Welcome to WNIT Public Television

A 90-minute video documentary featuring the people, places and happenings of South Bend, IN as experienced by those who call the city "home."

Area residents with their personal camcorders were invited to record a story about South Bend—the first community in the OUR TOWN series to be featured. Rather than looking at the community from the outside, OUR TOWN examines the community from the residents’ perspective allowing them to tell their own story in their own way.

Volunteers were asked to attend a pre-production organizational meeting to answer any questions about the project. The meeting also provided an opportunity to brainstorm a list of subjects to videotape. From the list, each volunteer received one shooting assignment and was free to tape anything of interest related to that subject. Volunteers were interviewed at a later date providing the program’s narration.

Some topics covered in the project include: the Farmer’s Market, businesses still using Studebaker trucks, Special Olympics, a church reclaiming its neighborhood, The South Bend Chocolate Company, downtown architecture, Asian-American and Hispanic cultures and more!

Thanks to those who volunteered their time and talent to show all of Michiana what South Bend means to them. The following excerpts were not used in the film, but give more insight about why the volunteers chose to be part of the project.

	Mike Kouroubetes Topic: South Bend Park It was a pleasure being able just to go to these sites and just get behind that camera and just let that be the eye that looks upon the scene and just really observe and be that POV that observes. For me that was quite enlightening also more documentary element was fascinating to me. The stuff I do is fiction or historical fiction, for example, having just done a Civil War movie. So it was nice to do something more documentary and it was quite a thrill.

	Fannie Carr Topic: Daisy Hall Memorial Park I think in our neighborhood we needed a place for seniors and young children to go to intermingle with each other. The seniors could go and watch the young children play. I think it would be good for both groups. We started off as a small project and it grew into something. The park is not large but the project is large, and that's the main thing. I learned it could be done.

	Marti Kahn Topic: Conservatory of Dance I think this story is important to South Bend because I think the arts is important to South Bend. I think the arts, as we saw in the story, the arts is good for children as a participant. What we couldn't convey in the story is how valuable the arts are to the audience. The Conservatory of Dance company has some really good contributions to the community in the way they service their audience. Their productions are very family friendly, they're very intentionally affordable, they reach out to the social services in the community with free tickets, they work in the South Bend schools with at-risk children and involve them both as participants in a performance and as audience. I think it's important to have arts organizations because any opportunity that the younger members of the community have to participate or watch artistic endeavors is valuable.

	Greg Bockheim Topic: relationship between zoo caretakers and animals I've lived in several cities in the US. South Bend is a lovely small community and the zoo is a hidden, exciting small gem. In that community. It's been there nearly 100 years, almost 75 years at this location and it's such a great place. I wanted to show just a little blip of what's involved in the caring for animals in a zoological collection. There's so much that isn't seen. There's so much that goes into managing an animal collection. There's so much going to see to their medical well being and their husbandry management that's it's not often seen. The collection between people and their animals, I really wanted to show that and make people think a little bit more when they do come to the zoo and maybe recall what they've seen through this film and just learn a little bit more and have a better experience when they come to the zoo.

	Juliana Newbill Topic: People in the Community Besides the richness of the South Bend community, which I already knew because I do work at a history museum, I didn't know that Mr. (Tom) Broden was so involved in the Civil Rights struggle. I sit next to him or across from him at church every Sunday and here's a man who was actually involved in the changing in our society in the 1960's. You know, that turbulent era when everything was just changing and youn always think that the Civl Rights era happened somewhere else outside of South Bend. It happened down south, that was Birmingham, that wasn't here in South Bend. And here this gentleman, just going along in a monologue just like it's a story just telling me and my mouth is just dropping because this is history, this is what children should read about in their history books when they study it in school. This is exactly what our history is about. These very ordinary people that I go to church with every Sunday. That was an eye opener. An even better story and even moreso to the point I was trying to get across is that magical spark about South Bend is in the people. It's in the strength of the individual citizens here in the community that really make it a special place that whenever you need them, there's somebody who's there for you. You're never alone and that made me very proud to be a part of the community. It was easy to just sit and talk. Now I want to do oral histories with so many of them because they have such good stories to tell and it made us closer. Even though it's a real small church community, I don't know the history about everybody. It gave me a good look into their backgrounds and what motivates them. It made me even more appreciative of what the community has to offer. Juliana's original story was to be a positive one about today's youth. However, during some of the shooting, her camera was stolen. She told her priest and he in turn told the congregation about the project and about the story she was trying to tell. The congregation came forward to help and that evolved into her story about the everyday people from her church.

	Seabe Gavin Topic: Church Taking Back Our Neighborhood If we take the first step saying hey, we want our city to be a blue ribbon city. We want our city so that wherever you go children can go outside and play. Families can have cookouts. Families can be neighbors again. This community has to reach out and show people that they really care. Our church is just a part of that community. We can't point our fingers at anyone else if we're not taking care of our own community within our own neighborhood. Because if we take care of our neighborhood, that means the next neighborhood will take care of itself so you have a rippling effect that will go beyond just our community.

	Joy Johnson Topic: Special Olympics For parents it's a way their children or their athletes are able to be in the community without being judged. The families that work in Special Olympics, they do it mainly for their child. They get a lot out of it, they may not realize it at the time but they do get a lot out of it. Anybody that's involved in Special Olympics really gains a lot in their life. The athletes, they live for Special Olympics.

	Carl Rust Topic: Fiddler's Hearth I was really interested in Fiddler's Hearth to find out more about it and the people who were behind it. It's a family operation and as I talked to the people, the Meehan family, they're really putting forth Fiddler's Hearth as a public house. Even though it's a business and it's a restaurant, it's a pub, it has a lot of different characteristics but they really want it to be a part of the community and an asset to the community. Someplace where the community can gather and meet together, discuss issues, have club meetings in a nice friendly, family atmosphere. But in the beginning, I think I was just interested in finding out more about Fiddler's Hearth as an establishment, as a cultural icon for the Celtic culture which I didn't know very much about at the time.

	Brenda Hodges Topic: Catalyst Women All women have experiences and they all have a story to tell. And what happens is we tell those stories one by one and we strengthen each other with our stories. Before it's over, there's going to be over a million catalyst women that are going to empower each other and empower our nation.

Chris Mars Topic: Our Lady of Peace-long term acute care Peace of mind is what it really does give people. That's one of the primary goals in their mission statement. It's about the patient, it's about healing and getting better, both mind and body. Lisa Mars Topic: Our Lady of Peace-long term acute care One of the things about Our Lady of Peace is that they do treat the mind as well as the body, that it's a holistic approach to healthcare. They're able to do that and it makes a big difference, caring for the individual makes them want to get better, makes them want to work harder to rehabilitate, to walk, to do things they might be overwhelmed by their situation in another area. This is a brand new type of hospital in the nation. There's under 200 in the whole United States. They're very new and upcoming and they provide good care. It's nice to know to know that in our city that we have something very unique that we can provide our people.

	Bill Maki Topic: Notre Dame football ushers I don't think many people have thought about what it's like to be an usher. I've never been an usher for anything. I think it's neat that Notre Dame puts an emphasis on welcoming people to Notre Dame. Even in their concessions, most of those are volunteers for charities so Notre Dame really does a lot of neat things that affect this overall community. I think it's part of their class act. It's a great university. About the Project: I think it's neat when you can show pictures or videos. They affect people in a way that you can't by writing or just reading about it. I don't think there's enough of that on TV. You see a lot of national things but you don't see a lot of local things. I think it's a great project. Just the few stories I saw were really interesting and they're in areas you don't know about and maybe never would.

	Tina Young Topic: Asian Americans in South Bend It is very important for someone like myself to take the initiative to always foster that heritage, to keep that heritage continuous. Going on and to be involved. We just can't wait for non-ethnic groups to say "I don't even know that we have these people here." We can't do that. We are the ones, in my opinion, who came here so therefore it's up to us, the ethnic groups to more or less let people know who we are. It's up to us to adapt. But at the same time, the non-ethnic groups who are here, they also have a duty to learn who these people are.

	Capt. Darryl Boykins Topic: Gail's Nails (single parent success story) I think in my line of work that I do, you always see the negative. Whether it's the single parent, the kids aren't raised up right. I like to show people, this is the positive side You can be a single parent, a mother, raise your kids that aren't in trouble and to be able to guide your kids in the proper way of our society. So you don't have criminal elements, you don't have the drug element and you can still be a single mom. Because all you hear is "oh, this is why, this is a single parent, that's why this kid turned to this because he's a single parent or she's a single parent and there was nobody around, the kids raised themselves and they got in trouble." I think that was the important part in what I'd seen in doing a story on Gail to show that aspect of a single black woman because you hear that all the time. She's a single parent with two kids, one is 19 the other is 12. When she gets done doing that job, she's got to go home, take care of the kids, help with homework, she's also got to take care of her employees and maintain her business and I think that's tough for a single person to do.

	Kevin McNulty Topic: The Fix The charm of The Fix is that it is in a small place between other businesses in River Park, South Bend. It's not a new establishment that has a new edifice. It's not trendy, per se. It's not a place that a whole lot of money has been invested. Rather, it's a renovation of sorts. Even though it's a new existence, it has renovated that space. It's in a part of town that needs renovation and where the neighbors have accepted them and their effort. The charm of it for me is all of the sudden it's there in a very small spot on the sidewalk with a modest sign. If you're driving by in your car, you'll most certainly miss it. If you're walking, if you're stopping, then you'll find The Fix.

	Victoria Webb Topic: Downtown Architecture South Bend is a beautiful city. It's a little gem and should be protected. I think that's part of the job of the people who are really concerned about the growth of the city and how that's going to be managed. So it's nice to have residents who are conscious about that and want to make a difference. It's not too late at this point because South Bend's still really pretty.

	Nathan Trimboli Topic: Farmer's Market I think my whole life I've kinda wanted to get away from South Bend. I never though it had anything for me. The more I grew up the more I started to appreciate what South Bend has to offer. There's hidden things that you might not even realize that are out there. I travelled the country in a band and we went to every state in the United States and I still missed South Bend. I missed knowing where the Farmer's Market was. I missed knowing where the best coffee was in town. I'm sure it's the same way for anyone in their town USA. South Bend especially has grown to mean a lot to me over the years. About the project: I had tons of fun. It was great. If I wouldn't gotten involved with this project, I probably wouldn't have talked to a lot of the people I had so I'm really glad I did it.

Bill Steinmetz Topic: Studebaker vehicles still in use It was really fun to talk to the guys from the county police department. They didn't own this car since new. I mean, you can understand why the fire department loves their Studebaker truck. They've owned it since it was new. It's always been one of their vehicles. When it came time to take it out of service, they just kept it. But the county police decided to go out and purchase one and restore it and make it as part of their fleet. I think that's kind of a neat thing to do. That's what we all want to do is go out and find something like that, restore it, have it, play with it and have fun with. That's what they're doing with it and it's a neat old car. It's an official St. Joe County police vehicle. Andy Beckman Topic: Studebaker vehicles still in use The St. Joe County Police officers initially told us we don't know what we can contribute to this and we thought we were going to have to get a second tape at one point because it was just seeing all the memories come flooding out. Working at the museum, one of the most satisfying things is to see people connect with a car, an artifact, a photograph or something like that. We have pictures of people working on the line and you'll see someone come in and say that's my great uncle. And to them, they may never have owned a Studebaker but they know their uncle worked there for 30-some years, that was his life, it put break on the table for the family and to see the firemen with their truck it was the same kind of bond. It was their connection to the community. Seeing the history come alive is what I took away from it.

	Kareemah El-Amin Topic: The Value of Family I think it’s important because a lot of times as African Americans the story of us is not told unless we decide to tell it. I don’t think it’s something that’s intentionally done, but if you’re not at the table, you don’t get served. And so I think for South Bend, I want to make sure we had a very culturally diverse documentary that represented the diversity. The wonderful multi-culturalism that happens in the city and the fact that a lot of different ethnic backgrounds moved into these communities and they were able to be real cohesive and to be able to bring forth a lot of changes in the community with their families and their relatives and their friends.

	Austin Schultz Topic: South Bend Chocolate Company It looked like a fun project to do to tell the story of different things in our community that maybe some people don't know about it and to tell the community about what's happening in South Bend.

	Jose Arevalo Topic: Transition of Hispanics to South Bend I think the Hispanic community does not get out and vote as much. The Hispanic community is very quiet, a very reserved community. I think the need to tell this story is even more important because of the quietness in the nature of the community so for me it was an opportunity to do this and again sort of expose these pillars of the community to the rest of the community outside the Hispanic common culture.

	Ani Ahavah South Bend Tribune: Sowing Seeds in the Heartland of South Bend The idea came as I was leaving the studio after the orientation and I realized that the original thought that I had that the Our Town project was about was a little different. I originally thought I would be out on the street interviewing people about what's important to them and then I understood no, I'm to have a theme and develop a particular story of a place or event. The (South Bend) Tribune came to my mind because of the power that it has to influence how a community sees itself and how it can connect with itself within its self. The building is pretty drab. The building is not pretty, no art ...but the people are very nice. The people are hospitable and cooperative and were really excited that someone had come there to interview them and I even think that they were excited that somebody was asking the kinds of questions that I was asking.

George & Sandy Adler Topic: City Plan I think that it kind of supports the whole democratic process that if you ask people and you provide an opportunity for people to say what they would like, what they think about things, very good ideas surface, all the time. Not all ideas are equally good but by and large some excellent thoughts surface. People like to have the opportunity to say what they think. This process helps strengthen civic participation since that's the essence of the democratic process. Often times when people come to the meetings, at first they're a little skeptical about what's going on and whether or not anything will actually come out of what they say. But by the time they leave there's an optimism and a hopefulness so the whole process kinda helps develop that, nurture it and build community in the process. Every meeting, it was so exciting to see people come in and the people come to these meetings are people that care about their city. What this allowed was this transformation of not just caring but they care passionately. Repeatedly we heard people say we want our children and our children's children stay in this city. And they are passionate about their families and then they become passionate about the park that they want, the school system they want, the downtown area they want, the shopping they want. Everything they want they want they were able to put down on this list and more and more they're starting to say how it's going to happen and truly be a help in the process of making it happen.

	Travis Childs Topic: Our Past in Cemeteries People are so busy now trying to make ends meet, live day to day, get kids to school, they forget about why a community came to exist, why South Bend's where it's at. I just try to show the past, try to make it come alive. The past is not actually a group of dead white men. A lot of what we would consider now powerful people started off as immigrants that came here. South Bend's little part in that is the American dream is still here. That someone could come to a little town called South Bend, save their money and carve out a living. It's been that way in the past, it's been that way now and will probably be that way in the future. And all those tombstones that sit out in River and City Cemetery, even though they don't have the room to put on each stone what the person did, it's still important to learn. And hope that that is the highest form of compliment for those folks. That I recognize what they did and am trying to spread the word. Trying to let other people know these folks were important to South Bend. About the Project: I thought I'd try my hand at it. I had that topic right off. I give those tours every summer and I see sometimes 10, sometimes 30, sometimes 80 people at a time. But there are a lot of people in South Bend. And TV and media being the easiest way to get that story out, hit some of the highlights. Maybe interest some of those folks to come back to learn. Maybe encourage some of those folks to think if they have family ties to some of those people they do their own family research. I think that's why I got involved. It'll be cool to see how I could take the raw footage and WNIT could play with it and see what you could come up with. See if you could translate the same story that I had in my head.

	Frank Bennett Topic: Bonnie Doon, cruising and memories They used to call it the merry-go-round on Lincolnway West and Bendix Drive. It was more or less just around a couple of blocks at that time. At this particular Bonnie Doon's it was always funny because when it rained there was this big mud puddle. The asphalt would go so far and then it was grass but there was this big mud puddle. When it was dried up, these people would push their cars over this dried up mud puddle, crawl underneath, fix whatever was wrong with the car, hop in, take off and go. Me and my mom used to laugh about that all the time and when I relate that story to my children, especially my son, he'll say, "Man I wish I would have lived back then."