Sharing Strength, #90

Kristin Miale:

It's not only heartbreaking, it's unacceptable. That's the key. You know, we said we are not in a famine situation. We see food everywhere. It's unacceptable that we have children who are going hungry.

Max Garcia Conover:

I've always been really interested in teaching and really interested in education in general and the role that it plays in society. And music doesn't immediately have that direct connection to the social good that education does. I'm often trying to trying to figure out ways that will that will connect it to something bigger.

Chris Kast:

Essentially what it is. It's a running, grown up obstacle course race where everybody starts and you slide down basically a wet mountain and then you run through a swamp and then you have to climb up a hill and you have to push over hay bales and you have to crawl on your belly through total darkness and then you have to run through an unmarked forest and then you have to get through a mud field and then you have to climb a ladder wall and then you have to walk a plank and forge a stream and push tractor tires.

Byron Bartlett:

I don't imagine that I'm going to be finishing first or even 10th, but I'm just looking forward to the day, spending it with my teammates and having people cheer us on while we're looking like fools doing tomfoolery things. It's kind of fun.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 90, Sharing Strength, airing for the first time on Sunday, June 2, 2013. Today's guests include Kristin Mele, President of the Good Shepherd Food Bank Max Garcia Conover, musician and teacher at the Breakwater School and Chris Kast and Byron Bartlett, two members of the Team Spice Team, along with Deb Ivey, which will be participating in the Dynamic Dirt challenge today. The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast is a shared venture. Two years ago we connected with Susan Grison and Kevin Thomas of Maine Magazine and floated the idea of a wellness oriented radio show based in Maine. They supported us from day one, giving us a space to record the show, promoting the show through their magazines and social media and suggesting possible guests. This past January, we became an official production of Maine Magazine and the Maine Media Collective. This radio show is made possible through the shared work of many. Strength Shared is Strength multiplied. Maine Magazine, Maine Home Design and the Maine Media Collective have recognized this from the beginning. They have long sponsored local nonprofits and supported their efforts to effect positive change in Maine. This week, Maine Magazine is hosting the six day Kennebunkport Festival celebrating the finest food, wine and art in Maine. Highlights from the festival include Pop the Kenny Bunks, the Cellar Door, Grand Tasting Bruise and Tunes and the Art of Dining. Private dinners. Proceeds from the Art of Dining go to Share Our Strength, an organization providing hunger relief in Maine. Each of our guests today represents a sharing of strength. Kristin Mele, president of Good Shepherd Food bank, works with Share Our Strength to feed Maine's families. Max Garcia, Conover musician and teacher, shares proceeds from his albums with social justice organizations. Chris Kast and Byron Bartlett, participating in the Dynamic Dirt Challenge will be benefiting STRIVE and the center for Grieving Children. We are fortunate to be surrounded by those who share their strength regularly. We are fortunate that Kevin Thomas, Susan Grison and those who work at Maine Magazine and the Maine Media Collective enable us to bring the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast to you each week. We hope you will consider sharing your own special strength with the world. One of the very first shows we did on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour was with the Good Shepherd Food bank and the then director, Rick Small. A lot has changed in the time that we've been doing the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. We are now on show number 90 and today we have with us Kristen Maley, who is the current president of the Good Shepherd Food bank here in Maine. Thank you for coming in.

Kristin Miale:

Thank you for having me, Kristin.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I know that a lot has changed since we had our first show. I don't know, I think it was probably about 80 episodes ago. There's a lot of transitions happening, but really it's the same mission. And that is getting food to the people of Maine who need it. That's correct. Let's first talk about what is the definition of a food bank.

Kristin Miale:

Well, a food bank really is the grocery store, if you will, to all the ending hunger organizations around the state. So food pantries, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, they serve the end client, but they come to Good Shepherd Food bank to get all the food that they need to run their programs. And so by being a member of Good shepherd, they're able to get food through us at significantly reduced cost, oftentimes even for free, so that they're able to do the work that they do every day. And so the food bank, it's the largest hunger relief organization in the state. And we provide approximately £13 million of food to over 600 agencies around the state, serving about 100,000 Mainers every year.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Has this number gone up in recent years?

Kristin Miale:

It has. It's gone up significantly since the recession hit. Our food pantries report upwards of a 50% increase in the need. And I think what's most striking is for many food pantries will say, you know, we used to see the same families, and we got to know them, and these were just kind of chronically poor people who needed our assistance. And they said, and now we're seeing people who. Who were employed, we're seeing carpenters, we're seeing artists, we're seeing people who we've never seen before come to the food pantries. And they're also seeing more and more families coming regularly, as opposed to it being a once a month or kind of an episodic need, it's now more of a chronic weekly need.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Before you took on the role as president at the Good Shepherd Food bank, you were the founder and program director of Cooking Matters.

Kristin Miale:

That's correct.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And Cooking Matters, of course, is an educational program that comes under the aegis of Share Our Strength.

Kristin Miale:

That's right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So, Chera, tell me about Cooking Matters, because we've had some information about this on the show before. I think about a year ago, John woods came in and talked about Share Our Strength. And we had, I believe, Jeff Landry talking about Cooking Matters. But this was your original. This was your baby.

Kristin Miale:

It was. It was a program that I started. I started volunteering in different soup kitchens and food pantries probably around 2007, 2008. And I am somebody who is very passionate about food, but I also care about eating healthy. And when I started volunteering, I was really surprised at a lot of the poor quality of food that was being given out. And I just started asking questions about why can't we get healthier food to these people in need? And a common answer I was given was that if we give people fresh vegetables and fresh protein, they don't know what to do with it because nobody knows how to cook. And so I started offering cooking classes. And it just kind of took on a life of its own. And I stumbled upon Cooking Matters while researching, getting funding. And it was just. It was the program that I've always dreamed of. And so I reached out to them and asked, how can we get this program in Maine? And then I reached out to John woods, and we connected there, and John helped secure some funding, and it just all kind of took off from there. So in 2010, we launched cooking Matters for Maine. And then I brought the program to Good Shepherd Food bank, knowing that it needed a bigger home in order to reach even more people. And I'm now very happy to say we have Cooking Matters classes going in every single county in the state. And what I think is so great about this program and why it's such a great fit to have it as part of the food bank is it really addresses one of the root causes of hunger. We obviously need to feed people who need to be fed. But we really start. We need to also look at how can we really solve the problem? And teaching people how to cook is a great way to actually solve the hunger problem. Because what happens too often is when is when people have limited resources, they tend to run out of those resources, obviously before they're able to purchase more food. And Cooking Matters shows them how they can stretch their food dollars, how to purchase food more thoughtfully. Even something as simple as shopping by unit price is a common skill that most people don't have. And so we're able to teach them those skills in addition to eating healthy, so they improve their ability to work and be productive citizens. And all of that really goes after tackling the root causes of hunger.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Hunger has a very different face than it used to. Not only the type of person that is going to the food bank or the food pantry, but also how it manifests. You have people who may look as though they are overfed because perhaps they are overweight or obese, but they really are nutritionally depleted. Talk to me a little bit about that.

Kristin Miale:

That's correct. We have a real paradox going on in America right now, and it stems from the fact that when you have a limited amount of money to buy food, you're going to purchase as much food as you can for that money. And so in our society, what that means is a lot of cheap, simple carbohydrates. And so we have now an entire population of people that are overweight, but also malnourished. And so what we see at the food bank is a real, real change in our role from being not just a provider of calories, but a Provider of nutrition and seeing that people don't lack access to the calories, they lack access to the nutritious food. And I mean, we all see it in the grocery store. You know, the fresh foods are oftentimes the most expensive. And so. And it tends to perpetuate again, this problem of poverty because when you're overweight, then all of a sudden you have all the problems that come with obesity. You have the lower inc. People of higher rates of heart disease, of diabetes, of hypertension, which then makes their healthcare costs go up. It impacts their ability to work and care for our children. And that cycle continues.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

At the same time. What I understand from our conversation yesterday is that this all began. Food banking began because supermarkets and other large facilities were looking to get to give their excess to. To a place that could then distribute it to other people who might want it. So what I understand is that there is more fresh meat, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables that is being made available to the food bank. And doesn't this create some problems as far as distribution?

Kristin Miale:

It does. It's a good thing and a bad thing. Food banks all around the country started on the same model. And where the large grocery store chains would have these distribution centers and they would, when they'd have excess inventory, it would come back to what they called a reclamation center. And that food would then be brought to the food banks. And all of that was non perishable food. It was primarily canned goods. And then that was the food that was then stored in warehouses and sent out to food pantries. And so most food banks have large infrastructure of dry storage. And all of their food pantries tend to have little to no storage and are maybe open one day a week. Some are only open one day a month, but it worked. What we're seeing now is grocery stores have less and less of the non perishable food. However, they have more and more of the perishable food. I still am amazed at the size of the produce departments in my local grocery store now. And same with the seafood department and the meat department. And the wonderful thing is that food we all know is the healthiest food. So that's the food now that grocery stores have much more supply of to give to food banks. However, five years ago that food was all being thrown out. And grocery stores now are recognizing the need to really be zero waste organizations, both from an environmental perspective, a cost perspective, and from a community perspective. And so we're partnering with a lot of the major retail chains in the state to get that perishable food and so the problem we have is our whole infrastructure is based on non perishable food. A 54,000 square foot dry storage warehouse doesn't help you with a tractor trailer load of kale. So we now are having more refrigerated trucks. We now have large freezers and walk in coolers. We're now helping to secure grants for our food pantry partners because they need refrigeration. And I think the biggest challenge to us is the turnover because obviously by the time it comes off the shelf at the grocery store, we have maybe 48 hours to turn that around. So it's a significant challenge. However, the great news about this is this is healthy food and this is the food that we know low income families have the least access to. So it's a solution that we're going to get our hands around and really start to make a difference.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So why is there less availability of the non perishable food?

Kristin Miale:

It's really just a matter of improving business systems. You know, over the past two decades, data, the rise of big data. And I just know there have been several times when I've been in my grocery store and I swear when I pull off the last can of beans, there's the stock boy opening up the box, putting on the new can of beans. And that's just how things go. And we all benefit from that because that leads to more efficient food systems and lower prices. So it's a good thing that's happening overall and that's certainly not going to change. So it just forces us to get more creative, find new sources for food, which we've been very successful in doing. We're getting more food out than we ever have before. It's just more costly to go and get it and takes a little bit more creative thinking. But the food is out there. I mean, to me, the most really motivating thing about this work is feeding people is quite simple. And people aren't hungry in Maine because there isn't enough food. I mean, any trip to the grocery store will tell you that we are not in a famine situation. We are not in a third world kind of famine situation. We have the food, it's just a matter of getting it to the people who need it. So it's. Of all the complicated problems out there, this is probably one of the simplest. And I also think it's one of the problems where if we solve this one, we're going to be that much more able to solve some of the other more complicated problems. We always say, especially with feeding a child, you can't prepare a child to go out and succeed if they're hungry. And so how many of the problems of low income children could we solve just by making sure they have a full stomach every morning?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is not your first go round. I mean, you're young, but you have had other careers before this. You were a financial analyst for quite a while. You've done a lot of work in the business world and somehow this whole nonprofit thing came about and you said, I can use these skills in the nonprofit world. How did that come to be?

Kristin Miale:

Well, I've always definitely been one of those people where I always said, someday I want to own my own something. And so being a financial analyst and a business consultant allowed me to work with business owners for years, which I just loved. And I loved helping them solve problems and love crunching the numbers to figure out what the real issues were. And I saw how much business owners just they lived and breathed their work. And I was always envious of that. But I also recognized that if you're ever going to be the one to raise your hand and say, I want to be in charge, you need to love what you do. And I had yet to ever find something that really spoke to me and make me willing to make that kind of commitment. And so when I started volunteering because I wasn't getting that fulfillment from my day job, at least not I've been getting intellectual fulfillment, but not spiritual fulfillment, if you will. And I was getting that through volunteering. And that was when I was just seeing a real need. It sounds so cliche to say more business type principles in the nonprofit world because you hear that all the time. But that is kind of what it needed. And that this is the food banking world is going through a real seismic shift in the whole business model. And, you know, just following your heart isn't going to solve all those problems. And it just, we need to, we need to get into really looking at the data, seeing what the data is telling us, optimizing our resources, and really thinking hard about finding creative solutions to the problem.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We'll return to our program in a Moment on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast. We've long understood the important link between health and wealth. And here to speak more on the subject is Tom Shepard of Shepherd Financial.

[Unidentified voice]:

Our first currency was food. Our second was sharing. And out of this comes the most important currency love. These three ideas make us stronger. These ideas allow us to go out and pursue what is important to us, bring it back and be rewarded. Every other passion is derived from These three To protect ourselves from death, we need food. To manage, we need to share. And to make it all worthwhile, we need to pursue love. In our modern economy, money allows our love to travel further. It allows us to share the strength of our community with those who need a helping hand. It is said that love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. But food and love are not evil and neither is our money. Currency is the unit of energy we use to share our strength at Shepherd Financial. If we're good at anything, it's helping to reconnect your passion to the idea of sharing in a world that needs money to buy food. We'd love to help make you stronger. Come and share our strength at shepherdfinancialmaine.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's not just following your heart, but it is following your heart and using your head.

Kristin Miale:

That's right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I know that you know this. I mean, you were a board member and treasurer of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Southern Maine. And you told me a story I believe yesterday about that sort of cemented in my mind why you do this sort of thing about a child who was asked by the teacher, you know, are you excited about vacation?

Kristin Miale:

Yeah. Yeah. This was in. I was at a meeting in Bangor a few weeks ago and a kindergarten teacher was sharing with us that she was talking with her students about the upcoming vacation and just, you know, thinking the kids would all be excited. And a little boy raised his hand and said, well, I'm not excited about vacation because that means I'm going to be hungry. And this is a story we hear from teachers all the time who really, I think more than anyone, see the effect of hunger on children. And something as simple as a vacation, which you don't think of enjoying. A vacation shouldn't be a privilege. It should be something that every child has the opportunity to do. And the fact that knowing that that school meal that they rely on is going to go away and that impact on a child is just. It's heartbreaking. And John woods always says this, and I completely agree. It's not only heartbreaking, it's unacceptable. And that's the key that it's, you know, we said we are not in a famine situation. We see food everywhere. It's unacceptable that we have children who are going hungry.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, we're coming up on summer, and you just described a child who was away from school for days, for a week, for summer, for a vacation break. Summer break is weeks long. How do you, at the Good Shepherd Food bank deal with the hunger that's associated with being away from food sources that are available at school?

Kristin Miale:

The real savior for summer for children is the Summer Food Program, which is similar program to the school lunch program during the school year. It comes from the same. It's federally funded, has had bipartisan support for decades, and it provides money to purchase lunches for children who qualify for school lunch and they can get them during the summer months. The problem we have in Maine and throughout the rest of the country is finding more and more host sites to actually be willing to do these lunches. So last year, Good shepherd became a host site for the first time, and we did three sites in Bangor, and we were the first summer food program to get launched in the city of Bangor, which is the second largest city in Maine, has a significant amount of hungry children, and there was no summer lunch program. We're launching other sites in Ellsworth and Brewer this summer as well. But unfortunately, we still only have 15% of children who are eligible to get this lunch receive it. And it's extreme burden on the parents because the parents are used to these children getting their meals from the school. And now it's an estimate of approximately 200 additional meals the parents need to come up with. And as we know, they're already strapped, and we hear this from our food pantries, that they see the demand go up in the summer because parents have to replace this meal they rely on during the school year through the food pantry. So it's a real challenge.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What about the people who might say, well, there's food stamps, there's federal assistance, and why can't people just go get food stamps and exist off that and feed their children off that? What do you say about that?

Kristin Miale:

Well, food stamps is a great program. They changed the name to snap. We don't know why everyone still knows it as food stamps and It's a fantastic program. It's an extremely efficient program. But what many people don't realize is how limiting the program is. Approximately 40% of the people that we see come through the food pantry programs don't qualify for snap. SNAP is mostly for families with children. So if you're a single adult, you only qualify for up to three months the year for food stamps, and the other nine months, you're on your own. And it also doesn't provide enough. It helps. It certainly helps. But it provides approximately $1.38 per person per meal, which, if anyone's ever tried to buy lunch for $1.38, even if you're buying it at the grocery store and making it yourself, it's pretty challenging. We know the average meal in Maine is $2.75, so there's a significant gap there. There's also the gap that in order to qualify for SNAP, the threshold is around $30,000 for a family of four. And we know that more than half the people on SNAP actually make less than half of that. So it's more of a question of, yes, SNAP is there, and we want people to utilize it, but even with that, it's not enough.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And then the opposite is true. You'll have people who will say, well, okay, let's get rid of snap. Let's get rid of food stamps, and maybe we should have this all be taken care of by charitable organizations like the Good Shepherd Food Bank. Is that possible?

Kristin Miale:

No. The need would definitely crush the food banking system. I think there's great value in neighbors Feeding neighbors, and the charitable organizations do amazing work. Our network of food pantry partners are unbelievable. And I think there's great value in community wealth that's built through this system. But this system really is meant to be filler. It's meant to be a supplement. So we talked about how SNAP doesn't go all the way to meeting a family's needs. That's where the food pantry comes in. We help them stretch those dollars. We help them fill in that gap. But when you look across the country, snap provides about $85 billion worth of food to people in need. The entire food banking system is $5 billion. So there's no way that that system could absorb. I mean, even a 10% cut would be asking the system to more than double, which is really unsustainable.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Kristen, one of the reasons we wanted to have you on the show to talk about the Good Shepherd Food bank was because of your relationship with Share Our Strength and the work that Share Our Strength is doing with Maine Magazine, Maine Home Design, the Maine Media Collective, and the Kenny Bunkport Festival, which is coming up very soon, and also the Taste of the Nation, which is coming up very soon. Those are two very exciting events that people can take part in. What other ways can people get involved so that they can help their hungry neighbors in the state of Maine?

Kristin Miale:

There are many ways. And what I like is everybody has something to share, right? That's the whole philosophy of Share Our Strength, which I just love. And as we said, attending events is a great way to do it and it's a lot of fun. And Share Our Strength puts on some of the best events in the state if some people, though, have time. And if that's the case, you know, Good shepherd utilizes over 1500 volunteers every year. Food pantries need volunteers. So whether you want to get involved at the state level or in your own backyard, you can contact your local pantry or Good shepherd and volunteer. We always need food. Same thing. And we always, you know, especially, you know, keep it local. If you want to do a food drive just amongst your friends in your community, contact your local food pantry and they would love to receive those food donations. So we say it's time, dollars and food. We need all three and everybody has something to give and it's going to take everybody collectively to solve this problem. We know we do amazing work at the food bank with our food pantry partners, but we're still only reaching half the people who need our help. So there's still a lot of work to do.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Kristin, how do people find out about the Good Shepherd Food Bank?

Kristin Miale:

They can go online to. Feedingmain.org is the best way, and all the information is there. There's also a food map on our website where you can enter your zip code and it will tell you where your local food pantry is with contact information as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So if people who are listening actually have need for food themselves, then they can also access those resources.

Kristin Miale:

That's right. They can use the food map and get information about their link. Local pantry also 211 is a wonderful resource provided by United Way that will give them additional information in not just food resources, but other resources available to help them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with Kristin Maley, the president of Good Shepherd Food bank that has been affiliated with Share Our Strength for quite a long time and Maine magazine, Maine Home Design, the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. We're proud to be affiliated with Share Our Strength and and we're really excited to be able to be a part of helping feed our Maine neighbors. So thank you so much for all the work you're doing in this area.

Kristin Miale:

Well, thank you and thank you for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

The goal of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour is to help make connections between the health of the individual and the health of the community. The goal of Ted Carter Inspired Landscapes is to deepen our appreciation for the natural world. Here to speak with us today is Ted Carter.

[Unidentified voice]:

There was a time that I spent about a four year period of my life I spent in the desert in the Sonoran Desert, and I would fly out there three or four times a year and spend about a week with my shaman. I had a shaman at that time and he taught me how to see nature. He taught me everything that I wasn't seeing. I'm going to read to you something out of the Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram, and I think it's very profound and speaks to us what a shaman really is and what a shaman actually does. The shaman acts as an intermediary between the human community and the larger ecological field, ensuring that there is an appropriate flow of nourishment not just from the landscape to the human inhabitants, but from the human community back to the local earth. The relationship between human society and the larger soc society of beings is balanced and reciprocal. This is essentially what a shaman does, sort of a midwife, I guess you might say, between land and community. And it's important to know that we all have a little shaman in all of us and be aware of that wisdom and that piece of us that really can understand and meld with nature and understand nature. I'm Ted Carter and if you'd like to contact me, I can be reached@tedcarterdesign.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

At the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast, we believe we are helping to build a better world with the help of many. We like to bring to you people who are examples of those building a better world in the areas of wellness, health and fitness. To talk to you today about one of these fitness is Jim Greaterix, the president of Premier Sports Health, a division of Black Bear Medical here's Jim.

Chris Kast:

We are proud to announce Premier Sports Health at Black Bear Medical in Portland.

[Unidentified voice]:

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Chris Kast:

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[Unidentified voice]:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

the interview that I am about to begin today is one that's going to be a little bit different than usual because it's going to involve one of my favorite things in the entire world, which is music. This interview is with Max Garcia Conover, who is a musician and teacher at the Breakwater School, who has recently released his first full length album, burrow through Clip Records. So, Max, give us a few lines of one of your most recent songs.

Max Garcia Conover:

Sure.

Max Garcia Conover:

Thanks so much for having me. And in the wild weeds chamber of a church Is a skylight stream and if it was the memory burning Then the fire was weak all us in the wedding line Cried my father's mother in her cataract eyes she said she was a saltwater woman in the rain Rain only made her more dry Roses kept the hillside red Bowing till the wind fell Trees head in and I don't mean to say I done nothing but hey, I done less than I can. But I'll come back when the highways are falling and I drawn on the old concrete the bones of a hand with the words I could be with the words I could be yeah, I'll come back when the weeds are steeple we are all of us now Shouting out loud when you're out this house when you're out this house.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Max, tell me about that song.

Max Garcia Conover:

It's called the Wedding Line. And it's. Most of my songs aren't really about sort of one thing because when I try to make them about one thing, I end up getting really sick of singing them quickly. And. But one of the things that that song's about is I think for a long time growing up, I sort of felt like I understood everybody around me, my family and my friends. And like, you know, like at a big event, like a wedding or something, I would go and feel like I understood all those people and. But they didn't quite understand me, you know, and like, and I was actually going to be, like, much, much bigger and much very important, whereas they had their nice little lives. So the song is, and I think that's sort of a natural feeling that you grow out of. And the song is sort of about growing out of that and moving away from that, I guess.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Max, you and I both went to Bowdoin, the small liberal arts college just up the road here in Brunswick. And although it has a really great classical music scene and of course has the Medi beemsters and, you know, it has a musical theater scene, it's not known as much for the singer songwriter scene.

Max Garcia Conover:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And how did you work this into your education there? And you know, what kind of an impact did the Bowdoin education have on your approach to the world?

Max Garcia Conover:

Yeah, it was. Being a songwriter was always something that was very separate from my studies at Bowdoin. I had a few friends that I would play music with, and that was great. But I didn't really. I never studied music at Bowdoin, and I didn't really pursue it while I was there. I would spend the summer sort of making music, and then at Bowdoin I would be more focused on classes. And I was a government major and so that kind of thing. I went into Bowdoin wanting to be a political speechwriter. And so I studied government and I think that informed my songwriting. It definitely did, but it didn't, you know, it didn't have that real direct connection.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It seems as though the education at Bowdoin, though, did help as far as the social justice notion. Although I think you had this going into Bowdoin from our conversations before that. You sent a portion of sales from your last ep. Yeah, okay. To the Chiwonki foundation and then from this album to the Evergreen Health Services, which is a non profit working to bring medical service and support people living with aids. So there's this whole. You may not have become a government speech writer, but you still have this strong interest in social justice.

Max Garcia Conover:

Yeah, yeah. And it's great that you use that term, social justice. There's this one professor at Bowdoin who I really connected with right when I got there and stayed connected with even still. And her thing was very much social justice. And she was an education teacher. And I think that does really, really inform how I approach being a musician. And I've always been really interested in teaching and really interested in education in general and the role that it plays in society. And music doesn't immediately have that direct connection to the social good that education does. And so I'm often trying to figure out ways that will. That will connect it to something bigger. I mean, I think music is a worthwhile thing. To do in and of itself. But being an independent musician requires so much self promotion and talking about yourself that it's just a much easier thing for me to do if I feel like it's connected to something bigger.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, it is an interesting and tough thing. And we've spoken with other artists before who are more visual artists, and they talk about this sort of simultaneous need to go within yourself to create, but then to go outside of yourself to promote. And they're two very different aspects of one's mind and one's life. And then if you're. If it's easier for you to be able to say, okay, well, there's a common good. I'm going to promote this and it's going to help not only me, but somebody else, then I think that. That it seems like that's a worthwhile approach.

Max Garcia Conover:

Yeah, yeah, I think so, too. And yeah, it's also a mutually beneficial thing because it, you know, I can give a little money to the cause, and on top of that, I get to sort of show my fans or people who are new to my music what I care about. And hopefully it just sort of grounds the music in a greater context.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And there is a tradition of this sort of thing.

Max Garcia Conover:

Totally.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Joan Baez, more recently, I'm trying to remember the Feed the World people with the Christmas albums. And I mean, there's been a lot of this sort of thing in the past. And to have you as an independent musician doing that kind of continues on a tradition that I think a lot of people would like to do.

Max Garcia Conover:

Yeah, yeah. And even in Portland, you see it happening all the time. Musicians playing for free for benefit concerts or. Yeah. Recording videos or something that, you know, are also to support some. Some cause that they belong.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, that's actually a really important point. As you're talking, I'm realizing that John McCain, who's our audio producer, he just did a concert recently that was for. To benefit a man with cancer. And actually, I know that John has done many of these types of things. I know you're also coming up and you're doing Kennebunkport festival gig. Of course, money is going to share our strength, which is the hunger relief organization in Maine. So it seems like musicians and artists are very much valued for the ability to kind of open up people's hearts and really help them to understand that there are needs that are beyond what we sometimes think about in our lives. Can there be another side to it, which is that you may not always get the money you need to pay the mortgage?

Max Garcia Conover:

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think music is a very undervalued thing in general, financially undervalued. Not, you know, I think people really value music, but, like, it's. It's. You know, there's this whole thing going on right now about Internet Internet radio and how much musicians are getting paid and whether they'll be paid, you know, a tiny fraction of what the Internet radio sites are making or an even tinier fraction of what the Internet radio sites are making. But trying to make music into a business is a really challenging thing, and made even more challenging by the fact that so many musicians want to be helpful and want to ground their music in the social good.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As a singer, songwriter, and teacher, you not only have to have this sort of outgoing energy, but you also have to be able to pull back and create what inspires you.

Max Garcia Conover:

Usually other music, other songs. When I hear a good song, I just get like this feeling like I wish I had written that song. And so I go off and I try to write that song, but it ends up coming out as something different. And. Yeah, so that's a really. I mean, really direct source of inspiration for me. But often it's going to new places, doing new things that end up giving that sort of spark of inspiration. A lot of the time, it's what I'm reading. I'm a relatively quiet person and sort of introverted person, and so I'm often driven to write a song and inspired to write a song because there are things that I want to say, but I don't always put myself in the sort of social situations where anybody's there to hear me. So I say it through songs.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Max, how can people find out about your latest album Burrow, or the work that you're doing with Evergreen Health Services?

Max Garcia Conover:

The easiest way is just go to maxgarciaconover.com you can listen to the album from there and see the shows and stuff like that. Yeah. And then evergreenhs.org I think, is the website for Evergreen Health Services. Evergreen Health Services is a nonprofit in western New York, where I'm originally from, that brings sort of support and medical services to people with aids, which is a really personal issue for me and something I've been trying to figure out how to be involved for a while. Yeah. So those are the best ways.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you're going to be touring?

Max Garcia Conover:

I'm going to be touring, yeah. I've got a bunch of shows in May and June, and then about halfway through June, I'm just going to hit the road for six weeks or so. And play all over the Northeast. I don't have a lot in Maine, actually. The next thing is at Artworks at the Kennebunkport Festival and then. But I've got a lot of shows in New York and Boston and Philadelphia and. Yeah, stuff like that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And people can also read about you in the June issue of Maine Magazine.

Max Garcia Conover:

Yep.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And the article was conveniently written by Sophie Nelson.

Max Garcia Conover:

Conveniently, yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yes. And it's actually, it's a very. It's a very good article and the picture is a great picture by Greta Rybus. So anybody who hasn't had a chance to pick this up, they should. Or they can look online@themainmag.com Max thanks for coming in today.

Max Garcia Conover:

Thank you so much for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast hope that our listeners enjoy their own work lives to the same extent we do and fully embrace every day. As a physician and small business owner, I rely on Marcie Booth from Booth, Maine to help me with my own business and to help me live my own life fully. Here are a few thoughts from Marcy

[Unidentified voice]:

no matter what we do for work, there's always a busy season and it's very easy to become overwhelmed by all that needs doing. This is when one word needs to come to mind. Perspective when we need to remember that no matter what, we all work hard to do our best and get things done efficiently and in a timely manner. At the end of the day, we need to look at what we've accomplished for the day and not obsess with what we didn't get done. Our to do list or our inbox will never be empty. If it ever was. That would be kind of disappointing, don't you think? The nature of your in basket is that it's meant to have things in it. In fact, it could be argued that a full basket is essential for success. It means your time is in demand. A favorite line from a John Lennon song I sing to my girls is life is what happens while you're busy making other plans. It rings so true when it gets hectic. We need to acknowledge the fact that nothing is more important than our own sense of happiness and and inner peace. Very little in our lives. It truly falls into the emergency category, albeit some fall into urgency. But there is a significant difference. If we stay focused and prioritize, it will all get done. It always does. So when it gets a bit crazy in work or in life, remind yourself of what you've accomplished during that day. You'll be amazed and feel good about what's coming down the pike for tomorrow. Marcie I'm Marcie Booth. Let's talk about the changes you need. Boothmain.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

The theme of this week's show is sharing strength. And many of the things that we do to share strength involve messiness of a sort. So we thought we'd have a couple of very dear friends of mine and also a co worker of mine come in and talk to us about this messy thing that's going to be going on very soon called the Dynamic Dirt Challenge. In fact, today it is going on. We have Chris Kast and we have Byron Bartlett who are both going to be doing this Dynamic Dirt Challenge. Why do this dirty deed and how is it helping share strength with the people of Maine?

Chris Kast:

It's easy to answer the second question first, because the why is still something that I'm still wondering about. But the beneficiaries of this race are STRIVE and the center for Grieving Children. And STRIVE is an organization that helps people with mental impairment down syndrome, normalize into their world. And my godson has down syndrome. And the center for Grieving Children, as many people probably know, is a place that helps children who suffer loss of a parent or someone very close to them get through and understand the grieving process and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. So those are both very important things to be part of. To help support the why for the Dynamic Dirt Challenge, I'll leave the answer to Byron why.

Byron Bartlett:

I think it'll be fun chance to get dirty and have fun and do something good.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So people who don't know what the Dynamic Dirt Challenge is, describe this for them.

Chris Kast:

People have, they've been described as tough mudders, but essentially what it is. It's a running grown up obstacle course like race where everybody starts and you slide down Basically a wet mountain. And then you run through a swamp and then you have to climb up a hill and you have to push over hay bales and you have to crawl on your belly through total darkness and then you have to run through an unmarked forest and then you have to get through a mud field and then you have to climb a ladder wall and then you have to walk a plank and forge a stream and push track tractor tires.

Byron Bartlett:

It's a chance to do all those things, those fun things that you haven't done since you were a kid, as an adult.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how do you train for that? How have you been doing that, Byron?

Byron Bartlett:

Well, running has been my only training recently, but, you know, a few miles, I think I can handle most of the things. We'll see.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You haven't been sledding over hay bales or crawling on your belly through the garden in mud or anything like that?

Byron Bartlett:

Not yet. Although apparently we're going to be going running up Bradbury Mountain today or tomorrow.

Chris Kast:

And actually we had been looking for places to go cow tipping, but that's just passe in Maine. For me. Getting ready for it is just getting ready mentally understanding that I have two goals in mind for this. To start and to finish. And I'm not running the race to be beat anybody. I'm not running the race to prove anything except to myself that I can actually start and end something like this and have fun doing it. You know, that's, that's the whole thing and be part of a community of people that are all in it for the same reason and all having fun for the same reason and all getting dirty and maybe spraining something, maybe not.

Byron Bartlett:

And our buddy Deb is doing it with us, too. So we're doing it as a team.

Chris Kast:

Yeah, our buddy Deb Ivey's doing it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What's the name of your team?

Chris Kast:

Well, we're doing his Team Spice. And it's a joke because Deb Ivey's husband is Herb. So it was Team Spice without Herb or Herb. So that was our lame attempt at humor.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And this is you, Chris, that was coming up with this, I take it, as the principal here at BrandCo, the main media collective you're all about to create or not.

Byron Bartlett:

It was me.

Max Garcia Conover:

Oh, no.

Chris Kast:

So that is not a brand company brand. That is a Byron Bartlett of TD bank brand.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Now this sounds like kind of a lot of fun. I mean, I've known you both for a while and we all do a lot of events together, a lot of dancing and socializing and we're out and about. But this is something that you actually have to train for, and sometimes you have to train for it together, I would assume. What has this been like for your relationship?

Chris Kast:

The training has just helped us, you know, keep each other motivated. You know, we have to do it and, you know, having the dog. Well, we have to get Maude out and, you know, more focused over the past weeks of getting up and getting out after work. And even if I can't run four miles, just if Byron got home and had a run, I'd say, well, I have to go for a run. So it's just been able to keep motivated, and it's actually helped on a lot of levels, not just training for the race, but just relieving stress and just feeling better about myself in general, about ourselves in general.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you've had to be sharing strength even as you're training for this.

Byron Bartlett:

Sure.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is an event that is also sponsored by Maine Magazine and the Maine Media Collective. Why does Maine Magazine care about the Dynamic Dirt Challenge?

Chris Kast:

That's a really great. I don't know that it's necessarily about the Dynamic Dirt Challenge as much as it's about sponsoring something that does so much good for the community. And that's what Maine Magazine and Maine Media Collective looks for is sponsorships are great, but they have to have impact. They have to do something for the greater good. They have to do something that really does things for the people of Maine. And I think that that's a really strong filter through which all sponsorships get vetted. And this, in particular is something that's near and dear to everybody's heart, and it's put on by she jams, and that was actually started by a breast cancer survivor. And again, it's something that just keeps giving back and back to the community. So I think that that's a real part that's in the fiber of Maine Media Collective and Maine Magazine. That's really baked right in or woven right into the fiber of who we are and what we try and do.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Byron, what are your goals?

Byron Bartlett:

I'd like to do a little bit better than start and finish. I'd like to not break anything. I don't. Again, I don't have any. I don't imagine that I'm going to be finishing first or even 10th, you know, but I'm just looking forward to the day spending it with, you know, my teammates and having people cheer us on while we're looking like fools doing tomfoolery things. It's kind of fun.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How can people find out about the Dynamic Dirt Challenge.

Chris Kast:

Well, they can go to dynamicdirtchallenge.com and they can take a look at the course. There's a photo gallery of lunatics like us who've done it before and they just keep people updated. It actually shows the course map and it's being run at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, which is an amazing, amazing property. So that in and of itself is going to be a treat to be able to run around this incredibly pristine bucolic piece of Maine that's right in our backyard in New Gloucester, which will be it's part of the magic.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Thank you so much for coming in and talking to us about the Dynamic Dirt Challenge. And I believe that you both bring so much good into the world and you're just bringing more good into the world by going out and doing this event for the center for Grieving Children and for strive. And thanks for putting the time in to train for this and I don't know, thanks for being a part of my world. Chris Kast and Byron Bartlett, good luck.

Chris Kast:

Thank you. Thank you Lisa. Thank you for having us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 90, sharing strength. Our guests have included Kristin Mele, President of the Good Shepherd Food Bank, Max Garcia Conover, musician and teacher at Breakwater School, and Chris Kast and Byron Bartlett of the Dynamic Dirt Challenge. For more information on our guests, visit Dr. Lisa.org for more information on the Kennebunkport Festival and how it benefits Share our strength here in Maine, visit kennebunkport festival. The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is downloadable for free on itunes. For a preview of each week's show, sign up for our e Newsletter and like our Dr. Lisa Facebook page. You can also follow me on Twitter and Pinterest and read my take on health and well being on the Bountiful blog. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable me and us to bring the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour to you each week. They help us share our strength. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle hoping that you have enjoyed our Sharing Strength show. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.