The Voices for Voices TV Show and Podcast Episode 45 with Guest, President/CEO Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank Dan Flowers
Welcome to the Voices for Voices podcast sponsored by Redwood Living
thank you for joining us today I am Justin Alan Hayes founder and executive
director of Voices for Voices host and humanitarian
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where shipping is always free and again all donations are 100 percent tax
deductible please join me in welcoming today's guest a friend of mine our keynote
speaker at our a brand new day fundraiser Gala on Friday October 13th
he is President and CEO of the Akron-Canton regional Food Bank Dan Flowers. Dan thank
you for joining us today Justin thank you so much for having me back it was a wonderful introduction I enjoyed hearing
your description of the work that you're doing, and you know I think when you use the word a humanitarian you got it right
because you're a great guy and the opportunity to come back you've really stepped up, I mean you've upgraded this
considerably when you had me out to speak for the first time and I think it was just over a year ago you were
recording in a back garage at somebody's house and I remember driving there and I didn't see any size and I was like what
is this but I had such a lovely conversation that day and uh
uh it was sort of a breakthrough conversation for me in a lot of ways because I shared a story that day that
I'd never spoken about publicly and it was something that happened in my life 12 13 years ago that I'd carried
and I think that there was something about the sweetness and the kindness that you showed that day
the format of the program the message the message in the mission
behind your work that just made me comfortable that day, so I want to thank
you because that opened up my heart and my courage to share the story that I
look forward to talking more about at your Voices for Voices of that coming up next October this coming October on the
13th is it the 13th of October yeah it is and so, so I was thinking about our
visit today and I've written down a few things that it
you know I kind of wanted to talk about and I'm happy to answer any questions that you have certainly we can give an update about what's happening down at
the food bank and you know books and we can talk about whatever you want to talk about but thank you for having me back you're
welcome yeah absolutely glad to have you a year ago and I definitely have upgraded a lot and that's great so Happy
Studio yeah have you back yeah if you want to jump into some of your preparations yeah sure well you
know I always like to start by talking about the Akron Canton Regional food bank I'm getting ready to
um begin my 20th year of service as CEO I was thinking on my way over here
um about flight hours you know they talk about flight hours for Pilots
um and I think it was Malcolm Gladwell who talked about 10 000 hours being the amount of hours that you have
to apply to gain Mastery at anything in martial arts or any trade or you know
position well if there's2080 hours in every work year and I've worked 20 years I've
got over 40 000 hours as CEO of the Akron Canton Regional food bank which is a pretty crazy thought it
is like four times yeah and so I've been at the helm for a while
and I I've it's been the honor of my life to
do this I've come to understand a lot of stuff about leadership I've seen a lot of
Trends and you know and I'm 52 years old they were I was 32 when they hired
me one of the youngest CEOs in the country so I've got a lot of years to work to contribute and I'm so grateful
that my experience has brought me into contact with people like you and also because after you've done something for
20 years like if people don't think I've got you know the ability to basically be
your food bank CEO by now there's nothing I'm going to do to convince you right so there's a record to stand
on that we get in life through being consistent and because of that
maybe those of us that have been fortunate to last a while I can start
having the courage to talk about some of the challenges along the way in ways that are helpful to other people and so
that's certainly been a part of my journey, but you know certainly you know in the in the last couple years
with the pandemic it's been a pretty wild ride down at the food bank and I feel like we're starting to come out of it
a little bit how's it feel to you it does a little bit a little bit
yeah, there's a hangover on society I think as a result of this
and you know we could certainly talk about that a little bit but I'll just kind of hit my food bank report real quick yes please do so
2020 was a wild year of course you know with a pandemic beginning I shared
a little bit about that when I was on the show last year you know 2021 a lot of the government
programs kicked in we saw a little reduction in demand the National Guard stayed with us through that year
through the middle of 2021 I lost my dad in May of that year, and we talked about that if you may recall
um in 2022 we saw this inflation begin to Surge and
the number of people seeking emergency food really shot up last year in 2022.
um you know we had a pretty big increase over 2021 and the number of people that come in folks that are seeking emergency food inflation drove a lot of that
at the same time the soup kitchens and homeless shelters and food pantries they get their food from the food bank continue to be under a lot of pressure a
lot of them are run by volunteers a lot of senior citizens and retirees who because of Covid because of you know
resource you know availability had to step out of the work so our
Network took a little bit of a hit last year I think if I was to think about my entire career
the hardest year I think ever was 2022. I felt like we were running in sand we
lost a fair amount of people you know the what they call the great resignation you
know it was certainly a factor in that you know we had more staff departures than we've ever had for you
know the same reasons I think people were leaving every organization, so we spent a lot of time trying to get the team restate restabilized and
strengthened and I think we started to come out of that towards the end of 2022. we haven't had any departures in
almost six months for the staff which is a blessing that is, and we saw food
donations begin to turn around at the end of the year last year it was a tough year for food donations with the supply chain like it was, so we started this
year with a pretty good inventory and you know we're about 15 percent ahead of
where we were last year in food distribution so we're bouncing back with our food supply, and you know in March
of 2023 this big reduction in SNAP benefits is taking place that's right and so we've been doing a lot of work on
that and dealing with an increased number of people that are coming out to food pantries as a result of that so you
know I think the organization continues to be strong we've had our challenges you know we've got a big construction project going on right now and you
know I could just go on for hours but that's kind of a general report on where we're at I think we're
coming out of the pandemic the organization is stronger than it was going into it I think we've made a lot of bold statements in the community
with respect to the Nimble nature of the food bank's responsiveness our commitment to Mission the engagement
of our staff our board our Volunteers in the fight against food insecurity and hunger and you know
it's been a pleasure hadn't been easy though yeah and one thing I was thinking about
uh was maybe you know there's stigma I see with maybe we'll talk a
little bit mental health and that but with maybe just I don't say society
as a whole but some individuals when they hear food bank they might just
think some of those canned goods they don't also include produce and the meats
and those types of things that that I think maybe if you could just elaborate
just the breadth of the offerings that that you have sure there isn't a need
across the board it's not just for cans of corn and beans and the like yeah
well just the basic definition of food bank has a lot of meanings to a lot of
people you know we have a lot of folks come into the food bank for a tour and they're shocked at how big it is because
people will often say well we have a food bank at my church it's open on Wednesday nights after service well a
lot of Charities that we consider to be member agencies or Partners charitable Partners refer to themselves as food
bank and so I think when people step into our building and see you know 100 000 square foot Warehouse
um you know it's shocking to them that we're using that same term because I think people tend to think of food banks
as you know smaller Grassroots Charities well, they all were at one time, and it wasn't that long ago but food banking
since it started in the late 60s has gained pretty significant scale most food banks are the biggest charitable
agencies in the communities that they serve if you look at the Houston Food Bank the Chicago the Food Bank of Chicago our food bank is the largest
Human Service Agency in the region that we serve and that includes any other charity that you would think of and
that's because of the value of the food the amount of food and that kind of goes to the second part of your point which
is the variety you see food banks collect surplus food from the grocery industry and what surprises people is
how much food there is out there billions and billions of pounds of food even now with the scale that we've
achieved go to waste every year and so that was the primary mode of operation
collecting surplus food from food wholesalers from food manufacturers from Food Distributors bringing it back into
your food bank processing it with volunteers and they're Distributing that food to soup kitchens and your church
pantries you know faith-based organizations of course as the food banks got
bigger and took on more capacity their ability to do other things started to emerge the government started looking at
food banks as an outlet for federal Commodities so we get food from the USDA the state of Ohio stepped up and started
funding Surplus agricultural programs and we get Surplus grown Ohio produce for distribution through our Charities
so we've now developed a really wide supply line that includes manufacturers wholesalers Distributors
Growers government entities you know and that all comes into the food bank and then it goes out to The
Community through these Charities and you know the old impression of a dented can and a banana box although I'll never
say no to a dented can any food you have to give us if it's good I'll take it because I think every piece of food that
goes to the food bank is on a mission and I want to help it along, but you know it's a pretty scaled entity
it's gotten relatively sophisticated and complex although at heart the mission is
as simple and basic and pure as it ever has been hmm when you think of just
the breadth of the products and the food sure there's also range
in those individuals that are consuming and have the need and I don't know if uh
the inflation kicked that off or just re-invigorated that maybe that
individual or that demographic that you know they're not people that are in
need come in all shapes color sizes it's not just that thinking of the food
bank of just the cans but also thinking of who has a need that we all have need as a human being to consume food well
you know I think that your work with mental health gives you a platform to understand you know the human side of
this I think you know we talk a lot about the people that seek emergency food
um because a lot of folks have sort of a fixed stereotype in their mind about you know where hunger is and who's hungry
and why my experience has taught me that it's as VAR as it's varied as The Human
Condition food insecurity exists in urban rural suburban environments it exists in
among all Races of people it exists among working people and non-working people and among healthy and sick people
um you know there's one overriding common thing though that everybody that experiences food insecurity shares which
is a poverty you know food insecurity arises out of poverty and you know we
have a great grocery retail you know program system in this country we have a
great supply chain that's capable of feeding every single American but they have to sell their food and they have to
maintain a place in the market while when people don't have enough money to go to a store and get the things, they
need they have to look for other sources for their food stability the food bank Network in this country has been
that you know since the late 60s it continues to be that today but yeah, you're right hunger shows up and all in
every single place and I think another part of that
is the judgments that exist you know for why people are hungry you know I've
learned over the years that I need to set those aside you know personally I think we all have bias I think we
all tend to see people at times say well why are they here why do they need this you know
um but I think there's something about asking for help that's a that's universally avoided I don't think people
like to ask for help in general in general some people might see an angle and play it, but you know I think in
service to the greater good it's not that many and the reality is that you
know going and saying I don't have enough money to buy food I don't have a food in my house it's hard enough for
people to do that it weeds out 99 of any abuse that we would experience wow it
really does maybe we can turn our attention to the
career of how you got into food banking that power because
we also have individuals that are looking for different Industries and in
different job types and so maybe some of the things that you saw, and you see that yeah might resonate great
question you know that's something that I was also thinking about just today and I think it was when I started thinking
about how many accumulated hours I've done this like what in the world you know I've given my life to it literally
but I just can't think about anything else I would have rather given my life to you know I mean uh
there's a strong association between vulnerable people in poverty people that are homeless
people that have substance abuse mental health addiction issues poverty in general they go to food
pantries and it's been the greatest thing in the world to have
spent my life aligned with them those are my people yeah
yeah, now when I started my career, I didn't really recognize that or maybe my ego had me running from the reality of
who I am in the equation you know I grew up with a family that had you know I think I shared some of my mother's
mental health issues I grew up with a mom with had severe mental health issues during my upbringing and
um you know my family came from Deep poverty most of my family's from Uvalde Texas now most people never knew what
Uvalde was until that horrible shooting there last year, but you know that's where most of my family is now and you
know I grew up around in and you know around a lot of issues incarceration you
know and things like the incarceration but you know my experience is kind of a lower middle-class kid growing up in
Davidson Michigan was separated from these family experiences that I had you know when the family would get together and I think when I got through
college and started working I was very much intent on not being a guy that was associated with any kind of mental
illness at all not being a guy that was associated with any kind of poverty or any kind of substance abuse and it
fueled an obsession for me to focus on my career so you know I worked my way through
college you, know I started taking graduate classes I knew I had to find a job doing something and answered an ad for a grant
writer at the food bank of Eastern Michigan and they hired me for this job, and you know my wife's family they
have engineers and you know lawyers in that in their family and I can remember when I first started that job kind of
feeling they made fun of a little bit sometimes at family gatherings where you know they were all professional people
and they would you know like hey what's happening down at the food place you got any dented cans or anything like
that and my ego didn't respond very well to that I think there was a part of me
that still wanted to try to play some societal game with how I'm considered or thought of
um but it wasn't long after I started visiting food pantries and getting hugs from the people that we served and
feeling the love and acceptance from them which was so contrary to the um
little comments that I would get from other people about the nature of the work, and I realized that the people who
loved me most in my life were always the poorest people they're always the people that were that were the least and that
was my family and I started seeing myself and the people that we serve and the people that
we work alongside of and that's when it hit me this is all I ever want to do
um now becoming CEO was a whole different ball game right and that was kind of while I've discovered My what
my mission my purpose I don't have health insurance you know like I need to try to make a career
and a life out of this work and so I began to Aspire to move into
leadership I always was kind of in leadership roles you know through school and stuff like that and when the
opportunity came to interview for this job back in 2003 I had a heck of a good
first interview they hired me I got the job when I was 32. and the rest is just kind of History I think for me and my
experience that there's been this blend of a deep heart connectedness to the work that has sustained me
um an ability an obsession with work I you know I think one having OCD is not
all bad yeah you know what I mean you have lots of energy and you're able now to channel it
yeah, I've known its bad sides I've suffered from this anxiety issue
I've had in my life plenty I've also benefited a great deal from the
attention to detail and some of the you know the energy that I've that I've had as a result of it I think of most
leaders who are honest there would be some element of ego that drove them into leadership that
same ego that caused them problems later in their leadership that drove people away from them brought them to
um some Awakening some they hit a wall at some point and then they either
transitioned through it into a more soft and sweet and loving person or it grinds
them to bed somewhere you know 10 years in I’ve been fortunate to be able to
last and endure through that and now here I am you know at the stage in my career
having had a lot of years to do the work and to love it and to grow in the role
so I'm so glad to be doing it but that's a little bit about my story what got me what got me here yes and thank you for
that and the common thread I think that our viewers listeners anybody reads our
transcripts for our shows is when individuals like yourself in leadership
top c-suite roles that there is a theme the people that are the happiest and
what I find in it now with myself is when it's not just a paycheck that's
associated with a job or a career that there's some emotional and some drive
inside that keeps you waking up wanting to go to work and continue on your
mission where I know earlier in my career, I had a huge disconnect and
some people may as well of chasing the almighty dollar chasing the almighty title and while titles, I think are nice
and I think they come with time and with work but if you're not tied into
kind of that emotional side of buying into the business of you know if I
wake up tomorrow and if I'm okay if I have food water shelter or clothing have those things
would I still do what I'm doing and I it's just interesting to see over
time and different individuals and guests to talk about that and to see that kind of in in my own life sure and
it takes a little bit of time from what you've discussed, and I know for me
41 years to find to find it and I think that’s that big the Holy Grail of
being able to put that together because if you don't like what you're doing you
might do it for the wrong reasons and there might be ramifications not being happy burnout
and all those other things whereas you're going to have down days but those
down days are still much better because you love what you're doing yeah, I think
I think so you know and it's funny because I you know I've been fortunate to speak to a lot of people about their
professional aspirations people seek me out to talk about their careers maybe they're considering a career change and
they're looking at non-profit and I think a lot of times there's a misconception that it's
sometimes kind of varied land and that you find these really jobs you're
passionate about and then you're happy all the time you know I've known some really miserable people that run organizations that run non-profits I've
known some people that had the wrong motives I've known some people that really seem to me like they were only
doing it for the money I I've met people that we're so passionate about their ideas they shut other people out of the
conversation and the dialogue and so you know I and also if
you can't get up every day and you know do whatever job you may be doing and find purpose in that there's no hope for
any of us so I have to believe that although I found a lot of purpose and
strength in this that my job has no more ultimate purpose than any other job and I really think that's true and I
encourage everybody to look at what you're doing as your mission field now you might not like it that's a different
conversation but, I believe that every person from wherever whatever their station in life
is in has an opportunity to shine a light of love and Humanity among the people around them and to it's a fine
meeting in the work that they're doing simply because they're alive think about this that every day the ant gets up with
the sunrises at Sun and then arises to its purpose which is to do work then
it carries its little pieces of sand around its little ant nest and that work is perfectly aligned with its purpose
and I think we overthink a lot of this stuff that we need to get
up every day we have to rise to our work we have to do it humbly now if you're lucky enough to find a job you love then
God, bless you know but don't feel bad if you don't just keep on working that's the way I see it there's another
thing too about the nonprofit sector I like to tell people when they're considering the jobs is like um
man there's work to do right so like every day we have to pay the price of admission we have to show up we have to
get after it this pandemic was the hardest time in my life I've worked as hard as I've ever worked so these
aren't retirement jobs you don't go to the nonprofit sector to slow down take it easy you know you're going to work
and you're gonna get after it now you can love it and you can get a lot of you know meaning in your life for it but
uh you know I don't want people to think that
uh oh you can just go to the non-profit sector and ride it out because you're gonna you're gonna suffer like you would
anywhere else you gotta work you just hit the nail on the head and yeah you have to work and that's
where having that tie of liking what you do or looking for something
else and I think one of the other keys that you're hitting on is you
know we're all human beings and we all kind of go through life and we're we can't take any things with us and
I'm I've been thinking a lot in the last year or two which has brought me into
Foreman Voices for Voices the organization and not just the event is
how do I want to leave the world and not in a facetious
way of thinking negative but more of how do I want to be remembered do I want to
in my experience in the past do I want to be a partier or somebody that is
abuses substances and does things like that and addictions or do I want to
to your point take that channeled energy which I have a ton of and take in
that and do some good so that at the end of the day you're talking about forty thousand hours today that you've
put into the industry and into the work and no doubt it would be thought of as
somebody as a humanitarian that really changed the world that you took where
you grew up from and you made it into what you wanted it to be and in the course of doing that you've helped so
many people and at the end of the day that's really all we can really do as human beings we can either try to
help ourselves as much as possible which we still have to do that, or we can help
ourselves to an extent and then share that energy with others and that's why I love what you do in your story and
where you came from and where you're at now what you continue to do and to have this passion that you have 20 years in
that sometimes it falls after a period of time sure the honeymoon phase is over
yeah, yeah well you know just to talk a little bit about burnout because I think that burnout is there's a lot of
popular misconception about what it is to be burnt out in a job because it’s not a permanent State
not for most people most people that I've you know we have a lot of tenure at the food bank
you know so I've spent a long time with a lot of my co-workers
I think we've all been burned out I mean the pain there was times of the pandemic I thought there's no coming
back for this you know how Frodo in The Lord of the Rings through the ring of power into Mount Doom, but he couldn't go
back to the Shire you know he couldn't go back to being who he was there's been
times where I feel like I have been permanently burnt out or altered in this job
and I don't know how I can keep doing it or I don't know how I could ever transition into being just a regular guy
after doing this but I take a vacation and I take a little break and I come back to sanity
and I find myself restored sometimes you have to hang in there
for six months or a year two years you’ll have three bad years in a row
where you think you can't get by sometimes that's life that's leadership, but you have to hang in there you know
and so you know I just encourage people when you feel like you're in the burnout State not to give up hope just to know
that you know if you hang in there things will come back around for you and when someone else is burned out don't
think they're out of the game that's the other thing too if you've got somebody across from you and you're like listen I could tell you really, you're really you
seem to have had enough you encourage them to take a break but always have faith that they'll recover
if we tell someone they're burnt-out what message is that said about their recovery so everyone can come back it
just takes more time and sometimes you can't come back to the same job you know that's true for some people as well but
you know Justin you're such a great guy man I appreciate you know when you were talking too about
um Legacies what book was it Stephen Covey
that talks about begin with the end in mind so one thing I would encourage people that are watching or listening today
because it's not I don't think it's morbid to think about our own death I
think it's going to happen, and I had a friend one time
give me the advice to write my obituary oh yeah and I don't know have you have you ever done that I've heard about
I haven't done it I cried when I did it was a very cathartic experience
for me because I guess I hadn't really sat
there and thought about in that kind of detail like when this story is written what's it what do I want it to have said
yeah, I want it to have a beginning middle and an end I want all the chapters to have built to something
that they have the whole story make sense and my greatest aspiration for what
my life was is captured in these words and it has me staying married to this
wife till the very end you know the one I found as a young man it has me having
a career that had some meaning where I gave back it has faithfulness in it and it's been over the course of my lifetime
so instructive and it's redirected me, and it's fueled me many times because we stand at these Forks on the road in
life where we can go off and we can wander and do the wrong thing, or you know make a career change that
isn't consistent with our dreams you know maybe make decisions in relation relationships that alienate
people that you want in the end yes to be present you know so I really think that's a good thing to do
if you do it let me know yeah and I've heard about people doing it and uh
I just met because I think one thing it will also do is it takes well it does
it takes your life and puts it in a few paragraphs so yeah, all everything all
the all life that we had as individuals is going into
three four five maybe half page yeah and then that's it and somebody outside
of our family is going to read it and then they're going to move on and so I think the things that you're talking
about are accomplishments that I think sometimes society and individuals you'll take for granted yeah you know family
having family with you being invited to family gatherings or whatever that may
be there were many times in in my life and I haven't overcome the mountain I'm
doing better you're in it I'm in it yeah and the individuals that I alienated 10
15 20 years ago to your point I want them in my life and there were things I
was doing that was push and push and push and them away and now it is
clarifying to see that they're still with me on the journey that they whether
they let me make my own mistakes and move on or however that may be and I
think that sometimes society and individuals they have the wrong ideas about what an
accomplishment is you know staying together staying married doing
something that you love you're with your life with your hours and as you well
know it being a CEO you spend more time with that family at work than your
family in many instances so it makes sense to want to at least work towards
that happiness who might not be there today maybe it is a career change a change in job maybe it's moving to a
different Geographic setting but just continuing to work and to know that
like you mentioned that it's just a moment in time I wrote a story once
about an individual who was Trucking across Antarctica they wanted to I think
break some type of world record from west to east and the temperatures and
the winds and everything that they were dealing with they were asked at the end after they accomplished what they set
out to you know what kept you going you know with these negative temperatures blustery wind hard to find
food all these things and they said they answered this was only a moment in time
that this will pass that yes at this time this is happening yeah but this
will pass that your point and my point about anxiety and different things these are just points in time they're going to
pass that we're going to get through them it's just about kind of managing and taking those emotions and
that energy and putting it towards a positive use and versus focusing on the negative and
that's something I've learned through many years of therapy and still continue to try to try to work towards but when
you talked about giving speeches and going through anxious time times and it
those were just moments in time we continue to live after them in most
cases and it helps with that experience for that next time yeah and you know and
no amount of consolation help would have helped me at the time it might have given me hope maybe and that's a big
help but sometimes you're just under the poop pile yeah
and you've got to do your time in there and then little by little you dig your way out and The Sun Shines back on your
face again but you'll be back in it and that's just the way life goes but you know for me
just to complete that point sitting down and writing an obituary at least I was able to throw the ball as far into the
future as I could and come up with a plan for my life and I think that there's you know
um there's people that like okay the longevity in our
relationships to me is the best demonstration of our character that doesn't mean some relationships can't or
shouldn't break up some relationships should not you should know there's some people you should not have in your life
and maybe that was a spouse and maybe that's part of
their Journey that wasn't part of your original hope for your destination we'll sit down and rewrite it you know what I
mean put your best aspirations back into it and work your way towards that and recalibrate your aspirations but always
be working towards your ideal self and that way you're not so focused on the moment and that's a big thing it is and
we there are certain things we can I say we can control but we can impact
and there's certain things that we just can't with the weather and certain things that we just have to live with
it's just making the best use out of the things that we can impact and that we do having a job do we go on time do we
go early do we go late yeah and just work on those and then work on the other
things that maybe might not be where you or I want to be at this state but we're
still doing these five or six things and we're continuing on that road, and we know eventually somewhere along that path that other
things are going to come we're going to have people that are going to see the good that we're doing I know I've
gone through many Burning Bridges over the over the years and trying to go back and rekindle just a friendship and
and some people they just they don't want that and that that's okay I
just had to have to get through that and just focus on what I can control I can't
control what somebody else is thinking now hopefully as they start seeing
positive things happen enough of those and say okay I'm finally bought in I
listen to his apology whatever that may be, and I think that's important it is it
is I think trying to reconcile relationships is really important yeah that that also does not
necessarily mean you should have that person in your life all the time but nursing a beef hurts only hurts us you
know there's a couple things that kind of you know ride with these themes that we're talking about I want to
there's a couple things I wanted to mention to you know what got me thinking about is you said something about you know it's kind of a reference
to the weather I don't know if the winner if you get to learn Blues yeah oh I do yep that's it yeah me too it's not
it's not like I think I for thank God I've definitely had anxiety with a big a
but I've only ever really had depression with a little D I know a lot of people have big D depression I think you know
uh but you know this has been an interesting season in my life you know when I was here with you a year ago my
dad's death was pretty raw it was pretty recent and there was a piece of advice somebody gave me that helped me a lot I wanted to
mention because I think it's helpful to some of your viewers and listeners when I was passing through that
grief and it was deep Shelley Hinton who worked with us at the food bank told me you know Dan
I've heard that grief is like being put in a box full of ping pong balls
and every ball that hits you while you're in that box hits the same hurts the same over time they'll take the
balls out one by one but you'll never leave the box and there's always one ball in it and I think
six months after he died eight months ten months the balls started coming out of the box
um I've been getting hit still but it doesn't hit me that often anymore and that's the process of grief to me
and I think if someone is grieving today and they're in that box there's no going
over it there's no going around it there is going through it but little by little you're going to get hit less and less by
that grief so you have to hang on to that hope while it slightly gets a little bit easier so that's one thing I
wanted it sure there’s been a transition in my life that's had some grief in it recently
because all we're empty nesters now all of my kids are have left for college
and so dad passed away the kids have moved on and my wife and I now are in
this new phase of Life full of promise but it's a different phase of life right
you know and so here I am now in my 50s with more back pain than I used to have
no dad to call to talk about it you know the kids moved out
um and recognizing that there's the space of life and so I've been kind of thinking I don't think I'm having a
midlife crisis necessarily but I do think I'm in a transition point in life
um and so you know I've been doing some reading and talking to friends about that, and I came across the happiness you curve have you heard of
the happiness you curve I have it all right, so I got a picture of it I'll show you here yeah real quick because I wanted to show this to you yeah this has
been somewhat disputed but what I'm showing you know right now is
um a widely researched phenomenon that early in our lives we're Carefree Fancy
free kids then we get married then we have kids then we get careers, and we get bills and
we do adulting and life is harder and, in many ways, less happy and you can see in
this graph here the happiness bottoming out at about 45. but as you can see this is the art for
almost every person by the time they get into their 60s and 70s they're happier than they were in their 20s and 30s and
so this right here has been something that's been on my mind a lot lately as I transition to this new vision in life
now this new vision of the possibilities that come in the future is that hope matters for all of us that there's going
to be transitions we're going to say goodbye to people that we love that we raised and then
other things are going to come in to fill life with increased levels of happiness and so I think that's kind of
one of my message I wanted to share with people a little bit today there are transition points in life I'm optimistic
on my own personal Journey about where I'm headed but I want people out there that are listening to feel one that
it's okay to feel like you're in a transition point in life maybe it's
healthy to frame where you're at not as necessarily a crisis but a transition because everything rides on Hope
and so that's my report and I and I like that and that transitions into the next day I wanted
to yeah have you touch on as with life transitions ups and downs changes
there's changes that are happening with the food bank there's new construction that hope that is going to be now
offered to more people and I think we'll talk about that a little bit yeah let's talk about it yeah sure we could
certainly do that you know you always have to be having a new vision and you know to finish this last Point I've
been working on a 10-year strategic plan for me you know just for my own life uh
as I move forward in it and certainly, we're always working on strategic plans for the organization as well yeah, we
just released a new three-year strategic plan for the food bank earlier in the month and one component of that
is to complete these construction projects we've been doing it for a while have you been to our new Canton yeah
I've just seen these pictures online, so we opened aa brand-new food bank
Canton in the summer of 2021 six weeks after dad died man, we cut the ribbon on
that and had that big Community celebration it was so surreal but talk about learning what you're capable
of one of the things I’ve this cool hit me last year one of the great gift of perseverance is knowledge of what
you're capable of enduring yes, the great gift of perseverance is
knowledge of what you're capable of enduring if you don't quit right so whatever is coming at you if
you don't quit you will know how strong you are and that's of tremendous value
you know so anyway we cut the ribbon in July of 2021 on this brand new beautiful
gorgeous food bank account I'd love to have you come now yeah let's take a tour sometime and a second part of that project
was to build an expansion in our Akron facility we broke ground in that in October and we've got about another
eight months of work on that before that's done but we'll get that project wrapped up it's going to
complete about seven years of planning implementation fundraising execution
responding to the pandemic while we're doing building campaigns but we're going to have this position
fortified with infrastructure and resources to serve this community for generations to come as a result of these
projects now our Akron facility is going to be completely renovated and ready to rock and roll like I said we've got this
Canton building now and a whole line of new programs that are coming in a line too home delivery boxes for people
um you know we're getting into all kinds of programmatic areas as a result of Community Support
capacity that's making such a difference in people's lives and you know I could come in and just do like I like to talk
about talk about stuff besides the food bank with you okay because you're one of the few people that I talk to that have
a heart for issues personal issues mental health issues I love that
but I'd be happy to come in and do like an hour of just food bank stuff because we've got some cool programs going on uh
and you know we could just do we'll do just that sometime all right sure and we'll break in we'll get
into food security and insecurity and all that stuff big time but you know I'm really looking forward to giving the
keynote at the Voices for Voices of that continue to support your work and any way I can and if you've been reading
anything good any good books I just got saved the Benjamin Hall Story the
reporter that was in Ukraine was bombed and I he lost two legs okay
and made it out alive he had a vision after the first a drone I dropped
the bomb that his daughter was saying in a calm voice
it's okay you can make it through this and
somehow, I don't know what the time period was and that he makes it out of the car and just as he within a short
amount of time that car was hit again and his this was pretty recent it's pretty recent it happened last year the
book just I just purchased it last week and just a hair I've seen some of his uh
some of his interviews and it just I just can't imagine he's just traveling people that have been with them and all
kinds of situations all over the years and they end up getting killed and he says why what why not me and then he
thought of his daughter and that there was more to life and so through all the
the pain the physical therapy the bone grafts the all the things he's had to
endure it's how can I help and share my story with others I I'd love to
get them on the on the show I've reached out to him, but I know he's busy and but
those types of those types of stories and individuals that get thrown in
situations I'm sure that wasn't on his personal plan is what he had he had
thought of as what was going to happen, he was going to continue the day with the p people that he'd been traveling
with and working with he wasn't expecting what happened to occur but
it's taken something that he didn't have a lot of control over and could have went one of two
directions like you said you'd get that fork on the road and it very easily could have I mean I can't imagine being
in that situation it could have just given up and just like okay like I can't make it out I'm in such pain but
to make it out and then the especially see the car like explode and I it's just
uh it's hard but to hear those types of stores it's like on
one of my bad days is like that it's no comparison and something I might be
complaining about and I think sometimes those stores it doesn't have to be that extreme, but those types of stories can
help put in a perspective life and say okay for sure this is for sure this is
huge have you ever heard that say make your mess your mission yeah you know I mean that's a really common saying you
hear that another similar phrase is like it's like the compassion of The Afflicted people that experience certain
struggles become very compassionate to other people that are having those struggles which you know I think are
really powerful things you know for me it sounds like a very interesting book yeah you know I yeah, I saw the one of
the one of his interviews and I had a chance to get to the bookstore I wasn't sure if it was out because
sometimes they'll do pre-interviews but it's coming soon I guess the last
kind of topic I want to just discuss is transition in our lives sure
roadblocks that happen planting in a seed and watching it grow
so I have a hard time and I'm sure a lot of our viewers may have at certain
times where we feel like we're doing good work uh
and maybe success isn't coming is fast you know whether that's tied to money or
whether that's tied to talking to an individual that can help Prosper a
brand or an organization how do you look at because it just to put the
food bank in the perspective of seven years of all the different activities that happened it wasn't just oh well I
want to do this we want to do this let's do it all these things happen what kept you
and I guess what type of message when things like that whether it's professionally or just personally sure
you've set that Vision like I want to do it and to your point persevere through don't give up because I've been
at times where I'm like you know what I'm gonna give up like for whatever reason I'm gonna give up and then
whatever I don't give up, but I know that I'm not the only one that might be uh
have had thoughts about that sure have you read good degree at Jim Collins book good to Great oh okay so I would
recommend that to you and everybody it's probably my very favorite book about leadership he breaks down a lot of
leadership principles but one of them he calls the Stockdale principle okay about this Admiral Stockdale who
was a prisoner in one of the Hanoi you know prison camps you know he's a
pilot in the Vietnam War and a reporter asked him, so you know
uh what was what was your secret to surviving this horrific imprisonment and he says well I'll tell you what you know
uh the people who made it were weren't the optimists that
thought for sure one day they'd be wreck they'd be rescued because those optimists their Spirit was broken and
the pessimist didn't make it either because the pessimists never believed and never had any hope the realists are
the ones who survived they are the ones that realized I might not get out anytime soon, but I believe I will I'm
going to hang in there and that's the Stockdale principle which is keep your feet on the ground and be a realist
you should never surrender hope that you're going to survive in the end but don't be looking for it to come anytime
soon okay keep your feet on the ground and that's one of the things that oh
have you ever heard or noticed in the Bible how often they take the word patience, and they replace it with long
suffering I haven't no I know what you're talking about you know exactly what I'm talking about right yeah
so I don't think of I think of patience as well I need to keep my cool while I'm waiting in this grocery you know I don't
think of patients necessarily as the same word as long suffering which is my
willing to suffer for a long, long time but I am
yeah, oh absolutely and you know and the better we get
at suffering the more we keep our feet on the ground the more we don't surrender hope but don't look for a
rescue I think the stronger we are as individuals we just gotta hang in there be relentless and never quit now and
another part of being keeping our feet on the ground is I think being realistic we have to set reasonable
goals we have to be realistic with ourselves and we also have to kind of consider okay consider putting the
effort forward as the larger part of success sometimes ah there we go right so we're working
at this I'm being relentless in the effort and output towards this Vision I
didn't get the outcome I intended but there’s redemption in the effort itself
um I might redirect and try something different, but I gave it one hell of a shot I like that Viewpoint too I do so I
think there's a lot of different ways that I would encourage anybody who’s working on something they're
experiencing setbacks you know be realistic not everybody is going to be able to get everything they want done I
don't I've been saying for years things would be a lot different at the food bank if I was in charge right yeah, the point is that I'm
always having to work with people with different Visions I have to change all the time I've got a million ideas that
are on the parking lot on the in the conference room you know with that little you know how they put your ideas in the parking lot that's where my ideas
go to die I've got tons of things I want to do it's in the parking lot because we're none of us none of us are
gonna, you know get our way we're not going to get what we want all the time so you
got to hang in there you know so that's my advice on that and I think to uh
to crystallize that as you were you were speaking in kind of personal
terms if we look at our parents where they were if we compare okay where I'm
at age 41 and my parents are out in their 70s whether that's in retirement
or that house whatever those things are I can't compare I mean I can't compare but it's probably
not healthy to compare some myself in a situation that has many more years of
experience and whatever experiences that they've had just like an organization that is two years in
comparing itself to an organization that's been around 100 years yeah you
know I I've talked to retiring CEOs before and you know because I think these
jobs are so consuming and self-absorbing, and you know I talked to one that
that was actually a member of a support group they'd been attending to try to get through this transition to not being
a CEO anymore and I guess they have a saying uh which is FIP formerly important
person and when I heard that saying I thought that's one of the saddest
things I've ever heard because if I think being an important
human being in mattering is in some way inherently woven and some
aspect of my career I've missed the mark how am I going to go to being just Dan
yeah, if my importance is derived from my being CEO or you running Voices for
Voices so we have to see that within
ourselves being alive is in and of itself the Fulfillment of our the whole
thing in any anyway you know there's there is no greater it that my life is no greater expression
of amazingness than anyone else's life who's ever lived that's the truth
that's the facts so and if we don't prepare ourselves from being for to be
whole aside from what we're doing now that doesn't speak to a lot of Hope
for the future does it you know and if and if we can, we judge ourselves a little lighter where we are today
that's the point it is, and I think that's a great way to end our conversation yeah, it's a pleasure Justin
thank you, Dan, for a good guy yeah just all the time just a wide range in the
topics of just being open sharing and talking about things so candidly that
we really appreciate I know I do yeah and everybody that has checked out
your previous conversation we've had and definitely once we made some changes and updated wanted to get
you in as well and we're going to put some love on the crowd that comes out on the 13th of October we're gonna lay it
on them real good so you've got Alison Breaux lined up for that too she's great I love Allison yeah her
work with the mental health court fantastic yeah, she's yeah, she's amazing and yeah just so excited to have
you here with us today on 13th and for all the work that you do personally
professionally that you're awesome thanks buddy well you know I'm always
cheering for you thank you let me know what I can do to support you and you know keep up the good work thank you
yeah, yeah, we want to give a big thank you today to our guests Dan Flowers the
president and CEO of the Akron Canton Regional food bank for the wide-ranging conversation the transparency and
just talking about what it's like to be a human so until next time I'm Justin Alan Hayes
have a great day and be a voice for you or somebody in need
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