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Legendary pitmaster and Beard Award winner Aaron Franklin, who has been a brisket-serving staple at the festival since the beginning, said the heart and soul of the event is the same today as it was when it began.“The feels and the hugs and the high fives are always there,” Franklin said. “This is the only event I cook at out of the entire year. I don’t (usually) do these things, but we will always be here.”
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“While Southern Smoke isn’t on the ground in Maui helping serve food or distributing supplies, the nonprofit is doing what they believe is most valuable, [Chief Mission Officer Cat] Bill added: “We’re putting money in people’s hands.””
“Through Behind You, Southern Smoke provides grants to universities. In exchange, Southern Smoke can send clients over to them for no-cost counseling.
“We need to make sure that we have the roadmap [for Behind You] built in each state,” Chris Shepherd, Founding Director of Southern Smoke Foundation, said. “This program is going to be going long after I’m gone because it’s always going to be needed, so we have to build that path of success instead of just throwing it all at one thing and see what sticks,” he added.”
“We need to stand up and say there’s a problem, and we need to encourage people in our industry to talk to someone because it doesn’t help anyone just to hold everything inside,” Shepherd said. “It’s time for a change; we’ve lost too many people in our industry. We want to make mental health resources accessible to encourage as many people as possible to take advantage of counseling services.”
“No one’s going to choose passing up a shift over therapy,” says Catarina Bill, Southern Smoke’s director of philanthropy and programs, of making sure telehealth sessions are always available. “By removing barriers, we have a higher retention rate.”
“While mental illness affects one in five U.S. adults, service employees have several factors—including late hours and low wages—that can exacerbate issues. Luckily, some nonprofits are ready to step in.”