[upbeat music] Welcome to WQLN PBS American Portrait.

A story telling project that invites people from all across the region and all around the country to submit their stories by responding to thought provoking prompts.

I'm Traci Teudhope from WQLN PBS.

I'm so glad you've joined us for this one of a kind program that is not just supported by but was truly made by viewers like you.

People just like you visited WQLN.org/AmericanPortrait and shared their own original videos, photos and their thoughts.

A glimpse into their lives at a particular moment in time.

We were so excited and so often touched by many of the stories that people from the Lake Erie region shared with us.

In this historic year that has brought enormous changes to almost everyone's lives, these stories helped us see that our neighbor's lives are very much like our own.

Yet, each unique in a way that makes the beautiful tapestry of America increasingly rich and complex.

You can share your story too.

It's not too late.

And it's so easy when you visit WQLN.org/AmericanPortrait.

Now, enjoy this look at your friends, neighbors and fellow citizens' American stories.

[soft piano music] When I step outside my door, I feel loved, I feel appreciated, I feel safe, I feel full of life, I feel at peace.

♪ It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood ♪ ♪ A beautiful day for a neighbor ♪ ♪ Would you me mine ♪ ♪ Could you be mine ♪ ♪ Would you be my neighbor ♪ TRACI: It's always a beautiful day in my neighborhood.

The people who live here are like family to me.

When life is good, we celebrate.

When life is hard, we rally together and support one another.

There is nowhere else I'd rather raise my family.

[soft piano music] I step out into this really small little neighborhood where you know how your neighbors are and you can see everybody and there's no high fences.

It's a safe place to walk, it's a safe place to say hello to your neighbors, to run down the street kind of a thing.

I see a neighborhood that is strong, that's growing, that is well grounded.

[light string music] Hey, my name is Renee Boardman and I'm here at Chautauqua Institution today showing my artwork.

This is what I do.

I'm an artist.

I'm also an art teacher in the schools, in all the local schools.

I travel throughout the county and teach special art classes and have a lot of fun with the kids.

And art is my life and that's who I am.

[light string music] Well, a day's work for me is complicated because I don't just hold one job.

I'm a full time salesman in the oil and gas industry.

And so, I have responsibilities for the northeast region of the United States.

And then also, I'm coordinating events around the community that require an interpreter through a local agency and also independently as an interpreter.

So, my day in the life of work for Mark is pretty busy all the time.

It starts pretty early and ends pretty late.

And just recently, excitingly, I also decided to go back to school.

So, I am a part-time student again trying to finish up my bachelors of science in business management.

And so, yay for homework, right?

A day's work for me is very rewarding.

Because I work as a music therapist at a nursing home.

So, each and every day I get to see the difference I make in the residents' lives and I get to see the improvement that they make.

So, as a music therapist, I work together with the residents to accomplish their different therapeutic goals, they could be emotional or physical.

I work with the rehab department and it's a really good collaboration to help the residents.

So, I get to see them improve, I get to see some of the joy be brought back to them.

Sometimes it's hard when you feel like you can't do the same things that you used to.

But music therapy really helps them see, yes, I can do things still.

So, music's in all of us and each of us have our own story or song to tell no matter what age.

[piano music] With the right support system, anybody, everyone, can become what God has ordained them to be.

I really believe that if the church is the church and doing what the church is supposed to do, the church has all of the gifts and all of the resources needed to help people to move from point A to point B.

[light upbeat music] I was raised to believe that I could do anything.

I was raised to believe that I could be a firefighter, I could be a policeman, I could be a doctor, I could be a sanitation worker.

I could be anything.

And I still believe that.

I don't constrict myself to just being a pastor.

I'm a teacher, I am a healer.

My name actually means healer.

And one thing that I ask God was for me to live out my name.

So, living out my name doesn't simply just mean being a pastor, it means being a healer in whatever area I'm called to.

Being a healer as a teacher which students and children.

Being a healer as a father within my family and restoring relationships.

Being a healer as a husband.

And healing hurts of my wife's past or even my past.

Just being a healer, being peace to situations.

Every situation that I come across.

I was lead to believe that I could be anything.

And I still believe that.

I believe that I can be anything, I can do anything and I believe that I'm equipped to do it all here in America.

I was raised to believe to be good to one another.

[light string music] I never expected to be leading the response to a pandemic within my community.

But here, this year, I find myself leading the COVID-19 pandemic hand-in-hand with Erie County Department of Health.

And what I have learned through this is first of all, we have extremely dedicated employees.

People who believe in public health and are doing everything they can to protect the citizenry of this community.

But I've also seen citizens who know that they're not here just to protect themselves, but this is something we're all in together.

So, that has been just an amazing thing to experience.

Watching our community come together, collectively, for the good of all.

When this all got started, I never expected that I would have the opportunity to spend time with my mom in her final days while I was laid off from work.

My mother was in a nursing home and she had dementia.

And shorty after I was laid off from work due to COVID, my mom had started to decline.

And so, during the three months that I was home from work, I was kind of going back and forth.

I was able to see her and to be with her for the last two weeks of her life.

And I was also able to be home with my daughter while she was home from school.

And the last day that my mom was alive, my husband had also been able to go over and visit with her.

And he had come by after he got done with work and so, he went in to see her and I had gone out to run some errands and she passed away while he was there with her.

And he played her music and he sat and prayed with her.

And what he told me later on that day was that it was very healing for him because last summer, around this time, my father-in-law had passed away and lived in Florida.

My husband wasn't able to do those things for his dad but he was able to do them for my mom.

So, it was very healing for him.

And so, actually if there is a silver liner to this COVID it's that I did have the opportunity to spend time with my mom as she declined and when she passed away.

That's my story.

[soft piano music] [upbeat piano music] Hi, my name is Jessica Kruger.

And the prompt that I chose is, family looks like.

I think at this point, I've just discovered that family looks like whatever you make it.

We all have the family that we're born with.

We have a family that we meet along the way that isn't related and I think the people that you choose to have in your life that love and support you and that you love and support too, those are your family.

I think that you go through things that just force you to find that.

And I don't think that there is any real definition, I'm sure the dictionary would disagree with that, but I think it's what you make of it, I think it's the people that's you choose, that you choose to have by your side.

Maybe you see them all the time, maybe you never see them, but when you talk, you know that they're your family.

[soft music] [upbeat piano music] A tradition that I carry on, I would say is helping keep history alive through film.

For me, as a filmmaker, PBS is incredible.

Because really, PBS is the only place that filmmakers like myself can go for, what you call in our industry, a one-off.

Most cable network companies are looking for a mini series or a long series.

But when you wanna do a documentary that might be just a two night special or a one night special, PBS is really the only game in town.

And PBS works so hard to try to keep history alive to educate, to entertain and inspire.

Well, both my family and my wife's family have a lot of traditions, especially around the holidays that we participate in.

We're faithful people and so we believe in Jesus Christ and we really like the Christmas holiday and celebrating it for more of a time of service and giving and remembering what Christ stood for on this Earth.

And so, that's some of the traditions we really like to do.

My kid's love to do, what we call, drop and runs, where we like to make cookies or treats or something else for people and drop it on their doorstep and run away as quick as we ca and hopefully not get caught.

That's one of our favorite traditions.

My wife's family did that for years and we've kind of adopted that.

I'm trying to think of, I mean.

We have lots of holiday traditions that we gotta keep up with.

Decorating the house and whatnot.

[light upbeat piano music] [soft piano music] I would say, in today's day and age, my greatest challenge, especially as my position of city manager for the city of Ashtabula, has to do with the Corona Virus.

It was affected out income of the city, it have affected my staff.

Trying to do everything to keep them safe.

Trying to keep the community safe and people abiding by the rules of what's going on in our community right now and what's going on nationally with the Corona Virus.

It's really impacted budgets not only for the city, but for our local businesses.

And especially since tourism is such a big industry here, it really hit us hard this summer.

So, we've been looking on ways to combat that and keep our businesses open.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I hope you felt a real connection with some of the stories on this presentation of WQLN PBS American Portrait.

I certainly did.

As we've seen, everyone's story is unique.

Yet, there's so much that ties us all together.

American Portrait is an opportunity to share a glimpse of your life in your own words and images.

Perhaps it couldn't have come at a better time.

Right now, we're all looking for new ways to stay connected, to genuinely express ourselves and to be truly seen, heard, and understood.

I had a blast sharing my own American story.

So, I hope you'll take a few minutes and share yours too.

Visit WQLN.org where you can see more stories like these and learn how to share your own story as part of this big, beautiful American portrait that each of us claims as our own.

[upbeat piano music] MAN: By a grant from Anne Ray Foundation.

And my contributions to your PBS station by viewers like you.

Thank you.

[soft piano music]