>> Voice Over: This week on "Friends & Neighbors".

>> Leslie: Not only do the volunteers feel such a sense of accomplishment, but in the process of that, we're also changing these family's lives.

But it's not just that one family that we're changing, it's generations to come.

>> Celina: In 2016, a group of very committed public servants came together to start drawing out the concept of what a training center could look like here in Northwest Indiana.

As a result of that effort, we have a five-acre training campus for first responders from throughout Northwest Indiana.

>> Melissa: So five years ago, my husband and I had planted seven rows of flowers, just to kind of give back to the community, have some for our family members, and it just kind of took off from there.

It was just one section when we opened and now it goes all the way back out to the woods.

It's about four acres total of flowers.

>> John: You ain't gonna find the items around here in the store, generally anywhere else.

And so that maybe keeping it going, some of the items and stuff, 'cause there's a lot of these items that are in here, it's the only one in existence anywhere.

You couldn't find another one anywhere else.

>> Dale: Doing as much as you can, as quickly as you can, is important to me.

Life is short, and the earlier we get started helping our community, the better off our community will be.

(light upbeat music) >> Student 1: I have a very strong connection to other students.

Everyone makes an effort to help each other.

I'll remember the feeling of being here, the feeling that I was a part of a family.

(light upbeat music) >> Voice Over 2: Shopping for fruits and vegetables in the Strack & Van Til produce department is a feast for the senses with produce picked at the peak of freshness.

From apples and avocados, to pineapples and peppers, treat yourself to the best quality fruits and vegetables.

Find them at your local Strack & Van Til store.

>> Voice Over 2: Support for programming of Lakeshore PBS comes in part from a generous bequest of the Estate of Marjorie A.

Mills whose remarkable contribution will help us keep viewers like you informed, inspired, and entertained for years to come.

(light music) >> Voice Over 3: Did you know that you can find all of your favorite Lakeshore PBS shows online?

By visiting video.LakeshorePBS.org, you can stream a large selection of shows, including "Eye On The Arts", "In Studio", and "Friends & Neighbors" Lakeshore PBS has taken great care to bring you the best in local content.

Not sure how to find local content?

Click on Shows and sort by Only Lakeshore PBS Shows.

Not only will you find local content on Lakeshore PBS, but you can also stream live TV right to your computer.

Click on Live TV and get instant access to Lakeshore PBS live wherever you are.

Lakeshore PBS is full of wonderful content created just for you.

Missed the last night's episode?

No problem.

Lakeshore PBS has got you covered.

Search for your show and find your episode ready to watch anytime.

Visit video.LakeshorePBS.org to stream your favorite local shows.

(gentle music) (birds chirping) >> Leslie: We are in Merrillville.

We are building for Habitat.

We have a group of volunteers out here.

We usually have about eight to 10 volunteers a day, and we're changing lives.

We always have people ask what kind of skills they need in order to volunteer with Habitat, and that's kind of the best part because they need zero skills.

(laughs) As long as you have a good attitude and you wanna support a good mission, we always have a task for someone.

Darrel Grubbs is one of the sweetest volunteers.

I know he's been with us for a really long time, and Mr. Grubbs was actually on the roof last week, helping set trusses, so he's a pro.

>> Darrel: My name is Darrel Grubbs and I volunteer, usually one or two days a week.

I'm a retired mill electrician.

Anytime we have new volunteer, we try to help them along because we want them to come back.

We don't ask them to do anything that's unsafe.

We always try to make them feel welcome.

>> Leslie: I can talk about my core volunteers, probably for hours, days, just because they've made such a big impact for us.

I can go back year to date and they're in thousands of hours already.

We have volunteers that have been with us for 10 plus years, 15 plus years, so it's really nice to see the same face every week and greet the new volunteers that come along to our group as well.

During the pandemic, we couldn't have groups out, we couldn't have a large number of volunteers, and if it wasn't for core volunteers, we would have not been able to finish the houses that we did finish during the pandemic.

You can tell that our new volunteers find comfort in that as well, because they know that the person who's leading them has experienced in that department as well.

We have volunteers that come in and the first time they're doing a particular project, you can see the hesitation in their face.

And then the following month, when we're doing a similar project, they come in with their belt ready, hammers ready, and all of a sudden it's a whole different demeanor.

(gentle upbeat music) And then we have the volunteers that get to see this process.

Three weeks ago it was just a big block of concrete, now you can actually envision the house, and seeing how excited they get for this from being with us a month ago and be like, "I didn't even think I can install the nutting on my window, and I just did trusses and siding in an entire house within a three week timeframe."

I feel like that's such a rewarding feeling for them, and of course it helps us out too so it's like a win-win.

>> I get a great deal of satisfaction, especially whenever we get to attend some of the home dedications where the new family gets into their own home and seeing the look on their face, and the kids and everything, just feels like you're accomplishing something.

>> Leslie: I always say, if people are out volunteering, they're good people that they're donating their time.

So everybody always has such a good attitude, and our partner families see this.

When we turn over these homes to our partner families, our volunteers show up for those things too, because they help build the home.

Now they're friends with our partner families, their relationship has been established, and we're there to support them on such an important day as well.

♪ Rainy days ♪ ♪ Don't seem so wet ♪ ♪ Stormy nights don't stay ♪ ♪ From the moment that we met ♪ ♪ You are worth the wait ♪ I've built such great relationships with my volunteers, I've experienced so much from bonding with our partner families, meeting the children, and it's just every day is a different kind of happy place.

It's been a very, very fulfilling job.

Volunteers are so important to nonprofits.

We wouldn't be able to do what we do without them.

Houses wouldn't get built.

Our volunteers make a huge difference.

I believe it's like a domino effect.

Not only do the volunteers feel such a sense of accomplishment, but in the process of that, we're also changing these families lives.

But it's not just that one family that we're changing, it's generations to come.

So we start with the first family and then, of course the children, and then they get this safety mat over them and they start to feel owning your own home is normal.

And it's almost like a set goal.

My parents had their own home, I need to have my own home, and it changes their lives at the moment, but it also changes their lives in the future.

So it's big picture also.

If you're hesitant to come out and volunteer with Habitat, keep in mind that not only is it a great experience, not only do you take back home some skills, you build relationships and it makes you feel good.

And it's very much appreciated not only by Habitat, but by our partner families and our other volunteers.

If you're thinking about it, just do it.

Just call me and let's do it.

(laughs) ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ This could be the best thing ♪ ♪ That I'll ever know ♪ (action music) >> Celina: In 2016, a group of very committed public servants came together to start drawing out the concept of what a training center could look like here in Northwest Indiana.

As a result of that effort, we have a five-acre training campus for first responders from throughout Northwest Indiana.

(action music) >> Chris: We have the District One Career Fire Academy going on.

The candidates that we have currently are as green as green can be.

They have no fire experience, so we teach them all aspects of firefighter one too so they can go back and work as career firefighter.

The evolution with the hose you saw was a deployment of the hose, where they have to take a rolled hose and they have to deploy it as fast as they can in case we have to make a hose connection.

And then they have to learn how to also roll it back in to be able to put it back on a fire truck or for the next deployment.

The evolution with the SCBA, that was an evolution to help them become more confident and comfortable.

They're completely green, so wearing a backpack that weighs 30 pounds on your back and full of air is cumbersome and so we put them in positions that are uncomfortable and that helps get them more comfortable in the event that they would ever have to experience something like that in the real world.

I myself have been into the fire service for 19 years and my training has never stopped.

I take classes routinely just to continue that education and to make myself better.

Obviously, we're firefighters so fighting fire is something that we have to do and introduced into high heat temperatures, that we can introduce them to live fire, we can introduce them to the high heat.

There is a flashover container that we can put the students in and we can teach them about fire behavior and the dangers of a flashover condition that will happen when everything is superheated in the room, and it all ignites at one time.

Situations that we've put them in, it does induce a certain amount of stress to prepare them for what they will experience similarly in the fire service.

Several years ago before the MAAC was built, we would have to locate or relocate almost on a daily basis.

The MAAC has given the district a centralized location for us to be able to come do all of our classes, that's everything that we could ever need at the MAAC facility.

It's a great tool to have in the district.

(suspense music) >> Celina: The virtual reality classrooms are one of our newest additions here in the MAAC campus, as well as a new tactical building.

It consists of 60 doors and removable walls so that a first responder that comes and trains here will never get used to the same scenario.

(light rock music) In addition to that, virtual reality has hundreds of different scenarios, it can be branch off and face on the response of that police officer behind the simulator.

(gun shots) De-escalation is heavily focused through that, as well as use of force, and more community policing.

Training is a very concrete solution to what we're seeing nationally.

We have provided this facility for first responders, especially law enforcement, to utilize it at no cost to them or to the agencies 24 hours a day.

>> Good job.

>> Celina: We have folks that come in during their midnight shifts to come and train, we have folks that come on nights and weekends, regardless of what the impediment is, we've been very vocal and very deliberate about removing it.

We want better trained first responders throughout Northwest Indiana, and we wanna be sure that we are the how of supporting them and advocating for them.

All contributions made to the MAAC go to support the first responder community directly.

All the training here is offered at no cost to that first responder or to their agency.

As a result of that generous support, we've been able to build what we have here, but we have bigger aspirations and larger plans in the works now.

Chief Stewart McMillan founded the MAAC in 2016, and as a result of his vision, we have been able to serve thousands of first responders and have conducted over 100,000 direct training hours here just in the last three years alone.

(light music) This is obviously a labor of love for all of us.

That it's also a great way to honor the late Chief Clyde McMillan, Stewart's father, as well as Stewart now as well.

So that drives us to do a good job and to continue to serve first responders this way.

(light music) >> Melissa: The flower people are the most friendly people you will ever meet.

No one comes here unhappy.

Everyone that comes here is in a great mood, and if they're not in a great mood, they are by the time they leave.

(upbeat music) What actually started, it was a friend of ours got robbed on the highway out here, and they took everything.

They had nothing left, and we had just our own little personal garden here.

And I took her a bouquet of flowers, and it made her so happy.

And that was kinda what started it all.

I'm like, "Wow, that was really cool."

She lost everything, but this bouquet of flowers kind of turned everything around for her, and I wanted to do more of that.

This was actually my great grandparents property and my great grandparents home.

They used to farm bean and corn here, and I wanted something prettier.

So five years ago, my husband and I had planted seven rows of flowers just to kind of give back to the community, have some for our family members, and it just kind of took off from there.

It was just one section when we opened and now it goes all the way back out to the woods.

It's about four acres total of flowers.

Noel will meet you up front and she explains that what kind of flowers we have, the prices that they are, and you just walk through and pick whichever ones, I guess, speak to you.

(bright upbeat music) Typically it's just for home use.

A lot of times though, just recently, we started getting more weddings, bridal parties that found out about us.

And since it's so affordable, the whole bridal party comes in and they pick their bouquets the day before.

Showers, bridal parties, home use, office work, anywhere that needs brightening up.

>> El: This time, I'm taking these guys to my school.

I'm a librarian at Cleveland Elementary School in Elkhart and I like having fresh flowers in the library for the students.

>> For me and my wife, we're both huge proponents of supporting local business and small business, and that's one thing that we loved about this.

It was being able to do that, but at the same time, being able to be out and be amongst of creation and get to do some fun stuff out, and handpick and get in the mud, and stuff like that is always good too.

(bright upbeat music) >> Melissa: Not everybody can afford flowers And that, I think before this, this is why I didn't have a lot of flowers because we didn't have a lot of money.

And if you don't have a lot of money, typically, you can't go to a forest and buy an arrangement because they're 50, 60 bucks.

That was why I didn't have them.

(laughs) So my goal and dream was to make flowers affordable for everyone, not just the people who could afford going to forest, but everyone.

And that is something else that gives me a good feeling out here because a lot of times I've actually had people pay with change.

And I know that if it wasn't for us, that flowers would not be in their homes, and it's actually why we started the Flowers For Friends wall.

The Flowers For Friends board is at the checkout, and when you check out, you can buy a heart, it's a wooden heart and you write your name on it, and then you can pay for the next person's flowers.

So if I see someone that comes up and they might not have a lot of money, or they might be short, they get their flowers for free from the person who bought before them.

(bright music) I didn't buy a lot of flowers.

I had fake flowers, ugh, I hate to say it, for my wedding.

But my flowers were fake because the business came after we got married and I so regret not being able to pick my own fresh flowers.

My bouquet would have been a lot prettier.

But now that I'm around flowers everyday and I get to arrange them and I see what kind of people enjoy flowers, they're my people.

I wish I'd been in flowers a long time ago now.

(bright music) (light music) >> John: The History of Pharmacy Research Center is a location in Griffith, Indiana for researching old products and old pharmaceutical companies that generally aren't in existence anymore.

(light music) I graduated from Purdue University and bought a drugstore in Gary, Indiana, and then another one here in Griffith and ended up with nine different stores.

And after buying some of those stores out, they had lot of old artifacts in them 'cause the stores were old, and I saved some of those.

Probably in the beginning, something looked unusual, and I really didn't pay much attention to it, but I might put it aside.

Like say for instance, a scale and it looks kind of intricate, a mortar and pestle that was unusual, and I put it aside and everything.

And so I started studying up and getting interested in the artifacts.

So on this was about 15 years ago that we started.

Show globe, that's kind of a symbol for pharmacy.

The idea of it was during the plague in England in 1600, if a ship would come in in to Europe or to the Thames, wherever to England, and if the town was quarantine 'cause the plague was going on, they would put one of these in the window, and a red one meant that the town is quarantined.

Don't come off of the ship.

If it was a green color that was in the show, it mean that the town's not quarantined.

It's okay to get off of the ship.

And that's how stoplights became to mean red to stop and green to go.

It could it be a hanging one, could be ones on the counter in the window, most all stores had a window display where you could change it out, put different items in it at different times of the year.

(light music) There isn't too much that I don't have any anymore.

I can't find too many things that are really unusual.

A few things here and there, so I'd get maybe this last year, I maybe got another dozen items or so.

Well you're not gonna find the items around here in the store generally anywhere else.

And so maybe keeping it going, some of the items and stuff, 'cause there's a lot of these items that are in here, it's the only one in existence anywhere.

You couldn't find another one anywhere else.

But outside with thought, maybe be a good idea to save it for posterity.

Probably just the fact that that I'm retired and I don't have anything else to do.

(laughs) It gives me something to get into the house for and something to work on some day.

If I was a wood carver or a carpenter, I'd probably collect something different, but this stuff you'd see in the stores and everything, it kind of goes with the profession.

A few have a question in regards to anything in pharmacy and old pharmacies, whether it's soda fountains, old companies that aren't in existence anymore, old products that aren't in existence anymore, and you're looking for information on it, we're open just by appointment.

Only for specific people and projects that are booking to film items and talk about some different items that they're interested in.

(light music) (serene music) (serene music continues) (serene music continues) >> Dale: Doing as much as you can, as quickly as you can is important to me.

Life is short and the earlier we get started helping our community, the better off our community will be.

>> Student 2: Almost every single professor I've had I'm on a first name basis.

By building that relationship with faculty and how to get them involved with research, it's one thing to read about an idea in a book versus physically doing it and seeing results.

(upbeat music) >> Voice Over 2: Strack & Van Til is your wedding planning partner.

Choose handcrafted designs by the trained floral designers in our floral department, plan a memorable meal for your reception from our delicious catering menu, and let our bakery artisans design the wedding cake of your dreams.

Visit strackandvantil.com for details.

>> Voice Over 3: Did you know that you can find all of your favorite Lakeshore PBS shows online?

By visiting video.LakeshorePBS.org, you can stream a large selection of shows, including "Eye On The Arts", "In Studio", and "Friends & Neighbors".

Lakeshore PBS has taken great care to bring you the best in local content.

Not sure how to find local content?

Click on Shows and sort by Only Lakeshore PBS Shows.

Not only will you find local content on Lakeshore PBS, but you can also stream live TV right to your computer.

Click on Live TV and get instant access to Lakeshore PBS live wherever you are.

Lakeshore PBS is full of wonderful content created just for you.

Missed the last night's episode?

No problem.

Lakeshore PBS has got you covered.

Search for your show and find your episode ready to watch anytime.

Visit video.LakeshorePBS.org to stream your favorite local shows.

(light music) (bright music) >> Voice Over 4: Additional support for Lakeshore PBS is provided by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(bright music) (upbeat music) (light music)