VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE 96
AIR DATE 11 15 2019
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Access to the Basics
((SOT))
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
That makes me happy or that makes me proud knowing
that I am helping a family so they can get to their
destinations in a safely manner with these vehicles
((Animation Transition))
((SOT))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
Without a grocery store, families were making other
choices. They were going to other areas for school.
((Animation Transition))
((SOT))
((Dana Marlowe, I Support the Girls))
35 states or whatever still have tampon taxes, making it
that much more out of reach for essential items that
most people who are menstruating need every single
month for 5,6 days a month, multiple products per day.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) STUDENT-RUN GROCERY STORE
((Banner: Access - Groceries))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Cody, Nebraska))
((NATS))
((Bryan Sexon, Rancher))
We'd have to go to Valentine for ice cream. So, we'd
have to go 40 miles [64 km].
((NATS))
((Bryan Sexon, Rancher))
It’s nice to not have to drive 40 miles [64 km] to get
some sort of groceries or supplies. If you are, you
know, before you had to stock up. Just depended on
who you are. Some people went to town every couple
of weeks, some once a month. We went to Gordon
once a month. It’s 90 miles [145 km] to get groceries.
Lot of folks don't realize how rural it is. So, the folks
that live south but have kids that come to school here,
they can have their kids pick something up and take
home if they needed or whatever. So, that it's a nice
addition.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
We hadn't had a grocery store in 15 years or so, in
Cody. If your kids are going to school here in Cody and
you come for a basketball game and you've already
driven 40 miles to get here and you still can't get
groceries, then you have to travel an additional.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
Without a grocery store, families were making other
choices. They were going to other areas for school.
We have a lot of towns along Highway 20 here that
there's a few buildings left. The churches are
disappearing. The stores have all disappeared. The
gas stations have disappeared. You've lost your
schools. You've lost your banks. You've lost a lot of
the main businesses. So that's the fear, you know.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
There was just that little bit of a questionable, what are
we going to do? What's going to happen if we don't get
busy? My name is Rocky Richards and I have been
Chair of the village board for three years. Some of
those schools that haven't survived, have probably
taken the town with them. And that's a sad, sad fact.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Cody-Kilgore was in a down cycle, not many students.
We weren't short of students but we didn't have near as
many as what we would have liked. One in-service
superintendent had said, “You know, if we don't do
something, in four years we might not be here. So, do
you want to plan for that? Or do you want to plan to
survive?” You know, you kind of hated to hear that
comment coming from the superintendent, but at the
same time it was kind of the kick in the seat of the pants
we needed.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
It was the brainchild of two teachers and they were just
kind of joking and said, “We should build a grocery
store.” That is something that would draw people to
sending their children to Cody-Kilgore schools. It would
draw people to want to come to Cody so it doesn't just
eliminate itself off the map.
((NATS))
((Bentley Jenkins, Recent Graduate, Cody-Kilgore
High School))
This is our classroom. When we get off the van, we will
load into here and if you're taking like marketing,
management, accounting, business law, you'll stay in
here. If you're taking work-based learning, you will go
out to the floor and do whatever is needed. As you can
see in here, it's a little more than just the classroom.
It's kind of the storage area also. We have our grocery
special orders…..
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
It's a student run store. Students come down for
classes. They also have work-based learning. They
handle a lot of the day-to-day organizational things. So,
we don't have payroll during the day. Their time is a
huge contributing factor for the success of the store.
((Bentley Jenkins, Recent Graduate, Cody-Kilgore
High School))
When we come to take classes here, we'll get off our
van that the school will take us on and then we will
come into the classroom, sit and Mrs. Shelbourne will
come in, let us know what everybody's job is. Your job
can be like one person can be running the register that
hour. They can be learning how to count their change
and check people out, doing the basics. Other people
will like clean, stock the coolers, freezers, whatever
they need to.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
Prior to getting it up off the ground, people put in tons
and tons of hours trying to figure out how this was going
to work, where the funding was going to come from,
applying for things, trying to make plans.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Once it looked like the store was going to become a
reality and the community got behind it, people showed
up. Ah, gobs of people showed up. Kids showed up.
When they started building the frame, putting in the
bales, stuccoing, painting, you could go past any day
and see a wide variety of ages out here working on it.
Cost of the building would have been way, way more if
we'd had to pay for labor.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
I think it’s helped stop the decline. You talk to other
people and they're shopping here. So, they come for
shopping. They might stop and get gas. They go
across the street to the feed store, downtown to the bar
and grill, the bank, maybe stop in at the school if they
have kids there, get a haircut. You know they're
coming to town and if they're coming to town,
somebody might think that's a good place to put a new
business in because it's not seen as a town that’s may
be dying or fading away. It's seen as a town that has a
little bit of vitality going on.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
School enrollment has increased. We're at some of the
highest levels that Cody-Kilgore has ever had. Younger
people are coming to town and hoping to be able to
raise their families here and attend school here. This
has worked pretty well with integrating the education
with the grocery store.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Our little motto is A Town Too Tough To Die. If it
wasn't for the community people that wanted Cody to
survive and had that attitude that we're too tough to die,
we probably would have died.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
I Support the Girls
((SOT))
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
So, we’re on our way today to do a donation to the
National Center for Children and Families, of bras and
pads and tampons. And I’m just gonna go down and
load up everything we have.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) I SUPPORT THE GIRLS
((Banner: Access – Feminine Products))
((Reporter/Camera: Lisa Vohra))
((Map: Silver Spring, Maryland))
((NATS: Dana Marlowe))
They’ve changed their quantities, but this is fantastic.
Great. This is really, really great. Is this the third time
that your synagogue has collected?
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
So, I’m just a regular, full-time working mom of two kids
in suburbia and over the course of a year, I had lost 35
pounds. My clothes didn’t fit right and one morning, my
husband said to me, “Dana, your bras are not fitting in
any direction. I really need you to kind of consider
going out and buying some new bras that fit.” So, I
went out, walked into my Soma and asked to get fitted
for a bra. As I was getting fitted, I was speaking with
the Soma sales associate and I asked her a simple
question. I wanted to know what could I do with my
perfectly good used bras that no longer fit me? And
she told me four words that have totally changed the
course of my life. She said, “HOMELESS WOMEN
NEED BRAS. Full Stop.” So, I went home and went
online and found a homeless shelter service provider in
the Washington D.C. area and called them up and said,
I just learned about this need. I have 16 perfectly good
bras. Is this something that you want? And he said so
quickly from the shelter, “Yes, when can you bring them
here?” What else do you need? Because I don’t know
what I don’t know. And he said, “Maxi pads and
tampons.” Whoa! That was the first time in my life that
I had ever thought what it must be like for a woman who
is experiencing homelessness to have to also manage
her period for 5,6,7 days a month, after month, after
month. So, I put it out on my Facebook page. Here’s
what I’m going to do. If you have any, you know, new
or gently used bras of any kind you’d like to donate or
any sealed maxi pads or tampons, let me know and I’ll
come get them or you can send it to me, drop them off.
I said I was going to give it for two weeks and that was
in July of 2015. You can see we’re way past two
weeks.
((NATS, MUSIC))
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls)
This fills up every day without fail. So, I’m just bringing
in a variety of packages that have just shown up. They
come from all over and they donate products and we
can open up some. Oh wow, a check. This is amazing
‘cause this really helps tremendously, so thank you
Rebecca. And she donated a couple of bras.
((NATS))
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
So, we’re on our way today to do a donation to the
National Center for Children and Families, of bras and
pads and tampons. And I’m just going to go down and
load up everything we have.
((NATS: Dana Marlowe on the phone with Rachel))
Rachel: This is Rachel.
Dana: Oh, hey Rachel. This is Dana Marlowe with I
Support the Girls. How are you?
Rachel: Oh good. How are you?
Dana: Good. I just wanna let you know that we just
left. We just left my house a few minutes ago and we’re
in the car on the way to NCCF and the car is totally full.
I have over 17,000 products in the car and
so.....yeah…..I’m so glad.
((NATS, MUSIC))
((Locator: National Center for Children and Families,
Bethesda, Maryland))
((NATS: Dana Marlowe with man))
Man: Are they all bags that look like this?
Dana: They are mostly all bags that look like garbage
bags so if you have like a dolly or something?
((Popup Banner: The National Center for Children
and Families helps vulnerable children, youth and
families))
((NATS, MUSIC))
((NATS: Dana Marlowe with woman))
Woman: That’s amazing. Thank you.
Dana: 35 states or whatever still have tampon taxes,
making it that much more out of reach for essential
items that most people who are menstruating need
every single month for 5,6 days a month, multiple
products per day.
((Leila Phillips, Volunteer - Donation Center,
National Center for Children and Families))
We’ve never received a donation of bras and
underwears here at the shelter. We don’t even have a
specified bin for that item.
((Dahlia Levin, Director - External Affairs, National
Center for Children and Families))
Being homeless is a huge crisis in your family. It’s like,
you want to worry about your period then?
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
Right. Hence why we do what we do.
((Dahlia Levin, Director - External Affairs, National
Center for Children and Families))
Yeah.
((NATS: Dana Marlowe with Jackson, So Others
Might Eat))
Dana: This is my son Micah.
Jackson: Micah, I am Jackson.
Dana: This is Riley. Riley say hi to Jackson.
Jackson: Riley, how you doing young man? Thank
you guys.
Dana: So we’re here to help unload today.
Jackson: Okay, I’m ready when you are.
Dana: Hold on. Micah can you grab those for me?
Maxi pads falling down.
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
My kids help out regularly with Support the Girls,
whether it’s going to the post office to collect boxes and
then they’ve also joined me a couple of times when
everything is packaged and ready to deliver to a
domestic violence shelter, a homeless shelter. They’ve
joined me in donating the products as well and getting
to learn more about what these specific social service
organizations do and what services they provide.
((Micah Blay, Dana Marlowe’s Son))
Today, we were bringing bras and maxi pads to this
homeless shelter.
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
My boys are comfortable seeing and talking about bras
and periods.
((Riley Blay, Dana Marlowe’s Son))
It’s normal for a woman to have her period.
((NATS))
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
There are so many euphemisms that we’ve put on in
society to not have to say the word menstruation.
Everything from on the rag, crimson tide, that time of
the month. Menstruation is really just a very normal
body life cycle.
((NATS, MUSIC))
((NATS: Dana Marlowe with Kwanda, Client, So
Others Might Eat))
Dana: Hi, how are you? It’s getting warm out.
Kwanda: Yeah.
Dana: I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of
incredible women and girls who receive our products.
Dana: Riley, this is my friend Kwanda. Can you say
hi?
Kwanda: Hi Riley, how are you? How is life treating
you?
Dana: Women are so grateful to receive the bras and
the tampons and pads and underwear.
Kwanda: They last longer and you don’t have to go to
the bathroom as frequent. It holds you better for
women especially in the homeless community.
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
To date, we have around 50 I Support The Girls
affiliates from I Support the Girls Detroit to I Support the
girls Dallas, from I Support the Girls Phoenix to I
Support the Girls in South Florida, and I Support the
Girls in Australia and in Pakistan, and in all of these
different cities who are running our variety of programs.
((NATS, MUSIC))
((Dana Marlowe, I Support the Girls))
I Support the Girls love, love, love what you’re doing.
These are mostly bras for tweens and teens. I hope
they will make someone happy. From Jennifer…..
((NATS: Clients, So Others Might Eat))
Client: Silky blue, the baby blue bow, real nice.
Client: I took the black one and a beige one. I needed
black and beige. Every woman needs a black and
beige bra. Keep it easy. They go with everything.
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
I hope that people can take away how basic some of
these items are when it comes to dignity. When it
comes to periods, that they don’t have to worry where
they’re getting next month’s period supplies from
because having proper menstrual hygiene products and
having a bra that fits you and is supportive, does
provide so much dignity for an individual.
((Kwanda, Client, So Others Might Eat))
It means a lot because your clothes fit better, you feel
better and everything just goes pretty much better.
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
I hope that people understand how much of that self-
worth and personal value can be interrelated with
homelessness and dignity and bras and menstrual
products.
((NATS, MUSIC))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Protest to Vote
((SOT))
((Kate Clarke Lemay, Curator, Smithsonian National
Portrait Gallery))
This is the very first time that any political party has
ever staged a protest in front of the White House.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) FULL CIRCLE
((Banner: Access – The Job Market))
((Reporter/Camera: June Soh))
((Map: Halethorpe, Maryland))
((NATS))
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
I’ve never had a real job. This is my first meaningful
job. So it means so much to me. I am a certified
automotive technician.
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
I’ve got a promising future like now that I’ve got a
career, I got financially stable and I am going to
continue to excel in this field of automotive. I have
been incarcerated since I was 15. I served 21 years. I
was caught up in a drug trade. My offences were first-
degree murder and first-degree assault. I was 37 when
I got released.
((NATS))
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
The day I was released from prison this February, I felt
anxious, I felt nervous, I felt happy and also I felt sad
too. I learned that my father had passed away the night
before. So, I had a whole bunch of feelings wrapped up
in one. But the main thing that I held onto is that I got, I
got to be, I got to be success. I got to, I got to do what
was right. I got to, I got to not lose focus on my present
moment. That motivated me to come out here and
work hard and show people that we do have second
chances.
((NATS))
((Martin Schwartz, Founder, Full Circle Auto Repair
and Training Center))
I founded the Full Circle Auto Repair and Training
Center in 2015 in Halethorpe, Maryland just outside of
Baltimore city. This program takes individuals who
were previously incarcerated and we train them to be
auto-mechanics and then find them jobs in the
community and dealerships and local garages and help
them build careers.
((NATS))
((William Dempsey, Trainee, Full Circle Auto Repair
and Training Center))
Another great thing about this program is that along
with schooling and getting our certifications, they pay
us. They pay us to learn because they know that we're
coming home and it's hard, you know. We're here 8
hours, so we get paid 8 hours for being here. They
prepare us for workforce some day we are going into.
So, I am definitely appreciative of that.
((Stills Courtesy: AP))
((Martin Schwartz, Founder, Full Circle Auto Repair
and Training Center))
We have over two million people currently incarcerated
in this country and more than six hundred thousand are
released from prison every year. Close to 75 percent of
individuals who are released from prison wind up going
back within five to eight years.
((Stills Courtesy: AP))
The biggest reason for individuals going back to prison,
there is actually several of them. For one thing, when
they get out of prison, they get sent back to the
neighborhood for the most part where they committed a
crime. They don't have a job. They have to make a
living somehow and they have very few skills. And in
our country, there's, it's real difficult to get a job if you
have a criminal background. So, we really set people
up for going back to prison.
((NATS))
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
Full Circle is part of Vehicles for Change program
where we receive donated vehicles. Fixing these cars,
I become real passionate because I know these cars
given to low-income families. That makes me happy or
that makes me proud knowing that I am helping a family
so they can get to their destinations in a safely manner
with these vehicles.
((NATS))
((Martin Schwartz, Founder, Full Circle Auto Repair
and Training Center))
Since 2015 when we started the program, we've had a
120 interns come through our training program. We've
had a 100 percent placement rate. So every single
person who's graduated from this program has gotten a
full-time job, where they can afford to take care of their
families. They can buy a house. They can be active
citizens in the community.
((NATS))
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
I am married to my childhood sweetheart. I met her
when I was 12, she was 11. We’ve known each other
for over 24 years. She has been a strong support in
my success. Coming from where I come from, being
incarcerated for over 21 years and coming home to a
career, helping needy families, yes, I believe I am a
success.
((NATS))
((PKG)) SUFFRAGISTS EXHIBIT
((Banner:
A Little History
Access – The Vote))
((Reporter: Julie Taboh))
((Camera: Adam Greenbaum))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Music))
((Popup Banner:
After decades of struggle, US women gained the right
to vote in 1920.
The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery chronicled
the American suffragist movement))
((Kate Clarke Lemay, Curator, Smithsonian National
Portrait Gallery))
Suffragists were really looking for any kind of way to get
out the message that if women broke out of the
domestic sphere, it was okay. So there is a cookbook
that they produced which I think is kind of interesting.
So like the ballot box, this exhibition really hopes to
flesh out some of the context of the era by using the
portraits to drive the narrative but then also by kind of
filling in sort of the feeling of the era with these material
cultural objects.
((NATS))
((Kate Clarke Lemay, Curator, Smithsonian National
Portrait Gallery))
The movement became very visual and employed this
kind of visual literacy that people were developing from
illustrated magazines on, from the 1890s on, and so
these posters are about women's suffrage and equality
and sort of the message being made very visual
through a winged petasos hat or a double-sided axe
and these are allegorical symbols really that date back
to the Greek era, the ancient Greece.
((Kate Clarke Lemay, Curator, Smithsonian National
Portrait Gallery))
The posters create kind of a different kind of
understanding about women's freedom, women's
citizenship rights that viewers would have had in a way
that was different from reading a book or reading a
hand bill or reading a text.
((Pop-Up Banner: US women gained the vote in 1920
with the ratification of the 19th amendment to the
Constitution))
((Kate Clarke Lemay, Curator, Smithsonian National
Portrait Gallery))
The suffrage movement is one of the longest reform
movements in American history. There is no question
that it is among the most important stories in American
history.
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS
((NATS))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
We make a difference
When we unmask terror
When we explain the impossible
When we confront an uncertain future
When we give voice to the voiceless
The difference is Freedom of the Press
We are the Voice of America where
A Free Press Matters
BREAK
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS
((NATS))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
Near the Turkish Embassy
Washington, D.C.
May 16, 2017
President Erdogan’s bodyguard attacks peaceful
protesters
“Those terrorists deserved to be beaten”
“They should not be protesting our president”
“They got what they asked for”
While some people may turn away from the news
We cover it
reliably
accurately
objectively
comprehensively
wherever the news matters
VOA
A Free Press Matters
SHOW ENDS
EPISODE 96
AIR DATE 11 15 2019
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Access to the Basics
((SOT))
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
That makes me happy or that makes me proud knowing
that I am helping a family so they can get to their
destinations in a safely manner with these vehicles
((Animation Transition))
((SOT))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
Without a grocery store, families were making other
choices. They were going to other areas for school.
((Animation Transition))
((SOT))
((Dana Marlowe, I Support the Girls))
35 states or whatever still have tampon taxes, making it
that much more out of reach for essential items that
most people who are menstruating need every single
month for 5,6 days a month, multiple products per day.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) STUDENT-RUN GROCERY STORE
((Banner: Access - Groceries))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Cody, Nebraska))
((NATS))
((Bryan Sexon, Rancher))
We'd have to go to Valentine for ice cream. So, we'd
have to go 40 miles [64 km].
((NATS))
((Bryan Sexon, Rancher))
It’s nice to not have to drive 40 miles [64 km] to get
some sort of groceries or supplies. If you are, you
know, before you had to stock up. Just depended on
who you are. Some people went to town every couple
of weeks, some once a month. We went to Gordon
once a month. It’s 90 miles [145 km] to get groceries.
Lot of folks don't realize how rural it is. So, the folks
that live south but have kids that come to school here,
they can have their kids pick something up and take
home if they needed or whatever. So, that it's a nice
addition.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
We hadn't had a grocery store in 15 years or so, in
Cody. If your kids are going to school here in Cody and
you come for a basketball game and you've already
driven 40 miles to get here and you still can't get
groceries, then you have to travel an additional.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
Without a grocery store, families were making other
choices. They were going to other areas for school.
We have a lot of towns along Highway 20 here that
there's a few buildings left. The churches are
disappearing. The stores have all disappeared. The
gas stations have disappeared. You've lost your
schools. You've lost your banks. You've lost a lot of
the main businesses. So that's the fear, you know.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
There was just that little bit of a questionable, what are
we going to do? What's going to happen if we don't get
busy? My name is Rocky Richards and I have been
Chair of the village board for three years. Some of
those schools that haven't survived, have probably
taken the town with them. And that's a sad, sad fact.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Cody-Kilgore was in a down cycle, not many students.
We weren't short of students but we didn't have near as
many as what we would have liked. One in-service
superintendent had said, “You know, if we don't do
something, in four years we might not be here. So, do
you want to plan for that? Or do you want to plan to
survive?” You know, you kind of hated to hear that
comment coming from the superintendent, but at the
same time it was kind of the kick in the seat of the pants
we needed.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
It was the brainchild of two teachers and they were just
kind of joking and said, “We should build a grocery
store.” That is something that would draw people to
sending their children to Cody-Kilgore schools. It would
draw people to want to come to Cody so it doesn't just
eliminate itself off the map.
((NATS))
((Bentley Jenkins, Recent Graduate, Cody-Kilgore
High School))
This is our classroom. When we get off the van, we will
load into here and if you're taking like marketing,
management, accounting, business law, you'll stay in
here. If you're taking work-based learning, you will go
out to the floor and do whatever is needed. As you can
see in here, it's a little more than just the classroom.
It's kind of the storage area also. We have our grocery
special orders…..
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
It's a student run store. Students come down for
classes. They also have work-based learning. They
handle a lot of the day-to-day organizational things. So,
we don't have payroll during the day. Their time is a
huge contributing factor for the success of the store.
((Bentley Jenkins, Recent Graduate, Cody-Kilgore
High School))
When we come to take classes here, we'll get off our
van that the school will take us on and then we will
come into the classroom, sit and Mrs. Shelbourne will
come in, let us know what everybody's job is. Your job
can be like one person can be running the register that
hour. They can be learning how to count their change
and check people out, doing the basics. Other people
will like clean, stock the coolers, freezers, whatever
they need to.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
Prior to getting it up off the ground, people put in tons
and tons of hours trying to figure out how this was going
to work, where the funding was going to come from,
applying for things, trying to make plans.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Once it looked like the store was going to become a
reality and the community got behind it, people showed
up. Ah, gobs of people showed up. Kids showed up.
When they started building the frame, putting in the
bales, stuccoing, painting, you could go past any day
and see a wide variety of ages out here working on it.
Cost of the building would have been way, way more if
we'd had to pay for labor.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
I think it’s helped stop the decline. You talk to other
people and they're shopping here. So, they come for
shopping. They might stop and get gas. They go
across the street to the feed store, downtown to the bar
and grill, the bank, maybe stop in at the school if they
have kids there, get a haircut. You know they're
coming to town and if they're coming to town,
somebody might think that's a good place to put a new
business in because it's not seen as a town that’s may
be dying or fading away. It's seen as a town that has a
little bit of vitality going on.
((NATS))
((Janet Shelbourne, Business Teacher, Cody-
Kilgore High School))
School enrollment has increased. We're at some of the
highest levels that Cody-Kilgore has ever had. Younger
people are coming to town and hoping to be able to
raise their families here and attend school here. This
has worked pretty well with integrating the education
with the grocery store.
((NATS))
((Rocky Richards, Chairperson, Village Board))
Our little motto is A Town Too Tough To Die. If it
wasn't for the community people that wanted Cody to
survive and had that attitude that we're too tough to die,
we probably would have died.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
I Support the Girls
((SOT))
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
So, we’re on our way today to do a donation to the
National Center for Children and Families, of bras and
pads and tampons. And I’m just gonna go down and
load up everything we have.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) I SUPPORT THE GIRLS
((Banner: Access – Feminine Products))
((Reporter/Camera: Lisa Vohra))
((Map: Silver Spring, Maryland))
((NATS: Dana Marlowe))
They’ve changed their quantities, but this is fantastic.
Great. This is really, really great. Is this the third time
that your synagogue has collected?
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
So, I’m just a regular, full-time working mom of two kids
in suburbia and over the course of a year, I had lost 35
pounds. My clothes didn’t fit right and one morning, my
husband said to me, “Dana, your bras are not fitting in
any direction. I really need you to kind of consider
going out and buying some new bras that fit.” So, I
went out, walked into my Soma and asked to get fitted
for a bra. As I was getting fitted, I was speaking with
the Soma sales associate and I asked her a simple
question. I wanted to know what could I do with my
perfectly good used bras that no longer fit me? And
she told me four words that have totally changed the
course of my life. She said, “HOMELESS WOMEN
NEED BRAS. Full Stop.” So, I went home and went
online and found a homeless shelter service provider in
the Washington D.C. area and called them up and said,
I just learned about this need. I have 16 perfectly good
bras. Is this something that you want? And he said so
quickly from the shelter, “Yes, when can you bring them
here?” What else do you need? Because I don’t know
what I don’t know. And he said, “Maxi pads and
tampons.” Whoa! That was the first time in my life that
I had ever thought what it must be like for a woman who
is experiencing homelessness to have to also manage
her period for 5,6,7 days a month, after month, after
month. So, I put it out on my Facebook page. Here’s
what I’m going to do. If you have any, you know, new
or gently used bras of any kind you’d like to donate or
any sealed maxi pads or tampons, let me know and I’ll
come get them or you can send it to me, drop them off.
I said I was going to give it for two weeks and that was
in July of 2015. You can see we’re way past two
weeks.
((NATS, MUSIC))
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls)
This fills up every day without fail. So, I’m just bringing
in a variety of packages that have just shown up. They
come from all over and they donate products and we
can open up some. Oh wow, a check. This is amazing
‘cause this really helps tremendously, so thank you
Rebecca. And she donated a couple of bras.
((NATS))
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
So, we’re on our way today to do a donation to the
National Center for Children and Families, of bras and
pads and tampons. And I’m just going to go down and
load up everything we have.
((NATS: Dana Marlowe on the phone with Rachel))
Rachel: This is Rachel.
Dana: Oh, hey Rachel. This is Dana Marlowe with I
Support the Girls. How are you?
Rachel: Oh good. How are you?
Dana: Good. I just wanna let you know that we just
left. We just left my house a few minutes ago and we’re
in the car on the way to NCCF and the car is totally full.
I have over 17,000 products in the car and
so.....yeah…..I’m so glad.
((NATS, MUSIC))
((Locator: National Center for Children and Families,
Bethesda, Maryland))
((NATS: Dana Marlowe with man))
Man: Are they all bags that look like this?
Dana: They are mostly all bags that look like garbage
bags so if you have like a dolly or something?
((Popup Banner: The National Center for Children
and Families helps vulnerable children, youth and
families))
((NATS, MUSIC))
((NATS: Dana Marlowe with woman))
Woman: That’s amazing. Thank you.
Dana: 35 states or whatever still have tampon taxes,
making it that much more out of reach for essential
items that most people who are menstruating need
every single month for 5,6 days a month, multiple
products per day.
((Leila Phillips, Volunteer - Donation Center,
National Center for Children and Families))
We’ve never received a donation of bras and
underwears here at the shelter. We don’t even have a
specified bin for that item.
((Dahlia Levin, Director - External Affairs, National
Center for Children and Families))
Being homeless is a huge crisis in your family. It’s like,
you want to worry about your period then?
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
Right. Hence why we do what we do.
((Dahlia Levin, Director - External Affairs, National
Center for Children and Families))
Yeah.
((NATS: Dana Marlowe with Jackson, So Others
Might Eat))
Dana: This is my son Micah.
Jackson: Micah, I am Jackson.
Dana: This is Riley. Riley say hi to Jackson.
Jackson: Riley, how you doing young man? Thank
you guys.
Dana: So we’re here to help unload today.
Jackson: Okay, I’m ready when you are.
Dana: Hold on. Micah can you grab those for me?
Maxi pads falling down.
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
My kids help out regularly with Support the Girls,
whether it’s going to the post office to collect boxes and
then they’ve also joined me a couple of times when
everything is packaged and ready to deliver to a
domestic violence shelter, a homeless shelter. They’ve
joined me in donating the products as well and getting
to learn more about what these specific social service
organizations do and what services they provide.
((Micah Blay, Dana Marlowe’s Son))
Today, we were bringing bras and maxi pads to this
homeless shelter.
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
My boys are comfortable seeing and talking about bras
and periods.
((Riley Blay, Dana Marlowe’s Son))
It’s normal for a woman to have her period.
((NATS))
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
There are so many euphemisms that we’ve put on in
society to not have to say the word menstruation.
Everything from on the rag, crimson tide, that time of
the month. Menstruation is really just a very normal
body life cycle.
((NATS, MUSIC))
((NATS: Dana Marlowe with Kwanda, Client, So
Others Might Eat))
Dana: Hi, how are you? It’s getting warm out.
Kwanda: Yeah.
Dana: I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of
incredible women and girls who receive our products.
Dana: Riley, this is my friend Kwanda. Can you say
hi?
Kwanda: Hi Riley, how are you? How is life treating
you?
Dana: Women are so grateful to receive the bras and
the tampons and pads and underwear.
Kwanda: They last longer and you don’t have to go to
the bathroom as frequent. It holds you better for
women especially in the homeless community.
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
To date, we have around 50 I Support The Girls
affiliates from I Support the Girls Detroit to I Support the
girls Dallas, from I Support the Girls Phoenix to I
Support the Girls in South Florida, and I Support the
Girls in Australia and in Pakistan, and in all of these
different cities who are running our variety of programs.
((NATS, MUSIC))
((Dana Marlowe, I Support the Girls))
I Support the Girls love, love, love what you’re doing.
These are mostly bras for tweens and teens. I hope
they will make someone happy. From Jennifer…..
((NATS: Clients, So Others Might Eat))
Client: Silky blue, the baby blue bow, real nice.
Client: I took the black one and a beige one. I needed
black and beige. Every woman needs a black and
beige bra. Keep it easy. They go with everything.
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
I hope that people can take away how basic some of
these items are when it comes to dignity. When it
comes to periods, that they don’t have to worry where
they’re getting next month’s period supplies from
because having proper menstrual hygiene products and
having a bra that fits you and is supportive, does
provide so much dignity for an individual.
((Kwanda, Client, So Others Might Eat))
It means a lot because your clothes fit better, you feel
better and everything just goes pretty much better.
((Dana Marlowe, I support the Girls))
I hope that people understand how much of that self-
worth and personal value can be interrelated with
homelessness and dignity and bras and menstrual
products.
((NATS, MUSIC))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Protest to Vote
((SOT))
((Kate Clarke Lemay, Curator, Smithsonian National
Portrait Gallery))
This is the very first time that any political party has
ever staged a protest in front of the White House.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) FULL CIRCLE
((Banner: Access – The Job Market))
((Reporter/Camera: June Soh))
((Map: Halethorpe, Maryland))
((NATS))
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
I’ve never had a real job. This is my first meaningful
job. So it means so much to me. I am a certified
automotive technician.
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
I’ve got a promising future like now that I’ve got a
career, I got financially stable and I am going to
continue to excel in this field of automotive. I have
been incarcerated since I was 15. I served 21 years. I
was caught up in a drug trade. My offences were first-
degree murder and first-degree assault. I was 37 when
I got released.
((NATS))
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
The day I was released from prison this February, I felt
anxious, I felt nervous, I felt happy and also I felt sad
too. I learned that my father had passed away the night
before. So, I had a whole bunch of feelings wrapped up
in one. But the main thing that I held onto is that I got, I
got to be, I got to be success. I got to, I got to do what
was right. I got to, I got to not lose focus on my present
moment. That motivated me to come out here and
work hard and show people that we do have second
chances.
((NATS))
((Martin Schwartz, Founder, Full Circle Auto Repair
and Training Center))
I founded the Full Circle Auto Repair and Training
Center in 2015 in Halethorpe, Maryland just outside of
Baltimore city. This program takes individuals who
were previously incarcerated and we train them to be
auto-mechanics and then find them jobs in the
community and dealerships and local garages and help
them build careers.
((NATS))
((William Dempsey, Trainee, Full Circle Auto Repair
and Training Center))
Another great thing about this program is that along
with schooling and getting our certifications, they pay
us. They pay us to learn because they know that we're
coming home and it's hard, you know. We're here 8
hours, so we get paid 8 hours for being here. They
prepare us for workforce some day we are going into.
So, I am definitely appreciative of that.
((Stills Courtesy: AP))
((Martin Schwartz, Founder, Full Circle Auto Repair
and Training Center))
We have over two million people currently incarcerated
in this country and more than six hundred thousand are
released from prison every year. Close to 75 percent of
individuals who are released from prison wind up going
back within five to eight years.
((Stills Courtesy: AP))
The biggest reason for individuals going back to prison,
there is actually several of them. For one thing, when
they get out of prison, they get sent back to the
neighborhood for the most part where they committed a
crime. They don't have a job. They have to make a
living somehow and they have very few skills. And in
our country, there's, it's real difficult to get a job if you
have a criminal background. So, we really set people
up for going back to prison.
((NATS))
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
Full Circle is part of Vehicles for Change program
where we receive donated vehicles. Fixing these cars,
I become real passionate because I know these cars
given to low-income families. That makes me happy or
that makes me proud knowing that I am helping a family
so they can get to their destinations in a safely manner
with these vehicles.
((NATS))
((Martin Schwartz, Founder, Full Circle Auto Repair
and Training Center))
Since 2015 when we started the program, we've had a
120 interns come through our training program. We've
had a 100 percent placement rate. So every single
person who's graduated from this program has gotten a
full-time job, where they can afford to take care of their
families. They can buy a house. They can be active
citizens in the community.
((NATS))
((Sean Howard-Bey, Automotive Mechanic))
I am married to my childhood sweetheart. I met her
when I was 12, she was 11. We’ve known each other
for over 24 years. She has been a strong support in
my success. Coming from where I come from, being
incarcerated for over 21 years and coming home to a
career, helping needy families, yes, I believe I am a
success.
((NATS))
((PKG)) SUFFRAGISTS EXHIBIT
((Banner:
A Little History
Access – The Vote))
((Reporter: Julie Taboh))
((Camera: Adam Greenbaum))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Music))
((Popup Banner:
After decades of struggle, US women gained the right
to vote in 1920.
The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery chronicled
the American suffragist movement))
((Kate Clarke Lemay, Curator, Smithsonian National
Portrait Gallery))
Suffragists were really looking for any kind of way to get
out the message that if women broke out of the
domestic sphere, it was okay. So there is a cookbook
that they produced which I think is kind of interesting.
So like the ballot box, this exhibition really hopes to
flesh out some of the context of the era by using the
portraits to drive the narrative but then also by kind of
filling in sort of the feeling of the era with these material
cultural objects.
((NATS))
((Kate Clarke Lemay, Curator, Smithsonian National
Portrait Gallery))
The movement became very visual and employed this
kind of visual literacy that people were developing from
illustrated magazines on, from the 1890s on, and so
these posters are about women's suffrage and equality
and sort of the message being made very visual
through a winged petasos hat or a double-sided axe
and these are allegorical symbols really that date back
to the Greek era, the ancient Greece.
((Kate Clarke Lemay, Curator, Smithsonian National
Portrait Gallery))
The posters create kind of a different kind of
understanding about women's freedom, women's
citizenship rights that viewers would have had in a way
that was different from reading a book or reading a
hand bill or reading a text.
((Pop-Up Banner: US women gained the vote in 1920
with the ratification of the 19th amendment to the
Constitution))
((Kate Clarke Lemay, Curator, Smithsonian National
Portrait Gallery))
The suffrage movement is one of the longest reform
movements in American history. There is no question
that it is among the most important stories in American
history.
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS
((NATS))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
We make a difference
When we unmask terror
When we explain the impossible
When we confront an uncertain future
When we give voice to the voiceless
The difference is Freedom of the Press
We are the Voice of America where
A Free Press Matters
BREAK
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS
((NATS))
((Popup captions over B Roll))
Near the Turkish Embassy
Washington, D.C.
May 16, 2017
President Erdogan’s bodyguard attacks peaceful
protesters
“Those terrorists deserved to be beaten”
“They should not be protesting our president”
“They got what they asked for”
While some people may turn away from the news
We cover it
reliably
accurately
objectively
comprehensively
wherever the news matters
VOA
A Free Press Matters
SHOW ENDS
