WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Sue O'Connell in for Kelly Krause Lee. This is that Kelly cross-link show. Currently 50000 kids in Massachusetts schools are experiencing homelessness. These are kids on the move moving from one school to another. One shelter to another. For most kids school is a constant that orients their lives. So what does it mean when their home life and their school life are unstable. Our guest Cheryl oper has the answers. She founded schools on wheels of Massachusetts an organization helping kids experiencing homelessness from tutors to transportation. From there we get the lowdown on super size savings with coupon queen Kathy Spencer and we top it off with local made good. We'll meet a cat and dog who are changing the way people live and die. Up next from the schoolhouse to the dog house. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi Singh. With just weeks to go

before Bush era tax cuts are due to expire. Democratic and GOP negotiators are still trying to reach a consensus in Washington. Republicans want to keep cuts for the wealthy from expiring calling them vital to helping businesses create jobs. President Obama has long argued the U.S. cannot afford it. But speaking Whiston Winston-Salem North Carolina today Mr. Obama told a crowd at Forsyth Technical Community College that he is willing to compromise so long as working families are protected. There's no reason that ordinary Americans should see their taxes go up next year. We should also extend unemployment insurance for workers who've lost their jobs through no fault at all. That is they call. Unemployment payments. Congress had already extended earlier this year are due to expire this month for as many as 2 million Americans. A federal appeals court in San Francisco hears arguments today over California's voter approved ban on same sex marriages. NPR's

Richard Gonzales reports a three judge panel will consider an appeal to a lower court's ruling overturning the voter measure in August District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. Its sponsors are appealing but before the appellate court will consider the constitutional issues it will first hear arguments on whether the sponsors have legal standing. If the Ninth Circuit upholds Judge Walker look for another request to rehear the appeal says UC Davis Law Professor Fick Amar. The Ninth Circuit can reconsider anything this three judge panel might do by a larger group of 11 judges and the loser in the three judge panel ruling might ask for that relief as well. The three judge panel is not expected to rule for at least three months. Richard Gonzales NPR News San Francisco. Nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers are underway in Geneva amid low expectations officials hope enough trust would be built to continue the dialogue. We have more on this from NPR's Peter Kenyon.

The morning meeting included delegations from Iran Britain the U.S. France China Russia and Germany. A Western official said the lead international negotiator EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton condemned the bombing attacks in Tehran a week ago that left one Iranian nuclear scientists dead and another wounded. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks but Iran immediately blamed Israeli and Western intelligence services. After lunch the delegations returned for a series of bilateral meetings. But it was unclear if U.S. diplomat Edward Burns would meet with leader Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili. Analysts have downplayed the chances of a breakthrough at these talks but they say an agreement to meet again in the near future would be a positive sign. Peter Kenyon NPR News Geneva. On Wall Street the Dow was down seven points eleven thousand three seventy six Nasdaq down one to 25 90. This is NPR. The Supreme Court will consider whether to throw out a class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart which is accused of paying and promoting women less than men. The 9th U.S.

Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco had ruled that the case could go to trial. The world's largest discount chain says the employment class action lawsuit involving potentially billions of dollars in legal damages is the largest of its kind. Health groups are launching a campaign to vaccinate millions of Africans against spec Tiriel meningitis. NPR's Richard Knox reports. It's the first vaccine developed specifically for Africans Central Africa from Senegal in the West to Ethiopia and the east is a meningitis belt during the winter dry season epidemics of bacterial meningitis often sweep through the region killing one person in 10. One in four is left with severe disability. Older meningitis vaccines are expensive don't provide lasting protection and don't block transmission unvaccinated people. The new vaccine overcomes these problems and costs less than 50 cents a dose. It was developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and licensed at low cost to an Indian company. The goal is to vaccinate 80 percent of the

population of Burkina Faso by mid-January. Eventually health officials hope to vaccinate 250 million people across central Africa if they can raise another four hundred seventy five million dollars. Richard Knox NPR News. The Swiss postal system has shut down one of the bank accounts belonging to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange essentially shutting down a key fund raising tool for the site that is under diplomatic fire after his whistle blowing group leaked mounds of classified information without U.S. authorization. This is NPR News. Support for NPR comes from the Casey Foundation promoting lifelong family connections for our children and youth in foster care on the web at ECF dot org. Good afternoon this is the Kelly Crossley Show and I'm Sue O'Connell sitting in for Kelly today. In Massachusetts there are 100000 kids experiencing homelessness and half of those are in rolled in the state's schools. Joining me

to talk about the challenges they face and what can be done to help these kids get a solid education is Cheryl oper. Cheryl is the executive director and founder of schools on Wheels in Massachusetts. Cheryl welcome to the Kelley Crossley Show. Thank you so much for having me. Now I first got to meet you this summer when my daughter and her cousins got to go to your organization and do some volunteer work stuffing backpacks for kids experiencing homelessness. And I have to tell you that the first thing I learned in volunteering now my mom had been out. Advocate for Head Start for many years and whenever I would say poor kids she would correct me and say kids are not poor. Families are not poor they're experiencing you know economic hardships that I would say oh you're crazy but I got to see a video that you showed us and it certainly gel for me that these kids are experiencing homelessness. That's right. They're not always going to be homeless and we need to get them you know a step up to get to school.

Right. And we think of it as the shelters in the motels is their temporary home. We refer to it as children impacted by homelessness. And as you said there's 50000 homeless children enrolled in Massachusetts public schools and the numbers are probably higher because that doesn't really take into account the doubled up families that we're servicing. We were so grateful to have volunteers like you and your daughter to come in the summer we actually ended up giving out over 700 backpacks this summer and the year before we gave out three hundred fifty so our numbers have doubled. And as you know. That's how it is with the economy we are seeing families who have never experienced homelessness before for the first time. Our motels are filled to capacity. I mean our shelters are filled to capacity and so therefore we have close to a thousand families living in motels in our state waiting to be placed into shelters or scattered side apartments. Now it seems that folks are able to make the leap about the importance of food pantries. You know that sort of you know people need to eat. It's easy enough to make a contribution while you're shopping at your supermarket most schools libraries and towns are able to be

connected to the food pantry. However every September every August we get our list of things that our child needs to bring to an elementary school public school private school as well. And and the connection that you need pencils you need note cards you need a backpack. In order to be successful in a in a public school for any student is something that you know you're organization is able to do very well. Absolutely. And we're really grateful to Debbie Mason who recently made a donation to our companies caring for kids program for school supplies for a thousand backpacks. And we would not have been able to serve the number that we've served without their support but it's true I mean every child needs a backpack with pencils and pens and binders and highlighters and all of those things that the parents living in shelters cannot afford and so we are so thankful to our in-kind donors we have kids doing birthday parties instead of getting birthday gifts. People bring you know school supplies and books for our children. And we have people for their bom bom

mitzvahs doing. You know backpack drives for us we have local banks and chiropractors offices we're just really grateful because it takes a community to help these families and children. Now we all know how important getting homework is getting homework done successfully is and it's a major problem in almost every community's public school system you know. Are the kids able to get the homework done. And that's something that really falls on every parent's shoulders to do successfully complete. And kids experiencing homelessness have double burdens if not quadruple burdens we know one their parents maybe their parents are in crisis and getting the kid's homework done may not be the top priority. And plus they're not going home after school there's no home to go to. So what does School on Wheels offer children to get their homework done. What I love about school in Wales is we offer predictability and stability during a time of chaos and trauma in these children's lives and so the core of what we do is we provide want to one tutoring a mentoring in the shelters it's called school on wheels because we go to where the

children are. And we have the same adult every week showing up for that child each child that we serve. Ages 3 through high school receives tutoring twice a week. And that child has the same adult that cares about them cares about their education holds them accountable says How did you do on that spelling test did you turn your book report in. First thing we do when the kids arrive at the tutoring session is we help them organize their backpack because they're living in chaos so if they're backpacks and chaos they're not going to be able to find that homework sheet. And the thing that we have to remember about these students is that they've missed many layers of learning with their multiple moves. The minimum amount of time they're going to move is two to three times in one year. One of our students moved six times last year and it was in three different schools. It can take three to six months to recover academically with each move. And as you said they're not going home so let's say your child forgot you know the child forgets his math home work or his math book. He doesn't have a parent doesn't have a card to go back to the school or what number do they call what friend do they call to get the information from or what computer do they go to to type

up you know an e-mail to their teacher so they're lacking the resources they need and so what we do is we set up learning centers in the shelters we put in computers we put in you know we make sure that those kids have everything else that their classmates have. And you know what what brought you to do this sort of work. You know I mean it's. It's one of those situations for me where it is so obvious you know that that helping children who are homeless right now get the word the help that they need just to get through the school day seems like a no brainer yet it's unique I mean it's there's a national arm of school on wheels but you founded it here in Massachusetts. Yes well I read an article on Family Circle magazine called Lessons in love It was about the founder in California who started it so actually there's only three school in Wales in the country allotted in California in 1903 Agnes Stevens retired teachers all kids on the streets during school hours. And what I always say is that she saw and justice those kids she knew belonged in school and we drive and we see injustice every day and we drive by we keep driving

our car she stopped stopped her car got out. Literally drove the parent and the kids to the school and rolled them made sure they had what they needed and basically started up a school in Wales. In 1993 I started it after reading an article about Agnus and I'm a teacher an educator I've been involved with food pantries coat drives and I love social action but I'd had never thought as a teacher what it was like for homeless children. And as soon as I read that article I knew I wanted to bring it to Massachusetts called Agnes and a few months later we started school in Wales in 2004. Now how many sites does. Do you have for school meals you remember at least once. We currently have 13 sites so the majority of our sites are in southeastern Massachusetts we have seven sites in Brockton and that's where our headquarters is. We started a new site in Norwell this year new site in New Bedford we have two sites up in Peabody one a metal bar and one in St.. And this past year we just started our high school plus program and we have 10 kids enrolled in college that are Newberry College Massasoit UMass

Dartmouth. So we're really excited to be able to help kids think beyond high school. You know I have to say that one of you know that every parent I would hope understands the value of trying to show our overindulged children the value of things my my daughter in particular is a pencil hoarder. You know she we just moved and the amount of pencils that she has was just overwhelming. And when we went to school on wheels and brought in to volunteer this summer the idea of. The fact that four pencils is so valuable to a child who doesn't you know doesn't have a home to go to and doesn't have a backpack. I just was really a stunning revelation for her you know that it's not a big deal for us to buy you know two three or four pencils ready to go to a store but that that is almost an insurmountable challenge for a family to be able to provide for a couple of kids to go to school and it was just you know one of those connections that I think parents search for How does my child get to understand that what we have

is is is is a gift and how everything is valuable. So it's it was very compelling. And that's what I love about our community service days is that children as young as 3 4 all the way up through high school we have lots of kids from the National Honor Society doing volunteer work. Is that we want kids to understand that these are children just like them and their invisible children in our classroom. And they need to have the same resources that they have and those pencils you know in the backpacks and the binders that we have junk drawers in our home. You know if your kid forgets that he has a project due to the last minute and needs a poster board you're going to find it somewhere in your home. Kids are living in shelters don't have that luxury. And so it's we really talk about that each each of us can make a difference and it really takes a village to help these children. We're speaking with Cheryl oper who is the executive director and founder of schools on wheels of Massachusetts. Now the holidays here lots of folks are looking for volunteer opportunities and ways to give back and there are a number of opportunities that you present the school drive for.

For materials there's tutoring opportunities. What are some ways that folks can connect with your organization. Well we have something for everybody of every age but what we're looking for is we really need to find a backpack vendor that says My goal this year is that we have Debbie Mason giving us the stuff that goes in the backpacks we need to find companies that can donate backpacks to us. We're looking for funds were privately funded there's no state or federal funding so we are really dependent on foundations individuals and businesses. We have schools doing redefines where kids are getting pledges for reading a certain amount of minutes and then I go to the school and I talk to them about family homelessness and I read a book about Mango that a homeless hamster and so I can go out into the schools our staff can go out to the schools because a big part of what we need to think about is the awareness is that people are really totally overwhelmed when I tell them there's 50000 homeless children in our state. Our small state enrolled in school so you know we can do volunteer we absolutely need more volunteers as we increase the number of sites.

We we're asking our volunteers to commit to one hour a week to change a child's life and it really makes a difference to have that same adult each week in addition to the backpacks school supply drives. And also we're thinking as the holiday season. You know instead of doing a holiday party you know let's do something different this year let's have the employees bring and backpacks or school supply or new book for a homeless child. And I'd be happy to go out to the companies and talk to them about family homelessness and it really makes an impact. Companies are thrilled to get involved with our companies caring for kids program because they're looking to wrap themselves around something that helps children in their own backyard. Right and you know to be all cynical and clinical about it here also makes for good employees in the future a more educated workforce. You know it is better for all of us and it's not their fault if you want to take a political slant on it that these kids are homeless right now. Absolutely. But everybody can make a difference and everybody says you know why bother. You know

there's so many kids that you know how can you really make a difference in a child's life. And the thing is it's one child at a time we believe that education empowers a child to change their future it gives them the power that they don't have right now experiencing homelessness. But they have one job to do and that's to go to school and learn and we want to get them all the resources they need to do that job well. The other thing I love about your organization is the custom the backpacks are for the age group and for the gender and I know you're going to make some sweeping generalizations to get there but you know having been in situations myself where my family got charity as a child you know I didn't want the healthy you know Cheerios I wanted the actual Cheerios so I could be like the other kids and getting you know the right backpack style for the kids I'm sure is a is a great a great joy for them to receive. Absolutely and one of my favorite stories is the shelter director told us about when we gave Brianna her backpack we knew that she liked princesses so she got a you know Sleeping Beauty backpack and she said that she slept with it that night in a bed and used it as a pillow.

And these kids for them they tell us that makes them feel like a real student to go into school that their backpack and they have the same school supplies as their classmates. That's great will show. Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy season to join us today. I've been speaking with Cheryl offer she is the executive director and founder of schools on wheels of Massachusetts. Please learn more about them you can visit our website or go to schools on wheels of mass dot org. Thanks so much. Up next we're going to find out how to shop for free with Kathy Spencer and we're not just talking about shoplifting. This is legitimate and legal and super savings. Stay with us. Support for WGBH comes from you and from Boston Private Bank and Trust Company. Boston private bank provides private and commercial banking and investment management and trust services to individuals and businesses. You can learn more by visiting Boston private

bank dot com. More perspective. The Hip-Hop archive is a one of a kind institution it is a collection of everything that has to do with hip hop scholars more comedy. So I jumped through a window hole like the hall. And I say that because that's how I describe it. Emergency room more Kelter welcome once again to Celtic's So you're in the program exploring traditional and become less fund raising. Making impact as a sustaining member of eighty nine point seven. Sustaining membership combines the ease of monthly installments with the convenience of automatic renewal. You pick an amount seven nine thirty two dollars and that's how much you'll automatically give to it 1.7 each and every month and if you help eighty nine point seven reached its goal of 2011 to sustainers by January 1st if you GBH will eliminate the first fundraising campaign of the year. Less fundraising. More.

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If you've never given to public radio before you should know that it's pretty easy. In fact it's just as easy as buying a ticket to a movie. Oh what about don't even say I can't stand that guy you know I can't stand that guy I told you. OK On second thought giving to eighty nine point seven is a lot easier than buying a ticket to a movie. I would have if we go to know something funny like a comedy. Now well. Here's how it works. Grab your credit card and head on over to WGBH or give us a call at 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4. Figure out an amount that works for you to use your thank you gift. And that's all. Oh hey. And then 3D gives me a headache. It's easy. 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4. Or give securely online. WGBH. Says he won't call sitting in for Kelly Crossley This is the Kelly Crossley Show and my guest right now is Kathy Spencer she's got a new book out it's called How to shop for free based on her

Web site how to shop for free dot net. Kathy Spencer welcome to the gala costly show. Thank you for having me. So tell us the big the big picture you shop for how many people and how much does it cost you. I have a family of six and I average four dollars a week for groceries and I'm not only shopping for them I'm shopping for the box or food pantry as well as about four other families in my area. Now I'm I'm a convert of heart. Like I really really want to be a coupon shopper I really really really want to go in and save and I pay attention to the unit price and I shop in several stores a week. But the coupon thing I just I just can't get it how do you convert me into. First stop looking at the unit price. A lot of people seem that they feel you need to go to Costco. And by the largest thing I don't know that yet because they don't even look at the unit I always take my coupon my highest value coupon and match it to the smallest priced item. So some people will look at the unit price on dog food and buy the one with the lowest unit price. I go in with $4 off imes coupons and look for the smallest bag of imes which is usually $4 at

Wal-Mart and get it for free. So you know price just you have to really change the way you think and shop and stop you know just just look for whatever is free or near free and then get as much as possible as you as you can and stockpile it now The other thing that I do which I think is it is a challenge to converting over completely to shopping for free is that I get coupons but then I end up buying the store brand. You know it to me. There are some things that I only buy certain brands of but then others I don't really care if it's the store brand or if it's the brand name. So if I get a Ziploc. And I go when I go I might as well just get the store brand is that crazy thinking too. Well you know what I do as I keep all my coupons together and I don't cut the member in them with me until I know I'm going to use them in Ziploc is something that if you just walked into a store on any day and you saw the store brand versus a block and maybe the store brand would be cheaper even with the coupon but I hold my coupons till they're on sale usually that is what they have. Catalina deal where you can roll a Marley take it to write it in with a coupon I'll

make it work out free so I only get that when it works out for you with the coupons you have to kind of it's kind of like yeah you have to hold your cards and wait for the sale and launching it as many as you can once one's a markdown. So you're a professional but for an average person how much time would you say the research work during the week for coupons and then how many stores would you have to go to to to save a reasonable amount I mean we'd all like to shop for free but for a reasonable amount of money saving. Well the beauty of me having my website had a shot for free dot net is we do the work for you so there's a whole bunch of us that we all work together as a team and it's a large group of us and we we map out what's work so free or near free at Shaws and we make you list and we do the rite aid so you can basically there's plenty of full time moms that come on in and they don't even really have to post I mean we like them to post every once in a while but they'll just come in and they'll copy our lesson take to the store so we did the work for you you know and say Buy this many of this and you're going to get so much back it's going to work out phrase though. It takes you can do it in two hours if you wanted. I obviously am not the

average operation of a lot and I can go a month without stepping into a grocery store and more than well stocked. Now one of the great things that we talked about before the show and when you really plugged into is you really into being able to share the savings with not not just with with other folks and other families but with families in need and food pantries where even if you're unconcerned about how much you spend at the grocery store there is a way that you can shop like this and be able to get products and get food to be able to share with those who need it. Yeah. And one thing I get all the time is toothpaste if even if you don't even want if you just want to dabble in coupons toothpaste is an item you're never going to have to pay for and it's name brand two things that's not generic you know get the crust in the cold get all the new flavors and whitening. So that's something you can always get for free and I always push on the website if you can get it for free don't just get one don't get three get what you need for the year and then get extras and donate it to. We always say it's I always believe start closest to home and work outward. And I

always trying to help seniors that can't do it for themselves. You know homeless shelters are always in need of of products like deodorants and toothpaste. So one of the big deals right now what are the major things that this week that we can make a killing on if we go to your website. Go to my website we have a printable for a hallmark coupon there is a five off five and a 10 off 10 so you can go in and get whatever you want for free. There's Coles coupons five off five so you go in a new shirt shop the outskirts of the store and look for anything on clearance for $5 of the power sales for $5. There's some really good deals at the grocery store right now which I usually do because they double coupons up to 99 cents so you can get a lot free that way. But this week I'm actually going to try and focus on the mall stores because right now we're being close to Christmas they're all throwing out these high off you know $10 just come into our store they're hoping you spend a lot of money and be happy with your $10 but I'm just going to go and get the item that's $10 for three and Victoria's Secret's and Marion all those stores and take it to go.

Now what would you get what would you prescribe to me. OK I'm I'm a convert of the heart like I said one of the first steps that I should take in order to take steps toward savings on my grocery bill. OK so you want to start at the grocery store and you probably I would suggest Shaw's or market baskets in your area. And I would go on the forums Look what's for free or near free and get the coupons will tell you where the coupons are or you can always go on e-bay and by coupon so if you're brand loyal to any specific item you could first start by just buying coupons on e-bay if you can't if you can't if you don't have the resources to get your own coupons a lot of. Go to e-bay buy 20 coupons for a few Greek yogurt or buy $20 off coupons if it's on sale at Market Basket there's 20 for free and start stockpiling so if you want to just stick to the way you shop now in baby step it just anytime something works out free or near free look at the expiration date and get as many as you can from now till then and start stockpiling now what to do with the manufacturer's coupons of the coupon codes you know whenever I shop online.

I think you know they asked me for the coupon code and then I go and do what I've seen on The Today Show you know and try and find the right secret code to get a discount and then I give up what you know what do I need to do for online shopping or grocery store shopping grocery shop grocery shopping for manufacturers coupon online for the The Secret coupon numbers that they ask you for. And the grocery the grocery manufacturers coupons. We have a database on our website so you if you're whatever you're looking for are you go in and you type in the Word and the word coupon. I'm sorry the products if you're looking for a doctor you type in either dog food or imes and we tell you if there was a coupon. And when it came out or if it was a printable KEEP ON THE be a hyperlink and you click on that and get your coupon. The online stores if we don't have the code you're looking for on our website just wherever you're shopping online just type in the Word and type in online code in Google in a Google search and it will pop up. There's all sorts of sites that will put it all down and you can just click on it. Kohl's is a big one where they have the free shipping and 20 percent off of anything that's a really good busy store that I know a lot of people going to

shop on I try and put it on the front page of my website on Thanksgiving Day I did all my big ticket big heavy purchases at Kohl's and I you know I put down the Kohl's 20 percent coupon in the free shipping so we always try and make everyone aware of that. But anything you need just do a google search whatever it is and as a feeling you check out you have a very low or zero dollar. It's feels very good. We call it a coupon high end. It's a great feeling but I've done it so long where my full cost of groceries of cost pocket change that I'm starting to lose my keep on high you know I mean it's fun it's addictive but like any drug after awhile you start to get immune to it so my big thing now is just paying it forward and helping others because I get that high from just seeing people's faces when they're in a tough situation you can hand them a full carriage of groceries and say here you know. Yeah I know it's a very smart smart way to shop you know you you have an event coming up this Saturday to play it forward a bit. Tell us about your Saturday event this Saturday in Boxer Massachusetts at the first church congregation where having an event called a coupon

class for a cause the cost is $10 per person which is half of the normal cost of my keep on classes. And in return we're asking that you are generous and you bring nonperishable no nations. It doesn't have to be food it could even be clothing socks and anything that someone can use as long as it's not open in not expired. The class is two hours from 10 to 12 in Boxer In math it's on my website or you can look it up at w w w dot how to shop for free event bright dot com. And I imagine and get the book online as well at your website Yelp and Amazon and all the national bookstores have it. Thank you so much. We've been talking with Supersize savings with Kathy Spencer her new book is how to shop for free how to shop for free dot net. Thanks so much for joining us. Up next it's local May Gooden for the first time ever we're featuring two animals Oscar the cat and Alexis the dog. Don't go away. We'll be right back. Support for WGBH comes from you. And from Boston Private Bank and

Trust Company. Committed to helping successful individuals and businesses accumulate preserve and grow their wealth. You can learn more at Boston private bank dot com. Hi this is Steve Inskeep with MORNING EDITION from NPR News I'd like to tell you about one of my family's favorite holiday traditions. Every November approximately one minute after Thanksgiving we go out and cut down a Christmas tree. We want to be there for the whole month or whatever it is until Christmas and usually several weeks afterward we go out to an orchard in Maryland no matter what the weather will get out there right after Thanksgiving. As soon as we possibly can and we're out in a field sawing down a Christmas tree or in more recent years because I have a small child maybe picking one off the lot they've sought for us to get simpler. I've noticed something over the years as we've picked these trees they've grown larger. I've been less and less able to persuade my family that a smaller tree would be much

easier to handle in the trees get bigger and bigger until they're about to touch the roof. Still I love that tradition. Now you have a chance to begin a new tradition right here on WGBH by becoming a member of this public radio station and supporting what you hear or asking you to please call 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4 to make your tax deductible gift securely online at WGBH dot org. Now whether you tune in for international perspectives for for stories from your own backyard help. Eighty nine point seven continued to be your source for more news less fund raising. Good afternoon I'm Don going in with me today is Amanda Goodwin. Thanks so much. Happy to be here you know when we talk about public radio as a tradition. The first thing I think of is that my own personal tradition not just public radio but with WGBH being a local girl this was the station that I grew up with. And I remember the moment when NPR stop sounding like want want want like those adults on peanuts and started sounding like stuff I couldn't get enough of. And it was in a in a

car with my mother on a Sunday morning during Weekend Edition and hearing Liane Hansen tell a story about how to make the best onion rings with a chef down in N. Washington. That's the kind of local stories the kind of one of a kind stories that public radio has made a tradition of telling. So whether it's Liane Hansen and an onion rings in D.C. or local made good right here on the Cali Crossley Show it's all good stuff and it's stuff that happens because people like you and me get to the phone and make a gift. 8 8 8 8 9 7 9 4 2 4 that's the phone number. Or you can get it done this afternoon on line at WGBH dot org in the last few years public broadcasting has deliberated some pretty important milestones WGBH itself approaching 60 NPR Sesame Street masterpiece have now all turned 40 in Amman a month eighty nine point seven celebrates the first anniversary of our own local shows Emily Rooney and of course Kelly Crossley. PBS NPR WGBH. We've all been serving the public for decades and with your help we hope that service will continue well

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H dot. It's the Kelly Crossley Show I'm Sue O'Connell sitting in for Cali and it's time for our regular Monday feature local made good where we celebrate people who bring honor to New England. But today it's a First we are actually featuring a dog and a cat who have brought us the honor. First up is Oscar the cat. My guest is Dr. David Dosa author of making rounds with Oscar the extraordinary gift of an ordinary cat. He's also a professor of medicine and Community Health Care Brown University. Dr. dosa Welcome to the Kelly Crossley Show. Well thank you thank you for having me on. Now Oscar of course is not just a natural national celebrity but also an international celebrity can you tell our listeners why Oscar is so special. Well it's a great garden. Out of attention for what he did at the nursing home where I work. Your house nursing home here in Providence Rhode Island.

Since he was a kid and has presided over the deaths of we think over about 60 nursing home residents that the stair House Nursing and rehabilitation center he basically holds vigils for patients that are at the end of life and your activities really came to light back in 2007 when when you wrote a piece about it. Well I wrote a story about him in the New England Journal of Medicine and it was a little essay that ended up appearing with a couple of hospice articles. They had also published on the same day but Oscar seemingly got all the attention that day and kind of went viral on the Internet and around the world in various different media. But his story really resonated with people. Now doctor I always I find whenever we've discussed Oscar the cat at length as a matter of fact in our office he's become a bit of a celebrity. And I find it to be sort of the arrogance of humanity that this is such as a such a shocking and

surprising story where I think anyone who has had a pet in their home I know when my dad was dying with cancer back in the 70s when I was a teen our dog Trixie a German Shepherd when my dad got very ill and was in fact close to death just went into the bedroom and sat at the door and stayed there and we didn't find this to be so surprising that it was just a natural thing that the dog was able to sense this and even you know in the in the celebrity world when the tiger attack of Roy and field Roy has has said that he maintains that he was having a stroke before the tiger. He says did attack him but was trying to drag him to safety so it's not so surprising that animals are able to pick up on things that humans just are unable to do. I think you're absolutely right and that's one of the things that I've heard from from numerous people around the world really since the story broke that Oscar isn't alone and I think that that's actually. Very you know it's a very good

thing I think animals have a lot to teach us if we listen. And you know the fact of the matter is that Oscars in an environment where he's able to do what he does repeatedly So I think that that's what's gotten people's attention it's the fact that he does it repeatedly but you only need to ask God this worker to really know that animals generally do show up very very near the end and multiple hospice workers have told me that that's how they know when patients are near death that's when the animal you know crawls out of the closet or wherever they've been hiding under the bed and chose to be there with their owner. Now the personality of Oscar too I think it's important to to kind of it's not like he's climbing up on everybody's lap all day it's not like he's Mr. snuggly on a regular basis. No absolutely not he's actually somewhat of a. Cantankerous cat quite quite often needs these mellowed a little as he's gotten older but certainly in the early days when he was there he would stay out of sight. It was very hard often

to find him in fact it was quite some time before I even had met Oscar despite going to the unit multiple occasions. He would just hide and that's really how we started to notice that his behavior was so peculiar because most of the time you couldn't find him except when somebody was near the end and then he would be front and center. And what does Oscar do does he actually you know off snuggle with the patient. Is it that at the end of the bed or is it just his showing up at the door if you will that the single. Well it's a little bit different for everybody. For the most part he will jump on the bed or he'll fit over to the person depending on the configuration of the room sometimes he's in the window window sort of sitting over over the person but there have been plenty of times where he's struggled upright next to the patient and and stay there and when he's on one of his vigils he very rarely moves he stays there and sometimes his vigils last a couple of days and he'll get up to use the kitty litter. But other than that he's right

back to where he where he is. He'll stay there until the end. And I would hope in my heart of hearts that there is a good amount of humor around Oscar's presence in the nursing home especially if he just might happen to wander by. Maybe a staffer having lunch one day. Well you know I certainly touched him many times and I'm still living to tell about it. So you know the most important thing I think that this important thing to note is that this unfortunately is a terminal dementia unit and these patients are very sick this is the last place of residence for most of them so this would be a very different story if it was in a different environment. I think most family members because I don't think the patients really can tell at their stage of disease but most of the family members take it in stride and one of the most amazing things with the book I really tried to get. Out and talk with family members about what they thought about Oscar and what he was doing and

they all take comfort from having him there and I think that that's one of the remarkable gifts that he's able to give and larger stories of course there are many many organizations that provide pet says as a way of therapy for all sorts of patients from children to the elderly in a way of comfort and caring that that just helps people feel better. Absolutely wonderful organizations like the Delta Society and you know it's really nice. Now it's the health care institutions have been you know and to embrace having animals around. Somebody once upon a time decided health care environments have to be sterile place of healing and in fact when you look at the studies really having animals around out even amongst patients with advanced dementia they reduced the amount of restraint used. They reduce depression. So these patients on the floor know that there's an animal and they do take comfort from it. So I think that that's one of the remarkable stories here.

Well thank you doctor in fairness to the dog lovers out there we couldn't end the hour without representing the canine crowd. And joining me now from Barrington New Hampshire is Lynn Santos who also her German Shepherd Alexis could be paving the way for war veterans who have lost a limb. Lynn welcome to the Kelley Crossley Show thank you. It's nice to be here. Now your dog is Alexis a German Shepherd and Alexis has a story of of of woe with ever there was one tell us quickly how how Alexis came to be part of your family as volunteers for echoed what ship Progress. Q We were originally took Alexis and as a foster in October of 2008 and announced than anyone else Alexis was pregnant and two and a half weeks after we got her she had seven pups. She's missing her rear right leg below her knee. She was obviously abused neglected and was just in very poor health very skinny for a white German Shepherd she should weigh about 83

pounds and she was weighing about 66. At that point she went through quite a bit after having the puppies and she had to be spayed. She almost bled out she had difficulties with the surgery. She was brought back from that and we decided at that point that we we wanted to keep her. We wanted to make sure that she had a safe house and just didn't have to go through any more turmoil. Now your efforts this summer with the dog is is to help fit her with a limb that will help her walk in fact this is you know many folks have seen dogs who have just three legs but it really is a hindrance to to Alexis's mobility that it's difficult for her to walk and to get up stairs and a prosthetic would really make a huge difference in the dog's life. It is because of where she lost her leg and the fact that the people that owned or neglected her never had the leg completely amputate. Did she still think she has a fourth leg and she will use it as a fourth leg so she never adjusted to

just having three legs. And so the healing process the healing process on the limb was not complete. Correct correct and plus the size of the appendage it hanging off of her and it being a rear leg and her being a large dog it's very difficult for her to get around on three legs. So it's pretty much in the success of the service she doesn't blow out her other hip and have more back problems. And for the people listening at home now who are wondering why it's so important that Alexis get another another limb get a prosthetic. There actually is a human connection and that with war veterans coming home as we know so many without limbs. What's the connection between helping Alexis and helping our armed services. But the team at North Carolina State University headed up by Dr. Denny Marsh one little have been working with the Veterans Administration both the school of engineering that and CSU and the School of Veterinary Care have teamed up together to develop this prosthetic

implant which is very revolutionary and hopefully this can be used on humans. So by testing it on large animals such as Alexis and other dogs who have had it before her they're developing and doing the research and development so it's a win win situation. Alexis gets a leg. She'll be able to walk on all four again. And also the there's knowledge that they gained from developing this. They can use to put towards a human application. Of course though this surgery and the work on Alexis doesn't come free you know it. And it's quite costly and we do have a website for a Lexus. It canine Alexis dot org and we are doing fundraisers and trying to raise the money is the prosthesis it self will be around $8000. We're trying to raise close to 14000 when all is said and done we'll probably be paying out about $30000 given that she has to have physical therapy she's been in

physical therapy for a year. Well working on an underwater treadmill to learn how to gate with four legs. So when she does get the prosthetic leg she'll be able to walk with that. And then continued physical therapy after that while the bone heals with the implant. And when I imagine Alexis brings you an enormous amount of joy. Now she's she's just a sweetheart and you know it's true for all she had been through all the abuse and neglect the starkest bullet wounds in her she said. Bibi's then shot that we've had to have removed from under her skin. She is the most loving and sweet dog that you could ever meet you couldn't believe that she lived the life that she had. Well we wish you the best of luck in the fund raising wanted to give the web address one more time. It's OK Alexis dot org. Great thanks so much for joining us. Thank you Lynn. Sanju also who owns a Lexus who's a German Shepherd that needs a leg and hopefully the work in fitting it will help our armed

service or service members coming home with their needs and also our other person of the week Oscar the cat. I'm Sue O'Connell I've been sitting in for Kelly Crossley thanks so much for joining us. Listeners thank you so much for tuning in. We're going to give you your chance to do your part to keep shows like The Kelly Crossley Show and the Emily Rooney show on the air. So stay tuned for more ways for you to support WGBH radio. What's your favorite holiday tradition. MY FAVORITE to the holiday time is to hike off to dinner wrapping Christmas presents while watching It's a Wonderful Life sitting around the fireplace. We don't do it every year but make an spinach pie during Greek Easter this year. Consider

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