- [Shirley] Here's what's next-- - [Regina] On "You Oughta Know".

We take a dip under the sea at this year's Chinese Lantern Festival.

- [Shirley] Local chefs come together with a purpose to feed everyone, we'll explain.

- [Regina] A New Jersey couple's labor of love is what makes their handcrafted furniture special.

- [Shirley] And AAA is here with some summer travel tips.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to the show, I'm Regina Mitchell.

- And I'm Shirley Min.

We begin the show with a look at what's happening around the region to combat hunger.

Five Philly chefs are using their talents to make sure everybody eats and they understand the struggle.

Together, they are fighting food insecurity in the very neighborhoods they grew up in.

(soft music) Vittles Food Hall in Chester is where you can get breakfast, chicken and waffles, or a juicy burger all in one spot.

But Vittles is more than it's food.

- This is a mission led food hall that has recently been taken over by Everybody Eats, which is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to fight food insecurity.

- [Shirley] A percentage of the food sales here, funds Everybody Eats.

So it can continue to feed communities.

Stephanie says the building in Chester fell in their laps at just the right time.

- [Stephanie] It just made sense, it made sense for us to be here.

We have plenty of space, we have a kitchen to work out of and so here we are.

There's not a lot of people that look like us, that walk like us, that talk like us that come from where we come from that are relatable, that do what we do.

Like there's a lot of organizations that do the same thing, but they're not us.

We bring a sense of camaraderie, we bring a sense of love and relatability to neighborhoods that we're from and that's very important.

- [Shirley] Everybody Eats is a team of five black chefs from Philadelphia.

They initially came together after the murder of George Floyd.

- One neighborhood specifically in West Philadelphia, where my family is from and where a few of the other chefs are from, all of the grocery stores, drug stores, convenience stores were completely decimated, burned to the ground in a neighborhood that is very much so Black and Brown in which food security is already a major issue.

Initially it was just supposed to be like a brown bag lunch.

Each of us would make 50 sandwiches when we pull up in a neighborhood and see who wanted them, and that kind of snowballed into something bigger than what we expected.

We were able to produce over 600 meals and we saw then the impact that we had on this very small community and that there was a huge need for food security, not just in our city, but in others as well.

- [Shirley] Chester's a food desert and Chef Malik Ali hopes Vittles becomes a place where folks in the community can come, eat good food and hang out.

- Chester doesn't really have too many resources up here.

So we wanna be a resource where children can come learn something, get something to eat.

And we just like, even just the space itself is just like a comfortable space.

- Plans are underway for a community refrigerator and pantry right outside of Vittles.

Stephanie says the fridge will be stocked with fresh produce and prepared meals weekly and everything in it will be free.

But Stephanie says, along with giving people food, Everybody Eats, teaches people how to make their own food.

- We're showing you what to do with these items.

We're teaching you how to cook and sustain and feed your families.

We're doing more than just handing you food and sending you on your way.

Food is a basic human right, people should not have to choose between paying a bill and purchasing food for their family.

(upbeat music) - Stephanie says, one of the stalls inside Vittles will be an incubator for local food entrepreneurs, as well as a place to host culinary classes in partnership with Chester High School.

Now a lot of the food distributions or activations as Stephanie calls them, are funded by the chefs themselves.

If you'd like to donate, head to EverybodyEatsPhilly.org.

- Harnessing the power of teamwork is also what helped a former Drexel University student grow his food sharing program into a movement throughout the country.

- I was studying entrepreneurship at Drexel University and I had this day that changed my life.

I had a bunch of meals that I had not used throughout the entire semester.

And at the end of the term, you can't use them anymore.

And I took all the meals and I swiped them out, I put them in the back of my car and I drove to Center City, Philadelphia, and I gave them out and it changed my life.

(ecstatic music) Seeing in real time that people needed this food, it was a no brainer to me that this is something that should be practiced everywhere.

I went back to the university and I was really dead set on creating a formal meal swipe donation program.

I started to make that a part of my everyday routine.

I'd be running in between classes to make sure I could get food at a time when I knew that they were gonna be wasting it.

And now we're working with grocery stores and restaurants and wholesalers, but it really all stem from that first day where I just experienced having food excess myself.

(ecstatic music) About 40% of the food that we produce in the United States goes to waste.

It's over 120 billion pounds of completely edible food.

You can fill over 700 football stadiums from the ground to the very top.

(ecstatic music) It's going to waste largely for logistical reasons, to get it from point A to point B to physical effort, to pick up thousands of pounds of food.

So we've had to actually create technology to make this entire process a lot more seamless.

- We have an app and it just lets our people actually schedule rescues for our volunteers and our full-time drivers.

And it lets those drivers, when they're out on the road, report back what they're picking up at each place.

(ecstatic music) - We rescue it, then we transport it and then it's delivered and distributed at a community partner.

We started a partnership with the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market and we're rescuing and sorting through all of the produce that is unsold.

We get all of that food out to the major food banks that then use that produce to feed all the zip codes in the Philadelphia area.

We've already provided over six million pounds of food to the community, free of charge.

(ecstatic music) For every dollar that's donated to us, we're able to deliver 20 pounds of food, which roughly equates to 16 meals.

We're at 10 universities, some of the largest ones in the Philadelphia area.

And we are basically replicating what we've done at Drexel at these other universities.

I feel closer to humanity than I have ever felt in my life.

That's something that I can look back on and say, I'm really proud that I did this.

(ecstatic music) Our future is really teaching others how to do this work so that we can spread and grow Sharing Excess nationally, and maybe even internationally one day.

(ecstatic music) - You can help Sharing Excess by donating surplus food, volunteering to drive, or simply making a pledge to identify and share excess in your own life.

Check out their website for more information.

- Donating surplus produce is just one way a New Jersey organization continues its mission to protect the garden states agriculture and farming industry.

(upbeat music) - I'm Brooke McMinn, I am the new Executive Director for the New Jersey Agricultural Society.

We are the oldest society of our type in the United States.

So we were founded in 1781, our mission at the Agricultural Society is to preserve and enhance farming and agriculture in the state of New Jersey.

And so, we do that through educational programs and various other avenues.

(upbeat music) Our most popular program is probably our Farmers Against Hunger.

That was started in the late '90s by farmers who were members of the Agricultural Society, who were looking around at a lot of waste that was being produced.

If a farmer is growing crops and it becomes no longer productive for them to harvest those crops and take them to market, often they would just be left in the field.

So that's where Gleaning comes in, that's where would take a group of volunteers out to a field and harvest what's left and then use it to service those who are in need, food to feed new Jersey's most hungry within our community.

So even during the winter, we stay fairly busy.

Of course we're planning for the coming year and reaching out and trying to grow our Gleaning network, but we're also working with various grocers that will have leftover produce that they can no longer market and they're also not wanting it to go to waste.

So in those cases and they'll reach out to us and we can come and pick up that produce and then take it back to our headquarters, our facilities, and store it till we can connect it with someone who needs it.

(upbeat music) Second program then is Learning Through Gardening and that is our school focus program.

We focus that on elementary schools.

So teachers and schools can apply to us through a grant based program.

And if selected, they then receive all the materials that they would need to install a raised bed gardening system at their school.

So they get the raised bed, compost and soil to fill the bed, plant stalks and seeds to grow any number of plants that we can provide to them.

Then they get some lesson plans as well to tie it back into their curriculum and bring math and English and of course, science into the gardening.

It provides them sort of an outdoor classroom and use the garden as a teaching tool.

And then our Agricultural Leadership Program, we use that to work with professionals in the agricultural industry who really want to develop themselves as true leaders, both within the industry, but also within the community.

So we have a lot of farmers that come to us that wanna be more active, maybe in their County Agricultural Board or the State Board of Agriculture.

We also have folks working in those legislative positions that wanna learn more about how to be true leaders in agriculture, as well as anyone in a number of adjacent agricultural industries or fields.

- To get involved or host an event, contact the New Jersey Agricultural Society.

- After a three year hiatus, the Haddonfield Crafts and Fine Arts Festival is back.

The two day outdoor event features various activities for the family, artist demonstrations, and of course, a curated exhibit of arts and crafts.

Here to show us a few items that'll be showcased is Maria Veneziano, one of the festival organizers.

Maria, thank you for joining us.

- Thanks for having me, Regina.

- And thank you for bringing all of these things to show us some of the things that you might be able to buy or just look at.

- Absolutely, all of these artists that are here today that I have pieces from will be at the show on July 9th and 10th.

So you could possibly buy a piece just like this or one of their newer pieces.

I happen to own all these.

But I can tell you a little about the artists if you'd like.

- Well, let's start over there with that painting.

- The paintings on other side actually are from Simon Zeng.

He is a Chinese artist who immigrated to the U.S. in 1996.

He does have a lot of, these are prints from his paintings.

He does have some Chinese work, calligraphy and other symbolism.

These are happen to be very colorful photos we loved.

- I love that, 'cause when you're looking for things that you wanna just quickly put up in your house, it's like this is a nice standout piece.

How about this one right here?

- This is Sean Brady, he does what he calls wire sculpture.

You rarely see this.

This is a family, but he does a lot of pieces that you'd find that are, tend to be outdoorsy work, a mountain climber, a sky diver, a kayaker.

So love pieces-- - [Regina] I've seen some of those.

- [Maria] Sure, the mountain climber?

- [Regina] Yes, exactly.

- Going up your refrigerator 'cause they're magnetic.

He's very popular, he's from Philadelphia as is this artist with the Gritty T-shirt.

This is Paul Carpenter, this is a very popular piece.

- That's what I was gonna say, like a lot of people probably like that, that nostalgia of where they're from.

- Well, of course they want something Philly based and Gritty's a very popular creature now.

He's the mascot, he's the guy.

This also comes in black, I've noticed all be around the city and people also will be wearing his art, it happens.

The, I call it a clutch, it's a handbag clutch, Patrick Carrow, he is also from Philadelphia.

- Very nice.

- He takes recycled, he recycles this fabric.

Most of the fabrics are discontinued so you will be getting a one of a kind piece if you purchase his work, even insides different.

Exactly, he will be there.

His items are just incredible.

- And isn't great like you buy something here and you won't see anybody else with it.

- It might be similar in design.

He has very, he has a lot of different handle exhibits.

- And how about the rings?

'Cause I'm gonna steal that one before I leave.

- I know you are, this is, I know you are, Molly Rose Post.

Her theme for jewelry is kind of a fantasy, outer space, science fictiony feel, right?

That looks like that, this is Tommy Loraria, these two pieces.

They are, he'll take for instance, old item off of a cameo and put it in another setting and make a piece.

And he's from Connecticut, he'll be at this show, he's a very popular artist.

- And I like it that you also have like dishware, a lot of everything.

- Well our ceramics category, this is Carol Allen from Gladwin.

I like it because it's usable, it's usable art.

However, you can also buy, there's a lot of ceramics in this that are also just art pieces if you wanted to display.

This is a glass piece also from Paul Carpenter, he has the skyline of Philadelphia on it.

He also has some glassware.

It's great when you can be in your home having a meal and it's really you're using art.

And that was why my mother-in-law started this business of promoting craft shows, Renaissance craftables because she collected goblets.

She and her husband collected wine goblets because there are an inexpensive way to start collecting hand blown glass, you could also use.

- I love it, thank you so much, Maria.

- Thank you for having me.

- And if you would like to attend a free two day event, it'll be held Saturday, July 9th from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM and Sunday, July 10th, from noon to 5:00 PM along King's Highway.

Log onto the website for more information.

(upbeat music) - Keeping with the New Jersey theme, we'd like to introduce you to a woodworking couple whose handcrafted furniture is one of a kind.

- My grandfather had a saw mill, my uncle had a saw mill, I worked in a saw mill.

Bonnie started to help me by sanding and really loved sanding.

In doing that, she's gotten better and better.

She makes really great stuff.

(ecstatic music) - Abe is excited with a certain portion of it.

He likes the dynamics of design.

And then you get to where you have a piece that is recognizable as what it can be.

- [Abe] That's where Bonnie Warren steps in.

- So I'm kind of the cleaner upper and finisher upper.

(ecstatic music) - [Abe] Inspiration strikes at all different times.

Sometimes it's a walk in the woods and you can see a shape in a tree and sometimes that's enough and I never have to make it.

- [Bonnie] Starting out as a hobby, that's great to have all these unfinished pieces here, there and everywhere.

But in making a decision to turn this into a career, we need to have a finished product to let out into the world.

(soft music) - Good wood is actually bad wood.

If carpenter ants got into something and just chewed their little tunnels through and ruined it, it tells the whole story that ant did the most of the design.

That's our best stuff.

(soft music) We highlight imperfection, that's our favorite thing.

Look at it from a different angle and maybe it's the prettiest stuff.

Maybe it's, maybe there's beauty in that.

At the end of any given day, did you plug in the branding iron?

That is like the the dinner bell's almost about to ring.

The exciting part, that black and white to color transition is about to happen.

(soft music) No matter how much you feel attached to it, let it go to wherever it belongs.

- [Bonnie] Where it belongs is so, so often exactly where it belongs.

- One piece in particular that we had and it was a piece of pine that had been struck by lightning.

We put a high price on it, 'cause we didn't wanna let it go.

And after maybe a year or so, we said, "We are not enjoying this."

And we brought it to a show, a couple came along and they listened to the story and they purchased it.

- And it was okay to let it go.

It turned into something way bigger than it would have if it was sitting in our attic with a sheet on it.

It's an emotional attachment and.

- [Abe] People with children show a lot of pictures of their kids.

People with pets show a lot of pictures of their pets, we show pictures of furniture.

- We really went into this thinking, okay, he's making something, I'm finishing it up and we'll sell it.

And it's really more of, we are investing in people as much as they're investing in us.

And part of us is living in each of those pieces that are held in people's homes and in their sacred spaces, we feel honored to be part of that.

(soft music) - Such beautiful pieces and what a wonderful segment.

Here's where you can see Abe and Bonnie's woodworking creations.

(upbeat music) - There is a lot happening this summer.

Peter Crimins gives us a look at a popular Philly attraction.

- Every year since 2016, Franklin Square has invited artisans from China to come over here and set up the Chinese Lantern Festival every summer, except for the last two years because of the pandemic.

But I'm here to tell you, it's back baby.

Come on, I'll show you around.

This is the entrance tunnel, 700 lanterns.

I know because I counted them all.

A lot of these attractions are immersive and interactive.

There's a strong underwater theme happening here like this whale, which is also kinetic.

But if you look over here, there's a whole world of underwater.

(ecstatic music) So there's a lot of stuff to see and do, that's a performance stage with constantly rotating acts all evening.

There's a musical fountain with the jets or choreograph to music.

There's drumming, where if you drum really hard, you can change the color of the lanterns.

So this is what I find quite serene about the Lantern Festival.

It's the pandas, nothing's just chill out like a panda.

- The summer travel season is on and here with some tips on what to expect is Jana Tidwell from AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Jana's so good to see you again.

- Good to see you too, Shirley.

- When you were last here, we were talking about the astronomical gas prices.

I think I paid $80 to fill up my tank last time you were here, recently I paid 100, it was painful.

So in spite of the high gas prices, people are still getting behind the wheel to travel this summer.

How's that, what's going on here?

- They are, AAA is projecting about 48 million Americans will travel for the upcoming July 4th holiday weekend.

We saw near record travel for Memorial Day weekend as well.

And despite gas prices being at historic levels, people are still ready to go.

It's the first summer in two years that many of us are able to take what we know is a normal family vacation.

So people are willing to spend what we're spending at the pump.

However, they're going to make concessions in other areas.

In terms of travel, they may stay with family and friends to offset the lodging costs or stay at a less expensive hotel.

They may decide to dine in while they're traveling or dine at a less expensive restaurant.

Or in their day to day driving, they may curb the driving we're doing on a regular basis in order to be able to take that trip.

- So they're making some of these additional changes to offset the cost that the gas is causing.

Okay, so what are we seeing as far as the skies, 'cause I know that the skies for the upcoming July 4th holiday, airlines are booked.

- Airlines are booked.

AAA anticipates that nearly four million Americans will travel by air.

That's up from the previous July 4th weekend because air travel has opened up.

Many of the COVID 19 mitigation efforts have been taken away so you're able to fly freely without all those restrictions.

So people are ready to return to air travel.

However, those returning to air travel are returning to flights that are booked, fewer flights than we had on the itineraries prior to COVID, weather issues across the country, staffing issues in terms of airlines.

So all of those factors together are unfortunately causing what we've seen as recently as last weekend with massive flight cancellations.

- So what should people do?

- The first thing that people should do is when you're considering booking your travel from the get go is to book with a trusted travel advisor.

That's the person who's going to be your advocate, should a flight be delayed significantly or even canceled.

That person will work with you to rebook, reroute, whatever needs to be done.

You have someone in your corner, so you're not doing it alone in the midst of a busy airport.

When booking, you might wanna consider the first flight out in the morning.

Should something happen to that flight, there are likely others later in the day to get you where you need to go.

But first and foremost, people need to plan ahead and plan for that flight delay or flight cancellation by patting your trip, especially on the back end.

- Yeah, that's some good advice and an example of some of the changes affecting travel since the pandemic I'd imagine.

- Yes, indeed.

- All right, Jana, thank you so much.

So we just have to follow your advice now at this point, but otherwise hope everyone has a good vacation wherever you go.

Jana, thank you so much.

- Thanks, Shirley.

- Hollywood's latest rock star biopic is about the one and only "Elvis".

The movie that's getting a lot of buzz, also gives us a look at Elvis's promoter, played by Tom Hanks.

Patrick Stoner spoke with him for flicks.

- It's a lot of people saying a lot of things, but in the end you gotta listen to yourself.

(crowd cheering) - [Narrator] In that moment, Elvis, the man was sacrificed and Elvis the god was born.

- Baz Luhrmann's, "Elvis" features Austin Butler as the star, but it also has Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker inside of a lot of makeup and prosthetics.

I talk with Tom because I know how much he likes to go inside of a character and this gave him that opportunity.

Thomas, how you doing?

- Patrick, good to see you.

- It is a pleasure to see you.

I remember talking to you about "Cloud Atlas" and how much you enjoyed getting inside invisibly.

So I have to believe that this again, going invisible gives you a great deal of pleasure.

- I had never seen a photograph of Colonel Tom Parker, I had never heard the voice of Colonel Tom Parker and Baz Luhrmann was telling me that he wanted to get into that very, very specific relationship that goes on between a promoter and an artist who are both reaching for eternity.

Priscilla Presley told me, "You have to understand this about Colonel Tom Parker.

"He was a delightful man who brightened up every room "he walked into, but he was not a manager, "he was a promoter."

- Yes.

- So he never came to his failing as I think, he never went to Elvis later on and said, "What dreams do you have in your head son, "what is it that you would like to do?"

He never brought that up.

He always said, "If you'd like to do that, "well, then let me go off and make sure that we are, "that you have the opportunity to choose "between column A and column B."

He never created it himself.

- When you're in that character and there are these moments, but the audience may not understand perhaps till later or perhaps never.

Are you literally thinking as the Colonel would be thinking, or is it more a technical thing in which you're concentrating in all the other things around you and you've already done the preparation?

- Well, if I do my job right, all I'm doing is thinking with great affection for what the Colonel is thinking.

He knew exactly how to say, "Well, now my son, "if I think it's great that you're gonna go travel "around the world and I think "you're gonna have a wonderful time.

"I can't go with you, "but I'm sure Vernon will be able to handle "all the financial aspects "of paying for absolutely everything."

He had this, and when I was there, I said, "I know exactly what to say in this scene "because I know exactly how the Colonel "would have thought at this moment."

- Tom, thank you so much for giving me your time, I appreciate it.

- Patrick, it's always a pleasure and it's never long enough, so we gotta fix that.

- It's that time of year again.

- That's right, time to put the spotlight on young creators from our area.

The new season of young creators studio debuts this month, we'll learn how our young people are using video to share stories about music, education and more.

- [Advertiser] Universities, even right here in Philly, they have student record labels, why wouldn't a high school?

- Catch Young Creators Studio on Tuesday, July 5th at 7:30 PM.

Well, that's it for the show.

- We will see you all next week.

- Happy 4th of July.

- And stay safe.

(bright upbeat music)