Real Talk with Tina and Ann
Tina and Ann met as journalists covering a capital murder trial, 15 years ago. Tina has been a tv and radio personality and has three children. Ann has a master's in counseling and has worked in the jail system, was a director of a battered woman's shelter/rape crisis center, worked as an assistant director at a school for children with autism, worked with abused kids and is currently raising her three children who have autism. She also is autistic and was told would not graduate high school, but as you can see, she has accomplished so much more. The duo share their stories of overcoming and interview people who are making it, despite what has happened. This is more than just two moms sharing their lives. This is two women who have overcome some of life's hardest obstacles. Join us every Wednesday as we go through life's journey together. There is purpose in the pain and hope in the journey.
Real Talk with Tina and Ann
Blessed and highly favored: One lady’s wisdom and story of growing programs for youth. transforming communities and living what she preaches.
How can one person help to transform community institutions, or inspire a youth movement with creative programs? Join us on Real Talk with Tina and Ann as Ann sits down with the phenomenal Miss Betty Smith, whose journey of resilience and boundless energy will leave you in awe. Betty's story is a testament of what the power of imagination, the belief in our young people and community spirit can do.
Betty's remarkable journey took a pivotal turn when she moved to Chicago at 18 which led her to spearheading numerous programs for children, senior citizens, and women battling addiction. Her work didn’t stop there—Betty's tenure at Catholic Charities saw the creation of impactful community initiatives and a large-scale employment program, even catching the attention of Oprah Winfrey's office. Her collaborations with public figures like Dolores Jordan and Halle Berry underscore her far-reaching influence.
But Betty’s impact extends beyond Chicago. In Canton, Ohio, she founded the Enrichment Arts Education Center, providing life skills and creative outlets for the youth. We learn about this model program and all that it offers Canton's youth. Miss Betty continues to empower young people, offering them meaningful alternatives to negative paths. Through heartfelt stories and transformative initiatives, Betty's unwavering commitment to community development and youth empowerment shines brilliantly, offering lessons in resilience, teamwork, and the true essence of giving back.
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Welcome to Real Talk with Tina and Anne. I am Anne, and Tina will be back soon. Today we are having Miss Betty Smith on our program, and she is not like any other woman that I've ever met or heard of before. Honestly, miss Betty, I am honored to have you on Real Talk. This is a place where we talk about uplifting stories, and yours is definitely one. I've met you before and I was able to interview you, but it was years and years ago, and I have to tell you, though, I never forgot you.
Speaker 1:You really, really left an impression on my heart and me wanting to make a difference in other people's lives, so I want to thank you for that.
Speaker 2:You're welcome. Thank you for having me on your show. I feel very honored and privileged to be on your show.
Speaker 1:You know, I saw you in a parade the other day and your energy was like off the charts and I saw a post that you put up that said that you made it. You know 2.2 miles and I would say that you actually danced 2.2 miles.
Speaker 2:So I had so much fun, you know, and, and you know what, and I was so blessed to be able to do it because I didn't know if I could, because I had the emergency open heart surgery in February, right, and then, uh, then I broke a toe and then, july I was in ER for dehydration and I said I am going to do this parade, you know.
Speaker 2:So that's why I put the post up that I made it you know, the whole time with the kids and dance into the cadences and just had a great time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I could tell, I could know you have such a childlike spirit and your energy is so infectious. I mean, what has made you this way?
Speaker 2:you know, and I've always been very kind of like into, involved in athletics and exercise and everything. From a small girl I used to turn cartwheels I don't know what the kids call them today we call cartwheels and my mother used to say every time I'm looking for you, you're upside down. You know, because I'm just and I had all this energy and she's trying to corral me right with all this energy so I used a lot of that energy to work with the young kids in my neighborhood. I mean we were very poor and growing up I mean we were dirt poor. I didn't know we were so poor because we had a lot of love and my mother's house was open to any and everybody. She had seven children.
Speaker 1:My dad died when she was.
Speaker 2:She was a widow at 28. And God did bless her with a husband five years later. He was 20 years older than her but he was wonderful to us and there were seven of us. But to say all that, we just had a lot of people in in our yard and you know, we only had a two bedroom home. But I told mother, every piece of furniture is a bed. Pull out the chairs and the sofas and then in those days you could sleep outside you know it was warm and it was safe.
Speaker 2:Okay, so in the summer we just put blankets outside and sleep outside, and so I just had. I always had a lot of energy. You know, probably in that day they might've said I was ADHD or something. You know, add cause I had so much energy, but I was always wanting to be busy and I always worked with the young people even though I was young, but I always gathered them together, you know, and did something, not realizing this was going to be.
Speaker 2:This was the calling on my life. Yeah, I just feel like God was preparing me for what I'm doing now. Really, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was just going to say how you always had a connection with kids. I mean, I can remember it years ago and I can definitely see it now. I mean they respect you, they look to you, they listen to you and you know that's really saying something in this day and age. So I mean, what makes it so there? That connection is there with the young people.
Speaker 2:Where did it originate, which you say it happened when you were younger when I was younger and and I would gather all the kids together, I was just just, I just wanted to be busy, and so they were doing nothing and I'm like, okay, let's do this, and I would plan little things and I'd make little invitations on cards and pass them out to the kids in the neighborhood and then I'd say, well, what do you want to do? And you know, and we would get. We had a little. We just did a lot of things together, some of the things the kids don't even do together. We played something called jacks you know where you have these jacks and then you throw the ball and you catch them and all that stuff. And then we made our own little scooters and we had boxcar racing. You build your own boxcar. So we didn't have money, so we had to do the best we could with what we had and a lot of this teamwork, you know, with the kids and imagination.
Speaker 1:Imagination I mean most definitely what a lot of kids are lacking today because of social media and everything else that's going on.
Speaker 2:That's exactly right. And then you know also, um, I loved music, I always loved music, and so I remember I started my mother, like I said, my mother, she just she was a domestic and she would just get extra jobs, and she bought me a piano because I'd be taking my fingernails and clicking on glass and you know, trying to sing with that, you know that sound of the glass. And so I heard her say yeah, that you know that sound of the glass.
Speaker 2:And so I heard her say okay, so she raised she, she took an extra job to make $50 to buy me this upright piano, and so I played by ear. I could hear a song, and then I would sit down and play it and the kids would come in and sing. And so we belong to church, and so I started a little choir at the church and so I would. So this, this music, has been part of me all my life. And then when I started taking lessons, I played clarinet. I was in the orchestra, I was in the marching band, I was also in a choir and we had a little group called Four Jacks and I was Jill. So it was Four Jacks and a Jill. That's awesome, listen. And we were good. We even eventually joined the union, and at that time the union was we played three hours and our rate of pay was $3.33 an hour.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:But with that little money, you know, I could help mother buy my school books and things like that, you know. So music, that's why I'm in music now. It's, it's been a part of me, it kept me grounded and it got kids off the street and we sing and we belonged to. You know, every time there was a talent show or something at the school, we participated, you know, and we just yeah, yeah. So it all started. See, I always tell young people you don't know sometimes why you do what you do, but it's, you'll be planning. I think God is planting a seed for what's going to be happening later in your life, amen.
Speaker 1:So just embrace those things you know, I say it all the time absolutely, I mean. Everything is a stepping stone to where we're going. I believe that most definitely.
Speaker 2:And so that's you know, that's how, from a young girl, you know, 10, 11 years old, and then going into music, getting to the high school and the band and the swing band, and all you know, we had swing band too. I forgot about that, but I was in all the music things. And then I also was in sports. I love basketball, but you know, and in those days, women played on a half court and you could only dribble the ball two times, you know, because they were, you know, women not supposed to be doing sports, right, right so you get a half court and I said I play the full court.
Speaker 2:And I said no, no, no, you can only do half. And so it was very frustrating for me, you know, because we two steps you only dribble to wall twice. Then you have to pass it. I know, yeah, anybody listening this will probably say this is crazy. Yeah, you know. But I mean that's, that's really the way, it was right we did that. But anyway, it's just so.
Speaker 2:You know all those things in sports and so, and then I ran track when I was in school, okay, so I've always been busy and athletic, you know. And then then I got into the healthy eating thing, and I'm not even sure where that started. I used to be very heavy. I used to weigh like 167 pounds and all growing up I was heavy even though I was active, okay. But when I turned 18 and moved to Chicago with my aunt, you know, it was hard for me to find a job because in those days they really discriminated if you were heavy, they, they didn't want me to be the reception I'm serious and I had one gentleman say you need to lose some weight and I said, excuse me, and he says well, you know you don't, you don't want to a boss doesn't want a real heavy set receptionist sitting at the desk and it was like wow.
Speaker 2:So I went on a diet. I went on a diet although I needed to lose weight because it wasn't healthy, you know right.
Speaker 2:But I lost the weight and I and I liked the way I looked I said, well, I do look better, I do feel better. But how dare you say you won't hire me because I'm heavy? But in those days you could do it and get by. Couldn't do that today, discriminate. But you know, I lost the weight and I kept it off and then I really got into eating healthy and saying, oh, I shouldn't be eating this and oh, this is really. Oh, I need to eat more fruit, oh, I need to drink more water. Okay, and that's kind of been part of me, you know, from like age 18 and now. That doesn't mean that I don't sometimes eat french fries or a piece of cake or something.
Speaker 1:You know I'm not that strict a lot of people today are really strict, right, and I'm not.
Speaker 2:No, no, I do moderation, you know, in what I eat and try to keep my weight down, but I'm active and I'm glad I am because, see, because now I'm working with these children right and the drum line, and I march with the drum line. So I told him, I said I always try to be the example. I said now I'm 84 and I said, if I can do this, do this. Yes, don't let me out, do you? And sometimes I still can with the young people. You know, I worked out with them when they were practicing for the grand parade and some of them they were winded and I'm like wait a minute, I'm not huffing and puffing.
Speaker 2:Come on, young people. But see our young people today. Don't care of themselves the way they should.
Speaker 1:They don't take care of themselves the way they should. They don't eat healthy. They do a lot of fast foods.
Speaker 2:They do a lot of sugar. These energy drinks terrible, oh yeah, horrible. Yeah, I don't let my kids touch them, right? No, good for you, they shouldn't. So you know, I just give back what I have. I use the experiences that I had when I was growing up and things, and just try to make their life better.
Speaker 2:Well, you were disciplined you know, yeah, yeah, and I and I did it. I had a wonderful. I had a wonderful mother, you know. She worked very hard and she instilled good values in us and I remember she was domestic and I used to go to work with her and we'd be on our hands and knees scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets and stuff and she always say oh, you missed a spot, go back and do it again.
Speaker 2:Any job worth doing is worth doing it right the first time. So she taught me so much, so much from her, you know, and she only had 10th grade education, but she was very wise, very wise woman and she taught us that living is giving.
Speaker 1:She always said that yeah.
Speaker 2:And I say Mom, you can't afford to do that. She said God will give it back to me, don't worry, we can feed another person. I can help this person and she always, she never wanted for anything. You know, she just didn't. So that's instilled in me and a lot of my siblings.
Speaker 2:You know you, you give and God will give it back to you, you know you may and so this is from from a young child up to me now, this age and still working with young people, and I love it. It keeps me young. You know, even when I had my health issues and everything, I bounced back Right Because I say my work's not finished.
Speaker 1:I'm still here. It's about your outlook. Yes, definitely. You know. When you mentioned how you went to Chicago to live with your aunt, that's where a lot of this originated. Isn't that correct? Where you just started doing a lot of these things in Chicago? I mean, what exactly were you able to start there?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, some of it started when I was in my hometown of Logan Sport, indiana, working with the youth in the choir. I played piano and the little small organ for my church and you know I had the administrative skills that I didn't even realize what I had. I always loved to play school. After school was out, I set up my own school and my mom always said what are you doing?
Speaker 2:I said I'm playing school, I'm gonna have the kids over and we're gonna have math, I'm gonna do english and I'm like, and I you know I don't. I had fun, right, you know. Again, that was another thing that prepared me for where I am. So when I moved to Chicago at 18, then I got involved with a small church at the time and I got involved with their choir. The church had less than 100 members and the church grew and grew and I was able to work with the church and with the pastor and I learned so much about music and about administration more than what I ever thought I'd learn. Our church grew to 25,000 members. Oh my God, less than 100 to 25,000. Bishop Arthur M Brazier, may he rest in peace. He was like my father. My mother said take care of my daughter, she's young, she's here in Chicago. And he became like my father and his family became like my family. But we went to 25,000 members. Oh my gosh, built a mega church. It's still there. He's passed away. His son pastors it now and I tell you, I've had so much experience in there working with the choir, working with the.
Speaker 2:We worked with a group called the Sinfonietta. They were part of the Chicago Symphony and I got to work with them. I got to meet the person that started it. I had so much exposure. I had a television show. I had a television show.
Speaker 2:I started a recovery home in Chicago for women with and had children, and they were on drugs. I started that. It became a model for the state called Forever Free and I worked with Catholic charities for 28 years and we had a major department there where I work with children, I work with senior citizens. They were, they gave me full range to create programs and they said now you have to raise the money, you can create them and you know, and I so, and I just, and I did that, and I did that, like I said, for 28 years. And I, it was just phenomenal, I still working with my church and I worked that, like I said, for 28 years. Uh, and I, it was just phenomenal, I still working with my church. Uh, and I worked with young people, uh, in my agency. Uh, the city gave us money in the summer and I, you know I might have 200 kids working for me.
Speaker 1:I had a senior program.
Speaker 2:I had 150 seniors that worked for me and the biggest program I had it was under what they called CETA, comprehensive employment training act. Okay, and I remember one night my boss called me and it was like 10 o'clock. He said, betty, I'm going to going after a contract, but it's going to be major if we get it. And I need to know, think you can handle it, because we'll have to hit the ground running and get it set up in 30 days. And I said, of course I can you know. So, sure enough, he got the. It was like 1.2 million. We had 1100 people that worked for us. I set up 110 work sites and I had I had 40 staff and I put that together in 30 days. I worked day and night and put together a dynamite staff.
Speaker 2:We had 1,100, I'm telling you 1,100. And it was just for a short period of time in the summer, and I look back now and I'm like we do it, but I had a great staff. I'm still in touch with some of those people today. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that worked with me. Great people follow you. It seems like.
Speaker 2:I mean, you're a miracle maker.
Speaker 2:You know what? God is the head of my life and I love people, I love working with people, I like challenges, I like to be able to be creative and surround myself with people that are creative and just want an opportunity to work and have good work ethics, right, and because that makes my job easier, because I don't know everything. So you find people that know what you don't know. Don't know everything, so you find people that know what you don't know right, and then you make a team. You know, then you, then you come together and you could do so much.
Speaker 2:One person can't do it all some people think, oh yeah, I can do this, I'm doing. No, no, you can't, and and you'll soon burn out, which you know. I went through that too, burnout, okay. Um, but when you surround yourself with people that that that know things that you don't know, then you make a team. That's what. That's what good management is. You know. It's building the team of people around you that don't have skills that you don't have, and that's what I've always done. You know I'm not. I can always learn from somebody else I don't know at all. I don't pretend to know at all.
Speaker 1:Could you tell my nine year old that right now, now, because she tells me that she knows it all. The older you get, the less you know.
Speaker 2:You know okay you know, I tell my young people I said I'm still learning. I say every day I want to learn something new. Yep, I want to challenge myself. I said you never know too much you do, and there's so much knowledge out there that you can acquire. I'm always researching other people. Yeah, learn from other people. So you know I do right, yeah, do that. So, uh, that's that's been my life.
Speaker 1:You know it's been, you know when you talk about people that you've surrounded yourself with, not to name drop, but I think one of the people that you know might be Oprah Winfrey. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Well, you, know when I opened my recovery home. I remember I was. I was I was visiting with my mother and I got a phone call from my staff. They said we had a call from Oprah Winfrey's office and she wants to put some of the ladies from our recovery home on TV. Can?
Speaker 2:you get back here. So I went back and I talked with the producer of her show and she said we were not exactly sure how Oprah wants to construct this whole show, but I'll be in touch. So they did, and so we got on. I went on the show and then, um, oprah was there and she had the ladies on the show and I got to talk with her and I met with her and so she was very nice, very, very nice, and she kind of changed some of the things from what we were doing and I said, wow, this is really phenomenal, we know what she's doing.
Speaker 2:And it was on that particular show where Oprah said you know, I tried, a little drugs when I was younger her and that was the first time she said she had ever told anybody that she tried drugs. It's because the women on my show, you know, were recovering from drugs. Yeah, they were so transparent, yeah. And so afterwards we got a chance to shake her hand and to talk with her. But I tell you, the person that I met, who I'm still friends with date, was Michael Jordan's mother, dolores. She came by the recovery home and she fell in love with the children. She fell in love with the children. She fell in love with the children and we just hit it off. She was just wonderful. I was invited to a party that Michael had and I talked with him. I talked with Michael and I said you know you're, I admire you. You're such an awesome basketball player. I said, but I'll tell you who I admire more your mom.
Speaker 1:I said she's a bomb.
Speaker 2:I said she's so wonderful, she comes by the recovery home and everything. And then at that, then at at that time, his sister was in my choir. I said, and your sister sings in my choir. He says, oh God, that's for her, you know. I said, well, you need to come by sometime, and so, but so that was my encounter with my and so when I moved to Canton, mrs Jordan, she came several times to support me in the programs that I have. Oh, wow, ok, she's been here.
Speaker 2:And then I saw her in June. I saw her in June when I was in Chicago and I hadn't seen her in a while and hadn't spoken with her, and so I said, oh, wow. I said this is just, this is just wonderful. So anyway, she said, betty, I'm still working over in Africa and she's building this I think it's a medical center, and she's, I think she was just about finished with it. And she said, and I said, well, you know, we kind of lost touch. So she made sure I got her number, so, if I can call her, but she's just a wonderful woman. And then Michael Jordan was just here for the enshrinement, I think one of his friends was being inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, michael, was just here, you know.
Speaker 2:Okay, but I didn't reach out to him or anything. I don't even know if he would still remember me, because it was some time ago Now. His mom, of course, just saw her it was some time ago now. His mom, of course, just saw her, but I've been able to meet some wonderful people, you know, in doing this work. Well, let's Halle Berry too, I think. I told you. I told you how, halle Berry and she's from Ohio uh, she's from Cleveland.
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, when I did my recovery home, I remember one day walking into conference room and this little tiny, little cute person with a little cap on stood up. She says hi, my name is Hallie and I'm like Hallie. I didn't recognize her and she took the cap off.
Speaker 1:She says Hallie Berry.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh my gosh. She said I hope it's okay that I'm here. She says I'm getting ready to do this movie called Losing Isaiah. And she said I told them I wanted to do the research and they said, well, you need to go see Betty. My my name was McDaniel. Then Go see Betty McDaniel. She has a recovery home. So that's why she came. Well, the women in my program read the script. They said we need to change some things. First of all, we don't talk like this. She said change it. She said I told them I want it to be real. So some of the ladies in my recovery home.
Speaker 2:Forever Free. They changed part of the script and then she showed them her wardrobe. They said we don't dress like that, we're druggies. We don't dress like that. She says, well, which I wear. So they had input on that.
Speaker 1:That's great. So when?
Speaker 2:it was time to film part of the women from my recovery home or in the first scene of the movie losing Isaiah Okay, and my, my name is in the is in the credits. Okay, Betty McDaniel, and forever free. And that was an awesome movie. If you haven't seen it, or whoever's watching it, watch that movie about a mother who lost her child because she was on drugs, and it's really. It's real story. It's a real story. It's a real story. So I had a big part in that. So it was wonderful.
Speaker 1:That is amazing, that is just amazing yeah. You know you started a lot of organizations now in Canton Ohio and one of them was multi-development services Of Scott County, and that was an arts program, am I right?
Speaker 2:well, you know what it started out, when, when I, you know, um, and I always say that God has had his hand on my life, all my life, yeah, and I remember that when I got married to Reverend Smith and moved here, my minister said to me Betty, you have a work to do in Canton. And I said, no, I'm retired. I said my husband has a little small church and I'm going to work in his church. He says, oh, I'll give you just a little short while and you'll be working. And you know, I, it was three months and it and and I, it was like I really heard this voice that was in my spirit. It said you can't retire, there's too much work to do. And I'm like I don't even know where I am, I just gotten there, and so I talked to my husband and he said well, there's a school down the street. Why don't you go down and see if there's something you can do?
Speaker 2:Long story short, on that, I opened up what I call Minority Development Services of Stark County. Okay, and so I started working with a lot of minority families and helping the mothers and with the children, and then my population kind of changed on me and I said, oh, I'm working with all kinds of families, I'm working with Hispanics and I'm working with the Caucasian family, I'm working with this and I'm working with that. And so I said, well, I said, and my board said we need to change the name because we're not just working with minorities. So we changed it to multi-development services.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:That's how that came about. And I tell you I tell you, ann, in three months I had 71 clients.
Speaker 2:Three months time there was such a need for mothers and children, similar to what I did in Chicago with Catholic charities. And so someone said well, why don't you open up a recovery home? I said no, you have one here called Conquest and I can refer recovering home. I said, no, you have one here called Conquest and I can refer moms to them if they need that kind of service. And so that's what I did. But I had children's programs. I started an after school youth program. That's where the arts came in and I had music, I had choir and I had sports, we had soccer, we had swimming, we played a little basketball and we did theater. So you see, that was preparing me for something later.
Speaker 1:And I didn't realize that at the time.
Speaker 2:So I did all of that. And then I had I opened a homeless shelter and I opened up transitional housing. In one year I had five pieces of paid whore property. I didn't know these foundations, I had never written a grant because Catholic Charities wrote all of my grants, and so I started just writing from my heart, because at that time the grants were pretty easy to write. The requirements weren't not like they are today, the requirements weren't not like they are today. And they started funding me and I had five pieces of property. I mean it was the Hoover Foundation, you know, it was the Tipkin Foundation, sisters of Charity, you know, I mean it was just all of the major foundations and people were like, how did you get this money? I said I just wrote a proposal, I want to help people. And they loved, you know, loved my passion for the community and for the people in the communities, particularly families and children. And so we opened this beautiful.
Speaker 2:I took an old really the house was on demo list and I was able to get the house and I believe it was the Stark Community Foundation bought that house for me and then I got money from the city of Canton to renovate the house. Wow. And then it was the Dugald Foundation gave me money to buy all the furnishings and it was a beautiful home. I rebuilt it, I put in all new flooring, carpet, drapes, it was beautiful. And so I asked the mayor. His name was Watkins. Then I said why don't you come and cut the ribbon? So he said I'm happy to. Well, when he saw the home, he said oh my gosh, this is beautiful. Saw the home, he said oh my gosh, this is beautiful. He said I can live in a home like this. This is wonderful. I said well, I'll tell you what. If you ever become homeless, give me a call. But you know what? It was beautiful, I mean, it really was.
Speaker 2:Then, a couple of years later, I said well, I need a transitional house for once. These homeless people, you know they need a place to go. So I need transitional, something they can transition into. So a young a person named Tom Sherry he's passed away he said Betty, I've got an apartment building. If you can fix it up, you know you could just use it. So I was able to get some people to come and fix it up. Once again. I fixed it up, really, really nice. And so the women could go from there into transitional housing and my final place was I had a nice home down the street and I said if a mother can get through this, the homeless shelter, to transitional, then she'll need a place of her own. So then she went into this other home with her family. She stayed there two years. Then we found her her own home. So it takes time. It's like a three year. You know, I did this even in Chicago with recovery home. You can't recover in 30 days. They'll say go to 30 day detox or 30.
Speaker 1:You can't recover.
Speaker 2:Right so.
Speaker 1:I would keep those mothers up to a year in Chicago in my recovery home. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:And then I had a transitional house there and then we found them home. So I knew the process. So you see, that was that was getting me started in Chicago to work it in Kent, you know, except it wasn't a recovery home but it was a homeless shelter. But you got it, you. You understood these stories. We would talk for days about all the stories and the places where god, you know, put me to help.
Speaker 2:It's all about what my mom told me living is giving and told you know, when you're in this work, you, you can't be in this work for money. You make very little money in social work and for years I made no money, I just did it, and right now I just get a small stipend. But if people think they're going to open up a 501c3 and work with families and make a lot of money, they're mistaken and a lot of people go into it for that and that's the wrong reason. You have to have that passion, you have to have that love for people and you want to do good by them. It's not. It's not about a paycheck, and I don't hire people that say, well, I need a job. No, do you need this kind of job? Do you have a passion for the kids. Do you love it? If they don't, they can't work here. You can never work for me. If you didn't have the passion, you couldn't do it Right. You just couldn't do it.
Speaker 1:Well, I used to be a director of a battered woman's shelter, and we too had the exact same kind of setup, but it wasn't as long, and I really appreciate your passion and your knowledge for knowing that and allowing the women to be set up for success you know or?
Speaker 1:because that's what you really want to do. I mean, if somebody is standing in front of you and they are homeless or when I worked in the jail system and they really want a second chance, you know you have to help set them up for success and that's that's what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Yes, and you know another thing we're doing now. I met with the staff of the for the work with juvenile court and the probation department. You know, these are, these are young people that that you know just do dumb stuff and they have misdemeanors. And so I said, send me some of those young people for community service that have to do community service and let me give them something, an education, and get them involved in the arts and they can work their hours off here while we're educating them so they don't come back into your system. So I've been wanting to do that for quite a while. But now that we've got the facility and and we have, we have more programs and things. But we just started this last week. Oh wow, in fact we just got our first referrals yesterday to young people and we'll work with them and we work with the jobs people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we work with the jobs people and those who are receiving a check, and you know you have to work to get your check, and so we've got three of them working here now. They're doing a wonderful job.
Speaker 1:These are talented young people, just giving you a chance and you're teaching them the skills, because there's nothing more important than you know young people learning life skills and job skills and all the things that make them an independent, productive adult right and and the discipline.
Speaker 2:You know we have to be there, you have to be on time. You have to dress appropriately. You know these are the discipline. You know we have to be there, you have to be on time.
Speaker 1:You have to dress appropriately. You know, these are the things that we teach them.
Speaker 2:We instill in them the values and things and life skills, so that when you leave here and you go to a job you'll be ready and someone very talented, a much young lady. She's very good with the computer, so she's helping us, so that's what it's all about. So that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1:One young man said well, I really like to clean, so maybe I could help you clean the building. I'm like well, of course we always need somebody to help us keep the building clean.
Speaker 2:He said, but you'll have to train me. I don't know how to do everything. I said, well, that's why you're here and he's worked out. So he was with me this summer and they let me keep him over now because he's still got some time that he needs to work on and they pay him, so that helps me too.
Speaker 1:But he's learning and he loves it here and we love him. Yeah, it's honing in on those skills that they love and be able to teach them new skills and how to do it out there in the world.
Speaker 2:I mean oh my gosh what you're doing is amazing.
Speaker 2:I love it, I love what I do. I mean, oh my gosh, what you're doing is amazing. I love it, I love what I do. I mean, you know, and this is why I get up in the morning, you know, and I always say, god, what are you going to do today and what challenges am I going to have today? That I know I'll meet them Because you know, like I say, I have a strong faith and I just look forward to coming here and working with the kids. And now we have an affiliation with the Bluecoats.
Speaker 2:I can remember a couple of years ago, I went to foundations for money. I said I really need some capacity building money. See, I've been working basically with part-time staff and college students. College students, they helped me put this program together. That's all I had, and I used to just do everything the bookkeeping.
Speaker 2:I was there, I wore about 10 hats, and so then, when I went to the foundations who have always been good to me they said Betty, you need a couple of things. You need sustainability and you need a succession plan. And so this is where the Bluecoats was always there to try to help me out, because we have Drumline and I. We talked about how they could help me, and what we came up with was an affiliation agreement where they would put some of their board members on my board and vice versa, and then I'd be a non-voting member on their board and their CEO and CFO, coo, would be non-voting members on my board, and then they would help me, like with fundraising, and so that this program can be around a long time when I'm no longer working in this program or here.
Speaker 2:This program has to go on because it's so valuable to the community. So then I talked with Mr Ted Sualdo, who was the founder of Jervasi Vineyard and he's also connected with the Bluecoats. His son was in the Bluecoats when he was younger and I told him I said, for five years I've been praying for a building. I want one story with a lot of windows, because the building I had been in we're kind of in the church basement and there was not any windows per se. So I'll tell you, in a short period of time he found the old ziggler tire building on the corner of ninth and market and he says I got the perfect building for you. And I tell you he transformed this building into oh my goodness, it's a state-of-the-art fine arts building.
Speaker 2:I mean, is it all done? It's all, yes, it's, and you'll have to come by for a tour.
Speaker 1:Oh, I want to.
Speaker 2:And that can be another show where we just take a tour of this facility and show the two art rooms that I have the two dance studios, a huge drum line room and a state-of-the-art kitchen for our creative cooking class, and we can feed the kids a well-balanced meal after school and we did it this summer for camp.
Speaker 1:Do you have a garden too?
Speaker 2:We have a garden on the corner of 7th and Fulton Road, the kids grow vegetables and then we have lots of flowers, we have a butterfly garden and then we use some of that food out of the garden for cooking and the young lady that does the cooking she uses that, you know, the food out of the garden and she teaches them about eating healthy and all that kind of good stuff. You know, it's just wonderful, it's just, it's just wonderful. So we have the creative cooking and that's a very popular class. Even I've had parents say I need to be in that class, you know, because our kids, just they eat a lot of junk, right, right, you know, and we give them fruit and vegetables when they were having the lunch here.
Speaker 2:They will do after school, because I get some of the kids as early as 3.30. Well, they haven't eaten since lunch. So now we'll be able to give them a full course dinner and then they'll go to study hall and then they will go to their class and I have them to about 6 15. So before, when I had them after school, we only had snacks because we didn't have kitchen and they would say miss Betty, I'm still hungry and sometimes we might have to buy food and we've got to be very expensive pizza and stuff like that, sandwiches and then sometimes people would donate and we always take donations for food because kids are always hungry when they come here hungry. You can't function if you're hungry and some of the kids are just betting I'm hungry and, like I said, kids stay hungry all the time they want to eat, but I want to give them something healthy and give them something healthy.
Speaker 2:And then every now and then we'll do a treat. You know we'll do ice cream or we'll have some cookies or something like that, but I want them to know that. You know you need to start young, taking care of your health. So very important to take care of your health when you're younger, to work out, to condition your body.
Speaker 1:You know, I teach them all of that.
Speaker 2:I did that in the recovery home in Chicago. We had workouts in Chicago. I took them over by the lakefront and we did walked along the lakefront and some of them had never even seen the lakefront in Chicago.
Speaker 2:And we take the kids. We give the kids experiences that they would never be able to have if they didn't have this program. We expose them exposure is everything, yes, expose them to a lot of different things that they can do to make it in life. Life skills are so, so important. Etiquette classes Last year and we're going to do it again this year Mr Swaldo's wife, linda Swaldo she's such a sweet, lovely lady she did an etiquette class. We took them to Jervasi first class and she taught them. You know how to properly sit in the napkin. I said I learned some things too. Sometimes I don't know which fork to use if we have a lot of these forks and spoons and knives and things Right.
Speaker 2:And she did that and the kids just, they'll never forget it. So she said she would do it for me again. Probably this fall We'll have another etiquette class at Jervasi, and what better place right than Jervasi, some of place right that your bossy some of them said wow.
Speaker 1:I'm at your bossy, I'm like you know, sure, sure. And this all falls under enrichment, is that correct?
Speaker 2:Enrichment and on Facebook we're known as enrichment of Stark County. Okay, but enrichment is spelled differently because it's all capitals and it's got dashes in it E-N, dash, r-i-c-h, dash, m-e-n-t. Because someone had it without the dashes. So, and it's got dashes in it, e-n, dash, r-i-c-h, dash, m-e-n-t. Because someone had it without the dashes. So we have the Enrichment Arts Education Center at 901 Market North in Canton, ohio. You can't miss this. I mean, we just light up that corner and at night there are lights on our name, mr Swalder. We had the lights underneath the word enrichment. We got lights on our name, mr Swalder. We had the lights underneath the word enrichment. We got lights on the landscaping. Outside is just beautiful. I can't wait to see it.
Speaker 2:You have, I mean people just ride by and admire, you know, the beacon of light that's someone said you're a gem on the corner of 9th and Market oh wow, that's amazing, yeah yeah, so we're part of a campus really, because Arts and Stark is next door and you know, they have the ballet, they have the museum and they have Sing Stark over there, so we're part of that. Now they have a park next to us, so we have a park. The drum line wants to go over there and practice.
Speaker 1:They can go over there and practice in the park, so it works out really well again. It's for the community. You know we just work together and all this. Wasn't it like a 1.75 million dollar campaign that you know made this happen?
Speaker 2:that's exactly right. And then, as mr swaldo got in here, he saw other things. He said, oh, we need this, I need a little more money, we need this. And you know, god just blessed him. I think we raised up. He raised up to 2.1 million. Oh my gosh, oh my goodness. I mean, when you see the building, you'll see. I mean this is just state-of-the-art. It's just, he had the finest of contractors and some of them donated their time, you know, or donated materials. It was a community collaborative effort, even with contractors and foundations. And of course, we still need money because we have a beautiful building. But I need more classes now, I need more teachers and it takes money, you know, to do all of that. So that's very important. So we're constantly doing fundraisers, you know. That's that's real important, that I, you know, still do that and raise the money. Sometimes our drummers will go out and we have a big sign that says drumming for dollars and the people love the drumming so they'll come up and put money in the bucket.
Speaker 2:I remember this summer six of the Blue Coats drummers came out on their day off and they drummed with our drummers on a corner and in 35 minutes we had $255.
Speaker 1:See, you're still, you're just miracles. Follow you Miracles follow you.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you I am blessed and highly favored. I'm blessed but, you know, because I have a passion and love for people. It's particularly the kids. Right, we have to, we have to take care of our young ones. And you start, and we start at age five. Sometimes kids have already formed their own opinions and what they're going to do when they're that young. So you have to start young and putting the good stuff in them and letting them know they're loved and they're cared about. You know, and keep them on the right foot. You know we work with the parents and we work with autistic children.
Speaker 1:That's what I was just going to say I saw that you have a space for autism, kids with autism, and I've got three autistic kids and you know it would be amazing to see what you have there, what the facility is like yes we have a sensory room.
Speaker 2:That's just. That was donated to us a young lady named Ms Schumacher. She has an autistic son and she told Mr Swallow, I know what's needed in that room and it's solid, it's soundproof and it's got different lights in the room. It's got heavy weighted things that they can sit on. She said everything that and we use it this summer. But I want to work with all kinds of all children. We're all God's children and we get along and they all love one another and they take care of one another. And that's what it's all about and this get along and they all love one another and they take care of one another.
Speaker 1:And that's what it's all about, and this is all free for everybody, is that?
Speaker 2:correct, it is free. They pay for no classes. Our drop line color guard dance line, they don't pay for anything. We buy their uniforms, their shoes, their socks from head to toe Because most of these young people cannot afford it.
Speaker 2:We're probably about 95 percent low to moderate income. Yeah, we are, and this summer we had one hundred and ninety two in camp and if I had more, more teachers and more money I would have, I could have had another 30 kids in camp. We had to put them on a waiting list, um, but you know, yeah, and we had 77 schools represented in our program this summer. Last year it was 55, this year 77 schools and this year this is the first year they even came from other um counties. You know we probably are based with Canton kids but they come from different schools. We had them from Malvern and Marlborough and Carrollton and Louisville and they just you know, and they had a great time.
Speaker 2:It's a great time, you know you don't tell who was from what school you know you don't give up on a child, do you?
Speaker 2:You do, I never do. There's no such thing as a bad child. I don't even like for people say, oh, you're bad, and you never put that in a child's head, because they'll think they're bad and then they'll do bad stuff. You know, we had one young lady, um, she came to the very quiet, very reserved, and then she found out that she liked drums and then she posted something on Facebook and she says it's like I have a reason now to go out of the house every day. I have enrichment, I have the drum line, I have Miss Betty, it was just heart-wrenching, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I said that's what I do You're changing lives.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we have signs all over in that say enrichment, the arts, save lives. We put those everywhere. I want enrichment to become a household name, you know, oh yeah it was the same with me growing up.
Speaker 1:I mean the thing, the things that helped me were the arts drawing and being creative and music, my music, music, the music I listened to and I also was in the band and I played clarinet too and I played piano. Yeah, and you know, I have my kids in different music. They play piano and guitar and things like that, but I mean. I really believe for one thing it's a universal language and it brings people together. It brings people together that would not have been together.
Speaker 2:That's correct. That's correct. So I commend you and on, you know, on your podcast and the things that you do and the experiences that you've had and still trying to help people. That's wonderful. We need more to do.
Speaker 1:that you know in all the decades you know it was so much different than the kids that you have now. What are the biggest differences that you see with our kids today, and the biggest you know?
Speaker 2:I think we had problems before COVID, but COVID hit and the kids were isolated and they were at home and they had no social life.
Speaker 2:That that's. That's a carryover, and some of the kids are still being homeschooled and I find that they have no social skills, so that's been a problem, but enrichment brings that out of them. That's why I was telling you the story about the young girl and she's down Now. Wow, I found why I need to come out every day and do something, but the kids are just hardcore. You know, the gang activity is real out there and not just camp.
Speaker 2:It's everywhere, and so that's why programs like Enrichment, are so important to steer these kids in the right direction so they don't want to get it because gang members are always recruiting. I've had young people tell me one was seven years old and he said they were recruiting him.
Speaker 2:But he had a bad life at home and they know how to recruit them. They're very kind to them, they want to buy them things, take them, you know. So the kids latch on to that. And he told me he's miss betty. I was seven and he said they recruited me, you know, and like, oh wow, he ended up going. He ended up going to jail, you know, and you know he was. I think he was in. He ended up going. He ended up going to jail, you know, and you know he was. I think he was in jail maybe three or four years. When he got out he came back to see me. He says I'm a changed person. Now I want to, I want to be on the straight now I want to do the right things, betty.
Speaker 2:But I didn't know what I was doing when I was young, and so we have to, we have to watch that. And then some of the kids today they have no respect for adults. But I think sometimes the parents are so young and then some of the parents are afraid of their children. And one thing in enrichment we're disciplinarians and I let them know that you will not come in here and be up in anybody's face and tell me what you're going to do and what you're not going to do, because then you won't be here, you know. And so they want to be here. So I said we have rules and we have regulations and I've even had a few young people that I've heard them just talking very disrespectfully to their parents and I jumped.
Speaker 2:I said wait a minute you. I said I can't control what you do when you're out of here, but when you're here you will respect your mom. We will do that. And then later I talked to him and you know, and he's well, of course, he wants to blame everything on mom. Right, Mom, mom, mom, mom. I said, but you know, that's still mom and you must respect. But we do have, we do have some of that, you know, where the kids are just not respectful of their parents and sometimes the parents can't control them. But we do have some parents that say I do need help, you know, and I'm thankful for your program because my son or my daughter love to be here, they feel safe and they know Miss Betty is a strict disciplinarian.
Speaker 2:And some say I think I need that. Kids don't want to be bad. I don't believe that. No, I had a group come to me this summer, ann, and they said Miss Betty, we want to do better. And this was a spokesperson for about five middle school kids and she said we want to do better, we want to be respectful. We want to be respectful, we want to be here and we're sorry, you know we've caused you any problems. I was very touched, wow. But you know I did. I put them with a behavior specialist so every week they would have a session, a group session, and they were able to just talk. Sometimes we don't give young people an opportunity to express themselves. You have to let them talk, you know. So they got an. We had an opportunity to talk about things that were bothering them, and then they have this person that knew how to you know how to interact with them in the appropriate way.
Speaker 2:So that's needed, we'll do that again this fall. So it's like, whatever these kids need to make it, that's what I want to do here at Enrichment.
Speaker 1:And if gangs are trying to recruit them, you know it's really important that you are there because you know they have another place to go when these people are trying to bring them in. So there's another place that's offering them a different kind of love. There you go.
Speaker 2:That's exactly right. And some of the children come here very broken, some of them are very sad, some of them don't want to be here at first. The parents just feel like this is a good place for you, and I've had some of them and I have to talk to them too and I say, and I always let them try different things. Okay, try working in a cooking class or let's go to an art class and I'll let them do three different things. And they usually find their niche. They usually find it, but art and cooking are very good. And gardening my autistic children love the garden. They just have a wonderful time in the garden. And a lot of my kids with behavior problems I send them to the garden and they love it being outdoors you know nature get their hands in the dirt yeah you go.
Speaker 2:That's, that's right and they and they love that.
Speaker 1:They love it yeah yeah, my three autism kids love dirt.
Speaker 2:They love dirt. See. So that's why the garden, the garden, takes a lot of work. We need more volunteers in the garden. A couple of times I thought about closing it down. Then I was like, no, this is really good for the kids, it's healthy. I'll get some volunteers, I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:One of the other things besides COVID is I really do think is social media. I mean, I didn't have social media.
Speaker 2:You didn't have social media and the things that it's doing.
Speaker 1:I mean, people can even be bullied, you know, 24 hours a day, where it used to be just in the schools. But now people can reach other kids and, you know, be violating A lot of it.
Speaker 2:It on social media? Yes, we've talked that. See, I told my young people oh, I'm on your facebook page, so you better be careful what you're putting out there and don't block me. You know, and some of them they put things out and I'll call them and I'll say no, take that down, take that post down. You don't do this. You don't go at one another on social media, calling them names and stuff and kids, right, right, yeah, I.
Speaker 1:I tell my daughter when she starts acting out with all of her behaviors. I say to her you're too beautiful for this you're too beautiful on the inside for you to be able to do things like this and you know, and there's just a lot of ugly out there and yes, there is, there really is, and it's very tempting.
Speaker 2:And then if, then, if young people don't have support at home, it's even more enticing, you know. So parents have to spend time with their children and and talk to them like find out what's going on you're, are you hanging out with?
Speaker 1:Where are you?
Speaker 2:You know, we get so I think adults get so busy and of course moms. Sometimes moms work one, two, three jobs Trying to make ends meet. But you have to remember you've got a child that needs you and you have to set priorities and your child has to be a priority, you know. Let them know that you love them and that you're there for them. That's so. Kids just want to be loved, you know. And just a hug, you know, and someone will come up and just grab me and just, miss Betty, I need a hug today.
Speaker 1:Right, you know, and.
Speaker 2:I give them hugs. You know I hug our kids.
Speaker 1:I know you have to be very careful you know sensitive about that, but they feel the love. They know I love them right, and really isn't that all that we want.
Speaker 2:Isn't that all, anybody? That's right. I had one of my teachers come to me. Betty, I just need a hug today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I said you got it yeah adults, we need hugs too well, you, you really did touch on a lot, especially, especially what us adults could do for kids, because we want to give them a chance in life, and it's not the world that we grew up in, you know.
Speaker 1:And so we want to be able to give them a great start in life. I can't stand that. I see kids that are already tainted and broken at such a young age that by the time they reach adulthood you know it's already been set, and I, too don't believe in a child that doesn't have a chance. Every kid has hope and a belief in them. If we believe in them, they will believe in themselves eventually, and it might take time.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's true, that's true, but we just we have to do what we have to do to make the lives of these children better. We have to do that, and we know that there are some parents that won't do it. But that's why we have enrichment, because we have people here that love the children, in spite of where they've come from and all the things. But we've also been able to turn some parents around to get involved in their children's lives.
Speaker 1:You know I have to mention that you were named one of the eight over 80 who make a huge difference in the community. Yes, you know, I mean that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was very I'm always just, you know, very humble when something like that happens. That was Crane's Business Magazine, okay, and it was eight over 80 and they picked eight people and I was nominated and you know, it made me feel very good, made me feel good. You know, we don't do this kind of work to get awards and things, but it's nice to be appreciated.
Speaker 1:Well then, they learn more about your program too, that's right.
Speaker 2:I mean, and I do a lot of things for exposure to give us. You know, so people will know about us, so more so parents will know. So there's a lot of people don't know about enrichment, that they can bring their kids here and it's free, and so we need that kind of exposure to to bring about awareness to the families that we're here. We're here for your children.
Speaker 1:You know, I know that you have some talent thing, like I went to Canton Idol like years and years ago and I mean it was such a fun thing. And also I mean you have like a housing program, think I mean you have lots of different. Is there any other?
Speaker 2:programs I did. I did Canton Idol, for I did Canton Idol for maybe 12, maybe 15 years. Then I had my own television show with Canton City Schools, caught on track with Betty Mack, and I would keep the community updated on things that were going on for you and things like that. So that was it, and so we're going to do a little. Our kids are going to have their own little podcasts and do some things, because youth can reach youth, you know. So they'll talk their language and things that they can do, and that's important. And we also have a YouTube network that we're going to revive and the kids are going to run that. You know they're going to run that and it could become a job eventually. You know everything we train them to do is so that eventually, you know, they could make some money and have a, have a, have a job uh, you know that's worthwhile, you know, instead of selling drugs or something like you're just a beautiful person.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you really are.
Speaker 2:Thank you much. I appreciate this interview and talking. I love to talk about the kids and the families and the things God has done in my life to help others.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much for being on Real Talk with Tina and Ann. Miss Betty, I am inspired by you every single day and, as usual on Real Talk, we say that there is purpose in the pain and there is hope in the journey, so thank you so much for listening world changers aren't pleasing everybody, they're just not.
