(Tom) This week on Arizona Illustrated, we're looking back at some of our Emmy Award winning stories in the past year, including a food truck that's serving up grilled cheese and smiles.

(Greg) It's teaching me how to learn how to work with different people and stuff and different needs and stuff.

And I'm very proud to do that.

(Tom) A thrift shop that is giving back to the community.

(Denise) People come to a place like this and that can be their social contact.

(Tom) A profile of a group fighting for tenants rights.

(Keith) I was quite shocked to see the negative effects on people's mental health, their physical health, hospitalization spiked.

(Tom) And Stories That Soar.

(Dallas) And what we do is we produce that child's story and we're not going to rewrite the story and fix it.

Hello and welcome to Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara.

You know, each year the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter recognizes excellence in broadcasting with the regional Emmy Awards.

This year, Arizona Public Media was nominated for 18 different projects and won seven of them.

Today, we're going to be sharing some of those award-winning stories with you.

So let's watch this story on the local Special Eats food truck that won in the human interest short-form content category.

And afterwards, we'll be back to chat with the winning producer, Laura Holanszky.

♪ INSIGHTFUL MUSIC (Speaker 1) How many are there, like five?

...four, six... Potentially do that tonight.

(Alex Barrentine) Yeah.

That will be good.

I have a son with autism and he had turned 16 and like 16-year-olds he wanted a job, but we couldn't find him a job, anyone that was willing to train him or work with him having autism That's when we decided to take matters into our own hands.

(Alex) Order number 39, your order's ready, 39.

Hi, my name is Alex Barrentine.

I work on this truck, this grilled cheese truck with Special Eats I started when I was 17.

(Tamara) My partner Bill, he just really wanted to come up with a concept that was easy enough for individuals with special needs to be able to make, and then also something that is a comfort food and good for food trucks as well as great tasting.

So my main goal is to teach these guys enough to go get a job somewhere else.

They come to me with very little skills to none so I teach them everything from cashiering, cleaning, prepping, shopping and cooking.

(Alex) I could do anything.

I pull out numbers, I take orders, I can cook a little bit.

Order up for a quesadilla chicken and a grilled cheese.

Quesadilla chicken and a grilled cheese, order up.

(Bill) I let them come up with the specials of the month every month.

I let them fool around and make new menu items.

They actually are the ones that came up with the quesadilla option on our truck.

(Greg) I'm very proud to work for this company.

I'm learning how to be a chef and stuff because I love to cook and... I enjoy everyone here and stuff Everyone makes me feel good and stuff.

I've seen people come to me non-verbal to the point where they're my... they won't stop talking.

They came to me thinking they'll never have a job, quiet, hiding in the corner to outgoing and cooking on my truck.

They love it.

Every day is a new story and I love every day.

(Greg) My story is here to get the experience to work in the kitchen in the future and stuff and become a chef someday.

Because I like to go back to school and become a chef and... own my own restaurant.

Because I'm Mexican-Greek.

I want to make Mexican Greek food someday.

Order number 20!

Order 20 20?

Just the fact of working with people with special needs, they want to go to work.

They want the job.

So you're not going to work with a bunch of people saying, "I don't want to go to work today" So, you're coming in, everyone's got a smile on their face, everyone's ready to go.

And I have a disabily but it doesn't it stop me from doing things I'm very proud of my, what I am and stuff.

(Alex) I love it.

It's just pretty cool to work with other people that have the same, like, autism stuff.

(Speaker 2) Yeah, I love coloring.

It's so relaxing.

(Tamara) So many of our special needs population don't have friends and they don't have someone that they can talk to.

And so we really provide a family here, and you know, they do stuff outside of work, together, they call each other and it's really been so beneficial for them to have that love and support.

Actually, Special Eats is like my second family and stuff.

I'm proud to say that.

I want everyone to know and stuff.

Yeah.

And not only that, but the parents, coming in and telling me how grateful they are and how they've seen their child change.

(Greg) This job, it's teaching me how to learn how to work with different people and stuff and different needs and stuff.

And I'm very proud to do that.

(Tamara) We employ 45 individuals with special needs and then we have 20 job coaches that we also employ.

So the job coaches are their mentors.

They help them to stay on task and to learn the job.

They train them.

The individuals with special needs do all kinds of jobs.

We actually even have a garden that they're responsible for.

We have a shopping crew that does all of our shopping for our food trucks as well as our merchandise, they make all of our merchandise.

So they make shirts and aprons, hats, jewelry, earrings.

Cecil, he passed away unfortunately in January, but he was our oldest employee and he was 69.

And everyone has stories of something that they bought from Cecil because he was just the best seller and he would be so excited when someone bought something.

He would come grab me and say, "Tamara, I just sold some earrings!"

We really do give a lot of people was just displayed in the Oro Valley Library for three months.

We couldn't do this without the community and their love and support.

The dessert truck just opened in January and it's already becoming popular and people are requesting us.

So it really allows us to expand and to hire more people because I have a long waiting list of people that want to work and being a special needs mom, every time I have to put someone on... on the waiting list, It's... it hurts!

(John) 35, your order's ready!

(Greg) It made me a hard worker in life, It made me... it taught me how to work hard and work as a team, and more socialized cause I'm not really a sociable person, but Special Eats just teaching me how to be more sociable in life and hang out with people more and stuff.

(Speaker 1) Beautiful sandwich, Greg!

(Bill) Making them smile and say thank you for telling them they did a good job makes my day worth it every day.

My personal goals are just to continue to support them and love them and show them that they're a vital part of this community and the world.

Give them a chance.

They want to work, and they will show up every day, which is really hard to find sometimes.

(Alex) There you go... Enjoy!

And joining us now is our colleague, Laura Holanszky.

Laura, you were here as a student employee with us while you were still in school.

Your very first story, you and an Emmy that most of us took years to get to that point.

I have a feeling you're in the right career field now.

How does it feel?

It feels surreal, really.

I had a pretty good feeling about Special Eats.

I'm not gonna lie, but you have to just present yourself with confidence and opportunities come your way.

But this is such a huge honour.

And I honestly didn't even expect it to be sent for nominations.

So after that, I was like, you know, the story is gonna stand up for itself.

And it did, so... One of the nice things about AZPM is you have a lot of say in what you'll cover in the stories you'll do.

I understand this story wasn't popular in a class setting, but what was it about it that just captured you and had you run out and do an award-winning story like that?

I never, ever heard of any institution or any workplace that only hired individuals with special needs.

And I think it's so unique, not just in Tucson, but anywhere else.

And the main... The heart of the story for me is if you devote time to individuals, it doesn't matter who they are, they can do so much more.

Because I think individuals with special needs are being put in a box more often than not.

But if you just love and care for them, they can do so much more and they can grow wings.

So that's why I'm gonna have to do this story.

(Tom) You are no stranger to winning.

You were a part of the first ever Arizona Women's Triathlon Team that won the national championship last year, their very first year out of the gate.

Tell us about that.

Yes, I guess it's in my nature.

I don't know, my dad always says that because he was born on February 2nd, that I was born on the 1st.

And he told me even when I was being born, I was a racer.

So I guess this mindset just kept me going in life.

Everything I do, I try to be the best at to my standards.

And if it's winning an award or winning a competition, I guess I did my goals, but I wanted to.

(Tom) Where do you want all this to go as you head into the future?

I would like to serve the community and I just want to discover stories that has been untold by the Tucson community and beyond.

And I really enjoy going out and just talking to people.

And that's how I found my stories usually.

And I think Tucson has such a soul that I want everyone to know around the world.

So Laura, you came to us a little over a year ago as a student employee.

You've won your first big award.

Where are you now?

I'm at the radio side of AZPM at the moment.

And if you hear an accent on the radio, that's me.

I haven't got any complaints.

(Tom) Laura, you and your family are from Hungary.

What's the change been like moving over to the United States to go to college and to stay and to be so successful?

What's all that been like?

So my biggest culture shock was probably the huge cars here in America.

But other than that, I just packed my life into two suitcases and then all over because I never even visited before I came here, which was kind of an unthought-of decision to me.

It has been everything and more that I wanted and expected it to be.

So I'm just very happy I can still be here and talk with you.

(Tom) And how about adjusting to the American culture, all the things that are different about here and your homeland?

(Laura) I think Americans have a lot of confidence in themselves.

And it was the reason why I didn't choose journalism in Hungary, because every person I spoke with, they were like, "Oh, journalism, I'm going to see you at McDonald's after you graduate."

And here in America, people feel like they can do anything they want.

And I just figured since I'm moving across the world anyways, might as well just go for my dreams.

And it seemed like it worked out.

We are so happy to have you as a colleague, Laura, as an award winner, and we know you're going to be so successful going forward.

So once again, congratulations.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

This next story won an Emmy in the solo category, meaning the very talented John DeSoto produced, reported, photographed and edited this piece all by himself.

It's one of three Emmys that John took home this year.

So John, congrats.

♪ OPTMISTIC MUSIC Would you like a bag for this?

(Ron) Today we're at the Golden Goose Thrift Shop in Catalina, Arizona, which is a small town.

We're situated in between two retirement communities, between Sun City and Saddlebrooke.

(Betty) Hi there, (Customer) Hi there.

(Customer) Thank you.

(Ron) We take in donations.

[ DOORBELL ] (Employee) Just this?

(Customer) That's it (Employee) Alrighty, thank you, have a good day.

(Ron) And then, we put them out on the sales floor so that we can make income for two organizations.

♪ OPTMISTIC MUSIC Our volunteers really enjoy each other's company, as well as helping the community give back to the community.

(Denise) Oh, look how cool that is.

That's just beautiful with all the peacocks.

I come here for sure two days a week to do a shift as a cashier.

And it gives me purpose, it gives me happiness and joy to help people.

So I'm going to do 50% off right now for you on those three items.

It's always my thing to give people a big smile and if I can say something about what they're purchasing to get them involved in conversation.

(Denise) Are you a musician?

(Customer) Yes.

Then you even find out what people are into.

(Denise) Are you in any bands?

(Customer) I play in the Southern Arizona Symphony.

(Denise) Oh, well there you go.

And then there's a sense of community that just, you know, the people who volunteer here, there's so many volunteers.

We have only seven paid employees, and then, we have 350 to 500 volunteers.

If it wasn't for our volunteers, none of this would happen.

(Patty) Yup, this is all priced schlep.

- Thank you.

(Patty) I pretty much am a jack of all trades.

I've been here for three years, and I price everything from furniture to hard goods, to vintage, antique collectibles.

(Volunteer) Thank you.

- No problem.

(Patty) This is the back of the house, and what we do in the back of the house is all of the items that come in, just like any kind of drop off, get sorted into departments.

And, we wanna make sure something's really great, so everything's looked over for chips, nicks, dings.

And, everything's donated.

♪ UPBEAT MUSIC (Denise) People can find so many beautiful treasures when they come here.

Decorative items, housewares, furniture.

Then, we have sportswear, right?

Well, we have a lot of golfers in Tucson.

And, then, we have tools and hardware clothes, I mean, that's one of our biggest categories is clothes.

Children's books.

I mean, like there's no shortage of categories of wonderful treasures to get from the Golden Goose.

Aww, that's for the Goose?

Thank you so much, they always appreciate that.

(Ron) We take all our profits, that we make, and we split them between Impact of Southern Arizona and Saddlebrooke Community Outreach.

(Denise) The Golden Goose is a wonderful institution for helping the local and extended local community.

And this store raises millions of dollars for folks who are economically disadvantaged.

(Patty) The fact that they've given away close to $21 million.

One group is Impact, but people don't realize the impact it has on their lives.

And they know that they're giving money back to the community when they do shop here.

As well as, they find great deals.

You can't really do any better than the deals we have at the Goose.

Yeah, thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

(Denise) Some of them actually come here for their social experience.

And we also know, you know, when people are older, and they, then, have losses of friends and family, a lot of loneliness can sit in, right?

And people come to a place like this and that can be their social contact.

(Betty) Hello.

(Customer) Hi, how are you?

(Customer) I haven't seen you in a while.

(Betty) I couldn't be better.

(Denise) Betty is in her 90s, I think mid 90s.

Go look at everything.

(Denise) Where else could she go in a regular basis where she feels she's a part of a group and a community?

(Betty) Hi, there.

(Ron) She gets to know all of our customers.

We have many frequent, repeat customers.

They know her, they love her to death.

(Betty) I'm like family to people and that's a wonderful feeling.

(Customer) I was around the corner.

(Betty) Oh, this one's a pain in the neck.

[ LAUGHING ] (Denise) People love her, and they're happy to see her.

And, she gets hugs and kisses.

(Customer) He's with me.

(Betty) No arguing.

(Customer) Okay!

(Betty) You don't argue with an old woman.

I tease people.

So far, they haven't fired me.

(Customer) Bye, Betty!

(Betty) You get back here.

(Denise) I'm socializing more.

You know, I'm one of those older people too that doesn't have a big extended community.

(Betty) I have met people from all over the world from sitting here.

I'm 96-years-old.

Where else could I be and have that experience?

(Denise) I just am so thankful that this place exists and I want it to exist for, you know, as long as it can thrive.

[ INDISTINCT CHATTER ] In 2024, we profile the advocacy group, the Amphi Panteras in their fight for tenants' rights.

Well, the resulting report won an Emmy for public affairs program.

So congratulations to producers Cáit NíSíomón and Christopher "Buzz" Conover.

Here's an excerpt from that report.

"Yeah, hey, it's Hassan Clement with New Life Community."

(Narrator) The formation of the Amphi Panteras began with Hassan Clement, who in 2022 was living at an apartment complex and confronted with a property manager who refused to make repairs in his unit, including broken air conditioning during a heat wave.

He decided to take a more proactive approach and knocked on his neighbor's doors, finding many more tenants whose apartments were under code.

(Hassan) I knocked on 79 doors and we found 16 more people with complaints like mine.

We didn't get answers as individuals, but with our collective action, that we got all of our apartments fixed.

And so from that, Ward 3 came to me and suggested that we do a pilot program.

(Kevin) Hassan came to us with a proposal, which we thought was brilliant, to train people in how to canvas renters, tenants, to give them the information they need to successfully complain about conditions that weren't right.

And the fact that he organized a union after this training happened, it's been a powerful influence in the Amphi Neighborhood where he's working.

Literacy Connects is a Tucson-based nonprofit whose Stories That Soar program empowers students by turning their original story ideas into captivating performances.

This story won an Emmy in the Education Schools content category.

So congratulations once again to our producer, John DeSoto.

(Dallas) We're at Holoway Elementary and this morning is the Stories That Soar!

show for all of these kids.

[piano music] (Sharon) Stories that Soar is all about empowering young people by giving voice to their original words and creative ideas.

It lets kids know that their stories matter.

It connects writing to possibilities.

(Producer) “Did you all write stories for the Magic Box?” Yes.

Yes.

[piano music] (Dallas) We've worked really hard for two weeks.

We have a wide array of stories and they don't know if their story is performed or not.

So I have the privilege of sitting in the audience and watching them as they realize the story is theirs.

And this is what it's all about.

(Actor) Once there was a dragon.

[Roar] (Teacher #1) My kiddos get so excited.

Like they were elated that magic box was coming today.

(Plaigaristic Box) “I'm hunting stories.” [Laughs] (Teacher #3) They see, Oh, someone's going to read my story and they're going to go act it out.

And like, people are going to get to see that.

(Actor) The stories are all mine and I'm taking all the credit.

signed, Plaigaristic Box.

[Scream] (Dallas) Stories That Soar begins with an invitation from our hungry, story-eating, Magic Box.

For kids to feed it their stories.

So the Magic Box goes to the schools and it eats stories for about 3 weeks.

And at that point in time, we pick it up and we read all of the stories.

Now, we typically have a team if it's a good sized school, because those kids, the buy in is there and we get hundreds and hundreds of stories.

So we read every single one.

And then whoever is directing narrows it down to a group of about 40 to 50 that they will hand out to the cast.

(Actor) This is more fun for puppetry.

King of the Tower is just kind of comedy.

(Dallas) So what's happening here today, We're starting the rehearsal process for the Holoway Elementary show.

So our actors have their stories.

And tonight they're going to come in and pitch their concepts.

(Actor) Comes out on stage and is like, “my friends are smart.

And you know what's great about friends?

Some friends can be small.” And then I want somebody.

smaller than them to come out and they like high five.

(Dallas) Once we pitch our concepts, then we'll work as a team to narrow it down to 15 stories that we're going to produce that wind up on the stage.

I want to find a way to have that real clear moment of connection.

(Dallas) We have a team of about 20 contracted artists that we rotate through throughout the season.

We really try to incorporate professionals of different backgrounds.

(Actors) “Hi, hi” And some friends are big!

Hey!

There are tons of different theater companies that do devised theater, that do children's theater, that roughly is the same concept but they kind of riff off a child's story it's inspired by.

And what we do is we produce that child's story and we're not going to rewrite the story and fix it.

(Actor) Then they were learning how to fly.

(Dallas) One of the things that I think is really special about the Magic Box is it invites kids to write whatever they want, whatever they're processing and thinking about.

It doesn't matter if you can write a whole paragraph or even write one word like they want to just take what you have and I think that that's important It gives every child a voice.

(Dallas) This student, Daisy, she wrote a lot of touching stories and they all were around her mother's death.

♪ Can you hear me?

♪ I miss you Mom.

(Sharon) We try not and shy away from something because it's difficult, because we feel if kids are processing and talking about it, they need to be validated.

I loved it.

I loved the way the girl danced actually, when they performed it, I heard a few words and I said, that's my story.

And I actually really loved it that I started crying.

(Dallas) It's so important that those stories have a voice as well, because you know, that's that's part of life, that's part of this child's experience, and it's part of their school's community story.

[sad piano music] [speaking French] Au revoir.

(Kayla) Friends who can be like sad or they're happy and they can have different feelings even though they're struggling through stuff.

Because like, when I was moving here, I had to move and I left my best friends.

So I was really sad.

So I found out to make a story kind of about that.

(Teacher 1) I watched her face when they did her story and her eyes went wide and she had a big smile on her face like she accomplished something.

(Kayla) I felt really happy that I heard my story being telled on the stage.

It actually means a lot because just to know that it got selected and performed, it actually really made me feel happy.

[applause] (Student) I think that the Magic Box was like a creative way to make the kids like, write stories, use their imagination.

(Teacher 3) It opens that broader range for them of what's possible.

And oh yeah, we can connect this to math and yeah, we can do a social studies.

And so they really start to take that on and lead it.

(Actor) The life of a balloon wants more!

(Students) More!

(Teacher 1) Makes you want to go to school everyday, it makes you want to teach.

You know, when you have kids, who just, love what they do and love to come.

(Teacher 2) It's really instilled like a love of writing The impact of that is that they're inspired Did you enjoy the show?

Let me hear it.

(Students) Yeah!

(Sharon) For us, we we see literacy as more than reading.

It's a healthy competition when kids are writing, wanting to see their stories, there on the stage and it's really with increased literacy, we have way more opportunities for success in our lives.

Thank you for joining us for our 2025 Emmy Awards special.

While the awards are nice, our main interest is still in serving you, our audience, and our community.

I'm Tom McNamara.

We'll see you again next week.