Ever pondered about the radical change that an act of thanksgiving can bring about? This episode is all about expressing gratitude and illuminating lives by paying it forward, a concept beautifully depicted in the film "Pay It Forward". Our team at ReEmployAbility, including Rachel Kicak - our Learning and Development Manager, Justin Pierantoni - an Account Manager, Joanna Jewell - a Communications Specialist, and Dulce Perez from the CCT care team, get candid about their experiences of gratitude and their unique plans to pass on the blessings.
Ever pondered about the radical change that an act of thanksgiving can bring about? This episode is all about expressing gratitude and illuminating lives by paying it forward, a concept beautifully depicted in the film "Pay It Forward". Our team at ReEmployAbility, including Rachel Kicak - our Learning and Development Manager, Justin Pierantoni - an Account Manager, Joanna Jewell - a Communications Specialist, and Dulce Perez from the CCT care team, get candid about their experiences of gratitude and their unique plans to pass on the blessings.
What do Kevin Spacey, Bon Jovi and the city of Las Vegas all have in common? I'll give you a few seconds, cause this is going to be a tough one. You can go ahead and pause the podcast while you google the question. Okay, you ready. They're all part of the movie Pay it Forward that was released in 2000.
Speaker 2:Maybe I was brought up under a rock, but I had never heard the concept of paying it forward until I saw the movie. It was truly an aha moment for me, I know, pretty sad. So while we were coming up with some ideas for our Thanksgiving edition of REA Audio, that concept in the movie popped in my head. Yeah, we're all thankful for a multitude of blessings we all receive and cling to. Some of us keep gratitude journals or make it a point to express our thanks around the dinner table, and that's awesome and a fantastic practice to keep your eyes on the right things. But I think real gratitude is action. How do you take what you say you're thankful for and put it into practice? How do you pay your blessings forward? We took some time and asked some folks here at Reemployability.
Speaker 4:My name is Rachel Kisak and I'm the Learning and Development Manager here at Reemployability, so I'm thankful for my really good hair. No, in all sincerity, I am really thankful for this amazing company and job that I have. I know that I'm on the podcast and I'm not trying to play up to a certain audience, but I've had a lot of personal and professional growth in this last year under really awesome mentorship, and it is incredibly gratifying everything that's happened this year. So I think sometimes in our day to day life we don't do a great job of recognizing and telling people how thankful we are for them. So I am going to make an effort to do handwritten notes to some people that I interact with on a day to day basis that I probably don't give them the right credit.
Speaker 2:So if people do not get a handwritten note from you, they should be very offended.
Speaker 6:Hi, my name is Justin Parentoni. I am the account manager for the Northwest Territory here at Reemployability. It's really strange that for the last 10, 15 years, thanksgiving has been had at my parents' house. My mom's hosted it every year for as long as I can remember. After her mother passed away, we started changing up Thanksgiving a lot, and this year we're not having Thanksgiving. She's going to be going on vacation for that time. It always makes her think of her mother and for the first time, I don't have a place to go on Thanksgiving, or at least me and my family don't have a table to sit at Her father.
Speaker 6:So, which actually leads me into what I'm grateful for is having that time with my family and something that we might take for granted. What we're going to do this year instead is my father-in-law gives out free Thanksgiving meals to anybody who wants one at his restaurant. So me and my wife are going to go there this Thanksgiving and we're going to be giving out free meals for all the people that don't have a place to sit at for Thanksgiving. We're going to be deep frying some turkeys and the mashed potatoes. We're going to be making a whole bunch of stuff and we're going to be serving for the day. So that's my commitment to give the pay-it-forward.
Speaker 8:Hello, my name is Joanna Jewel and I'm the communications and public relations specialist at Reemployability this year, I'm so grateful for my friends and my family and the ability to do great work with such an amazing company and in order to give back this year, I hope to go to food banks in the local area maybe, such as metropolitan ministries, especially because of inflation and how hard things are for people right now.
Speaker 5:My name is Dulce Perez. I'm part of the CCT care team and I'm thankful for my family and friends. The way that I pay it forward is helping those friends that are in need, that I know that they need the help, and also a way to show to my family is just cooking for them and trying to for them to have a great time and enjoying my cooking. Of course, what's the best thing you cook? I do spaghetti yeah, the shrimp are favorite or spaghetti that's my family favorite.
Speaker 1:My name is Nicholas Oliva. I'm an account manager at Reemployability. I'm most thankful for my friends and my family and the people closest to me in my life To pay it forward. This year I plan on spending more time one-on-one with those special people Over the holiday season. We spend a lot of time at group events or around a large table together and it's really nice especially now when you're doing something like that to be one-on-one for a lunch or a dinner with those special people and get some time alone with them.
Speaker 2:Is it hard spending time alone with your?
Speaker 3:friends and family.
Speaker 1:Absolutely not. I love it.
Speaker 3:And I'm the client service team lead. I am thankful for my family. I am thankful that my career is in a place where all day long we just try to help people and then I get to lead a team of other humans that are just trying to help other humans get them back to work and where they need to be, and I'm really thankful that every day I come in, something good happens. The thing I think I'm most thankful for is happy mail.
Speaker 2:Happy email, or like a happy husband.
Speaker 3:Well, happy, which kind of mail Both. Also, I'm very thankful for that mail M-A-L-E. But no, happy mail is when we get an email from someone that we've either impressed or had something nice to say or was really thankful for the program or something we did for them. And my team knows that I really like getting happy mail, so they'll afford those to me.
Speaker 2:Which is a great way for people to pay their gratitude forward. How do you pay your gratitude forward?
Speaker 3:Well, I try to send my own versions of happy mail. Also, I realize that not everyone gets to be in the position that I'm in, so I try to pay it forward through volunteering. So Feeding Tampa Bay I will be volunteering at in December. Thankfully I guess it's a good problem they didn't have any spots left for November, so everyone's trying to get in there for Thanksgiving. And then also I'll be volunteering with Reemployability, with Helping Hands Thrift Store in Plant City for Christmas time. So I'll be paying it forward that way. Also, I always say that if I can make one person smile every day, then I've hit at least that goal of doing one nice thing a day. Usually I get to do more than one nice thing a day, but I try to pay it forward that way too.
Speaker 7:My name is Carlos Cordova. I'm the Director of Service Operations here at Reemployability and I'm really thankful for the way I was brought up and having a positive outlook on life, and this year how I'm going to pay that forward is share with others what I do to kind of help me get myself in that bright frame of mind. That could be anything from listening to a podcast that I feel like has changed my outlook on things, or reading a book that's done that for me. So that's how I'm going to be a lot more intentional this year about sharing and being more forthcoming with the things that have made a difference in my life, or the hope that I'm going to make a difference in other people's lives.
Speaker 2:My name is Todd Loomis and I'm the National Sales Manager at Reemployability. I'm thankful that I can get up and run every morning. Some people can't. I'm also thankful that I can experience the lows in life, because the lows make the highs feel that much better, and I'm grateful for the caring of my family and the people that I work with here at Reemployability. To pay it forward, I'm going to be intentional about giving people compliments this year, regardless of whether I know them or not. They work at home, at the store, wherever. I am not going to be self-conscious about telling someone something nice. Hopefully they'll pay that forward too. Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to REA Audio Now. We need you to help us out. If you know someone whose story should be told, please let us know. Email Todd at reemployabilitycom. That email address link will be in the show notes as well. We'd love to have you follow REA Audio on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Stitcher, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also check out more content at listentoreacom. Remember, lead with the good and have a great rest of your week.