- Hello and welcome to Living in the Lehigh Valley, a health and wellness show for everyone.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

Coming up on this episode, food pantries have been stretched as demand grew during the pandemic.

How the Lehigh Valley is biggest food bank is managing.

And falling back.

The days are numbered for daylight saving time.

We'll explore the importance of sleep and getting kids through the tough change.

Plus, music as medicine.

Why a tune can give us a lift and how sound is being used to improve health and wellness.

But first, nutrition is so important to a healthy lifestyle.

As supply chain bottlenecks continue across the country, some food banks are seeing a dip in food supplies Megan Frank is here now.

She checked in with one of the largest food banks in the Valley to check out supply and demand.

Megan, it's great to see you.

- Hi, Brittany.

- Thanks so much for being here.

So what does it look like across the Valley at this point?

I would say stable but cautiously stable.

A lot of the food pantries across the region tell me they've been in crisis mode since the beginning of the pandemic and they have not stopped being in crisis mode.

- Yeah, I think a lot of businesses are feeling that right now.

- There's so much going on, with prices going up, so they're trying to buy the food at the right time so that they don't overpay.

And then there's also issues with the trucks getting the food in on time.

- So they're already thinking ahead to the holidays at this point, correct?

- Yeah, actually, they tell me they've been doing this since the summer.

So these orders for the holidays have already been placed.

Back in August, I visited Second Harvest Food Bank in the Nazareth area.

It's one of the largest food banks in Pennsylvania.

They tell me that in order to keep the shelves filled, they've been ordering early, sometimes months in advance.

And they say that strategy so far has put them in a good position to feed those in need, especially with the holidays coming up.

- LOUDSPEAKER: Volunteers of America is here for a pick-up.

Volunteers of America is here for a pick-up.

- I think starting at the beginning of Covid kind of has always put me in that emergency mode.

- Katarah Jordan is the director of Second Harvest Food Bank.

She took over the post at the same time that Covid-19 froze the world.

But she says even a pandemic couldn't stop Second Harvest.

It just changed how they operate.

- So it kind of affected everything that we do here.

We had to learn to food bank in a different way.

Jordan says she and her team, made up of a few dozen staffers and volunteers, now work ahead of schedule.

We started purchasing for the holiday season, I believe, in August of this year.

Things started coming in in September.

We're still seeing things trickle in.

So we were able to secure stuffing and cranberry sauce and things that people would be able to cook and enjoy with their families.

- Jordan says Giant and Weis will also donate turkeys and hams, and those deliveries should arrive on time for the holidays.

- I try to think ahead of what the next thing is going to be.

So, you know, even though we knew that the vaccination came out, there was a spike after.

So we can't let our guard down and stop filling our shelves.

Winter is upon us.

So, you know, we need to make sure that we're ready.

- Each year, Second Harvest delivers ten million pounds of food to six Pennsylvania counties.

Jordan says food orders are now placed two to three months in advance in order to beat rising prices and delivery backlogs.

- The prices have definitely skyrocketed.

You can see it because of the supply chain issues and the wait times are increasing.

- Jordan also saw the pandemic as an opportunity to tap local farms for help.

- So I'm so excited about the variety of fresh products that we have in the warehouse here.

These apples came in this morning from right up the street.

We're working with Scholl's farm, who supplies the best, best local product.

- Second Harvest tries to provide as much fresh food as possible, along with a variety of other goods.

- We have things from beans, we have vegetables and our canned fruit.

Detergent is in here.

We have, you know, personal items for females here.

We have a bunch of different, you know, things that people need to really thrive.

- One of the 200 plus pantries that counts on Second Harvest is the Salvation Army in Bethlehem.

- Now, every Tuesday, second harvest will come in and bring in a shipment of produce or eggs or milk and things like that, and we'll distribute that.

- Major Scott Peabody is a commanding officer and pastor with the Salvation Army.

Its food pantry is open Monday through Wednesday.

- We always try to have your vegetable, your fruit, produce, fresh produce when that's available, proteins, you know, your meats, you know, chicken or beef or things like that.

So we're always trying to have a balanced meal.

Peabody says about 30 to 50 people visit the pantry each day, and they serve a few hundred people a month.

He says clients can come in and select their groceries.

- Certain individuals cannot have certain things, certain food items, you know, for health reasons.

And so for them to be able to pick and choose and depending on what their diet is at that particular time, you know, it helps them.

- Judy Garcia is a Salvation Army volunteer.

She says she wants people to know that there is no shame in accepting a helping hand.

- And some people don't want to come because, you know, they'll be like, oh, their ego, their pride.

I be...

I make it comfortable, you know, like, put that to the side.

Don't feel bad.

You're not the only one.

- Major Peabody says hundreds of Lehigh Valley families are experiencing financial instability right now due to the pandemic and loss of personal income.

- All it takes is somebody becoming sick within the household and all of a sudden they can't go to their employer and work, OK, and they're out of work.

Well, that's a financial burden.

Crisis can happen to anybody at any time.

- But Second Harvest says not to worry.

- I'm not too concerned.

I'm not.

We prepared very early this year.

- Jordan's team has been hard at work to make sure pantries and people don't go without.

- You know, the holiday seasons are important to us because we know that they're important to our participants.

PBS39 is hosting a community food drive now through November 14th.

It's part of our own fundraising efforts and every dollar donated to PBS39 will be matched by our community partner Weis Markets, and it'll be donated to Second Harvest up to $25,000.

It's a great way to support public media and to help those in need this holiday season.

- Yeah, Meg, it's the season for giving, but also it's getting a little bit colder out.

A great time to give back so that we fill up those food banks just in time for the winter months.

- Yeah, there's a lot of people in need right now.

I was speaking to the people at the food pantry and they said, you know, sometimes people come in and they feel shame, they feel embarrassed.

And they said the truth of the matter is it could happen to anybody at any time.

A lot of people with the pandemic are out of work right now, or maybe they have a spouse out of work and they need the help, and they should feel no shame.

These resources are there.

- Sure, the resources are available and that's what they are there for.

- Yes.

- All right, Meg, Frank, thank you so much for joining us.

- Thanks.

- Sleeping like a baby.

It's what most of us strive for, except around Daylight Saving Time.

The interruption in our sleep routines can be tough on both adults and children.

So I asked the experts how to keep your sleep schedule around the time we fall back.

- Let's play with the blocks.

- Caleb Clinton is on the move.

It takes a good night's sleep for his mom, Britny, to keep up.

- Caleb, come here.

Uh-oh!

- But catching those Z's in order to catch up with her one-year-old hasn't always been easy.

- It was really difficult to still function, being so sleep deprived all the time and taking care of other children at the same time.

- When Caleb was just nine months old... - Yeah, good job.

- ...Clinton called in reinforcements.

- He just wasn't sleeping well at all, especially at night.

He was not sleeping through the night.

And some nights he was waking up every hour, which was just really exhausting for all of us.

- Enter Ronee Welch, owner of Sleeptastic Solutions.

She's a sleep consultant in Macungie, but works with clients worldwide to get their sleep schedule sorted out.

- In a perfect world, we're able to say goodnight, kisses and hugs, lay them down and be able to walk out without any tears, without any fussing, and so that's the goal.

That's what we work to get to.

- This time of year can be nerve-racking for parents as the time change threatens the sleep patterns of adults and kids.

- If my kids are now waking up at 6.37, I don't want to wake up at 5.30.

But at the same time, I kind of know now what works for Caleb.

So hopefully if we have any setbacks, I can just reimplement what I learned and we can get back to sleeping better.

- So Daylight Savings Time is fast approaching.

It can be a really scary time for parents, especially parents with young kids.

So how do we get through it?

- Take a deep breath.

It'll be OK. Parents always worry, how am I going to handle the time change, whether it's falling back in the fall or springing forward in the spring, both kind of have their challenges.

- Welch says there are ways to prepare yourself or your child for the change, starting with a schedule.

- And the first one, I would say, is to really be aware of awake times.

So that might be in between naps, before bed, those kinds of things.

And understanding what your child needs based on age and then their personal sleep needs is really how it can be a key to finding their sweet spot.

What's the best thing to have my kiddo go to bed easily?

- Next, she says, is looking at the surroundings and creating a calm space.

- The second one would be bedroom environment.

But you want to look at something that's dark, nice dark room, you want to look for a little bit on the cooler side.

Just in general, people tend to sleep better when it's just a little cooler, just a degree or two, nothing crazy.

And then also like white noise, white noise is a great way to kind of help mask both indoor noises, outdoor noises, and it's calming.

- This has become a lifeline for Clinton.

- Usually he'll drink some milk.

- All right.

So after he has his milk, what would you do next?

- So I'll put them him a sleep sack.

We give him his lovey, we turn on the sound machine, and then we just put him in for bed.

- Another secret is the room darkening blinds.

- They're literally like a just black out sheet.

- The third tip Welch has is to tweak your bedtime routine.

- Being able to have something kind of short and sweet, maybe like 20 minutes or so where there's, if they're younger children, they might be still having a bedtime feed or if they're a little bit older, they might have a snack, some quiet playtime.

They're getting ready for bed, pajamas, brushing their teeth if they're older, and then reading some stories - things that are calming and relaxing can help to get that mood.

- And finally, Welch says consistency is key.

- The more consistent you can be, the better off everyone's going to be.

Their body and mind will get used to, oh, we do these things before bed or before sleep.

Great.

I know what's coming next.

And so that's going to help you in the long run and it's going to help them, too.

- And while those sleeping tips are ideal for kids, they are the same guidelines she uses with adults too.

- Maybe we're not reading books, kid books before bed, but we still are reading.

We're still having downtime.

We still have a consistent bedtime, hopefully.

All those same things.

We're still kind of looking for that ideal bedtime for ourselves.

So all of those things can really be transferred to adults in general, too.

So really think about your bedroom environment and what your sleep habits are and things like that.

And hopefully everybody can get some better sleep.

- The sleep guru says not only will these practices get you over the hump, but set you up for a lifetime of sound sleep.

Just ask that mom of three.

- Good job!

- Wow!

- Keeping up with a teen, a toddler and a one-year-old.

- Nope!

He's sleeping through the night.

It's amazing.

He takes great naps.

Within just a few days of working with Ronee, he was going to sleep and staying asleep for ten hours.

And at best now we'll sometimes get like a 12 hour stretch.

It was wonderful.

Good job!

- 12 hours of rest giving Clinton and Caleb.. # If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands ..the revitalization they need.

Clarity and the energy that play with my other kids and just be more alert to what needs to happen throughout the day.

At 2am, we set the clocks back one hour.

Of course, some do it the night before or the morning after.

I want to welcome now our Grover Silcox.

So good to see you, Grover.

- Good to see you, Brittany.

- So Grover, your beat this week actually is keeping the beat.

- Well... - So to speak.

- Actually, not so much me, but rather the upbeat, positive, exhilarating music of the Big Easy Easton Brass Band.

- Oh, that sounds familiar.

Have they been in the studio before?

- Yes, they have.

They also paraded through our production department playing When the Saints Go Marching In in their colorful outfits and so forth, got everybody up off their seats and getting involved.

- Yes, that is so fun.

I bet everybody loved it.

- They did.

And that's exactly what the Big Easy Easton Brass Band does.

They get everybody involved.

Their mission is to lift spirits, have fun and get everyone to join in in the New Orleans tradition.

Countless studies show that music elevates mood and improves blood flow, but not just for the audience, also for the musician.

According to an article in the Medical Science Monitor, playing a musical instrument can reverse stress at the molecular level.

The members of the BEEB - Big Easy Easton Brass Band - will simply tell you how much they love playing, how good it makes them feel, and how much fun it is to get people engaged, singing, dancing, moving and following them through the streets of Easton.

- They're the pied pipers of and every other kind of musical instrument.

The Big Easy Easton Brass Band draws crowds and followers through the streets of Easton.

- You're going to see trumpets and trombones, sousaphones, snare drum, bass drums.

For the most part, the regular marching band type stuff, but we do get banjo players, sometimes we have a bass player with an electric amp on them, a lot of tambourine players that can jump in and play.

So there's probably about over 30 people that regularly play with us at any time.

Band leader Jeremy Joseph, a native of Easton who now lives outside Phillipsburg, New Jersey, formed the band after watching the Rebirth Brass Band do a New Orleans second line parade on YouTube.

- I just said Easton is a perfect place for this.

This could happen in Easton.

And, you know, here we are four years later and doing over the spring and summer a parade every month in downtown Easton.

And it's just been a lot of joy.

- The band performs during Easton OutLoud's Four Fridays and also for holiday events such as the Christmas Parade, the winter market and lighting of the menorah.

The band has one primary rule - have fun and spread the joy.

- Once we got a few members, almost every rehearsal, it doubled, to the point where we had a pretty solid crew walking down the street.

- Members run the gamut from musicians who play regularly to those who haven't played in decades.

- You can pretty much bring any instrument and play it with us.

- I play the mellophone for this band.

A lot of people don't know what that instrument is, but basically looks like a big trumpet but it plays in the key of a French horn.

- Lisa Silvius, who plays the mellophone and French horn, worked for 12 years as a music teacher in the Easton Area School District.

She left to become a stay at home mom.

Now she teaches private horn lessons and enjoys playing with the BEEB.

- Well, anyone who knows me knows that I love to play the French horn.

It takes away my stress.

And just playing in a band like this, it's great exercise.

And there's nothing like playing music with a group of people.

- This band is really about kind of resurrecting that love of music in people that may have played an instrument before, all ages, all skill levels.

We don't care if you've only been playing for three days or you haven't played in 30 years.

- Steve Becker discovered the Big Easton Brass Band and rediscovered his interest in the saxophone.

- So I showed up at a practice like this three years ago and, well, first I had to find my saxophone up in the attic and I had to actually Google the fingering chart because I couldn't remember how to play.

It was 32 years.

- Like so many of his fellow band members, Steve enjoys music as both a player and listener.

- I love music.

Before I was playing, I would spend a lot of time going to see music, music fest, catch as many shows as I could there or go see my friends' local bands play.

Jeremy began playing trumpet in third grade and played through high school and college.

- I stopped playing after college a little bit for a good number of years and after returning to music, I realized how much I missed it.

That's part of the joy of being in this band, is just to resurrect that feeling of being part of a marching band, moving down the street, bringing music to people on the street.

- Playing an instrument, especially in a marching band, takes skill plus physical endurance.

- For example, the trumpet here, when I'm trying to play and hold these notes, you've got the muscles in my arms having to hold up this metal through possibly a mile or two miles of parade.

You've got the embouchure, your lips and the muscles here that are getting worked.

And you have to stay trained.

You have to keep practicing.

There's a lot of muscle movement in your stomach, here in your abdomen area to try to keep that tight as you try to force your air through this tiny hole.

So it is a very physical thing as well.

- Anyone can show up at the rehearsal any Monday or Wednesday behind the Easton Area Community Center and join the band.

- Our music is going to pay homage to the traditional New Orleans type tunes like I'll Fly Away, When the Saints Go Marching In, The Second Line.

But we're also going to have a nod to the more modern tunes.

- On this night, the band's practicing for the coming Halloween parade, which will conclude their third annual Thriller Community Dance.

- And we're going to stop there and everybody and anybody is welcome to join in to that.

- For the Big Easy Easton Brass Band, it's all about bringing the spirit of New Orleans and the joy of living to the streets of Easton for everybody and anybody.

The Big Easy Easton brass band might consider charging a copay to the city of Easton for all the good feelings they create.

Of course, they play for free and wouldn't have it any other way.

They love playing and bringing the community together in a way that only New Orleans Mardi Gras style music can.

And Easton, in fact the whole Lehigh Valley, just loves them back.

That's the kind of wellness money can't buy.

- That's exactly it.

You just feel it flowing through your body when you hear that music.

And it seems like they really love to play.

- They do.

You know, I think all musicians, professionals and amateurs, love to play.

You know, it's a passion.

In fact, according to a Harris poll, four out of five Americans believe that their music education contributes to their personal feelings of wellbeing.

And that certainly seems the case with the BEEB - Big Easy Easton Brass band.

- Yes, exactly.

They live and breathe it.

Grover, thank you so much.

- You're welcome.

Thank you.

- The field of music therapy has grown tremendously the past few decades.

To become a music therapist, one must hold a bachelor's degree followed by 1,200 hours of post internship work.

According to the American Music Therapy Association, about two and a half million people receive music therapy services each year.

I want to welcome now Kathy Purcell.

She's a board certified music therapist and director of Music Therapy Associates here in the Lehigh Valley.

Kathy, thank you so much for being here.

- Thank you.

- So that music was so much fun.

Why do we get such a lift out of just listening or playing music?

Well, that's generally because music is processed in your entire brain and it can evoke all kinds of memories.

And every life experience that you have is related to some kind of sound or music.

- So what are some of the things a music therapist does?

- So the music therapist will be analyzing the individual that they're working with or the group to determine what their needs are and their interests are, and then designing musical interventions to specifically address those goals and needs.

And then we're documenting how the responses are and then adjusting our services to coordinate.

- So when someone gets music therapy, what are some of the goals they're trying to reach?

It's not necessarily learning how to create this music, it's goals in other departments of learning and that kind of thing.

- We're using the power of music in all different ways to work on all kinds of different goals.

So it can be anything from helping someone to increase their attention span and following directions to helping them to relax and decrease their anxiety and stress.

We can help with memory care.

We can help with social skills, all kinds of different things.

So if you give us a goal, we can come up with a way to use music, listening, playing music, writing music, learning to play an instrument, analyzing music, to help work on that goal.

- Sure.

Is this something that's being utilized in schools or is this an after school therapy?

When do people get music therapy?

- So it is done in schools.

We are actually on several students' IEPs.

So we do provide music therapy through schools.

It is something that people do participate in after school hours as well, and sometimes on the weekends.

And we do work with people of all different ages and abilities.

So it just... And everybody's needs are different.

So we're tailoring it to what their needs and interests are.

- Sure.

And a lot of assisted living homes we hear about music therapy for the older folks, and how does it benefit them?

- Sure, music therapy is a wonderful tool for older adults.

It helps them reach areas of their brain that may seem closed off, but once you put the music on, it helps to redirect things in the brain that they can actually respond.

They're singing songs with us.

They're responding through music in nonverbal ways and verbal ways that help them to be more calm, be more in the moment, be able to relate to their caregivers and their family members and friends in a better way.

And it definitely improves their mood and their overall demeanor and enjoyment of life.

- Are you seeing this in folks who suffer from things like Alzheimer's or dementia as well?

- Yes, it's a very, very good service for those with Alzheimer's and dementia.

But really, folks of any age can really benefit from music therapy.

- And what does a music therapy session look and feel like?

- Since it's tailored to the needs and interests of the person we're working with, it can vary wildly.

We do work with people to learn an instrument if that would address their goals.

So, for instance, if you wanted to relax, I could... And you had an interest in playing piano, I could work with you to teach you to play the piano and help you relax and focus during that time and put away the stresses of your job and other things that may be going on.

And the goal would be that you would achieve that relaxation, the focus, as opposed to a music teacher, which I'm also a certified music teacher, which my goal as a teacher would be for you to learn the music and be able to play it well.

- During the pandemic, a lot of people have struggled with mental health.

Have you seen ways and found ways to use music therapy to help these people?

And is there an increase of music therapy use because of the pandemic?

- Absolutely.

So one of the things that the pandemic has helped people do is to focus on their life and their needs and where they are with everything.

And a lot of people are noticing themselves or their family members are suffering from anxiety and depression and different mental health issues, and using music therapists to help with those things is really important.

So we have an increase in contacts requesting music therapy for individuals.

And it's not just adults and older adults.

There's a lot of children that are really suffering from the differences in school situation, and being home at school or virtual learning.

And a lot of adults working at their jobs trying to do things remotely can be very difficult for them as well.

- Do you have any tips for folks who want to get into music therapy and use that as a way to clear their mind and have a better mindspace in general?

is to try to be more cognizant of what you're listening to and when.

So you don't necessarily need a music therapist to do that.

But if you do want to work with a music therapist, there is a listing through the American Music Therapy Association of Find A Music Therapist.

There's also the Certification Board for Music Therapy, which has searching for certified music therapists in your area.

We do provide music therapy throughout the Greater Lehigh Valley, down through Philadelphia, as well as into New Jersey.

And we have 28 board certified music therapists that can come to you or you can come to us.

We can do virtual services.

So we're happy to do whatever we can to help.

- The director of Music Therapy Associates, Kathy Purcell.

Thank you so much for that great information.

- Thank you so much.

- On the next episode of Living In The Lehigh Valley, Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

We'll serve up some ways to limit all those calories in your holiday feast.

That's it for now.

Join us next time on Living In The Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.