Support for the 400 and 19AW original celebrating Northwest Ohio is provided by the University of Toledo, preparing graduates who contribute to our workforce, advancing research that addresses our region's challenges and caring for our community through the region's only academic medical center.

We are the University of Toledo.

Work spring.

Work spring helps businesses and clients with HR expertise, workforce training, employee wellness solutions, and personalized support to help make work life easier, workplaces healthier, and themes stronger.

Learn more at work.

Springborg.

Tata, now in its 56th year of delivering public transportation to Lucas County and Rossford through its fixed route service.

Tata Paratransit and Tata Flex on demand.

More@tata.com.

Destination Toledo discover something new in the glass City with local favorites, upcoming events, dining and things to do.

It's easy to plan your time in 419 at Visit Toledo.

And now the 490 with Gretchen de Becker, Matt Killam, and Kevin Mullin are.

Welcome into the 419.

Happy Halloween, I'm Matt Guilhem.

I'm Matt Killam.

And I'm the actual Matt killing.

We figured we'd dress up as our.

As our favorite 419 host.

And so Gretchen and I, both with a little help from our friend Dave Zink from the Metroparks, dressed as Matt Killam for the day.

And I'll be honest with you, this feels great.

It does.

It's a slippery slope, guys.

It must be nice to be able to just get up and put this on every single day.

I first of all, I don't like the fact that you think that this doesn't take care.

Yeah, you do have to figure out your sleeves every day.

I guess I guess I just they're so down to this vest.

I envision Matt's closet looking sort of like Fred Flintstone.

Yeah, like you open it.

It's just.

It's just all vests and.

Yeah.

Some some version of flannel.

That's right.

Thank you.

But it works.

It's a it's a. It's a signature.

And I'm happy to be wearing it today.

It looks very.

Looks great.

I think I could wear this.

Every day I do too.

Yeah.

Great.

What is.

So when you were a kid, was there a go to Halloween costume for you?

Like, for me, I was a football player.

That was, like, just the easiest.

Like, I'm going as a football player, and I think I did that the majority of my childhood.

My best costume ever was I was Pat Benatar in the 80s.

That video where she has the skirt that's like made of newspapers, which neither of you are going to remember, but that was the best costume.

But my mother, when we were growing up, hated Halloween.

Oh.

She just never liked it.

When we got back from trick or treating, she would make us combine our candy and share it.

She's a terrible person.

Sure.

Just kidding.

So we would just sort of recycle whatever the next person could fit.

Costume.

Gotcha.

Like caterpillar.

Ladybug.

Which clown?

You know.

Standard.

Yeah, standard.

What about you, Matt?

Sounds like a cognitive test.

Yeah, we my mom and my best friend's mom.

Who the those longtime listeners are of Uighurs know about.

We met in daycare.

So our moms went through a period of making our costumes.

Yes.

And so we were Ewoks, which were the beloved Small bears, essentially the Save the Empire, in my opinion.

But, Dylan wore that little bear costume.

For for a year.

He wanted to sleep in, but that was the Army guy.

We were ninjas.

So those were sort of our fallbacks.

But we loved Halloween.

Yeah.

You know, we like.

We did?

Yeah.

My mom just didn't.

Danny is all in on Halloween.

Yeah.

Like, it's it's my.

My wife.

Had, like, a family theme.

No, no, I normally don't dress up, in part because, like, I'm typically stay at home passing out candy.

Everybody runs around the neighborhood.

For years, we did a thing where we'd go to my brother when he was in mommy, we'd go to his house and the guys would have pit and beer, and we just kind of all hang out and pass out candy.

A couple of years I had, when I owned ladder for one nine, I'd had the fire truck come out to the house.

And so, you know, that was a fun way to sort of invite other folks from the neighborhood to come over and have a party.

I've never been invited.

Yeah.

Me neither.

But it's a Saturday this year, so it should be particularly.

I would think busy and fun for kids.

They don't have to get to school the next day.

And I'm sure teachers are going to appreciate it as well.

Yes.

But I you know, also, I get a little nervous about that, right?

When when they don't have that thing that has them need to come home a little bit earlier, get in.

So just kind of thinking about the community and safety and all of that is on my mind.

I'm the guy that I would always get annoyed.

For years I would get annoyed at high school kids coming through trick or treating.

And what's the age where treating stops?

Yeah.

So I got corrected, that my wife is like, of all the things that these kids could be doing, you're upset that they grabbed a ten cent piece of candy from your front porch?

Yeah.

And I was like, yeah, you know what?

Yeah.

I mean, my wife is a better person than I am.

That's well established.

Yeah.

But yeah, we've got a great show today.

We do.

First of all, it's Halloween, so why not a little bit of magic?

We're going to have Chad Bannister, local magician.

He's going to join us on the program.

And he's going to do a little bit of magic for us.

I love magic, but I've never actually seen it up close.

Yeah, and I'm a little nervous that it's going to freak me out.

And we're also going to have Roy Cherry from the Epilepsy Center.

They've got a big walk coming up on Sunday, so we'll have him come on to talk about the Carp Dam Walk and the great work they're doing at the Epilepsy Center.

I'm also curious for an update on, their brewery that they're working on, and then also Kevin Millikin, Lucas County Children's Services.

And he'll be no fun at all.

Obviously.

That's right.

I mean, any name that sounds like Kevin Mullin just can't be a good person.

That's right.

We get confused for each other all the time.

Yeah.

And so we'll see if maybe I'll just put him in this seat dressed as Matt Killin as well.

All right.

Let's take a break.

When we come back, magician Chad Bannister will join us here on the 419.

WTE.

Public media's Educational Services Department provides outstanding programs, services and resources to enhance learning outcomes for students, educators, and learners of all ages.

WGBH-TV Educational Services Department teaches parents, caregivers, and educators.

How to utilize educational media, children's literature, and engaging activities to help prepare young children for a happy, healthy, and bright future.

From PBS kids programing specifically designed to support the development and creativity of young children.

To individualize lesson plans, standards aligned curriculum, professional development classes, community events and family fun movie nights right here at T. Our Educational Services Department shares the tools you need for you and your little ones to feel like you belong.

E public media where you belong.

Welcome back into the 419.

It's Halloween so a little bit of trick or treat action.

We're joined now by magician Chad Bannister.

Hello.

Hello.

And you know what?

Let's start off the morning with a little bit of magic and a little bit of a drawing.

I'm not the greatest artist, but bear with me and I'll try to keep it simple.

Let me see if you can guess what this is.

Circle.

Circle?

What was the.

First one?

Ball.

Ball?

You know what?

This is very hard to get people to actually guess that.

And that's what I'm looking for.

Ball.

But let's make it a little more specific.

All right.

Let's make this a little something you would actually use maybe.

Oh it's a it's a bowling ball.

Bowling ball.

Nice.

All right.

Good.

Good thing I can spell better than I can draw, because that's pretty rough.

But I think maybe we can try to make something happen.

And the hard part is this.

Oh.. My God.

I'll let you hold on that for a second in the world.

Just have to make sure it went by.

By.

Yeah.

Oh.

Look, it's gone.

And it's gone.

That's right.

So you just drew a bowling ball and then produced a bowling ball.

I produced a bowling ball.

Yes.

I said in the first segment, I've not seen magic up close.

I don't know what just happened.

Yeah.

And and that's a real bowling ball, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's getting cracked already.

But.

Hey.

You're here to.

Talk about kidney stones.

Those.

Those would be even more painful, I think.

Chad, how did you get into this?

When did you first discover magic?

Oh, boy.

You know, I was about 11, 11 years old and, you know, watching.

Oh, geez.

Was it back in the day?

World's greatest magic, Lance Burton, Jeff McBride, all those people on TV back when you could actually watch magicians on TV and you didn't have to watch them on the internet or YouTube?

Sure.

And and I was kind of hooked.

My parents were both army, my mom and dad, and we moved around a lot.

So I had a lot of trouble making friends.

Yeah.

So that kind of appealed to me.

And so I checked out some books and, you know, back in the day, I had to get money orders for catalogs.

You know, send them out and wait 2 to 3 weeks to get an order in to practice my tricks.

And it just it helped me.

It helped me just kind of relate and create a connection with people.

What was.

Your first draft?

Yeah.

No, that's a great question.

Oh.

You know, my first.

Remember getting a VHS HS video by Jeff McBride?

And he was really big into sleight of hand manipulation, and I spent hours and hours every day sitting on my bed with the deck of cards because it was easier to pick up in the floor, right?

Because, you know, for hours and hours my hands would cramp up would just mess up.

And so my first trick, I guess, was a 2.5 minute long card manipulation routine on stage to music.

And I performed that when I was 13 and a high school talent show in Ithaca, Michigan.

There you go.

We've got some other things that show us what somebody said about.

But if you could give us just one characteristic that makes a great magician, what is the one binding thing or in your opinion, the most important characters?

You have to have to be a terrific magician, a. Genuine connection in audience connection.

You know when I started doing this more professionally, I realized instead of just doing it to music, it needs to be entertaining.

Obviously, there needs to be a storyline.

I have a theater background, so that's important to me, but I do a lot more audience participation than I ever thought I would.

I would, and I talk more than I thought I would, and and having that genuine connection with the audience.

My show is not scripted out fully as a skeleton and anchor lines and everything, but it's it's open enough to where I can improvise for the audience.

What are the kinds of.

I'm sorry.

Go ahead please.

What other kinds of or aspects of theater or performing go into into the show?

Well, the story the story lines.

You know, there's a good amount of story, but it has to be based on.

Sure.

You know, there's a there's an opening aspect.

I produce the bowling ball right to a personality piece where it's it's funny, but it's talking about the very first magic trick ever performed.

And I was 12 years old, and there's a lot of truth to it, but there's also a lot of personality, and I want to be able to establish that, that art, you know, that that that, you know, you coming out and you establish your magician writer, you you're doing some entertaining stuff, and then you have a personality piece, and then you have a story piece and kind of fall and then an audience piece with comedy.

And that's really important to me.

Who's who's a magician that you look up to?

Oh.

I think right now I'm a big fan of Bill Abbott and Cody Fisher, and Henry Harris, a really big, big names.

Matt Franco, of course, is a great guy.

And I've met Piff a few times, you know, I'm sure you know, first from AGT and all great people.

You know, as far as, like, my old mentors be, you know, you know, Jeff McBride Landsburg and all the old school magicians.

And I hate to say the word old school because, yeah, kind of ages.

Me too.

But so is there a in the community of magicians, The guild.

Guild, a secrecy or, you know, the, the requirement or the, the blood oath to not reveal how, the illusions are done technically.

Right.

You know, but, you know, when I come in and do these types of things and when I do stage shows, I just finished doing an East Lansing High School fundraiser for the theater department.

And anyways, we can talk about the community stuff.

But anyways, to answer your question, not supposed to tell anybody how stuff's done, right?

But I think that's I also do workshops and I also teach the stuff to kids and adults.

I think that's important because in a world of internet and social media and all that fun stuff, you know, I think it's important for people to be able to learn something a little bit different, right?

I mean, you could sure, you can go learn how stuff's done, but, you know, actually putting in the time and effort to to teach.

All right, let's let's see another magic trick.

You want to see another magic?

Sure we do.

Yeah.

I feel a little bit like I'm treating you like a DJ, right?

No.

That's all right.

Play this song now.

All right, here we go.

You know what?

I'm gonna we're going to do some of the Rubik's cube.

So this is one of my favorites.

Favorite toys.

Growing up as a kid, I didn't have the internet.

I didn't have the iPads.

But we're going to try something, and I'm going to give that to you.

Okay, Matt.

All right.

Which one of.

Right there.

Could mix that up.

Okay.

And so there's over 43 quintillion.

Quint I didn't make that up.

Quintillion combinations.

And so just mix it up a few times.

Okay.

I'm going to count down from ten.

Actually we'll count down from five.

And when we reach zero one which is a stop right.

543, two and one and zero.

You good with that?

Yep.

All right.

Perfect.

So here's.

What we're going.

To do right now.

Swallow.

That's right.

Just whatever you can do with it.

Yeah, right.

So I have yet to ever solve a cube in my life, right?

I actually used my phone.

I just used one in there to actually solve the cube.

Right?

Took pictures of it.

But we're not going to try to solve this cube.

I'm going to try to.

This was when I tried to solve not successfully.

But we're going to try to see if we can find a connection.

Do you see a connection at all right there?

No.

Okay.

If we keep if we keep looking, we want to find a connection.

So there's something.

There's a couple oranges, a couple blues.

Maybe.

Maybe if we keep looking.

Keep looking.

Keep looking.

There's one connection.

You've got to be kidding.

Me, right?

So that would be pretty cool if there's just one connection, though.

That usually means there's two connections.

Whoa.

Right.

Yeah.

And there's two connections.

Usually that means there's three.

Are you the devil?

I mean, it can be not.

Not a good joke, though.

And if there's three, there can usually be four.

And then.

Then usually all five and six sides can be solved.

That's amazing.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

For those of radio, listeners are going to want to tune in to the app or to the television tonight to watch that trick.

That's amazing.

And I'm actually I'm almost sitting on top of Chad.

You would think that I would have some idea of what just happened, and I don't.

Yeah.

So that's really cool.

I met you.

I watched you changed that.

Yeah.

And there was another cube sitting there the entire time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

See, this is the part of it.

Like, I now want to know what just happened.

Yeah, but I also thoroughly enjoyed it.

And sometimes it ruins it.

Yeah.

Sometimes it's fun to know.

But I couldn't be sitting.

For those of you that are just listening.

I couldn't be sitting closer to you.

And I watched it the whole time.

That was a really.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Really cool.

Well, good.

I'm glad you.

Enjoyed it.

What's your what's your favorite trick to do?

Oh.

Right now.

My card manipulation act.

I'll be honest, it's a I have two versions.

An opener that I use instead of the bowling ball.

It's 2.5 minutes, and then I have a full 5.5in version that my hands are cramping.

Yeah, after I'm done.

And it's a staged manipulation act, so it's just me and a deck of cards, and.

You have to keep the lights on and keep yourself fed, right?

So you you have to be constantly working.

But when do you get to explore?

Like when do you find.

When do you develop a new.

That's a great question.

You know, it's, it runs.

It takes me about three weeks to two months to create a 4 or 5 minute piece.

What comes first?

The trick or the act?

That's a great question.

It depends on what it is.

Yeah.

Okay.

Sometimes I'll have an idea of something.

A concept of something I want to do, and then I'll go searching for it.

And then, you know, for a lot of the stuff, I need creators permissions to do stuff like this, you know, Is there a a a ways that you apply sleight of hand or distraction or whatever, the other skills, the magic skills that you have to other aspects of your life.

When you go.

To the bank?

That's right.

That's what that would be a great idea.

Well, you know, I worked in the school systems for quite a few years and with youth and Parks and Rec, and so when I substituted, I, you know, this was a connection for the students as well as.

Yeah, there was a there was a little misdirection on a lot of places too.

You know what I mean?

And changing behaviors.

Yes.

Yeah.

Redirecting, I guess we should say.

Yeah.

All right.

I think we've got time to see one more.

Got it.

All right.

Let's try.

This is actually one of the oldest tricks I've ever learned.

And it's called knots on a silk.

Okay.

And that's because I tie knots on a silk.

So with that name.

Right.

Imagine the.

Tarbell course in magic.

That was a book.

Volume three.

That's where I came up with it.

And I get to change it, obviously.

So we're going to try this.

There's three steps.

This I'm going to have you help me actually.

Step up.

To you.

So I'm going to do this in three steps.

I'm going to show you the first one.

The second one, you're going to help me.

Okay.

And then the third one, you're going to do the magic yourself.

They're going to go amazing.

It's going to be great.

All right.

All right.

Check it out.

Knots on a silk.

Because I tie knots on a silk.

Thank you for the call back.

All right.

Let's chat.

Having these two learn is magic.

We're going to go here.

We're going to go here.

And just nice and tight.

That's the trick.

Just kidding.

That would be pretty lame if that was the trick.

All right, so pay attention though.

You're going to have to do this in a sick.

All right.

All right.

All right.

Super simple.

You figured it out already, I'm sure.

Yep.

No.

Okay.

All right.

I can tell by the look on the.

Face so tight it tie to not.

Tighten up.

Right.

And then just.

Just remove the not so knots on a silk because I tie knots on a silk.

Thank you for the cotton.

Well, you know what?

It's a great question.

Actually, one of you.

Why don't you take a hold of that and just pull tight, pull tight, pull tight tight tight tight tight tight.

Nice.

You're stronger.

All right.

Good.

Shove.

Made it a little harder on me than it needs to be.

All right.

Give me a wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.

That's for you.

Yeah.

Wiggle wiggle, wiggle.

All right.

Give me a perfect.

Give me a magic word.

It could be any magic word.

FCC advocate.

All right.

Perfect.

I think that might have worked.

Excellent.

All right.

Wow.

Last one, last one.

This is all you.

Okay, that's on a silk.

Because I tell you, knots on a silk.

And I'll get that done for you.

Bam, bam.

Wiggle wiggle wiggle.

Wiggle wiggle wiggle and pull.

Not straight down.

Show them.

Check this out.

You did my silk, though, so that's all right.

I'll get another one.

That's all right.

Thank you though.

Good gracious.

Magician, check.

Working with.

Chad if people want to find more of your magic, where can they find it?

Just, Chad Bannister magic.com.

That's one end.

And Bannister, a lot of people spell it with two.

It's just Chad Bannister magic.com.

And they can.

Find.

Me on.

Thank you so much for coming in.

It's really cool.

Thank you so much.

Happy Halloween.

Halloween to you as well.

Thank you.

All right.

We're going to take a break.

When we come back, we'll be joined by Roy Cherry from the Epilepsy Center with the preview of their car walk.

Coming up this Sunday, it's the 419.

We'll be right bac Every day when.

You left with us, you learned with us.

We made sure your childhood was special.

Memories that could only be provided by PBS.

For generations, we've given you programs that made a difference.

Programs that entertain, informed and inspired.

And today is no different.

This is WG Public Media in Toledo.

It's where you belong.

Families explore Lucas County from A to Z. Apples to zebras.

WTE is creating short videos for every letter of the alphabet, each one featuring an iconic Lucas County landmark.

Learn the ABCs and explore the places that make our region special.

Visit.

Zebras to see the latest videos in the series or check them out on the app.

Watch for Apples to Zebras events for families and teachers made possible by the Board of Lucas County Commissioners.

Welcome back into the 419.

We're joined now by Roy Cherry with the Epilepsy Center of West Ohio.

Roy, welcome back to the program.

Well.

Thanks for having me again.

How many times in your career have you followed a magician?

This has to be the first time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You.

Have you opened for one?

No, no, no, I probably should, though.

And I didn't get the memo on the vest and the whole thing.

Yeah.

That actually would have been hysterical.

Dodged a bullet, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Have you ever done a magic trick?

Yeah, actually, I've done card tricks before.

They're very simple and pretty lame, but I've done them.

Yeah.

I've never done a single magic trick in my entire life.

I used to have in fourth grade, I had a, Don't tell me it's a book.

That no.

One of the rings that had had the little rubber like, plastic water thing.

No.

That you would like, someone would be like, look at my flower.

And then it would squirt water.

But not.

A lot.

Of friends.

Some people choose abstinence and absence chooses some people.

Oh.

Last time we had you on, you were talking about we talked about the brewery that you were working on with Light Industries and and great and great services.

How's that going?

It's going really well.

I think we're still on pace to be open May of 2027.

So awesome spring.

We're hoping.

We have all the equipment.

They were over there hooking all up on Saturday.

And where is it going.

To be?

It's going to be out of a lot of industries.

Okay.

So just on, on on hill and great location.

He's got that urban farm and the greenhouse out there.

So a real good setting.

We're gonna we have drawings already made up from the architect.

We're going up for bids for contract and should be working on that.

Real soon.

Yeah.

When when do you anticipate that that'll be fully functional.

That we can, you know, get our first pint?

Well, we're.

Ha.

We should be brewing in probably, I would say like April will be brewing, so we'll be able to have them by April, but soft opening sometime in May.

Yeah.

To me about the partnership.

There it is.

Not lost to anyone.

What you're doing, it's usually done better with partners.

But this these are three important groups that have sort of picked up what some might describe as an odd connective piece of tissue here.

But walk us through the thinking, the side and what we were so excited about.

Absolutely.

So, obviously Tim Menke, who's the, you know, director at lot, and then he got Steve King, CEO of and Grady and myself, we all got together.

Tim and I originally and talked about creating a brewery to give individuals with developmental disabilities and employment opportunity and also make a great beer, because we enjoy the different kinds of breweries that around.

And then we brought in Steve King and and Grady.

He wanted to get involved.

And and it's great because all of our agencies really we're trying to do the same thing for people with developmental disabilities, give them a better quality of life.

And and so this was just seemed like a natural fit.

It's unique.

You know, it's an ability for them to either work in the back end of the brewery or in the front end, the taproom.

And just to diversify some revenues to with Medicaid being so tight and for for each of our agencies to do that.

Gotcha.

It's I, I love it so much.

It's creative as a as a nonprofit guy.

I love the the creative fundraising side of it.

But also what a neat way to to fulfill your mission, to say, let's create these opportunities.

If folks aren't familiar with the Epilepsy Center.

I mean, again, we're talking about creating jobs for folks with developmental disabilities.

But people may not realize that that's a big piece of what the epilepsy center.

It really it really is.

So the epilepsy center, I mean, our mission is to improve the lives of people affected by epilepsy, but also to and those with developmental disabilities.

So we do quite a bit of work with the developmental disability community, whether, you know, providing care in the residential settings or doing the day programs, transportation, helping them pay their bills, those, those types of things.

So we do quite a bit of that and then epilepsy side, obviously we do a lot of outreach and resources and education to the community about epilepsy.

So yeah.

What scope of this organization, I mean, how many employees?

I think I was blown away at at at how big the epilepsy.

Yeah, we've we've grown quite a bit over the years.

We're about 130 employees now.

Wow.

Yeah.

So we have probably around 100 of the most important employees, which is our direct support professionals.

They're the ones that do the heavy lifting.

They're the ones that are out in the community, helping those individuals on disabilities attain a high quality of life.

And you just recently opened our third building, which is a day program that we're, that we're doing is we just did a ribbon cutting, I think it was last week.

I know we talked to you last time you were here about resources that are available for people that have an epilepsy diagnosis, but one of the sort of for the public at large, I'm not sure people know what to do if they see someone or experiencing someone having a seizure in their presence just at a restaurant or something.

Is there a directive?

Is there information that the community can have about what they should do to respond to something like that?

Do magic tricks, right?

Yeah.

Magic tricks.

When someone's having a seizure.

I'm not.

Sure what that would work.

No.

It's, Yeah.

It it's really simple.

In a lot of cases, if somebody is having a seizure and it's it's and it's, you know, the full on seizure that most people would typically think it's really just, you know, you say in a restaurant would be kind of clearing the area, moving the chairs and tables, making sure that they're not going to hurt themselves, move them on their side.

If somebody's got a sweatshirt or a coat, put it under their head.

So they're, you know, their heads are, you know, they're not hurting themselves on the, on the floor.

And then just kind of be there when they come out of it.

Of course, the number one thing and you've heard me say this a lot is don't put anything in their mouth.

A lot of, you know, there's a stigma about if they're having a seizure, you know, put something.

A smile.

Yeah.

You're choking their tongue.

You're gonna end up hurting themselves more.

Yeah.

So.

But, we have a great outreach specialist that that works with the community as well and goes out to educate different, different employers or schools and all of those cases.

I mean, I can't imagine the the fear that would go through, you know, watching someone have a seizure.

But I guess I think about like that, that reminder of like there's the simplicity of.

Just clear the space and keep them right.

Keep them safe.

Right.

And if the seizure goes too long like 2 to 5 minutes then most likely need to call 911.

But a lot of times they don't last that long.

And there's lots of different other seizures too that even like that it could be staring off into into space in certain cases, or maybe just part of your body's moving different types of seizures that that people need to be.

Aware of.

How common are are is a seizure disorder is epilepsy.

Well.

It's probably about 2 to 3% of people in America are affected by or have epilepsy.

1 in 10 will have a seizure in their life, which is pretty astonishing.

Yeah.

Doesn't necessarily mean to have epilepsy, but, so, I guess 2 to 3% not that common.

But if you take it by the population, there's a number of people that do have epilepsy.

And that's what we're here for.

Well, this is going to play maintenance.

But how do you keep up on research in this way?

Right.

Do you have a giant business to run that has, you know, services that affect real people every day?

So you have to keep that mechanism running.

But how do you find time to stay on top of or who informs you as to the thinking?

I don't know if, you know, medication is something that you have to constantly keep your finger on the pulse of, but how do you do this?

And where do you find time?

Yeah, I mean, we have a lot of contacts with our pharmaceutical reps out there.

And they're always talking about new, anti-seizure medications.

The real, real popular one now is a nasal spray.

Okay.

That that helps people that have a seizure disorder that doesn't their, their epilepsy or their seizure doesn't stop, and they need to take an emergency medication and.

Have to carry this with them and people that need to know.

Yeah.

And it's really easy to use.

Put it in your nose and give it 1 or 2 squirts depending on the dosage that they need.

And and it helps stops the seizure.

Gotcha.

So that's one of the newest things that are out there.

And a lot of pharmaceutical reps that come out and talk to.

Us about it.

Yeah, sure.

I serve as the PA announcer for Toledo football and basketball.

I've got a read that we do before every game saying, you know, flashing lights, which could cause, could cause seizures for photosensitive viewers or fans.

How realistic?

I mean, how prevalent is the idea?

I'm thinking about like, Halloween decorations, right.

So you got the.

Strobe lights are going on.

Yeah.

I mean I think each person that has epilepsy will know if that is a part of their epilepsy.

So just because you have it doesn't mean a strobe lights going to cause it is a photosensitive type of epilepsy that they would have.

So as long as they're aware, then they kind of remove them selves from the situations that might c that.

I'm saying, like, I mean, that's part of my my housing decorations.

I mean, the reality is me having that up by the house and somebody walking on the.

Sidewalk, terrible person that Gretchen, she does nothing.

No.

You know, that's for the safety of the children in the neighborhood participating in Halloween.

Just leave your leave your light on so that everyone lines up.

I don't want to use the word hero liberally, so I won't get all.

You've got to.

You've got to walk.

Coming up.

Yeah, we do this Sunday.

You know, the work that you guys, you know, you mentioned, you talked about, you know, kind of diversifying funding with the with the brewery.

But the raise when it comes to the epilepsy center side, you're, that's you got to raise all your own money to be able to provide support.

Yeah.

That's all funded through our fundraising efforts that we do, whether it's our practical golf tournament that we put on in the summer.

Which was a big success.

It was great.

Yeah.

And appreciate you guys having us on before that as well.

And then now our walk on November 1st.

And a real dump.

At Swan Creek.

Yeah, I don't know, they need to clean that up a little bit.

I think.

We're doing the best.

We can have it there.

Maybe one more time because the setting is a little suspect.

Sure.

Sketchy?

Yeah, yeah.

I get it.

But, no.

It's great.

We have.

Our Metropark.

One Creek Metropark.

We have over 100 people already registered for it.

So we have the five K run and the three K walk as well.

And that's a great time to get out there.

Whether it's going to be really nice, I think you know the nice.

I'll take care.

Of that for you.

You got to take care.

Of that.

Whether it's.

Great people can wear costumes to that.

Oh absolutely.

Why not?

It's the day after Halloween.

And.

They could just stay in them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You buy a costume, right?

I mean, you use it once.

Yeah.

Come on.

Once a year.

Do it again.

That's right.

Is there an intentional reason as to why you choose to have this the morning after a time change?

What a great question.

Actually, it's because of November.

And it is November is epilepsy werenit month, so that's usually when we do it.

But the time change, you know, make sure people should get there early.

That's right.

Because we are falling back.

So people will be late this time.

Right.

We asked, each other.

Would you have a favorite costume or go to costume when you were a kid?

Well, I heard that question earlier and I was talking about it when I was a kid.

My mom and dad, you know, they know I had to spend a lot of money.

So you didn't get a lot of, you know, fancy costumes.

So I think every one of my siblings was a bum at some.

Bomb was a go to.

Yeah.

You put the charcoal on?

Yes, the charcoal on there.

And then you basically had an old, old jacket and an old shirt and an old hat, and it was just an easy costume.

You run around with your pillowcase sack, right?

Yeah.

Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Now they've got these modern, like, you can go to the store and buy it.

It's like, no, no, no, no.

Pillowcase.

Much candy can fit in a pillowcase.

A lot.

Yeah.

Did you have to share candy with siblings?

Siblings?

Probably my closer brother, but he's, like, eight years older than me, so by that time, he was just.

For free.

Right, right.

That's right.

He just take it.

What?

What's something that you hope.

You know, people watching this interview, learning about the Epilepsy Center for the first time.

What's something that you hope that they learn or would know about your organization that they may not already?

Well, I mean, I think I think a lot of times people on the phone on this.

So I don't know how much we do on that side.

If they hear our name, the center, which epilepsy is very important to us, obviously it's part of our mission, but also know that we provide so many other services to people with disabilities as well, and just to come out and support us whenever they can.

You mentioned a lot of industries and Grady Services.

Who are some of the other partners that that help make this work happen?

Well, I mean, there are a lot of providers in the area that that we're friends with, you know, Sunshine Children's Home, everybody knows about them.

Manahan, which formerly known as Joe, seen a lot.

There's another one, Bittersweet Farms, which is a beautiful place.

And yeah, so a lot of us all, we all out there to do the right things for people to found.

You've been doing this for a while, and this is always a difficult question answering.

I know you as a humble person, but at the.

Questions from your difficult.

That's right, that's right.

But at the end of a long career in this space which sort of found you and you found it, I think those two things can be said in the interest fashion.

What do you want people to say about your role and what you've done with it, or for the Epilepsy Center?

Well, I definitely don't want to be the center of it.

Sure.

I'm only as good as my team.

And I have a great team.

Yes, you do out there.

And, you know, we're growing, we're providing more services, and, you know, we're improving more lives and infecting more people.

And and that's what's the most important thing is if we can continue to do the things for people that have epilepsy or people who have on disabilities to make sure that they do attain that highest quality of life, that's what that's what it's about for me.

And I definitely don't want to take the credit for it.

It's the people that are that work with me.

You and I have talked about legacy a little bit, right?

When you think about when when you hang it up, when you're ready to retire.

You know, fundraising is a big, big piece of, of the legacy.

You're also wanting to leave with the organization.

And so I know you guys have got some big goals there.

Yes.

This walk this Sunday is an opportunity for people to be able to support that effort, support the great work that you guys do.

Give me one more time, location, time and and where people can find more information.

So again, it's Sunday, November 1st, Swan Creek metro Park.

The check in is at 830.

The block or the run starts at nine, then the walkers start after that around 939 20.

And you can find information at our website.

Epilepsy.

Tomorrow.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Roy Terry with the Epilepsy Center of Northwest Ohio.

Thank you so much for joining us.

All right.

When we come back, we'll be joined by Kevin Millikin.

Now Kevin Mullin, Kevin Millikin, the Lucas County Children's Services.

We'll be right back on the 419.

Families.

Explore Lucas County from A to Z. Apples to zebras WTE is creating short videos for every letter of the alphabet, each one featuring an iconic Lucas County landmark.

Learn the ABCs and explore the places that make our region special.

Visit.

Zebras to see the latest videos in the series or check them out on the GT app.

Watch for Apple events for families and teachers made possible by the Board of Lucas County Commissioners.

It's time for.

Season two of The Local Thread, a community series uniting voices and storytellers from across the region in partnership with Toledo, Lucas County Public Library, Toledo History Museum and powered AI, Toledo Free Press and La Prensa.

The local thread brings you stories and conversations that connect our community.

Listen to it weeknights at 7 p.m.

on FME 91, with early access on podcast platforms every morning.

It's season two of the Local thread only on w GT.

Welcome back into the 419.

If you're just joining us, you may have missed that.

Both Gretchen and I have dressed up as our favorite Halloween costume.

We are Matt Kilham for the day.

And I've also dressed up as my favorite.

Yeah.

I almost did.

Yeah.

Yeah, but what's what?

We're joined now by Kevin Milliken with Lucas County Children's Services.

Kevin, what's your favorite Halloween costume of all time?

Well, it's.

Probably the one that I didn't wear.

We were at Erie Manor over the weekend in the gift shop there.

They were actually selling this, the Metroparks Matt costume for 29.95.

That's.

Yeah, it comes with.

Comes with actually.

Beard, hat, glasses and vest.

Yeah.

The only reason I'm not wearing it today is because my girlfriend has a garden gnome that she likes to dress up for holidays.

Yeah, sure.

Yeah.

And it was that garden.

But I hear Oriental trading is going to start marketing this next year.

Yes.

Yeah, well, I'm the proud partner of the Oriental Trading.

Yes.

I like to look out for the little guy, as you all know.

So are you getting residuals off that?

Not in the traditional sense.

Okay.

Yeah.

Or any sense?

Yeah.

And you are the public information officer for Lucas County Children's Services.

Tell us.

I mean, there's a lot of work that you guys do, but in the in the next, you know, 2.5 hours.

Let's try it.

Yeah.

Basically, I worked myself into this really weird niche of a community and media relations, donor and public relations.

And it's it's a corner that I absolutely love.

I think I have the best job out of 400 people at the agency, but I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to get out of it, because I reached a milestone birthday this year and slinging all that stuff during the and he was getting a little bit tougher.

That's why we're increasingly using high school kids who need service hours in to save my back.

Yeah, sure.

What does Lucas services do?

I can quote you the mission statement about protecting children and families, but it really boils down to the three S's.

It's we strengthen, stabilize, and make families stronger.

Children and families.

It's hard work, but our first goal is always to reunify families with an array of programs and services and things like that that they go through in order to get their children back.

We don't want to be taken care of that in their home.

We're not the baby snatchers that that people might see out there or think of us, you know?

Yes, there are protests on occasion when something goes wrong, but the over under on that vast majority are people who wanted us to do something different when we had to follow the law.

And, you know, we don't play God with people's lives.

We rely on the courts heavily.

It's not us deciding to remove a child from a home.

It's it's in partnership with the courts and others, others like that.

But of course, we're trying to pull back the curtain on a lot of what we do so that people understand beyond when something goes wrong, they learn, they learn about the agency.

And a lot of what we're doing in this economy, we're doing a ton of prevention work.

If there's a mantra out there, it's support before you report you as a community member, if you see something going on that looks to you like neglect, it may be a family having a hard time because the economy or poverty.

And if there's a way to link them up with some services and all that sort of stuff instead of calling us up, that's where we've got to take a no wrong door approach and help boost families in that temporary situation instead of getting them involved in the system, so to speak.

Kevin, there's a long road.

For that.

Not to put you on the spot here in terms of regurgitating statistics, but, if you're in one of the strange professions ministering to this show is that you wish to be working to make all of your jobs not necessary, right?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Every day.

Are you more.

Lucas County is trending positively.

Poorly?

Or are people in more in need?

Can you give me a little bit of that statistic?

Yes.

Runs in cycles.

On any given day, there are about 800 to 1000 kids in our care in custody.

We had that number down last year at one point to 765.

But it's ticking up again.

It usually relates directly to the economy and the poverty and the job loss and some of the other struggles that families have that, where that number takes up.

I ask a question about the number.

So it is such a raw and devastating number.

Right.

These are human beings.

And there's a there's pride that goes into it.

There's not reporting, there's not self-reporting because you're fearful of things happening.

So how do you how do you acquire the data of the need as opposed to cases?

We serve one out of every eight children in Lucas County, most of that in their own home, when it's safe enough to do so.

So the need is that much exponentially bigger than just the children in care.

So, and that's through the network of community partners.

We're we're kind of the case manager, relying on other nonprofits, other government agencies and all of that sort of stuff, trying to put together this network.

And I have a counterpart that's in contract services that anytime somebody contacts me directly who wants to partner with us on something like that, I pass those along to her.

I focus more on the charity end of things, where, you know, it's the weird niche of being a government agency that acts like a nonprofit in a lot of ways, because the kid's needs are so great and the funds are so limited.

The Lucas County Commissioners put together a plan after the case that put together a group of people to get feedback on the agency, put together a group.

What what's the status of that group that's now working on some of these solutions?

They gave us eight benchmarked, things to work on in a report we are currently doing that.

We have formed an internal committee of our board and some of our administrators to start working on that.

They've pared down a really long list of measurables and other things that fit into those eight categories, and you'll probably see a a benchmark progress report the first of the year because it's only been.

Yeah, right.

At that point it's only six months.

And some of this stuff we were already working on beforehand.

So that tells us we're on the right track.

But now it's time to add some of those other things to it, to to build that better system that, that people are looking for or, maybe bringing in some more best practices, which, you know, we follow a lot and it's not some of those eight are not going to be led by us.

Sure.

Those are going to be need to be led by community partners because it is a system.

Now, whether that partner is the United Way, whether it's the Community Foundation, whether it's another agency.

That remains to be seen.

There are a lot of unknowns with that, but the heavy lifting behind the scenes are going on now.

What is something you think that that the community misunderstands, or you wish that they knew more about a family that may have a c that's with Lucas County Children's Services, that they that they don't get about what has happened or the need or anything.

That kids are regular kids and they want to be regular kids.

And a lot of what we try to do is give them as normal a childhood as we can, despite them suffering the trauma of abuse and neglect.

That's what Trunk or Treat is all about.

That is a for our caregiver families and the families that we're working with to have a great day.

It's also a day for our caseworkers to blow off steam and hand out candy, because we've got a legion of high school kids who do all the setup, cleanup and all that sort of stuff so that they don't have to.

It's also an opportunity to do some community relations work in the historic South End at the Believe Center, giving those kids in that neighborhood a safe daytime.

Trick or treating opportunity, and passing out information.

We invite community partners in this time around, we had somewhere between 30 and 40 community partners not just passing out candy, but having those conversations with families about the services they offer and the things that they can do for kids, either at free, no cost, low cost.

Or, you know, a daycare provider right on up to Medicaid providers.

And you know, you're getting into a renewal period and all that sort of thing.

So it's it's really comprehensive that way.

And it's really what developed a little over ten years ago is a way to help promote the levy has really turned into a great community relations event.

We're talking with Kevin Milliken with Lucas County Children's Services.

Your trunk or treat happened a couple of weeks ago.

But it seems like I mean, I feel like I'm seeing these pop up all over town.

That's the beautiful part about this.

We probably have the largest one in the region now.

And the last couple of years we've had 2000 kids, but we also had a sunny 75 degree day.

That's part of moving it up a couple weeks from when we traditionally did, and we had one too many tents blow into Western Avenue when we were on the Libby High School site.

Now we're with the Believe center and there's, you know, less wind, better weather.

This year we had about 1500 kids.

Wow.

That's.

Great with weather in the, in the mid 50s.

But, you know, it's going to vary year to year.

And one of these times we're going to have the great equalizer in northwest Ohio weather.

And we'll have to move it indoors.

But that's the other part.

We have games, giveaways and goodies in the gym for when they're done getting all their candy, and then they wind their way through the gym, have a blast, and then leave through the front door.

And hopefully we've provided them a free couple hours and stuff to take home, information wise or book wise.

Tooth toothbrushes and toothpaste, all of it donated by the community.

It costs us nothing as an agency to put this on.

It's just those relationships.

This was this trunk or treat program.

So my my kids now have an annual tradition of they do a, you know, fundraising drive or some sort of service project for the community.

And it started with this trunk or treat a number of years ago.

I remember that that we did.

And friends of mine will remember a Facebook Live a number of years ago with my kids, you know, inside stores saying, hey, we need to buy some gloves for kids.

And my kids were able to rally the community to raise enough money to buy gloves for every single one of those kids that that came through.

I remember that I remember the Facebook lives in Walmart where you guys are just.

Yeah.

Well, right off the shelf.

Their mom has taught them.

For you.

That's right.

That's right.

That on a, That's wonderful.

Absolutely.

But you mentioned something.

I think it's important.

I want to make sure that we provide our listeners and viewers good information.

We talk about preventative work.

Right.

Not not focusing on that new.

That's not necessarily a new thinking for Lucas County Children's Services, but I the mechanism of that now, there's some complication as there is and everything that you do and have committed yourself to mission wise, meaning, oh, I don't I want my, my own business or I don't want to be a snitch.

That let's put the complexity of that aside.

If there's a neighbor, if there's someone you're seeing a child that you're care for, a family that you're care for, noticing something is is potentially wrong.

What are the mechanisms of of providing help that you would recommend or through Lucas County Children's Services.

You know, you can get them to 211.

Okay.

There is a great website out there called Find help.org that is like the online version of 211.

Across the top of it are 10 to 12 of the most basic needs.

Families have food, transportation, employment, training, things like that and even gives a mechanism to do a zip code search.

Our caseworkers use it in that very first visit to the home.

In a lot of cases where we'll call them, we'll set up an appointment and then we'll show up with some of the immediate triage stuff, and then we can get right on it, right on a computer in their home, and maybe have that conversation about some of the rest of that, where it may be near a bus line, or maybe within walking distance to a food pantry or something like that, so that we can meet some of those immediate needs and, and help them advocate for themselves as well, accessing those things.

Because when people are in survival mode, they're thinking about that day, not long term.

Right?

I know it's not yet Halloween, but it's probably never too early.

There's some folks in Toledo.

Probably.

Gretchen is one of those terrible people that have already started thinking about the holidays, thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Oh yeah, well, I know you guys are thinking about that already as well.

What are you guys doing to get ready for the holidays at Lucas County Children's Service?

I spent the weekend filling out angel tree tags.

I love the angel.

For for the Franklin Park Mall.

There's about 300 of those on kids once in need.

This holiday season, this is the time of year where my role changes from trunk or treat guy to her.

So we already have the Amazon wish list is also up and done.

The splash pages are already updated.

That's Lucas kids.net backslash.

Holiday hyphen.

Gift.

Hyphen.

Drive to where you can find a hot toy list.

There's the Amazon wish list.

And then there's an opportunity for you to give a tax deductible donation at the end of the year to friends of LLCs.

We already have the full schedule out for all the events we had that done a long time ago.

We're partnering with two media partners who are really ramping up this year.

In fact, the the actual toy drive for WTOL actually starts two days after Election day.

So they moved it up.

Well, our biggest problem is when the toy room opens.

Picture a conference room turned into a mini toys R us, right?

Is having a single day.

Having enough inventory that first week right after Thanksgiving?

Because everybody wants to get in.

We've got a lot of out of county cases in the case.

Workers actually deliver and make the selections, and they look like Santa Claus with a black garbage bag over their shoulder so that the family can honor whatever Christmas traditions they may have on their own.

So whether they want to wrap them or not, all that sort of thing.

Lots of great opportunities for the community to get involved in.

Absolutely.

Again, more information on that.

Lucas kids.net.

Backslash holiday hyphen gift hyphen drive.

And you can call me directly at the office as well.

To one three 3200.

Perfect.

Kevin Millican, thank you.

Very much.

Thanks for being here.

Well, thank you for having us.

It special Halloween edition of the 419.

To me, community means connecting to others.

I'm Donnie Miller and welcome to the point.

I love you.

Yes.

We're community.

Committed to education.

Discover new ideas, dive into exciting subject, and engage with the world around you.

I would send them personally a t shirt.

Crime doesn't pay in the old West End.

Pass it on.

That's how we cleaned up the neighborhood.

Vision loss for people is not the end.

It's the story.

It's the next chapter.

WD Public Media invites you to get out and play day.

The 419 7 a.m.

on YouTube.

3 p.m.

on FM 91 and 6 p.m.

on w gt e connects.

It's the 419 powered by W GT.

WD.

Where you come to watch, listen and learn.

Welcome back into the 419 as we wrap up our first week of season two and get get ready ourselves for Halloween.

Yes.

I love Halloween.

And it was a lot of enthusiasm this entire week in a lot of different ways.

But also, we're back at it, and it feels pretty great, too.

Chad Banister, magician.

We had him on first on the show.

I still don't understand where the bowling ball came from.

And I also don't know how in the world, out of the quintillion of options on a Rubik's Cube, how he matched exactly what you.

I think that he he slipped us something, and maybe we just thought we saw it.

Yeah.

There's no way.

Interesting.

I never come to the show preloaded every day.

That could be it.

It's easy to fool people.

My goodness.

It's great.

And then obviously, again, you know, the connective tissue on this show is, is people doing incredible things to make our community better.

Roy Cherry, the work they do at the center, Kevin Millikin with children's services.

Of course, Roy and the Epilepsy Center have their big Carpe DM walk fundraiser for the work they do with individuals with epilepsy.

This Sunday at Swan Creek Metropark.

I've been there a number of years to that event.

It's a great event.

Yes.

It's a it's a it's a smaller walk, but it's nice because one Swan Creek is beautiful.

That path is fantastic.

And it's constructed for, for this sort of thing.

So it's easy to get in and out, indiscriminate of the amount of times you run a five K or walk.

This is for everybody.

Yep.

Yeah.

We've done I've not I've not run it.

I'm not doing that.

But we've walked with the family.

Sure.

Some folks will bring their pets.

Yes.

And so it's it's great.

Obviously, this year we're going to see costumes.

Yeah.

Being the morning after Halloween as well.

After you fall back on your time.

That's right.

Or just get there early.

Yeah.

That's fine.

Just spend a little bit more time at Swan Creek Metro.

Park and lots of need.

And in our community and certainly many ways to support kids so they can have a nice holiday season.

Lucas kids.net for more information.

If you missed any part of the show, you can catch it weekdays on GT e HD, channel 30.1 at 5:00, channel 30.4 WTE connects at 6 p.m.

or FM 91 at 3 p.m.

it's the 419.

Support for the.

400 and 19AW GT original celebrating Northwest Ohio is provided by the University of Toledo, preparing graduates who contribute to our workforce, advancing research that addresses our region's challenges and caring for our community through the region's only academic medical center.

We are the University of Toledo.

Work spring.

Work spring helps businesses and clients with HR expertise, workforce training, employee wellness solutions, and personalized support to help make work life easier, workplaces healthier, and teams stronger.

Learn more at Green Dawg.