1234.

Get my shoes in.

Out the door.

Five.

I'm lost.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Feels great.

I'm gonna shine.

After I do what I'm gonna do.

I do it again.

Yeah.

Look at the sky with the beautiful color.

But never just for me.

You gotta share it with another.

I got to show, to give.

Let I want singing show.

Take a look and say a beautiful morning that turns into a beautiful evening.

And together make beautiful art.

And if you wanna see that, come along with me.

That's right.

Welcome to Experience Michiana.

I'm up high right now, but I am telling you about all the cool things that there are to do here in Michiana.

Coming up, we have opportunity to talk to a plant cell that's coming in Southwest Michigan.

I don't have a green thumb.

Maybe you do.

This is the spot for you.

You don't want to miss out on that.

We also have the opportunity to head down to Dustin's place, which recently opened up their new facility.

You want to see all that they have going on there?

But first up, I'm at the top of the set here at the South Bend Civic Theater.

Opening night is tomorrow.

We'll show you how to get your tickets and what the show is all about.

Well, isn't this fancy?

Look at it coming out on stage after jaws.

Beautiful.

Set onto the set.

It is beautiful here.

This is a really cool set.

We're at South Bend Civic Theater.

I had my new friend Jordan with me.

You are in the ensemble for this beautiful cast.

Should have been you.

Yes, it's the name of it.

And you guys are opening this weekend.

Yes we are.

That is so exciting.

But we've got to see, I mean, this can you get an expanded version of this?

This is just beautiful.

I know we're going to dive in deeper to the set, but we've got to talk about the show.

Yes.

I haven't heard of this before.

I want to know all about it because it is a musical, correct?

Yes it is, that is correct.

Okay.

It's very fast paced, funny, musical.

It follows two families coming together from different worlds for a wedding, which I feel like is common.

Yes.

So we have a Jewish family and a non-Jewish family.

Okay.

And, you know, all the shenanigans ensue.

In-Laws that don't necessarily get along, there's, you know, the wedding is off and then it's on and then it's off for various reasons.

Oh, interesting.

So there's some back and forth.

So we're not going to give it away today.

Right.

Do they actually get married or not.

But you can tell me after this.

Yes I can tell you afterwards I am not one who likes to wait, right?

No, I don't blame you.

I need to know.

But that's really cool that you have the opportunity to kind of go back and forth.

And I think a lot of people can kind of relate to this too.

What kind of experiences have you had that maybe you're pulling from within this?

Yeah.

I have had my own wedding.

Oh, I'm sure that it's kind of interesting to have that perspective.

But honestly, I think just the fun of it all and trying to stay in the moment, and taking things as they come, as kind of what we do.

Yeah, absolutely.

And you know, this is a second story shot, which, yes, I've ever seen this before on this stage here.

Maybe it's been a while.

Yeah.

I feel like there's a lot of expansiveness now.

These doors you can actually go through.

Right.

This is not just for show.

You will be coming in and out of these doors to.

Yes.

Most of them.

Yes.

So how does that work with the fast pace?

Within the storyline?

Yes.

So there's a lot of a lot of rehearsing and it's almost like it's kind of own choreography, making sure people are going the right way because there's staircases back there that you'll probably get a glimpse of.

Okay.

But yeah, just making sure that you're going out the right door at the right time, and then somebody else has come in at the right time, making sure you're leaving pathways backstage for people to be running around quickly.

And of course, backstage is dark.

Yes, it is quite dark.

We do have some lighting back there, but I know if you're like in the other room, then we know it was supposed to happen.

Okay.

Totally supposed to happen.

Yeah.

Okay.

Now the show itself.

I know it's Thursday right now.

You guys are actually doing your soft opening to.

So it starts at 730.

If you're watching this right now, I'm going to head over to the show real quick.

That's really cool.

But you guys do something special before the start of every show that you put on top.

That's about that.

Yeah.

So it's the pay what you can preview.

It is the Thursday of opening weekend for every show, and basically it's an opportunity to make the show more accessible for people that might not be able to afford, a regular ticket.

So every Thursday, it's kind of like a final dress rehearsal, but we treat it as a normal show, and show must go on.

Yes, it must go on.

And you just pay what you can to get in to see the show and you can enjoy it that way.

I love it.

Now we're opening this weekend.

When does it go through?

It goes through May 10th.

So Mother's Day, Mother's Day.

So yes.

So this is a great opportunity to bring your mom or your mother's.

Yes, yes.

Maybe get some ideas or if you're planning a wedding, maybe yes, you could see all that could go right and could go wrong.

Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

Now did everything go well in your personal wedding?

Yes.

It was a little hot.

We had a mishap with the cake, but we all know that.

Yes.

Okay.

But it tasted the same and everybody loved it.

So I had an in-law who hit my car and the party.

Oh, no.

That's my story.

That kind of relates to this.

Yes.

There's definitely some in-law tension in this.

That's fun to watch.

Okay, okay.

So, you know, be on good terms with your family.

Yes, yes.

Perhaps you'll see how it whether it turns out well or not too.

So okay.

So tell us what it's been like working with the cast.

It has been a blast.

We all get along really well.

Again, it's a very fast paced show, so we rely on each other to, have each other's backs.

It's very important in a show like this.

And we just, we love having fun on and off stage.

And I think that's what makes another thing that makes the show so great.

I love it.

I love it when we don't look inside these doors because this is beautiful.

Yes, I need to be on the set in this.

I know we came out of the doors to start, but this is pretty special here.

So yes.

So if you open one it's up.

So I don't need to hear right now.

What can free helpful for us to and we're, you know opening closing things quickly right.

Oh now we're in the foyer.

Yes.

And we can we can go right out there.

Come right back.

Now, this is pretty cool because we're actually heading backstage now.

And I have my friend over here who's actually working on the set.

We're going to dive into a little bit of that, but I see him over there.

There we go.

Hi.

Oh, hello.

Can we can we come in?

Yes, of course, of course.

Okay.

This is.

I have not been back here in quite some time.

There's a lot of woodworking going on.

Yes there is.

This is all you.

You are so talented.

I have watched you over the years.

I've been.

Thank you.

Civic theater.

Since I was.

Oh, God.

It's been almost 20 years.

Oh my gosh.

Yes.

I've watched your sets over the years.

Oh.

Thank you.

And this is really a top notch one.

Oh thank you.

Yeah.

This is a this is one of our bigger ones in recent memory.

Two story set.

Lots of doors, lots of staircases.

Lots of a couple of hidden magic tricks that will show if you come to the show.

Yeah.

So it's a it was a really fun build.

It's a really detailed build.

It's it's very big.

OSHA standards.

No comment.

Okay.

It is.

I was actually in Jordan before, too.

Have you guys ever built a second story in the set?

Oh, yes.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, we we do it.

We don't do it super often.

And it is definitely, you know, thinking of safety.

It is a real consideration when you build something, you know, walls on a one story set are going to be pretty flimsy and pretty basic.

Yeah.

You will build to the, to the occasion.

So if there's, if it's a fast and there's a lot of door slamming and all that, then you have to build those things stronger.

If there's a second story, we have to take it very seriously.

The actors need to be safe.

They need to be confident in what they're doing.

So this is actually built very much like a second story on a real house, I love that.

Can we go peek at it?

Yeah, a little bit too.

And I see you over here.

You've been working on the build designed to.

Yeah.

How long does that take you?

To think this through?

This is the director, right?

Our scenic designer, Jeff Rybak.

Does all the initial drawings and all the initial design.

And so he comes up with all of those ideas, he'll give us those concepts and like that drawing on the top, and then, and then we will go and create construction drawings to say how we'll actually build those things.

Okay.

And this was a conflict of interest at times that it's always a negotiation.

Absolutely.

This, set had some compromises because of fitting all the things we needed into the space.

This set is based on the Broadway design, and Broadway has a much bigger stage than we have.

So they're also always moving like you have to.

They're traveling Broadway touring.

Right.

You know, those sets are very flexible, too.

Yeah, but we had to be able to fit all this in.

And so when you look backstage, the staircases are all very tight and everything's close together.

And we had to figure out a way to get all those things to fit.

So that's always a negotiation with the director, the designer and the construction crew to get all of that worked out.

And that's so you can navigate through it.

Right.

All right.

Let's go take a peek.

Yeah, absolutely.

Because it's very cool to see behind the scenes.

I know this is not something that people in our audience always get to see, unless you're up here on the stage, which I always encourage people to get involved with your local theaters.

But looking back here, I can see multiple staircases, right?

You know, this is kind of like they're pieced together a little bit, right?

These staircases are from a previous show.

We've used these a bunch of times.

They're actually on wheels.

We can roll them around so we store them downstairs, and then we can roll them in for a show like this, when we need something either on stage or backstage, like it is in this case.

But then the staircases behind those staircases were built for this show.

Okay, so how do we get through it?

Well, if you want to, we can go up the main staircase.

We could come down the other one.

Whatever.

There's so many staircases here.

I need a map.

The easy way would just be to go up one of these.

See?

All right, we're going to go up the steps.

I'll meet you guys up here, but make sure you come watch the show.

Maybe you'll see me up at the top.

Well, it is that time of year again to start your gardens, or at least be thinking about starting your gardens as well as the landscaping around your home.

And there's no better way to get some great ideas, as well as some things to start growing.

Then going to a plant sale.

And there's a wonderful plant sale coming up real soon on Saturday, May 16th, and here to talk to us about it is Susan.

Stephen, Susan, thank you so much for joining us.

I love talking about the Garden Club.

And I love talking about plants, so it's perfect.

Yes.

And speaking of the garden club, it's the River Valley Garden Club, which puts this on every year.

So tell us about the club itself.

Who can be a part of the club?

What are you.

What are you guys do?

Anyone can be a part of the club that's interested.

I joined about 12 years ago when I retired, because up to that point I was working, and I was.

It didn't have time to join a garden club.

And at the time, I thought, oh, I don't want to join the garden club.

It's a bunch of old ladies.

But then I met the president and she's terrific.

Elizabeth Palace and a lot of the members, and they were terrific.

And it's a very interesting group of people.

One thing is when I joined, they were about 20, 25 members and we've meet in people's homes now.

We have more than 100 members.

It's huge.

So any it's like an event once a month.

And the garden, club plant sale has plants that each of us has grown in our own yards and our own gardens.

So if you have more than 100 members, you have at least 100 variety of plants.

Some of the people who are members, live on a farm and they're bringing, you know, vegetables and things that they grow.

I don't live on a farm.

I have a garden, but I live kind of in a wooded area, so I am mostly shade.

So we separate the plants according to sun and shade.

So the people aren't buying the wrong thing.

When I started gardening, I would go to a little garden center and I'd see all these lovely flowers.

Oh, those are for me.

I'm going to buy them, bring them home and of course they needed full sun.

They would droop, but it didn't grow for me.

So I finally figure it out.

Shade sun are totally different environments now.

That's one of the important things that you mention, is that people will actually get to talk to those who have grown these starts.

Yes.

So they're able to understand, like what they need in order to be hopefully successful in growing their own.

It's great to get advice when you go to this plant sale.

There's all kinds of members there that are happy to, talk your ear off because we all love gardening.

So yes, you can get advice and you can learn more about the plants.

We actually label every plant with the name, whether it's sun and shade and any particular things that they need to know.

And then we put our initials in the corner so that if somebody has a question and they look at the plant, they can bring it as a member.

It's like, oh, this is Carol Davis, this plant.

She's over there.

Ask her.

So that's right.

But a lot of what happens is there's a lot of camaraderie.

People are having fun.

And, trading pieces of information.

The other thing I was going to say is that we divide the plants by, not by size, but we have trees and one section bushes in a different section and then perennials in a different section.

And annuals and yet again, a different section.

So you're not wasting time looking at the wrong things.

It does really help if you know what you're looking for or the type of thing you're looking for.

It gives you a chance to go and, it it's only two hours because there's kind of a mad dash, from what I understand, to get things.

People line up before 10 a.m., and that's 10 a.m.

East Coast time.

So if you're coming from Michigan City, it's 9 to 11 people line up.

We have a little rope, and then we open the rope and they go running in.

And the members are not permitted to buy plants until the very end of the sale.

Or we buy our own plants.

Okay.

So that's not permitted.

And there's plenty there.

And and from my understanding, it's rain or shine.

Right.

There's a roof.

You've been there.

Yep.

There's a roof.

And and we take credit cards.

That's one of the newer things.

It used to be, cash or people would write checks.

Now we have the machinery to take credit cards, and a lot of it is just fun and getting advice.

Now, as far as your garden club, looking back at that, you guys are kind of you meet in, Berrien Springs or a Marion County area.

Tell us where you meet.

Well, a lot of the meetings are actually field trips.

So we meet up with our cars.

Sometimes we carpool and we'll go to, you know, a big, garden area.

Berrien Springs would be the.

I'm trying to remember the name of the, is it Love Creek has a lovely area.

We've gone there, we've gone to Fernwood Gardens, so we've gone to lots of field trips.

So a lot of them are away.

When we actually have a meeting with a speaker, it's usually held at the Harbert Community Church, which is in Berrien County, Now, to be a part of the club, do you have to, live in a certain area or is it.

Oh, really?

Not really.

It's open to anyone.

We have people from Indiana.

We have people from Michigan.

I think we might even have some people from Illinois.

We also have people I mentioned there, people who live on a farm.

There are people who are retired.

There are people who are just weekend people.

They live in Chicago, but they just come out on weekends.

So there's a lot of flexibility.

I can't remember what the dues is, but it's very low.

And really, we just ask for people that have an interest in gardening.

If people want to find out more information, where is the best place to do that?

Our website.

And you could probably put that up.

Yeah.

River Valley Garden Club.

Very good.

We're looking forward to the plant sale as always.

Hopefully people will get there early so that they have, a chance to get what they want when they go.

But more than anything, to talk and and to commune with others.

And, and so it's a wonderful thing to just share information is.

Yes.

I didn't mention that it is technically a fund raiser, although I often say it's more of a fund raiser because we don't price the plants in a very expensive way.

They're very reasonable.

But it is a fund raiser and we do give some school scholarships out to high school students that are interested in a college degree that is relating to forestry or, farming or plants.

And we also, go out and do plantings and places like nursing homes and places that really need and assistance.

So the group does lots of those kinds of service programs.

Well, the plant sale is coming up Saturday, May 16th.

It's the River Valley Garden Club's plant sale, and it's happening from 10 a.m.

to noon eastern time at, Harbert Community Park.

And, Susan, thank you so much for sharing.

We we hope it's a beautiful day and that people can come together and just, learn a lot.

Great.

I hope your watchers come.

Thank you.

I'm here again at Dustin's Place in Plymouth.

Now.

Viki Brown is the executive director of Viki.

The last time I was here.

It was this new building, but there was no furniture at all.

Yes.

So we figured we have to come back and actually see it with furniture now.

And how long has this been open now?

October 1st we moved in and long ago it was okay.

Yeah, yeah.

October 1st.

And you've got so many new things going on, including Mercedes, the therapy dog.

Hi.

Mercedes is probably the favorite thing going on right now, at least with the kids anyways.

And the community.

But yeah, since we moved in here, we've been able to double the programs that we can offer because we have a space.

We have a home now.

No, it's been absolutely amazing.

And I know that, like what you're you've been in existence now about six years.

Yes.

Yeah.

And so you started off kind of renting a space or having a space that was out of church.

And then now you moved to here, which is your own space that you opened on October 1st.

And as you mentioned, one of the number has been like, I mean, so you like your first year to even last year to now this year, I mean, it just keeps on I mean, it's in the thousands now that you're helping every this year project projected right.

Yeah.

Yeah it's incredible.

We because we just started that programing up at one roof in South Bend.

We were looking back at what was night one with Dustin's place because we had the night one in South Bend.

We had, like eight people a night, one here and up and south, and we had 12.

So you right.

The numbers are there.

But it's fun to see where you grow then.

One of the biggest numbers that we looked at is our first five years, we had, 903 people in our first five years combined.

Last year, in 2025, we had 823 people just in one year and one year.

And then we're projected this year to be close to 1600 wow individuals served.

And that's because of the community support.

Yeah, because of having a home now and because of recognizing the need.

It goes beyond just these walls.

And so you talk about starting a program in South Bend.

I know that we're here in Plymouth, and Marshall County has always been where the programs have been headquartered.

But as you mentioned that there is a huge need in Saint Joseph County.

And actually, you a lot of people coming from Saint Joseph County to your programs here, but that's also why you've expanded into the schools.

And then also, as you mentioned, that one roof at the community center, one roof, and you've you've expanded in there too, because the need is just so great in every community.

Right, exactly.

Yeah.

Marshall County has always been the heart.

Like they embraced us right away.

They loved us from the beginning.

But what we were seeing over the last couple of years is about 60% of our families were actually traveling from Saint Joe County to come to us.

And transportation can be a big barrier.

Yeah.

So offering that space up in South Bend in the evenings for families, we're in 27 community based groups as it is during the day, every week.

But we know that the most important part of a healthy grieving child is a healthy, grieving adult.

So bringing those family nights to South Bend was a crucial next step.

And, you know, for people that may not know, you started distance place after your husband Dustin, who passed away.

Yeah.

In a car accident.

Right?

Yes.

Yeah.

And so it's obviously a mission that's very close to your heart, but really you want to ensure that nobody grieves alone.

That's the whole point of Dustin's place.

Absolutely, absolutely.

And it's based on those barriers that I faced as that grieving wife and that grieving or that mom of grieving children.

No cost, no wait list.

Yeah.

Family shouldn't have to travel 45 minutes to come to us.

So really eliminating every barrier that we faced.

Yeah.

And providing that care that we needed.

Well, I know that it's you know, it's a big leap that you take when you do expand into different counties.

And I know that Stark County started to support you, too.

And, and there's all these communities because they need it.

But of course, you're 100% funded by local people.

And so that's obviously a big challenge to keep on saying yes, because expansion is all well and good.

But of course, when you expand, that comes with more costs and you just keep saying yes and then praying, it's like, yes, we'll start it.

And then just please, please help us donate.

But I know that you have different events like this year.

You're doing trivia for the first time.

Yes, which is going to be really fun.

So can you tell me a little bit about that?

Yeah, so we've always dabbled in those golf outings and everything, but what we found is the last two years it rained on the golf outing and you can't do weather dependent events.

Yeah.

Outside.

So this trivia night is something that I'm super excited about.

It's an evening that anyone can participate in.

I know nothing like I, I know not that I don't like.

I'm super educated.

I am not the person of useless trivia knowledge, but they're so fun.

You can come.

You can, eat food, enjoy an evening out and support Dustin's place in doing that.

Thursday, June 11th.

And so you're going to have this in South Bend this year, because I know a lot of the people watching will be around that area, and they might think, I can't go all the way to Plymouth, even though it's only 20 minutes down the road.

I know it's not far, it's just mentally far away.

Okay, but it's not actually far away.

But yeah, you're going to have it in South Bend.

I'm sure all the details will be on your website at Dustin's place.org, right.

Absolutely.

But yeah.

So June 11th is trivia night.

I know you're going to have a theme for it.

So yes, the theme this year is movies.

Yeah.

And so you can grab your movie ticket and come join us that evening to share what you know about it, because what we found, you found actually, June 11th is the day that E.T was released.

Yeah.

So there you go.

What better way to celebrate.

Exactly.

And I was going to think of a pun there about it.

Go for go home.

But anyway, I'm just gonna leave it there for now.

But yeah.

So June 11th.

So yeah, if you're watching and you think you'd like to support Dustin's place, then of course, June 11th.

I mean, I know in November you have your annual gala as well that goes on.

So there's lots of opportunities for people to get involved.

Absolutely.

And they can always support us, with our Amazon wish list.

We've got that, camp coming up.

There's program nights.

There's lots of ways to do that too.

I think it's really cute, even on the, you know, the, the smaller end of support, even though it's so important like you're in is a 37 school, 27, 27 schools.

But hundreds of kids that you help every week.

So you're in 27 schools every week across the area, and they need snacks.

Yeah.

So sometimes I've noticed on your Facebook, you'll ask people just for snacks.

And I think it's so nice that if you think of a kid that's in school that might be grieving and they're in one of these classes, just that they have snacks, you just bring comfort.

So like, support doesn't always have to be $1 million.

It could just be snacks.

Yeah.

I mean, we'll accept $1 million, but snacks are huge.

I mean, even just I mean, think about googly eyes.

Kids love to put googly eyes on everything they own.

So those little things, those really make an impact.

Yeah.

And I know talking about those school school groups because again, that's such a kind of an unseen thing that you're doing every day.

And it's just the amount of hours it takes and manpower and all the people that you have volunteering and working for you in 27 schools.

I know that you just finished a ten week course in some of the schools, right?

Are ten week.

Yes, it's a ten week program.

How did that go?

Like what was the difference that you could see in some of the kids?

It's it's really incredible to watch the way that they transform during those ten weeks.

They come in so hesitant, uncertain of who's in the group with them.

And then they gain that trust.

Yeah.

It takes about 2 or 3 weeks, a little bit more for some of the kiddos.

And by the end, they're sharing some pretty intimate details about how they're feeling and what they, what they are hoping for.

Well, I mean, that's great because obviously you can't get rid of children's grief, nor would you try, but just to be able to let them know that there is a healthy life ahead of them that they can have if they learn how to kind of have a healthy outlet in which to, like, share that grief.

Right?

Absolutely.

That's where you want.

And they're not alone.

There's other kids in the school.

Yeah.

Walking through the same thing and talking about walking.

I mean, I do want to see all the furniture put in here because last time it was just carpet and it still look great.

But.

So tell me about some of these rooms.

I know you have an art room.

We do.

So we have our grief expression rooms.

We have the, art studio where kids are able to use their creative outlets, whether that's through paint or through, a puppet show, through our sensory table, a space where they don't have the words to say.

Yeah, they can create it.

Nice.

Because of course, kids are not just going to sit down with a therapist and chat.

Not no, not not usually anyways.

And so there's all these different rooms.

And so I know there's one room that I really like which is tell me the room where you're allowed to go in and just go absolutely kind of crazy.

And yeah, so that's the Volcano Room.

That is for those moments where our grief erupts like a volcano, and it just needs to come out of us.

All right, I want to see this.

We recognize that all emotions are healthy, and so letting kids, let that out in a safe way.

Yeah.

So they've got the padded walls and the padded floors and all kinds of things that they can throw, hit, jump on.

I mean, I have a six week old at home, a two and a half year old and a wife.

I feel like I need one of these rooms in my house.

Just you just hear me go in and just be like, just for ten minutes and be like, hey, it's nice to see you again, family.

But now I thought you were going to say Christine would be that having to deal with you and the two girls.

Oh, she absolutely needs it.

Just dealing with me.

She said yesterday she has three kids, which was very nice of her, so.

But, yeah, I just love what you've done.

This place is awesome.

You took a leap after something dreadful happened to you and your family, and turning that into something that's now going to help 1600 families, our kids and adults this year.

That's awesome.

Thank you.

And we're very excited and blessed for sure.

So go to our trivia.

Thank you so much for joining us this week on Experience Michiana.

If you have some ideas of things that we should check out, head on over to our Facebook page and tell us all about it so we can showcase it right here on our show.

We'll see you next week.

Bye.

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