Great American Heroes

Episode 1

Salina, Kansas

Sat, Aug 25, 2012

Trace is performing in Salina, Kansas where he meets three local heroes. Amy Paden uses her organization called Hearts of America to put together care packages for our troops overseas. Amy sends food, blankets, and fun stuff so that the brave men and women serving our country know that they are remembered back home. Trace joins her and her volunteers for a packing clinic and meets a veteran who was a recipient of packages from Hearts of America and who now is a volunteer. Reverend Steve Kmetz has been working at the Salina Rescue Mission for over 18 years and has made it his mission to give the homeless men in his shelter a hand up, not a hand out, so that they may start over. His pet project is his shed building program, which gives these men marketable skills and teaches them to work as a team. Trace joins Steve, his handyman Handy Andy and the men in his program to work on one of their sheds. After the loss of her young daughter to cancer, Heidi Feyerherm started the Love, Chloe Foundation, named in her honor. The Monkey in My Chair program, inspired by Chloe, gives children who have to spend extended time in the hospital a way to continue to still feel a part of their class at school, and to know that they have not been forgotten. Trace joins Heidi and her volunteers to put together a number of Monkey in My Chair backpacks, then goes to the local school to chat with Stephany, a young girl who uses the Monkey in My Chair program to stay connected with her classmates when she is in the hospital.