(cheerful music) (graphic whooshing) >> Diane: To volunteer, you have to have that in your heart so that you have that desire to know more and to really dig into what you are looking at, and what it means, and how it was used a hundred years ago.

(graphic whooshing) >> Denise: All of us understand, all of us parents, no matter what their needs are, we're here, you know, to help them through it.

They're incredible.

No matter where they're at, they are absolutely incredible and they have so much to offer and to give to the community.

(graphic whooshing) >> Mark: The Monon Connection Museum is one man's private railroad collection.

Dale Ward started collecting in 1993.

We opened up in 2004.

So there's over 6,500 mostly railroad items at the museum.

(graphic whooshing) >> 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.

(cheerful music fades out) >> Announcer: Centier Bank is proud to serve hometown community banking across Indiana.

For over 128 years, Indiana's largest private family owned bank has been not for sale and promises to keep it that way for years to come.

(upbeat music) (inspiring music) >> 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.

(inspiring music fades out) (upbeat music) >> 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.

(upbeat music fades out) >> Announcer: Ivy Tech offers more than 70 programs with locations in Michigan City, LaPorte, and Valparaiso.

New classes start every few weeks.

Ivy Tech, higher education at the speed of life.

To get started, visit ivytech.edu.

(upbeat music) >> Announcer: Family, home, work, self.

Of all the things you take care of, make sure you are near the top of the list.

North Shore Health Centers offers many services to keep you balanced and healthy.

So take a moment, self-assess, and put yourself first from medical to dental, vision, chiropractic, and mental health, North Shore will help get you centered.

You help keep your world running.

So make sure to take care of yourself.

North Shore Health Centers, building a healthy community one patient at a time.

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

Visit video.LakeshorePBS.org.

You can stream a large selection of shows, including "Eye on the Arts," "In Studio," and "Friends and Neighbors."

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 at any time.

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

>> Announcer: As you travel across Northwest Indiana and into Chicago, take Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, along for the ride.

With our newly expanded signal, we're with you from the southern corner of Michigan, and into Chicago, and of course across Northwest Indiana.

From the dunes at Lake Michigan to the windmills of Walcott, Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, is along for the ride, wherever you call home.

(inspiring music) (upbeat music) >> Announcer: Additional support for Lakeshore Public Media and local programming is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat music fades out) (upbeat 19th century music) >> So, my love of history... One of my friends said, "You know that there's a museum in that courthouse, and they're looking for help."

She goes, "You should go see about that."

So I was starting to get bored 'cause, you know, retirement's fun, but it can be boring.

And so I showed up in October of 2022 and wasn't too sure exactly what they were doing in here or, you know, the purpose of it, or how it needed to be put back together, so to speak.

And we are trying now to revive the museum and to develop the society for the entire county.

Right now we're focusing on people in this community even knowing that there's a museum in this building.

The society will be 150 years old in September of 2025.

Over the last 40 years, when they were talking about knocking down this building, a group of people decided that it was well worth preserving, and that's when they petitioned to have it put on the National Register.

And on the National Register it was stated it was to be used for a cultural center and a museum.

>> Well, I retired about two and a half years ago, and after taking a couple months to just kind of unwind, I was looking for some things to do.

I've always been interested in history.

Anything historical interests me.

And I went to the volunteer fair down at the Crown Point High School, and they contacted me.

I came and interviewed and fell in love with it.

Well, I do tours, and then I also do some work behind the scenes.

But for me, the tours are what's really fun because you see people, they connect with things.

And one of my favorites here is the dentist chair in the corner.

Came from the dentist office across street, Dr. Eisenhut.

And to give you an example how people connect, we had a guy here a couple weeks ago who's actually getting his watch repaired downstairs, came upstairs, wanted to look around.

I took him in the room and he goes, "Oh my goodness."

And he remembered that chair and sitting in that chair.

It brought back memories for him.

He remembered walking up the stairs.

The dentist's office was upstairs.

He remembered walking up those stairs when his mom would take him to the dentist.

But it's just things like that where people connect with it.

(upbeat 19th century music) >> Kind of a lot of a volunteering here is, I mean their time is precious.

To volunteer, you have to have that in your heart so that you have that desire to know more and to really dig into what you're looking at, and what it means, and how it was used a hundred years ago.

One of the nicest things with some of our volunteers like Jon, they take a vested interest in what's in here, and they have a respect for it, and they enjoy telling other people the story.

A vast history of things here, not just from Crown Point, but from the county.

>> And so you have a group of people that have that same passion, and so we all bring a little bit.

You know, Diane mentioned one of the other volunteers is very, very knowledgeable about, you know, Indian tribes in the area.

Some other volunteers are more knowledgeable about other parts of the things.

So yeah, we just learn from each other, and that's what makes it fun because with that passion that you've had since you were a kid... During my working career, you know, I didn't have time to go hang out places and volunteer.

I was busy, you know, raising a family, and paying bills, and all of that.

So now, it's basically like, okay, what would I like to do today?

I'd like to go hang out with people who have a very similar interest to me and have a passion for it.

And this place has gotten in my heart.

I mentioned that to one of the other people a couple weeks ago.

I said, "Every time I come here, it's just a little bit more in my heart."

I think it's just critical that we know where we came from because it helps inform where we're going.

You know, one of my favorite artifacts over in the other room, it's a water main, and it's wooden.

It's a wooden water main.

And when you think about the water passing through that underneath the streets, right?

So there's not really a lesson from that, but it's progress.

You think about where we came from, and where we are today, and these artifacts just show that over and over and over again.

(upbeat 19th century music continues) (graphic whooshing) (inspiring music) >> Your journey changes.

And I started researching and trying to find something exactly what I wanted for my daughter.

Everything was just, it was not positive, the outcome for individuals with disabilities.

And I found it really heartbreaking.

It was actually shattering to me.

I didn't want that for my daughter.

I didn't want that for any child with a disability.

So I started putting together different ideas, thoughts of what kind of programs I would wanna offer.

And then we built a village.

At Chasing Dreams, we don't charge for our programs.

Everything is free.

A lot of the parents were so ecstatic because the different social programs that we offer here, a lot of the kids don't get that in school.

STEM, different, you know, the cooking classes.

We try to make sure that everybody's needs are fulfilled.

When I built that village, everybody was expressing their thoughts.

You know, they would like to have more programs to help our friends become more independent.

We could have a large group and only have three or four volunteers because we want the kids to learn.

And if they're getting one-on-one care, you know, help assisting with all the programs, they're not gonna learn.

They're gonna learn that mom does it better, or the volunteer does it better, so why not let them do it?

We challenge the kids with all of our programs, and that is one of the steps to becoming more independent, you know, is building that confidence, that self-confidence and the kids see, "Wow, I can really do this."

And they can.

It's amazing the things that they can do.

(inspiring music) >> All the socialization somewhat in high school when they age out or they graduate, what's the next step?

And, you know, for some individuals like my two daughters, there really isn't much out there.

Some have the ability to maybe go on to college, some have the ability to maybe get other types of jobs, or some, you know, with disabilities can drive and do those things, and that's right now not for either of them.

So it's been huge in the fact that it's helped them grow and learn more.

It's helped them with interacting with others, and each of the others in this group we're chasing dreams.

They all have their own disabilities.

We all have some of the challenges, but learning to work better with each other and grow together is something because of this organization they may able to do more of that.

From the job standpoint, it was how to do a job interview, which could always be interesting, filling out maybe a job application or looking at something beyond high school, beyond chasing dreams and getting a job.

And both McKenzie and McIntyre, they do some work at the high school where they graduated.

It gives them, again, sense of purpose and a little more of accomplishment, but it also gives them maybe some building blocks that later in life, after a little bit more training and a little bit of time goes by, all of a sudden something clicks, and all of a sudden they can do something they couldn't before.

And you kind of are thinking, "Wow, I never thought they'd be able to do that."

There are many parents who volunteer who like to help and assist.

They really go above and beyond because the way that they come and help, and have such a cheerful demeanor, and how they help each of these kids feel important, that's all done voluntarily.

These are people who have a heart to do that.

Could always use, I'm sure, more volunteers, and that would be a big thing just to help, also, as the organization grows.

>> We have volunteers.

A lot of them are retired teachers.

We do have some that are doctors, people that worked in the corporate world.

They wanna make a difference.

All of us understand, all of us parents.

No matter what their needs are, we're here, you know, to help them through it.

They're incredible.

No matter where they're at, they are absolutely incredible, and they have so much to offer and to give to the community.

(inspiring music continues) (inspiring music fades out.)

(graphic whooshing) (inspiring music) >> The Monon Connection Museum is one man's private railroad collection.

Dale Ward started collecting in 1993.

We opened up in 2004, so there's over 6,500 mostly railroad items at the museum.

Probably one of the largest private railroad collections that's shared with the public in the country.

(inspiring music) Kind of funny.

Dale owned and operated stone quarries in this area.

He did not come from a railroad family, but when he decided that when he'd retired, he wanted to collect something and he thought that railroad was an important part of our country's history, and he was seeing people throw railroad items away and scrap 'em out.

So he started collecting as a private collector at his home.

One of his daughters told me, she heard her mom say, "Dale, this is enough.

Get it outta here."

So when that happened, he rented a couple of storage facilities, continued to collecting with the idea that he would open up a museum.

So there are basically four rooms in the museum.

One room is primarily dining car China, and silver.

So if you rode the trains 1930s up to the 1960s traveling first class, you would aid off of China and silver that we have in one room.

We've got over 20 different place settings.

Again, probably one of the largest public displays of dining car China in the country.

Also in that room there's switch lanterns or hand lanterns, and we've got over 280 of those in the museum.

It's kind of interesting.

In that particular room, there aren't two lanterns exactly the same.

And so when people go through the museum, if they look at the clear glass cloves, it'll have etched or embossed glass the initials are names of the different rail lines.

So that's the biggest difference in those lanterns.

Another room has a model train layout that's 14 feet wide, 22 feet long.

The room that we're in right now is 50 by 100 feet.

It is full of lanterns, bells, whistles.

Illinois Central Depot, that's a replica, but inside that depot is another man's collection.

He went through 21 abandoned Illinois Central Depots, was allowed to take what's in that depot.

There's also track inspection worker vehicles in this room, some other equipment from the railroad.

Our newest exhibit, our newest room is, we call it the Flagler room.

That room has a car that was built in 1898, '99.

It was built for Henry Flagler.

Car is 89 feet long, but we take people around and through that car.

It's definitely a jewel, as far as our museum is concerned.

Flagler had four private touring cars.

There are two known to still exist, and so we have car number 90 here at the museum.

(upbeat music) The railroad was so significant in the development of the United States, and as we progressed, I would say probably in the '60s with more people owning cars and trucks, we didn't need passenger service as much.

And so that kind of went by the wayside.

But that was one way to get around.

I mean, everybody didn't have a car or a vehicle to get around in.

Now, people have two or three, and so it was important for transportation.

And then to haul freight is the other biggie.

You had product off the Ohio River and you wanted to get it inland in Indiana, I mean, it was by a wagon, horse and wagon.

The Monon Railroad, which is kind of our namesake, started in 1847 down in New Albany and ended up going basically north and south through the state of Indiana.

(upbeat music continues) I think the reason it's important to keep this history is because, you know, I'll have kids walk in here, young adults, and not have a clue on what it took to get to where we're at today.

Not too long ago, I had some guys from CSX Railroad that were in here that were working on a project down the rails, and they were in here to eat, and we let 'em come in and look around, and they were kinda laughing and joking, and I asked them why.

And they said, "Well, we were all just complaining about how hard work had been that day."

These guys really had to work to realize what it took to build this country.

It's important to keep that history.

I mean, it's easy to punch buttons and get your information, but the guys that that did this work were kinda learning on the fly.

And so I think that's another reason it's important to keep this history.

I mean not only railroad history, but you know, aviation history, other forms of transportation, just so we can know where we started and where we're at now.

(upbeat music continues) (upbeat music fades out) (intense music) ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ >> 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.

(intense music continues) >> We have the District 1 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 1, 2, so they can go back and work as career firefighters.

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.

(intense music fades out) 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.

(intense music continues) 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 'em about fire behavior and the dangers of a flashover condition that will happen when everything is super heated in the room and it all ignites at one time.

Situations that we put them in, it does induce a certain amount of stress to prepare them for what they will, you know, 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.

There's everything that we could ever need at the MAAC facility.

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

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

(intense music) 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.

(intense music continues) In addition to that, virtual reality has hundreds of different scenarios that can be branched off and based on the response of that police officer behind the simulator.

(intense music fades out) (guns clicking) Deescalation 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.

>> 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 helm of supporting them and advocating for them.

(intense music) 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 inducted over 100,000 direct training hours here just in the last three years alone.

(intense music continues) This is obviously a labor love for all of us, but 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 in this way.

(intense music continues) (intense music fades out) >> Announcer: Centier Bank is proud to serve hometown community banking across Indiana.

For over 128 years, Indiana's largest private family owned bank has been not for sale and promises to keep it that way for years to come.

(upbeat music) (inspiring music) >> 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.

(inspiring music fades out) (upbeat music) >> Almost every single professor I've had, I'm on a first name basis.

By building that relationship with faculty, I was able to get involved with research.

It's one thing to read about an idea in a book versus physically doing it and seeing the results.

(upbeat music fades out) >> Announcer: Ivy Tech offers more than 70 programs with locations in Michigan City, LaPorte, and Valparaiso.

New classes start every few weeks.

Ivy Tech, higher education at the speed of life.

To get started, visit ivytech.edu.

(upbeat music) >> Announcer: The Crossroads Chamber is transforming Northwest Indiana's business landscape one connection at a time.

Experience the power of networking within our diverse community and forge lasting relationships that can drive your business forward.

(upbeat music fades out) >> Announcer: Family, home, work, self.

Of all the things you take care of, make sure you are near the top of the list.

North Shore Health Centers offers many services to keep you balanced and healthy.

So take a moment, self-assess, and put yourself first from medical to dental, vision, chiropractic, and mental health, North Shore will help get you centered.

You help keep your world running.

So make sure to take care of yourself.

North Shore Health Centers, building a healthy community one patient at a time.

(upbeat music) >> Announcer: Additional support for Lakeshore Public Media and local programming is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat music fades out) >> Announcer: As you travel across Northwest Indiana and into Chicago, take Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, along for the ride.

With our newly expanded signal, we're with you from the southern corner of Michigan, and into Chicago, and of course, across Northwest Indiana.

From the dunes at Lake Michigan to the windmills of Walcott, Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, is along for the ride, wherever you call home.

(inspiring music) >> Announcer: 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 and 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.

Miss 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.

(cheerful music) (cheerful music continues) (graphic whooshing) (cheerful music fades out) (upbeat music) (upbeat music fades out)