KIND Snacks and Lauren’s Kids, Philanthropy and Sports, The Power of Touch

Episode 294: 12-11-14

KIND Snacks and Lauren’s Kids

Melissa Ader joined the Field Marketing Team for KIND Healthy Snacks in January of this year. She is passionate about promoting the company’s social mission of spreading and inspiring acts of kindness, both large and small, throughout South and Central Florida.

While well-known for their delicious, healthy snacks, KIND is a mission-driven company that thrives on the opportunity to make the world a kinder place, one kind act and snack at a time.

We discuss KIND’s initiatives and their involvement with Lauren’s Kids.

Philanthropy and Sports

Allen S. Furst has spent over 30 years working in sports and entertainment. From his early days as president of ProServ Financial Services, Inc., he represented such sports luminaries as Michael Jordan, Arthur Ashe, Patrick Ewing and many others.

Today, Furst blends his sports agency business with event planning and marketing. He is considered a leading authority on sports business and corporate events.

We get Furst’s thoughts on the business of sports marketing. Topics include a poignant discussion of Mr. Ashe and his struggle with reveling his infection with AIDS, being in MJ’s entourage in the early days, and the community involvement that makes Dwyane Wade and Alonzo Mourning special members of the Miami community.

We also discuss the upcoming 2015 Reid & Fiorentino Events that benefit Lauren’s Kids and Zo’s Winter Groove 2015.

The Power of Touch

Tiffany Field, Ph.D., is the director of the Touch Research Institute in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Miami School of Medicine, which conducts research funded by NIH, March of Dimes and several corporations on the effects of alternative therapies such as massage therapy on various medical and psychological conditions including preventing prematurity, enhancing growth and development of preterm infants, reducing depression, attentional disorders and pain syndromes and increasing immune function in chronic illnesses.

She has received research scientist awards to support her 30-year research career in the Department of Pediatrics and has published over 400 journal papers and over 20 books. Earlier in her career she founded the preschool programs at the Debbie School and The Dominion Towers on the Medical School Campus and the Canterbury School on the Coral Gables Campus.

Episode 294: 12-11-14  (To download, right-click and select “Save Link As”.)

Transcription:

James Fried: All right, we’ve got a great show today. We’re going to have KIND snacks on. We’re going to talk about how she’s helping, how a KIND snacks helps the Lauren Book make the world a better place for us. We’re going to have my good friend Allen Furst and we’re going to talk about philanthropy and sports. In particular, we’re going to be discussing the upcoming Reid and Fiorentino events as well as upcoming Alonzo Mourning Winter Groove, and then we’ll finish up with our Uhealth guest. We’re going to talk about the power of touch and healing the stock market what’s up. Gas prices are down. We’ll be back with an absolutely super show. Wanda, it is all yours.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

James Fried: All right. We’re going to start our philanthropy day with KIND snacks. KIND snacks is helping Lauren Book make the world a better place and we’re going to speak with Melissa Ader. She joined the marketing team for KIND snacks earlier this year and she’s published about promoting the company social mission of spreading and inspiring acts throughout south and central Florida. Melissa, welcome to the show.

Melissa: Hi Jim, thanks so much for having me.

James Fried: Oh, it’s my pleasure. First of all, thank you for the delicious snacks we have. When I brought the box into the office today, all the guys grabbed one. So they love the food. Let’s talk about what you do, though.

Melissa: Oh it’s good to hear that you’re sharing the snacks. You’re living the mission.

James Fried: I am.

Melissa: I’m local to Miami, and I have a marketing team here set up in Florida really meant to bring KIND’s social mission to life in Miami and also in Central Florida. We have a team on the ground in Tampa and Orlando to really work with me in the organization like Lauren’s kids and other to also try and further our mission of spreading and inspiring kindness.

James Fried: Now, we all know about Lauren spreading kindness and the kindness that she does. Why don’t we talk about the KIND movement for a second? It stands for kindness, what’s your social mission?

Melissa: Sure. So in terms of KIND, a lot of people, very many people know us for our line of healthy and delicious snacks, with the ingredients you can actually read and pronounce. But we are really was founded on an important social mission that we call the KIND movement. So together as a community we are really inspired to creating kind act through act for big and small, and really finding people to celebrate the community like Lauren who is doing the same thing.

One of the main things that we have done in terms of verbalizing the social mission is called the KIND cause program, and that’s actually how we met Lauren. Each month we give out a $10,000 grant to someone making a world a little bit kinder. So that’s what we are really excited about that we started last year.

James Fried: Now, does somebody have to be a 501c3 to submit?

Melissa: Not at all, anyone with a great idea and a passionate concept as to how they can make the community a better place, we’re all ears.

James Fried: Do you focus on one type of social issue or one thing, things that people address, or do you kind of look across the spectrum?

Melissa: It’s definitely called the spectrum as we have been blown as a company to receive applicants that spend the whole spectrum from meeting the homeless to working without refuse. To someone like Lauren who’s fighting child and sexual abuse. The end really is not insight for us. We love hearing different creative concepts that are really patching to that person and to their community.

James Fried: Now, how did you meet Lauren, what did you do with Lauren? What’s your $10,000 going to be used for with Lauren?

Melissa: Sure. We met Lauren through the application for KIND cause and we’re fortunate enough to actually have her come to our annual company meeting in New York city in October where our company is headquartered. And she was able to speak to almost 300 KIND team members. We were also blown by her story and her mission, and just her passive drive for making the world a better place.

So, when she was awarded her $10,000 grant, she actually made a commitment to use those funds in forwarding her annual work effort for this year. So we are really excited to see that come to life through KIND support, and the funds will be used for gas for her buses to food and supply for workers.

And we’re actually excited as a team to be joining more and I am the fortunate her walk that was I in Florida. So, we will be out there for in full force ready to support her in Miami and Orlando and in Tampa and that’s something we’re looking out for to this upcoming spring.

James Fried: Awesome. Just so everybody knows my Twitter page is highlighted in headline with a photo of myself and my wife joining Lauren on her walk in front of the American Airlines Arena. It’s one of events that we look forward to each year. Now, what are some of the other groups that you have awarded gifts to and grand to, Melissa?

Melissa: Sure. We have really worked with so many different organizations across the country. There have been organizations locally like Lauren who have worked with children. We’ve had other people who have taken the grand money and take a tour across the road trip across the country in a van doing small acts of kindness to people whether that’s renting an ice cream track giving kids ice cream on the streets or giving flowers to others who are in need or just brightening their day.

Really it’s been such an overwhelming response to the program and we’ve realized there so many great ideas and passionate people who are just needed our first boost. So as a company, KIND is really excited to help them on that first step.

James Fried: This is awesome. Who came up with this idea?

Melissa: As a company, really it was a total group effort. KIND is always looking for a way to sort of intervene that respect and obviously produce snacks to people and enjoy and keep them going, but also to take a one step further and use our rich and our employments to do the right thing and to help others who have a passion and a cause to come to life.

James Fried: Yeah, I’m not sure which one I like better: pomegranate, blue berry, pistachio or apple, cinnamon and pecan. I think I’m going to just decide by eating them all.

Melissa: Variety is the spice of life so we recommend different flavors every day, why not?

James Fried: Oh, hi five. Do you have another reward coming up in South Florida this month?

Melissa: Well, every month we award the grand and it’s really across the entire gamut. So we are lucky to have a Lauren local, and we’re excited to build that relationship with her. But every month people are encouraged to go to our website at kindsnacks.com/cause, and that page you can very easily apply for your own cause grand or you can blow for someone else this cause.

And the really cool thing that we do is when you go ahead and log your vote in support of a cause, you’re actually encouraged to make a commitment on your own to meet a small kind act, whether that’s opening the door for someone, or smiling at a stranger to brighten their day. Every time someone logs on to vote on KIND act, they’re encouraged to do the same as well. So we are really all about paying it forward and keeping that moment on going.

James Fried: Wow. What a positive energy start to our show? Melissa, what did you do before you work for KIND? My goodness, you sound like absolute the most positive hi five and energy person I’ve met.

Melissa: Well, I’ve been really fortunate to work in marketing for some really great companies, so coming to KIND with a really natural fit. And it’s so wonderful to be localed in Miami. I was born and raised here so having that positive local connection in our community and be able to know a lot of these great deserving groups that we can work with, not only to provide healthy snacks but also to help them in a deeper level, it’s really exciting for me.

James Fried: Yeah, I know. We’ve gone with Lauren and we’ve out to some of the schools with her and watched her really change people’s lives and they’ve got to believe that not only does your healthy foods change people’s lives, but your positive energy pay it forward approach does as well. What can we look forward to in the next year from KIND?

Melissa: That’s a 100% sure and that’s something actually we really believe in that. You have to do the kind things for your body, for your kids and your world. So Lauren kind of embodies that. We love to work with people who do that theme and kind of holistic approach to help. So coming in the year 2015 we have a lot great initiatives.

We actually are going to be furthering a campaign that we started recently around Art Basel. It was obviously a big event for Miami and we decided to focus on efforts as a company and highlighting the talents and the passion of that kids have to the earth, and how the earth can kind of elevate kids and provide positivity and kindness in their life.

So we want to take that mission further and actually next year for our puzzle bring them out to the streets and gave them share their talents with the world. So that’s one great thing we would like to build around. And I’m really just generally teaching kids about the importance of kindness and having them find an applicable place in their lives as well.

James Fried: Well, first thing is to tell them not to play video games and TV where drives a bunch of that negative energy towards them. We only got about a minute left, Melissa. So why don’t you tell everybody where they can go to find more information again and how they can submit for their acts of kindness and for grands.

Melissa: Sure. It’s very easy. Just visit kindsnacks.com/causes online and you can go ahead and submit your idea, including just a brief description of how you would use the grand and the impact that you hope to make through the grand. And then the voting process begins and each month we’ll have that voting process where people are asked to commit to their own personal act of kindness.

We look forward to welcoming more people to our family in terms of dispersing these grands and see their amazing work come to life and their dreams are going to come true in that respect.

James Fried: Well, I would like to invite you and your team to come into the studio one time and bring all these energy into our studio so we can send it right out into our listeners. I think everybody needs a dose of positive energy that KIND snacks can bring to them.

Melissa: Oh we’d love to. Thank you so much for having us.

James Fried: Fried: It’s our pleasure Melissa. We’ll be right back after this with more positive energy. On positive energy today we’re going to have Allen Faust. He’s with a group that puts on the Reid and Fiorentino events. He also works with Lauren’s kids and Zo’s Winter Groove 2015, lots of sport, lots of positive energy, lots of great stories coming your way. Wanda, take us away.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

James Fried: All right. We’re back. We’re on positive energy day. We started out with KIND snacks who donated $10,000 to our favorite charity Lauren’s kids and one of the things I want to use as a sage way into our next segment is that there are three things in human life that are important. The first is to be kind, the second is to be kind and the third is to be kind. That’s a quote from Henry James and with that quote I’m going to use it as a transition to introduce my good friend Allen Furst.

He has spent over 30 years working in sports and entertainment. Allen is going to be discussing the 2015 Reid and Fiorentino events, one of the beneficiaries that is of course our charity Lauren’s kid. Well, he’s going to talk about Zo’s Winter Groove 2015 and maybe he will give us a little feedback on what happened at Run Wade as well. Welcome back Allen.

Allen: Great to be here. Good afternoon.

James Fried: All right. Listen Allen, why don’t we go with the retrospective first. Tell us a little bit about how Dwyane’s function went.

Allen: Thanks for giving me some airtime. Last couple weeks, it was November 18th and it was really an awesome event. We had great media following it. He and Gabriel where in People magazine, it was some great media cover from the event. I think moving in to the season and having the player participation really elevated the style of the event. But certainly, it’s parting with a cause because the proceeds went to Wade’s World through our foundation helps some great local organizations.

James Fried: So one of the things that you do is you help the sports stars and entertainment stars here locally reach out through philanthropic endeavors, have you found a lot of these sports that people in entertainment people interested in giving back to the community?

Allen: It all starts with them. All I try to do is bring some professionalism to what they inherently want to do and that’s really our purpose. We’re more in the back scenes. We’re trying to make sure their cause is brought up front. But the athlete or celebrity is driving his cause. It’s really not for us to do that. We bring a lot of that support and we magnify what they’re trying to do in the market place.

James Fried: Yeah, so you project their energy then?

Allen: Exactly.

James Fried: That’s awesome. Now, up in the end of March, Tony Fiorentino and Eric Reid are going to continue to put on their core of the game dinner and their celebrity golf classic. Looks like there are some sponsorship that are still available, why don’t we talk about this a little bit? I guess people can also go and sign up the golf too, right?

Allen: Yeah. The best place to go is on the website which is ReidandFiorentinoevents.com and the event this year is about two weeks later based on the time of the schedules. So the dinner will be on Saturday, March 28th at Seminole Hard Rock hotel and casino and the golf event at Turnberry Isle in Miami which will be on Monday, March 30th. So the past couple of years the golf preceded but either way it’s going to be two great events. And we’re talking more about our honorees which happen in the next year.

James Fried: Yeah, why don’t we do that? It sounds like you continued to get confirmation from some really cool honorees and they’ll be at the event so if people want to meet some of these legends they can do that at the event, play golf with them I guess.

Allen: Yeah, one thing about the golf tournament we use both golf courses at Turnberry. You have 50 plus foursomes and each one is paired with a celebrity or former athlete. A lot of retired Dolphin players and we’ve had a lot more people participate in the past so that’s certainly an added bonus. And the dinner this year, last year we had about 800 people attend. Our top honoree last year was Lebron James who accepted the sports legend award but he certainly brought out of crowd.

But we’re going to follow this year with Dan Marino, who’s graciously accepted the Don Shula Sports Legend of the Year Award which is about time. He’s following in some great footsteps and another recent announcement this week is Romero Britto will get the Ted Aaronson Community Service Award. So, two great persons give back in the community who were honored to be honoring them.

James Fried: Yeah. Romero is terrific and maybe I should just wear my jersey and bring a Sharpie or maybe not. But I can’t wait. Dan Marino has always appeared to be gracious and I can’t wait to meet him in person. Now, let’s you got the- it’s presented by Acordis and hosted by Seminole Hard Rock, so is the dinner at Seminole Hard Rock or where are you going to have the dinner?

Allen: Yeah. Again, we’d like to bring the recognition to Acordis International Corp. They’ve really stepped up and they’re going to be our presenting staff of both the dinner and the golf. It’s hosted by the Seminole Hard Rock hotel and casino which is where the event has been the last several years and the golf tournament is at Turnberry Isle in Miami which is first class facility.

James Fried: And I got believe the event. The diner is hosted by Tony and Eric. Anybody who watches the hit game knows that these guys can keep something moving. That’s in March, and you’re also working with Zo, right? You’ve got something coming up with Zo?

Allen: Zo has been my client for over 20 years. I’ve helped him start the Mourning Family Foundation and Zo’s Winter Groove which had a 15-year ride and expired a couple of years ago. I’ve been asking him to bring some special event back to the community. So the Zo’s Winter Groove will be our first entree for him to have an event. December 27th they’ve a ninth where if you look on the website of Zoswintergroove.com you’ll find all the details there.

It really kicks off on the 27th with the Zo’s health and wellness family groove 5k run and walk at Miramar Regional Park which is really a community oriented event. Then on Sunday, the 28th, there’s going to be a Zo’s comedy groove which is basically sold out at the JW Marriott Marquis downtown.

James Fried: What a great venue and that’s with the Def Jam guys, right? The Def comedy guys?

Allen: Yeah. I’m not exactly sure who the lineup is this but I know it’s only few tickets remaining and then on Monday, the Zo’s hall of fame groove which as everyone knows who got inducted into the NBA hall fame this past summer which was a truly great honor and the golf tournament at Turnberry Isle Miami. I understand as of today may actually be sold out. But all three events are open to the public and there’s a great opportunity that meets in support is a great course.

James Fried: Since today is positive energy day, one of the things I want to remind everybody is that if people go into blooming day at the falls they can shop till they drop and they’ll be benefits to Lauren’s kids. So please everybody here in South Florida go to blooming day and shop till you drop for Lauren. We’re going to have great use of those funds with Lauren.

Now, Allen, let’s talk a minute. We’ve talked about philanthropy. We’ve talked the events that are coming up. How did you get involved with all these? You’re doing this for other people but if you don’t project and have the same positive drive, it’s just not going to work. How did you get with help in this celebrities promote and present their philanthropic side?

Allen: It’s combination of things. I’m an attorney of CPA by professional backgrounds so I’ve always been involved in business and sport entertainment both, some in Spanish. A lot of professional athletes as their financial advisor and through different sets of circumstances, I help several guys set up their foundations. And as I said earlier, I try to bring some professionalism which what they do.

And the great thing about celebrities and entertainers that want to give back is they have the access to lot of corporate doors that you and I might not be able to get in to and so they can leverage their celebrity status, they can do a lot of great things because people today flock to who out there is trying to do some things and giving back.

James Fried: Well, I know that you are in the early days working with Michael Jordon and Arthur Ashe, do you have good poignant stories about either Mr. Ashe or Michael Jordon?

Allen: Well, with Michael there’s not enough words out there to describe him both as a player on the court and off court. He’s been a genuinely great person. He is how he appears to be and he’s certainly given back a lot of different ways, a lot of different factors. Arthur was a true definition of class in the sense that not only was he a true ambassador for the game of tennis.

But he was willing at that time a lot of people were hesitant. Today you see a little bit what’s happening in recently where players are willing to stand up for a cause and he certainly stood up for a apartheid issues in South Africa. He is one of the first high profile people to be diagnosed with HIV which was a big turning point when he went public with it and said he got it through a blood transfusion which all people at that time weren’t aware of that.

James Fried: Now, we’ve talked a lot about different athletes and your experience with that you’ve worked with and I’m going say expecting your current clients because they think they are all philanthropic. You only got a couple of minutes left, who is one of the more philanthropic guys or ladies that you’ve worked with in the past? You’ve only got a couple of minutes left, I want to just draw on that and then kind of highlight the events again.

Allen: Well, I do think the poster child of philanthropy from an athlete point of view is actually Alanzo Mourning because you don’t have to tell Zo what to do. Somehow he’s lived and breathed a lot of things that have become his pet causes. He grew up foster care, so naturally Children’s Home Society was a big beneficiary. Nowadays having kidney disease and a transplant certainly that’s another great cause. He’s always recognized the need to give back to the sports community through education and health.

So you can’t write the script for anyone better because he basically lives and breathes and he’s so genuine and authentic in terms of how he portrays that. But there’s a lot of great guys who have done that. I sit on the board of athletes for HOPE, which actually was founded by 12 of the most giving-back athletes, Mohammad Ali, Andre Agassi, Alonzo, Mia Hamm, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, all those celebrity athletes present talents on the field who then allow use of celebrity status to give back on their own respective way.

James Fried: Well, one more time we’ve only got about a minute left now, maybe we can go out, what’s the website, and how do people get more information on Tony and Eric’s event and also Zo’s winter group 2015.

Allen: Well, website is the best way right now and Tony and Eric on ReidandFiorontinoevents.com and then for Zo’s Winter Groove just look up at Zoswintergroove.com and certainly that’s best place to start most information on both websites.

James Fried: Well, listen I appreciate you coming in and when we get a little bit further into the spring we’ll have you back we’ll talk about Tony and Eric’s. We’ll get Tony here on the show. I want to thank you for coming in.

Allen: It’s always my pleasure and I have a great day. I appreciate your support and everything that we try to do here.

James Fried: We must. It’s absolutely extraordinary important in our community and if we can give a little less important to us. Wanda, take us away and we’ll be right back with our short break with our Uhealth segment. We’re going to talk about the power of touch and healing back after this.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

James Fried: All right. We are back and we are back talking about something that’s extraordinarily important and that’s the power of touch. Doctors quote and quote lay hands on their patients all the time but do you realize how important touch is? We are going to discuss that right now with Doctor Tiffany Field PhD she is the director of Touch Research Institute in the department of pediatrics at the University of Miami, school of medicine and we call it Uhealth. Tiffany, welcome to the show.

Tiffany: Thank you, thank you.

James Fried: Now, tell me a little bit about how you work with the March of Dimes and several other companies and develop these alternative therapies to help kids.

Tiffany: Right. Well, we’ve been working with March of Dimes and Johnson and Johnson and lots of other companies to, basically, help any condition and they range from psychiatric conditions to attention disorders, cardiovascular, Klein syndromes, other immune problems and dermatitis, diabetes and immune conditions like cancer and HIV. We literally done over a 100 on this conditions all at basically the UM Medical School at Jackson Memorial.

James Fried: Well, everybody says, “Oh, you are not feeling good, let me just give you a hug.” That really works, doesn’t it?

Tiffany: Yeah. No, no it’s a good hug. If it’s a flimsy hug it’s not good. But all of this is about stimulating pressure receptors and we know this because we have done those compare muscle pressure massage with light pressure and the only thing that works is mild pressure.

The mild pressure puts you in a relax state and leaves all kinds of biochemical and physiological effects. And the light pressure is stimulating and arousing and has the outside effect. So if you have a good hug that’s good but if you have an A-frame hug that’s not good.

James Fried: How about kisses? How do kisses fit in all this?

Tiffany: Oh men, I don’t know. You don’t know any studies in kisses. It’s very strange. I don’t know if you remember but there was a senator from Proxmirre from University of Wisconsin, I mean from Wisconsin to a senator and the-

James Fried: Sure I remember senator Proxmire, of course. I’m an old man, I know that.

Tiffany: He said we shouldn’t find studies on love because everyone knows everything they need to know about love. And I think kissing involves the same category. I don’t think federal grant has covered kissing.

James Fried: Well, what’s the most effective thing that somebody can do to calm down their child?

Tiffany: Well, I think the most effective, just based on our own research, is to give him a little back rub. Hugging is good but back rubs are excellent for kids, they just love it. Some kids love having their heads rubbed. And you know, all of these is predetermined because even the new born tell us that they prefer having their heads rubbed or their backs rubbed or whatever. They have to take the cues from the kid.

James Fried: Now, it sounds to me that the need to be touched and its aim and you were talking about the sensors and receptors that are involved, what’s the way to best activate those sensors and receptors and where do they generate?

Tiffany: Well, the best way is like mild pressure and you can achieve that by getting a back rubbed, rolling a tennis ball across your limbs, fast walking, doing yoga, anything that stimulates the pressure receptors. You just have to move your skin.

It puts you in a relaxed state so your blood pressure goes down, your heart beat goes down, your stress hormones are decreased, and because your stress hormones are decreased, you can survive immune cells. They’re called natural killer cells and they kill bacteria, viral and cancer cells. And it also increases the body’s natural pain reliever, which is called serotonin, It’s the chemical in the body that reduces pain and also reduces depression. And it also reduces substance P, which causes pain. So, there’s a lot of good things that comes from this. It’s not just beside therapy. It’s anything that moves the skin.

James Fried: So it’s moving the skin per say, not this muscle stuff? So we can be just- when I see my mum, who is seventy something years old, she comes over or I go over her house and make a point to make sure I hug her, I rub her arm and I kiss her because the touching is the most important thing.

Tiffany: Yes, exactly. That is the best therapy she can receive. And she can do it to herself too. She can rub her arms and rub her neck. A lot of the therapy massage studies we do, we do self massage. We teach people self massage. So, for example, there was this doctor in Baltimore, Maryland, who cut a tendon in the back in the nape of the neck by mistake and his patient no longer had migraines.

So we said, “Okay, the best thing to do to her to reduce migraines is to massage the nape of your neck,” and anyone can do that to himself. Yeah, 58% reduction of headache pays.

James Fried: Wow, that’s amazing. That’s absolutely cool all just from paying for it and giving out a little love and tenderness.

Tiffany: Yeah, exactly.

James Fried: What is the best place, if somebody needs to relax, what the best place to rub? Some people say foot, some people say I guess by their temples, what do you find has the most result in helping people get it back together?

Tiffany: Well, we haven’t really compared. We also massage the area that’s affected. So if you lower back pains, we massage that area. If you have, I already mentioned the migraines, if you have neck arthritis, we massage that area.

I think people can self massage those areas whenever they’re feeling pain in those areas. So that’s what we suggest. And, like I said, people have personal preferences, right? From me it’s you’re not having pain or you’re not having any particular problem, you can just massage wherever- self massage whatever area feels good.

James Fried: Yeah, I do that all the time including right now I’m self massaging because I have back pain. Wanda is self massaging because she has neck pain. Wanda, keep it up, mellow out girlfriend, mellow out. So doctor, we’ve only got a couple of minutes left, let’s somebody their child is acting up, they want to help their child out, they want to get their child mellow, they want create the ability for their child to stay calm and relax, how are they going to hold you and your team?

Tiffany: Well, I think holding a child, rubbing their back, of course you move them from a stimulating situation. Hugging and physical affection is great for kids they love it and it is very calming.

James Fried: Listen, all I can tell you is you may not have told me something new but you reinforced everything that I know and it’s great to hear because in such a hard driving every day world where kids are pushed and pushed and pushed, it’s nice to hear, “Why not give him a hug. Let him relax. Rub their neck and generate that positive energy between parent and child, and between parents as well I would imagine.

Tiffany: Exactly. Every family should be doing to each other because it’s very, very needed and necessary and it’s a horrible thing that a lot of children are developing the same pain syndrome, like fibromyalgia and arthritis it don’t serve, and it’s just from stress.

James Fried: Well, that’s not good. We need to reduce their stress and I can tell you is that I know it works because my wife is suffering from very major kidney disease and when I rub her kidneys in the back in the morning, it helps her system revitalize and she goes number one like a race horse, which is a miracle for her.

It’s the most beautiful thing that I do in the day and I want to thank you for coming on our show, talking to us about the healing power of love and touch and I certainly hope that you’ll keep it up, and hi five as many people as you can because I have to believe that is some good touching too.

Tiffany: Thanks.

James Fried: All right. Doctor Tiffany Field PhD, director of the Touch Research Institute and the department of pediatrics at Uhealth, thanks again for coming on positive energy day.

Tiffany: Thank you Jim.

James Fried: Wanda, stop rubbing. Relax, you are relaxed. Take me out, we are coming back, I’m going editorialize about paid it forward and positive energy. I’m gazed up, I’m ready to go. You don’t want to miss it. We’ll be back after this.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

James Fried: All right, I’m back and I’m positive and I’m paying it forward. Today has been positive energy day. We’ve talked about KIND snacks and how they look for kindness acts. They’ll help you if you want find an act of kindness. Kindness snacks, awesome people, awesome ideas, they fund Lauren kids recently. Lauren you can go to the booming day at the falls and shop till you drop. We need a lot of receipts for Lauren because you’re going to give a donation of Lauren based on how much sales there are. So get down to the falls, do your shopping and help some kids.

We also had Allen Furst talking about Zo’s Winter Groove, what he does with Dwyane Wade and also with Tony Fiorentino and Eric Reid and one of the beneficiaries of the March 28th and 29th and 30th event is going to be Lauren’s kids. So make sure that you do stuff in this community to make it forward. And I want highlight some of the people that I know that pay it forward and I’m going to start with my friend Terek Maddox.

Terek Maddox, NFL trainer, you see the pictures Facebook of him going down to the Perrine and Richmond Heights Optimist club. He is role model for kids. He is the strength in that community. He is a wonderful guy. He doesn’t get paid. He does it from the goodness of his heart.

Another guy like that, Howard Fabian, Howard Fabian is the secretary for the NFL alumni. Their model is caring for kids. You hear us talking about their events. Howard is one of the most pay it forward guys I know. Another person that pays it forward is Larry Zinn. You hear Larry all the time on the show in fact, they are going to be again next week where talk about how people can work with him and how it is a family over there.

Larry is all about family and he is involved in the community all the time, paying it forward extraordinarily important. The number one guy in paying it forward is Ron Book. Ron is Lauren’s father. He and Lauren have together changed the world and they continue to do so. So I always want to give a hi five to coach Ron Book and ask him to continue to change that world with Lauren.

And also, the Marlins, the Marlins we work with them and they have their hands in the community. It’s absolutely awesome. We’ve had them before talking about what they do to the community. We’ll have them on again. And by the way, hi five for all the moves the Marlins are making. Who knows how they’re going pay out? But it makes it really exciting to be a Marlins fan.

And let’s not forget the Dolphins. You see them out community, especially during their season when they give away turkeys for thanks giving in Christmas. They help people. It’s all about being in the field with the Dolphins. With the Marlins, we’ve done it. They’re beautiful people but the number one person that I know that’s full of kindness and love and positive energy is my wife. And I’m going to take a couple of private minutes to talk about my wife.

It’s been a year since she collapsed on the floor with kidney disease and she’s fought back dramatically. She is getting stronger every day and I must tell you that watching her fight every day for life is one of the most inspiring things that any person would be a part of and I love her dearly. It is amazing to watch the progress that she is making and I say it this way, with her doctors from Uhealth.

Uhealth is a sponsor on the show but Uhealth is another group that pays it forward. The people that work with my wife at Uhealth are some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. People from Ashwin Mehta to Judi Wooger, to the man himself Pascal Goldschmidt, everybody at Uhealth that we run into has nothing but kindness and positive energy. And that’s what it’s all about today, kindness and positive energy.

You know, we put the people from KIND snacks on and they’ve talked about how they’ve given somebody $10,000 to drive across the country and hand out ice cream cons to kids that are disadvantaged. You want to know something? It’s just that simple. You don’t need to know the person to make a positive impact in their life. And there’s always something that you can do if you look around just to pay if forward, a kind word to somebody, even in the elevator, the person that just cuts you off.

Be kind to yourself, relax. Let the person go. They were a turkey. They’re probably in too much of a hurry. In fact, the guy I got to the front of the line on traffic in 995 the other day and the guy behind me was a maniac. He pushed me so hard to try to get out and go fast. And you know, all these doing is blazing right in front of all the corps there. So you know, I was kind, I let him go, the corps enjoyed it, they went after him.

You know, sometimes being kind helps everybody across the board. You know what? I’m going to test myself. When I drive down Bayshore his weekend, I’m going to try to be kind to the people that are on bicycles. Hopefully, they would be kind to me and we can all get together because you know what? Kindness is required in Miami. I’m commercial real estate, but you don’t have to be to notice what is going on.

Miami is getting more dense and more crowded. There’s people from all over the world that want to live here that have to live here, that are moving here. Industry is coming and what we need to do is we need to make our culture better for all of us. We need to take a step back and be kinder. Today the world is kind, kindness. I want to thank the people from KIND snacks for being on the show. Wanda how much time do I have left? Awesome, I have great time.

I want to really editorialize about this. The most important thing that we can do here as a community is bring ourselves together. It all happens with all those big spotting event when the Marlins wins the world series or the Dolphins, that’s right I remember it. When they win the super bowl, heck we were all here when the Heat won, it brings us together even for a couple of minutes.

Well, you know what? When you’re driving around tonight, try to keep that feeling in mind. Try to realize that the person cutting you off could be your friend of mom or your dad’s, they maybe somebody that’s lost. Remember when you were lost and try to be kind to them. The person that’s on the streets begging for money, a lot of times you need to be kind to them. They are in a tough place either because they have mental illness or because they had setbacks in life.

So pay it forward and be kind. It’s really the number one thing. The most important thing is to be passive, be kind and pay it forward. And I’m going to read this again. There’s three things in human life that are important: the first is to be kind, the second is to kind, and the third is to be kind. That’s Henry James, the famous author. But it could be anybody who’s smart, your minister, your rabbi, your priest, anybody. Your mother, your father, your best friends, be kind to all these people.

Pay forward with positive energy. You’ll be amazed about how great the positive energy is that you’re going to get back. I’m going to thank South Florida Business and Wealth Magazine for being a sponsor and helping us get the word out. You already heard me give a hi five to Terek Maddox, I want to thank him again. The CCIMs, they’ve given energy out, so the real estate industry. And Uhealth, they’ve given positive energy out to everybody.

Warren Henry automotive will be on next week talking about the Dolphins and Warren Henry family. Join the Warren Henry family. They’re terrific and they stand behind anything they do. We talked about how Howard Fabian and the NFL alumni caring for kids. The Miami Dolphins, we all know what they do for our community and the Miami Marlins they’re continuing to build their brand here and breaking out strong.

Social Media 305, Johnny helps me get the message out. He‘s going to be really boosting our presence on social media. I want to thank of course, Lauren’s Kids and I want to thank the Aztec Group. The Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. But the most important person I want to thank is you all listeners. Wanda, how much time do I have left? All right.

Well, it’s time for me to thank our listeners the right way. The listeners are the people that are most important to our show. There’s going to be big changes coming up in 2015. We’re going to cross the 300 show threshold. We’ve had 300 shows and it’s because of you and I want to thank you. You gave us a shot. You listened to the show. You value what we say. We get texts, we get emails all the time while I’m on show asking questions and giving feedback. You can go to our website, you can reach me on Twitter at Jim Fried, the show is @friedonbusiness, we’re on Facebook, LinkedIn, eventually I’ll figure out how to get everything back on YouTube and working.

And of course, Robert Pitts, our web master, will have everything up on our website. It gets lots of hits every week. www.friedonbusiness.com. But the most important thing is to lap it up with the show has been about. We talked about kind, KIND snacks and how they reward people for doing the right thing with $10, 000 grand. Go to their website, check it out and do some positive things. I want remind you everybody about things that Allen Furst talks about. The Reid and Fiorentino event coming up in March, and Zo’s winner groove that’s coming up at the end of this month.

I want to remind everybody about the good things at Uhealth and how important touch is. The folks at Uhealth, Tiffany Field the PhD that was on today she brought it home. Just rubbing the neck, massaging, a medium size touch is something that gets it going with people and helps them refocus and feel better. Try it out on your torsion. Try it on your spouse. Try it on your parents. It’s one of the most wonderful things. Just rubbing their arm, just rubbing their neck, giving them kiss and a hug

If you missed the show, it will be up on the web page, www.friedonbusiness.com. This is Jim Fried, for Fried on business. Look for us on 880 AM. Next week we’re going to talk about the apartment market. Larry and autos, and we’re also going to talk about how to get some LinkedIn tips. Remember this is not a rehearsal this is your life. The person that wants to do something finds a way, the other finds an excuse. Now, go out there and make it happen. Wanda, it’s all yours.