The Essential

After just over a year since the creation of Hearts to Heroes in May of 2020, the eight of us have grown to be a tight-knit family. While it’s hard to see the year come to a close, it’s also amazing to see how far we’ve come and the impact we’ve been able to make, not only in the community, but also upon each other. In our last episode with the founding Hearts to Heroes board, we reflect on some of the funniest stories, unexpected memories, inside jokes, impactful relationships, and of course, the life lessons that we’ve taken with us that have made this last year on Hearts to Heroes so special.

For this episode of “The Essential,” we will be focusing on Teachers and how much of a key role they play in our society. Research on this specific topic has shown the true extent of how much of an effect teachers have on their students; it’s also commonly known that anyone can be a teacher even if it's in an unconventional sense. Generally, the everyday behavior of parents and elders laboriously influences children. An interesting fact is that all teachers will be on the frontlines when school buildings reopen; but in some cases, they are formally considered essential workers, which means that they will be expected to continue to go to work even if they have been exposed to COVID-19. Thus, Episode 4 aims to provide the general public with basic information regarding the essentiality of teachers and how much they tend to contribute to communities.

...but what is family, and how does it play an essential role in our lives? In this mostly free-flowing episode, we begin a conversation on what family is and where its impact and importance lies. From start to finish, we reflect on our own experiences - wholesome, funny, and more - and in sharing with each other, gradually realize the nuances and limitations of traditional concepts as we've known them. We leave the conversation not having discovered definitions or concrete conclusions, but rather having explored each others' and our own viewpoints on family.

Welcome to Heart to Heart! This is our new podcast series featuring mini episodes and casual conversations. Today, we bond over the ways we cope as individuals and share our experiences with common coping mechanisms. Relax, unwind, and feel free to stay as long as you want.

In the second part of our two-part episode on food insecurity and why food banks are essential, we sat down with Jacqueline Gaithe from the Orange County Food Bank to hear her experiences working at a food bank, how COVID-19 has changed daily life at OCFB, and what her experiences with low-income families have taught her.

Living in Irvine, California, many of us don’t have to give a second thought as to where our next meal is coming from or whether or not we’ll be able to eat the next time we feel hungry. But as we quickly realized throughout this episode, food insecurity and its effects on people’s social, emotional, and physical well-beings touch the lives of those close to us so much more than we thought. In the first part of our two-part episode on food insecurity and why food banks are essential, we have an eye-opening discussion about some of our own experiences with food insecurity and the lasting impact those experiences have had on the people we are today.

Mister Rogers innovatively acclimated an entire generation of children to a future beyond the one in which they lived during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. His soft spoken tone and various vibrant voices that brought his puppets to life lit a path for humanity to see what it missed of mercy and emotion.

In our first episode, we gently unpack the wisdom of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, discussing his life, his story, and the people he loved. We explore the legacy of a man who highlighted each and every one of us as essential and emphasized the goodness that our world has to offer.

Do you know Mister Rogers? Have you met his friend Daniel Tiger? Do you know what makes you special? Today on The Essential, we help you with just that.