, Stephanie.
We're here at the FriendshipPicnic and we're asking
residents one question why isfriendship important?
Speaker 7 (33:08):
I feel like the most important aspect is just being
there for each other and havingthose moments of fun, but then
also being able to, like, sharethe sad moments.
You're not always by yourself.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
Yeah, all right, all right.
And what do you think about thepicnic?
You having a good time.
What do you like most about thepicnic this year?
Speaker 7 (33:29):
Honestly, the weather , like the weather, feels really
good right now.
And then there's a lot like I'mtalking new people and doing
this is kind of like a littlebit of a push, so I like it.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
All right, fantastic.
Well, thank you for talking tous today and have a great day,
thank you.
All right, thanks, good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco.
We are here at the FriendshipPicnic and we're talking to
Patricia Arnold from OnlyMaryland.
How are you?
Patricia, I'm very good, thankyou, I'm glad to be here, thank
you, thank you, all right, allright, it's a beautiful day here
(33:58):
today, and what are you lookingforward to at the Friendship
Picnic?
Speaker 15 (34:02):
To get to meet some of the community.
You know the people, theirculture, you know just to get
involved more with the communityand, you know, maybe somehow
assist them in a way.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
Wow, wonderful, wonderful.
And we're asking all residentstoday one question, and that
question is why is friendshipimportant?
Speaker 15 (34:30):
Because you can be of assistance to the people, you
can make more friends, you canlook out for the community, help
you know, input your ideas onit to make it better, that sort
of thing.
Speaker 5 (34:48):
Wonderful, wonderful Well.
Thank you for stopping by andtalking to me today.
Greatly appreciate it.
Thank you, all right, good day.
We're back with Liz from SilverSpring.
Wonderful Well, thank you forstopping by and talking to me
today.
Greatly appreciate it.
Thank you All right, good day.
We're back with Liz from.
Speaker 21 (35:00):
Silver Spring, maryland.
Liz, how are you today?
I'm doing really great, allright, All right.
Speaker 5 (35:02):
Move up just a little bit to the microphone.
All right, sure, thank you somuch.
Don't be afraid of it, it willnot bite you.
I've already gave it a hardtalking to when it knows better.
All right, how do you enjoy thepicnic today?
Thus far, Really wonderful.
Speaker 22 (35:15):
I talked to someone from the Office of Human Rights
and some of the initiatives theydo Really vibes with what I'm
all about All right, Very cool,Cool.
Speaker 5 (35:21):
We say that's what you're all about.
What are some of the thingsthat you're?
Speaker 22 (35:24):
you know that you find Making sure that everyone
has a safe space to bethemselves, and celebrating
differences as opposed to seeingit as something that divides us
.
Speaker 5 (35:32):
Yeah, fantastic, yeah , all right, and one question
we're asking all residents todayis one question.
Speaker 22 (35:42):
Why is friendship important?
Especially nowadays where, inmy opinion, this is the most
polarized we've been as a nation, it's so important to have a
great network and community ofsupport, have a great network
and community of support.
So friendship is so importantin terms of making sure that
we're all safe to share ourideas, our feelings, our
thoughts, even in our darkestspaces, unapologetically.
(36:03):
There's so much pressure to bethis way or do this something by
you know, whatever age you are,or even pressures that we
internalize in terms of what youlook like what gender you are
you know what sexual orientationyou are, that you need to be a
certain way.
So friends, true friends, arethe ones who show up for you and
can not only actively listen,but empathize and put themselves
in your shoes to even just bethere, you know, not just when
(36:25):
you need the most, but to bethat, um, that sounding board
Right.
Speaker 5 (36:29):
Wonderful.
Well, thank you so much foryour time.
Let's stop by the what'sHappening?
Moco podcast.
Speaker 23 (36:33):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
Good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco.
We're still here at theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic and we're here withanother of our young friends,
adrian from Germantown, maryland.
Speaker 13 (36:49):
Friendship is important because you can trust
people and the people who youtrust, you can really get along
with them.
Speaker 5 (37:00):
All right, thank you, adrian from Germantown,
maryland.
He just told us why friendshipis important.
Live at the Montgomery CountyFriendship Picnic High five,
buddy.
All right, thank you.
Good job, good job, good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco.
We're still here live at theFriendship Picnic.
We're here with our good friend, ashley from Clarksburg,
(37:21):
maryland, and she's withReadyCare.
How are you today, ashley?
I'm good, and you?
I'm pretty good.
I'm pretty good.
What do you like so far?
What's the thing you like themost about ReadyCare?
Speaker 21 (37:31):
So what I like the most about ReadyCare is that
we're able to come out to eventslike these and provide free
vaccinations.
Today, we're offering free flushots.
Speaker 5 (37:41):
Oh wow, Free flu shots.
Speaker 21 (37:43):
Get yours if you haven't got it.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
I want to say for the record people that listen to
the podcast we love free, welove free resources, we love
free 99 without the 99.
So that's great.
Yeah, it's just free.
No 99, all right, no 99, okay.
And that is that only for thefriendship picnic or there are
other times and opportunitiesthat people can get a free
vaccination for the flu shot sowe work in partnership with
(38:06):
black physicians and health carenetwork.
Speaker 21 (38:09):
We're independent business, but with them we come
to a lot of free events thatthey host.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
Okay.
Speaker 21 (38:15):
They offer different clinics around the county where
they do vision screenings,hearing screenings, they give
glasses and at those events wedo COVID and flu vaccinations
and sometimes blood pressurechecks.
Speaker 5 (38:28):
Oh wow, all for free, all for free.
That's wonderful.
That's wonderful that you'rehere today.
So you're here today supporting, in partnership with the Black
Physicians and HealthcareNetwork and providing free, free
, free, free resources to countyresidents.
And I've seen that table beingquite busy, so people are
getting.
How have you been doing overthere?
Speaker 21 (38:45):
Yeah, I think we're up to about 50 flu shots today
50 free flu shots today, wow.
Okay, six months and older.
Speaker 5 (38:51):
All right, that's wonderful, wonderful, all right.
So my my next question is thishave you had an opportunity to
have any fun here at theFranchard Picnic?
Speaker 21 (38:59):
I got some good food .
Speaker 5 (39:00):
All right, what'd you have?
Speaker 21 (39:01):
Jersey, mike's.
Speaker 5 (39:02):
Jersey Mike's.
Congrats to Jersey Mike's forbeing here today as a vendor.
I had a nice tuna fish sandwichfrom Jersey Mike's.
It was delicious Me too.
Oh, you did, okay, great, allright.
All right, it was pretty good,all right.
Now there's one question I'vebeen asking everyone today okay,
without a doubt, everyone.
Why is friendship important?
Speaker 21 (39:20):
friendship is vital to your health and well-being.
Right we all need friends, yeahfriends can make life great,
sometimes not so great, butthose aren't friends, right.
But I think friends and themeaning of this picnic and
friendship is fellowship, loveand finding common ground to
enjoy each other.
Speaker 5 (39:37):
Fantastic.
Thank you, what a wonderfulanswer, and thank you to you and
ReadyCare and the BlackPhysicians and Healthcare
Network for being here andsupporting us today.
Thank you.
Speaker 21 (39:46):
Thanks for having us .
Speaker 5 (39:47):
All right.
Take care.
Wonderful Uh-oh.
Good day, welcome.
Uh-oh, what is this?
That is Good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco, we are still here, live at
Montgomery County FriendshipPickpick in Wheaton, maryland,
wheaton Regional Park, and we'rehere with my good friend, tony
from Rockville, maryland.
He's with the Committee AgainstHate and Violence.
(40:07):
Tony, how are you today, sirGood?
You today, sir, good, good.
All right, tony told you yourname's not just tony, you have a
longer name.
You want to?
Speaker 9 (40:18):
share your official title and your name with the
organization?
Yeah, absolutely love to.
Um.
My name is tony chia.
I'm with the committee againsthate and violence.
I'm one of the voting members.
I'm in this committee.
We are mostly volunteers and wework together to advise the
county on different hate crimerelated tasks.
We obviously have thiswonderful friendship picnic,
which is our flagship event, butthank you for being here and
(40:42):
supporting all right and thankwell.
Speaker 5 (40:45):
It's been a pleasure being here today and we've had
so much fun engaging withdifferent people residents,
officials, elected officials andpeople that serve the residents
of the county.
But also we had a chance tohave a great sandwich, you know,
for free.
We had opportunity, we wereoffered free vaccination, so
there's a lot of resources andfun here to be had for everyone
(41:07):
everyone today and thank you forall the good work that you've
done in the Office of HumanRights to make sure that we had
the day this year, and this'sthe 11th annual Friendship
Picnic.
Why is it important that wehave this Friendship Picnic
today?
Speaker 9 (41:19):
Well, aside from the food that you know, obviously,
we all love food, that's rightand it was really important for
us to have it this year, becauseit's been a year of turbulence,
a lot of things happeningthroughout the US and in the
county and we just want to getpeople together enjoy good food.
Obviously, we have a lot ofdifferent partners coming here
to provide different services.
(41:40):
Like you mentioned, you can geta flu shot here.
You can meet people, differentpeople from the county, from the
police, from the healthdepartment, from everywhere.
Speaker 5 (41:47):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 9 (41:48):
Yeah, that's why we're here.
Speaker 5 (41:49):
All right, and there's one question I've been
asking everyone today,regardless of what they do or
how they're affiliated with thepicnic why is friendship
important?
Speaker 9 (42:01):
Tough question.
I mean, it's important becausewe live in a community together
and, at the end of the day, weare part of the neighborhood, we
are part of this community andfriendship is what brings us
together.
So that's why we have thispicnic.
Speaker 5 (42:16):
Wonderful.
Well, tony, thank you for beinghere today and thank you for
all you did to help make thispicnic happen.
Have a great day, thank you,all right, all right, good day
and welcome to what's Happening,moco.
We are back live from theMontgomery County Friendship
Picnic and we're talking toTrina from Burtonsville and
we're asking her the onequestion, the only question that
matters today why is friendshipimportant?
Speaker 24 (42:37):
Friendship is important because it builds
trust and loyalty, and it'salways good knowing that you
have someone in your cornerthrough thick and thin.
That's why friendship isimportant.
Speaker 5 (42:51):
Fantastic.
Thank you so much for your time.
Really appreciate you beinghere today.
Trina, trina, trina, 3, 2, 1,good day.
We're back with what'sHappening, moco, and we're here
talking to Young Angel fromSilver Spring, maryland, and
we're asking him the samequestion we're asking everyone
(43:12):
today why is friendshipimportant?
Speaker 13 (43:15):
Friendship is important because without
friendship we would all belonely, and it's something good
to have friends and friendshipis very nice and we all need
friendship Fantastic, fantastic.
Speaker 5 (43:34):
And why are friends important?
Speaker 13 (43:36):
Friends are important because they help you
not be lonely, and they alwayshelp you.
Speaker 5 (43:42):
Fantastic.
Thank you for your time today.
Really appreciate it.
All right, good day and we'restill live.
We're still recording live atthe Friendship Picnic in Wheaton
, maryland, and we have thepleasure of sitting with Valerie
Moore from Bethesda, maryland,and she's going to answer our
(44:03):
question of the day, which iswhy is friendship important?
Speaker 13 (44:09):
Because it shows love and respect and kindness.
Speaker 23 (44:12):
As everyone can hear , I have cohorts here, I have a
team here.
Hi Hi Hi.
Mom, this is David.
I speak to my, but they'reactually three friends.
They're almost like they'rebrother friends, but they really
exemplify why ship is important.
It gives us opportunity to showthe importance of love and
(44:32):
kindness.
Right, we get to celebrate theways in which we're all more
alike than we are different, andwe get to practice why our
differences are also importantto helping us grow, learn and
evolve as people.
Speaker 5 (44:45):
Fantastic, great answer.
Thank you so much.
Are you guys having fun at thepicnic today?
Speaker 23 (44:49):
We are having an amazing time and it's great.
We're excited.
We came last year.
We were excited to see theywere doing it again this year.
As you can hear behind me, thekiddos are chomping at the bit.
They've already planned whatthey're gonna do today.
We're already looking for theice cream tickets.
So, yeah, we're excited.
Speaker 5 (45:07):
Thank you so much for stopping by today.
Speaker 23 (45:09):
Thank you, take care , good day.
Speaker 5 (45:10):
Welcome to what's Happening, MoCo.
And today we are askingresidents at the Montgomery
County Friendship Picnic onequestion, one question only.
Well, in some cases anadditional question why is
friendship important?
Why is friendship important?
Speaker 3 (45:29):
Friendship is important to me because
sometimes friends become, get ina bind and when they're in a
bind they need people aroundthem to support them and to lift
them.
Some people don't have that andsome people don't have family
to do that for them either.
But sometimes friendships thereare friendships that are not
(45:50):
that great for you.
They will bring you downbecause some people are
miserable and miserable peoplelove company.
So you got to be careful withfriendship.
But when you do find someonewho is really close to you, who
lifts you, keep that friendship.
Those are the ones that aregood for you fantastic, okay.
Speaker 5 (46:08):
Well, thank you so much for your time.
Appreciate you all, right.
Jasmine from wheaton, mary.
Well, thank you so much foryour time.
Appreciate you All, right.
Jasmine from Wheaton Maryland.
Thank you All right.
Good day, welcome to SomethingLoco, and today we are asking
residents one question, andwe're here with Jose from Silver
Spring, maryland.
Jose, how are you today, sir?
Speaker 17 (46:26):
I'm doing well.
Thank you very much for asking.
Speaker 5 (46:29):
All right, Jose.
Why is friendship important?
Speaker 17 (46:33):
All right, Jose.
Why is friendship important?
Friendship is important becauseit helps people stay united and
also, the more friends we have,the more protected we have in
the event of any things going ongoing wrong, and we always have
somebody to help us.
Always be in groups and lessbad things can happen to you
(46:55):
when you're in a group with yourfriends.
Speaker 5 (46:57):
Fantastic.
Thank you so much for your time, sir.
Thank you Actually.
I want to ask you one morequestion what do you think about
the picnic this year?
What's your favorite thingabout the picnic this year?
Speaker 17 (47:07):
Meeting the protection officers, meeting the
people around you, getting achance to talk to them and see
their personal views andeverything.
Speaker 5 (47:18):
All right, fantastic.
Well, thank you for talkingabout sir.
I appreciate it.
Thank you, that's Quotation,wheaton.
Thank you, all right, good day.
Welcome to what's Happening,moco.
This is Derek Kinney.
Here live at the MontgomeryCounty Friendship Picnic in
Wheaton, maryland, and we'retalking to Daniel.
Daniel's visiting us from NewYork City.
New York City.
How do you like MontgomeryCounty so far, sir?
Speaker 8 (47:38):
It's beautiful.
I went for a walk this morning.
It's a gorgeous place,wonderful community.
I'm really happy to be here.
Speaker 5 (47:45):
All right, all right, and so I have one question for
you, one question only why isfriendship important?
Speaker 8 (47:52):
Friendship is everything.
Friendship is the family wechoose for ourselves.
Friendship is a key way weexpress and learn in the world.
We learn together and we growtogether, and friendship is the
link that allows us to do that.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
Wonderful Well, thank you so much for stopping by
today, and we greatly appreciateyour answer.
My pleasure, have a great day.
Thanks for listening to.
What's.
Speaker 6 (48:15):
Happening MoCo.
Please greatly appreciate youranswer.
My pleasure.
Have a great day.
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