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Welcome to The Foster Friendly Podcast. We’re bringing foster care closer to home by sharing stories from the front lines. We're talking with former foster youth, foster parents and others who are finding unique and powerful ways to dramatically improve the experiences and outcomes for kids in foster care.
The Foster Friendly podcast is brought to you by America’s Kids Belong, a nonprofit that helps kids in foster care find belonging in both family and community.
Brian (00:01.366)
Welcome to the Foster Friendly podcast. I'm your host, Brian Mavis, along with my joyful co-host, Travis Voegsnes. And today we have a special guest, Emily Cole. And Travis, how pumped are you?
Emily Cole (00:01.82)
Welcome to the Foster Friendly Podcast. I'm your host, Brian Davis, along with my joyful co-host, Travis Boggsness. And today we have a special guest, Emily Cole. Travis, how pumped are you?
Travis (00:17.781)
I am beyond stoked.
Emily Cole (00:17.98)
I am beyond stoked. just, I think you've been the most excited about this interview. So we're excited. Emily, great to have you here. Thank you so much, guys. I would assume Travis is going bananas over this podcast. Is that, is that right? So, so easy. We're prepared for this. We'll roll with you here. Here we go. So, Emily?
Brian (00:20.046)
I think you've been the most excited about this interview. So we're excited. Emily, great to have you here. Welcome.
It's starting already. It's okay. We're prepared for this. We'll roll with you here. Here we go. So Emily, before we get going here, I'm going to add something I do with all our guests is kind of read an official bio. So our listening audience knows who you are. And so Emily Cole is
Travis (00:33.174)
yeah! Already starring! I know.
Emily Cole (00:45.98)
Before we get going here, going to add something I do with all our guests is kind of read an official bio so our listening audience knows who you are. so, Emily Cole is co-owner of this band of bananas with her husband Jesse. The bananas have taken the world by storm.
Brian (01:00.526)
co-owner of the Savannah Bananas with her husband Jesse. The Bananas have taken the world by storm. They've added wildly fun innovations to baseball with new rules, crazy antics and in-game dances. Last year, the Savannah Bananas brought their brand of baseball, Banana Ball, to 29 cities, played in front of 1 million fans, introduced a new team and played in Major League Baseball stadiums for the first time. In 2025, they will play at
Emily Cole (01:07.356)
They've added wildly fun innovations to baseball with new rules, crazy antics, and in-game dances. Last year, the Savannah Bananas brought their brand of baseball, Banana Ball, to 29 cities, played in front of one million fans, introduced a new team, and played in Major League Baseball stadiums for the first time.
2025, they will play at 18 Major League Baseball stadiums and three football stadiums in front of two million fans. Emily and Jesse are foster and adoptive parents and are huge advocates in the space of foster care. Their nonprofit, Bananas Foster, launched in May of 2023 and exists to celebrate the foster care community while educating and inspiring others to give in.
Brian (01:29.07)
18 major league baseball stadiums and three football stadiums in front of two million fans. Emily and Jesse are foster and adoptive parents and are huge advocates in the space of foster care. Their nonprofit, Bananas Foster, launched in May of 2023 and exists to celebrate the foster care community while educating and inspiring others to get involved. Wow.
You guys are not slackers. You're like, what else could we do? Hey, let's foster. So Emily, welcome. And first of all, tell us anything you'd like to say about yourself that was either missing in that bio or piggybacking off of it, whatever you'd like to share.
Emily Cole (01:58.874)
like what else could we do?
Tell us anything you'd like to say about yourself that was either missing in that bio or piggybacking off of it. Whatever you'd like to share. Well, the business side is always an easy introduction and that's what most people go to immediately when talking about themselves. But really our family has begun to kind of identify who we are as individuals and as a unit. So it's my husband, Jesse and I, and we were together for a number of years, you
Brian (02:25.688)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (02:38.622)
building that business before we decided to start the family. And then we had one biological son in 2018. And then now we have two daughters who have been adopted from foster care. And as you know, that's never the goal. You know, our goal was to kind of have children come into our home and didn't know how our family would look after that. But our first two placements ended up never leaving. So we are continuing to foster a little bit now, but permanently that's what our
Brian (02:49.806)
Hmm.
Brian (02:54.168)
Mm-hmm.
Brian (03:02.048)
Mmm. Yeah.
Travis (03:03.906)
No
Emily Cole (03:08.582)
current family looks like is one son and two daughters.
Brian (03:12.526)
Beautiful.
Travis (03:13.509)
I love that. Well, again, so excited to have you on this interview. And so we're going to definitely delve into a lot more of kind of your fostering journey. And then of course, bananas foster and really hear more about that. Before that, I just had one question about the Savannah bananas to kick this off. But I do think we need the right aesthetic to visual. So bear with me for one second here.
Emily Cole (03:15.932)
Again, so excited to have you on this interview. So we're going to definitely delve into a lot more of your fostering journey and then of course, Banana's foster and really hear more about that. Before I end that, I just had one question about the...
Emily Cole (03:41.83)
can't wait to see what this is. You look amazing. So we have bananas covering the screen now. We do the vibe. I'm in my yellow and you guys have brought your yellow so I feel I feel at home.
Travis (03:43.269)
All right, so I and yep, and Brian, so I think I look like a sixties Russian cosmonaut, but I, so.
Brian (03:51.438)
You
Brian (03:56.238)
Do we have the right vibe going for you? Alright.
Travis (03:57.903)
Ha
Travis (04:03.461)
There it is. There it is. We're just we're in the spirit. So for this question, so but I'm just really curious of just, you know, the bananas have been around for a while. And you guys have things have evolved and all kinds of things continue to grow even on a daily basis, it seems. But what now? Where do you find joy and laughter right now with the bananas?
Emily Cole (04:26.682)
Yeah. So when we first started, it was just Jessie and myself at a team and we did everything and we made it work, but it was hard. was isolating. You know, we would cross over lanes constantly in each other's way, trying to figure out what to do because we both had to do all of it. And then when we launched the bananas, we hadn't even named the team yet, but it was just four of us. And so it was really small and there are pluses to working with a small group.
But for me, a lot of the joy has come from the people and we have been so fortunate to be able to grow that number of people and not just the people who are technically employed by us, but the families that we have now brought into our fans first family. Fans First is the name of the actual company. The Savannah Bananas are of course the most well known team under that umbrella, but
Brian (05:01.378)
Hmm.
Emily Cole (05:19.92)
The Fans First family has grown to hundreds of employees. And then of course we have all of their spouses and children and parents and siblings who come to the games and come to events and support their loved ones who have now become our loved ones. And so for me, I'm a people person. And so my biggest joy has been watching that nucleus grow, watching our Fans First family grow, and just the joy that they get to experience every day doing something that they love and being around people that they love.
Brian (05:47.104)
I love that. I love that fans first to that. That's I didn't know that. That's great. What a great, right? A great name. Okay, now we're going to switch back to more serious.
Emily Cole (05:53.594)
Okay, now we're gonna switch back to the live series. I was getting a heat rash as well. But, yeah, thank you so much. I love that you can keep peek into that. Before Brian gets into more of talking about setting up your story more, I just wanted to ask you, I had read Jess's book, Man of All, and there was a segment that was just recounting your own journey into story.
Travis (05:54.487)
Yeah, I, I, I, was just, I was getting a heat rash as well from that. So, but yeah, thank you so much. I love that. Like inside peek into that, before Brian kind of gets into more of talking about setting up your story more, I just wanted to ask you, I had read Jesse's book, banana ball, and there was a segment that were, you know, is he's kind of recounting your own journey into starting, you know, exploring foster care and then actually the nonprofit bananas foster.
Brian (06:03.374)
.
Travis (06:23.257)
He mentions this moment where he says the name Bananas Foster and he said that you got emotional as you heard that name. And I just, what was behind that initial emotion of hearing that?
Emily Cole (06:26.844)
says the name, the man responsible. And he said that you got emotional as you put that name. And I just, what was your...
Emily Cole (06:38.844)
Well, we are obviously in the creative marketing world. You know, we see the stuff and read the stuff every day and we know that often a good name is what catches people's attention. Foster care has been this taboo topic in society for such a long time.
Brian (06:51.15)
Hmm.
Emily Cole (06:57.594)
What we're trying to do is kind of walk alongside of that with a little bit of levity and, you know, with the joy that is there sometimes there's a lot of hard, but there can be joy as well. And so when he said that, first of all, he's brilliant. And when his, his creative mind, you know, turns on, it's, you can't stop him. bananas foster just clicked and it was a fun name and it connected who we are as a brand with one of our biggest
Brian (07:23.16)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (07:27.518)
with passions, foster care. And so it was overwhelming and emotional in a sense that I just knew it would help us kind of catapult this thing into more people's minds. And with that catchy name and with it making sense and with it being connected to who we were as a brand, I was just really excited for what doors I knew it could open up.
Brian (07:28.578)
Mm-hmm.
Brian (07:52.46)
Yeah, you know, I've never had that dessert, but it looks delicious. so that will be our call to action at the end of this is everyone go have banana fosters. Okay, Emily, you already alluded to this a little bit a few minutes ago, but you and Jesse did not take the easy road on this.
Emily Cole (07:58.236)
Yes, it's a top one. Yes, it's a top choice.
Travis (07:59.525)
It's a tough one.
Emily Cole (08:10.746)
Yeah.
Brian (08:22.338)
baseball dream that you had. So when you took over Grayson Stadium, you had no phones, no internet. You even had to sell your home to make Savannah bananas a reality. And in your guys's book, you said, we try to see things for what they could be, not what they are now. And so having that experience, having that perspective, how does it
those experiences and perspective help you when you were saying, let's build Bananas Fosters. And also when you're connecting with families who are going through hard stuff, what advice would you give them?
Emily Cole (09:09.903)
Yeah, well...
I think that it does help that both Jesse and I are just eternal optimists. And I think that the world is a much more beautiful place if you look through it at that lens. And so we kind of attack everything that way. It's like, you don't want to do this workout. Okay. Think about the positive. How are you going to feel afterwards? What's it going to do? You know, there can be positive found in anything. And so, yeah, we went through a lot of hard things at the beginning of our careers and the mindset shift that we have done within ourselves.
Brian (09:20.856)
Hmm.
Emily Cole (09:41.266)
to constantly look for that positive, I think prepared us when going into foster care, when creating a nonprofit. There's a lot of hurdles, there's a lot of hard things, but there's always good in it. There's always good in everything. And so just having that lens, having that mindset has helped us get through the hard. And so when I go into talks with foster parents or I'm trying to encourage or just be a shoulder for somebody, it's one of the things that I have to bring up is like, you're not going
Brian (10:00.674)
Hmm.
Emily Cole (10:11.166)
to be able to succeed in this space if you haven't decided those things ahead of time. If you haven't told yourself it's gonna get hard but there's gonna be this or where's my village? Set your village up ahead of time. All the things that you can do ahead of time to make the hard easier but to expect that it's coming and to look for the joy in it and to look for the positive, it's just how we see things in life and so it's just been a kind of a theory of ours with creating all of this.
Brian (10:38.988)
Yeah, I love that. And I think there's a powerful exercise that I don't apply to my life often enough, but in its most extreme form as far as just trying it out is recall something in your life that you think was bad and painful. And you can tell that story like that.
Now the exercise is you have to tell the story again, but you have to find the good in it. And it's a powerful reframing. I think what you're saying is try to get that reframe not after the fact, but as you're approaching it and as you're in it.
Travis (11:15.493)
Hmm.
Travis (11:22.19)
Hmm.
Emily Cole (11:35.162)
Yeah, we say prehab instead of rehab all the time.
Travis (11:35.493)
Hmm.
Travis (11:39.227)
Mmm, that's...
Brian (11:39.242)
wait, okay. Unpack that. I want to share a little bit more about that. Tell us about prehab instead of rehab.
Emily Cole (11:45.006)
So just preparing for it, you know, so much of our country, the world, you know, we wait for something horrible to happen and then we try to retrace our steps or then we try to put in the work, you know, after we've whatever it is. If we put in a little bit of the work and add positivity sprinkled in, I believe that we can get through things a lot easier and a lot harder than kind of attacking them afterwards.
Brian (11:57.742)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (12:10.778)
So, prehab instead of rehab.
Brian (12:11.214)
Wow, I like that. Got a new word.
Travis (12:16.645)
I love it. you know, it really makes me think to what you've learned and what you've kind of through both the lens of the Savannah bananas and then as you've, know, and then as you're fostering parents, that lens and then looking at foster care, you know, it's interesting as you look at the narrative of foster care, it's either one that seems non-existent for most Americans or those that it is, it is one surrounded by brokenness, you know, the dysfunction, the complexity of child welfare.
Emily Cole (12:32.934)
You know, it's interesting as you look at the narrative of foster care, it's either one that seems non-existent for most Americans, or, what was it it is? It is one surrounded by brokenness, know, the dysfunctional...
Travis (12:45.477)
There's a sobering line I once heard where they talked about even child welfare is but a thimble full of water on a raging social fire speaks to kind of all that's going on here in a complex space. But what I love is that bananas foster seems to be sort of attacking that narrative in a way of saying, look, this is a place that we actually can highlight stories of inspiration and joy. It is a place that there is amazing things happening.
Emily Cole (13:11.06)
It is a place that there is amazing things happening. And so I love that that's sort what you guys are attempting to do with it. In another podcast I've heard you say that one of the you really want to focus on is staying safe.
Travis (13:14.893)
And so I love that that's sort of what you guys are attempting to do with bananas foster in another podcast episode. I heard you say that, one of the things we really wanted to focus on is staying true to who the bananas are. You've already said that now we're a brand full of joy. I love that we're brand full of joy. In other words, you want to bring that same joy and energy to foster care. So Emily, as you kind of reflect on this and what you've learned and seen so far,
Emily Cole (13:33.052)
you know what's going to bring that same joy and I really want to get so only as you kind of reflect on this one one so far it wasn't look like this
Travis (13:40.389)
mean, what does it look like to celebrate foster families at games? And then even as we're approaching 2025, you know, what that might look like. How do those public moments that you've seen change the narrative, how people view foster care?
Emily Cole (13:53.36)
Yeah, it's so good. I could go on about this forever, but we didn't want to start a nonprofit just to start a nonprofit just for the sake of doing it. There's a lot of causes out there that could have used our attention, right? And we're at the size now that we have platforms. And so we believe what comes with that is responsibility to help with some sort of social change.
Brian (14:01.474)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (14:15.408)
You know, I care about animals, but it didn't fit for me to go out and start an animal nonprofit. It didn't necessarily fit with the brand. We travel so much, we don't even have pets. Like, I didn't think that that sort of thing fit.
Brian (14:21.998)
.
Emily Cole (14:27.216)
Because we are so invested as the founders of the company, Jesse and I are so invested in foster care and then he comes up with a perfect name, Bananas Foster, to me that was reason enough to just create a nonprofit. We have the platform, so we have a responsibility to share. We personally are invested in this thing. There was a lot of connections that we could make. So first of all, starting the brand was starting the brand of Bananas Foster was really important to us that it made sense. It wasn't something people would scratch their head and be like, what are they trying
to get involved in. So it was really intentional in why we started it. And then yes, staying aligned with who we are as the Bananas, this brand that millions and millions of people have come to know, we do create joy. We have a lot of fun. And so while we could go out there every night and kind of stand up and just spit out the negative statistics and talk about the data that's heartbreaking and hard, we could do that. But it doesn't fit with who we are. So again, we're trying to stay aligned. We're trying to be intentional on
Brian (15:22.982)
you
you
Emily Cole (15:27.49)
what information we're sharing, how we're going about it. There are a ton of nonprofits out there who are already doing great work in foster care, but what could we bring to the table? We did not want to reinvent the wheel. We didn't want to step on anybody's toes. But if we could go out there every single night and talk in front of a live audience of either 5,000 or 50,000, depending on how big of a stadium we're in that night, plus the millions that are watching via streaming, we have this platform. Why not go out there and change the narrative, as you said?
Brian (15:30.254)
you
Brian (15:37.078)
you
Brian (15:53.934)
you
you
Emily Cole (15:56.99)
and talk a little bit about the positive. Highlight something that most Americans are not aware of or not thinking about in their daily lives and just kind of work it into our already entertaining show. So I'm not gonna go out there and do a song and a dance about it, but I also don't wanna go out there and just spew negative data.
And so we kind of came to this agreement that who we could be were the people out there inspiring new people to get involved by celebrating the people who are already doing incredible work, who are usually the unsung heroes who have not gotten any sort of recognition. And so that was that main thought for us when we first started was, let's go to every single game that we have. We're going to pause the game between two innings. Now you've been singing and dancing and eating. You're having a great time. know, vibes are already high. And now we're just going to do something
that's just touching and emotional. And we take a family, a local family from whatever city that we're in, we take them out into the field and we just thank them for what they have done. And that's it. It's so simple, but these stories are so profound.
Brian (16:46.499)
Hmm.
Brian (16:55.772)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (17:01.368)
that the audience is pausing and often crying because of what they're hearing about going on in their local community. That moment is really special. When I'm down in the field and I give the two minute shviel about this family. But what's really impactful is when we walk off the field and we're now walking back up the steps, you know, out of the dugout, into the seats, and people are coming down into the aisle and stopping and shaking hands and hugging this family and saying, I had no idea this was going on.
Brian (17:25.398)
Mm-hmm.
Travis (17:27.813)
Well,
Emily Cole (17:31.342)
in Kansas City, Des Moines, Sacramento, wherever we are. my gosh, thank you for doing this in our community for the last 14 years. I had no idea you had 70 kids in your house. Like, my gosh. That part is really impactful. And then the next step is that later in the night, we go in on the back end and we see all of the people that have gone to bananasfoster.org and said, wow.
Brian (17:33.09)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Travis (17:33.475)
Mmm. Mmm.
Brian (17:41.443)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (17:54.084)
I'm inspired. Thank you for sharing that on the field. You know, we had such a fun night, but that moment really educated me. How can I get involved? Those are the things that have now come from us just trying to take a positive approach to the same thing we're all doing, trying to raise awareness about foster care. But by going about it, I think in a way that aligns with who we are as a brand fits and our fans recognize that and they're able to connect with it easier.
Travis (17:54.457)
Mm-hmm.
Travis (18:01.061)
Mmm, I love that.
Travis (18:23.833)
Mmm.
Brian (18:24.462)
There's a line in business, an axiom that says you get more of what you celebrate. And that's, I love, I love how you're getting more of by celebrating those who are doing it. Love that. So kind of feeding into that as far as getting more, this is the most of all the fun stuff to read about with the baseball team. This one blew me away.
Travis (18:30.927)
Hmm. Hmm.
Emily Cole (18:42.468)
into that.
Emily Cole (18:47.173)
All the fun stuff to read about with the baseball team.
Brian (18:53.838)
Is this true? The bananas right now have a 3 million person waiting list for tickets. That's nuts. Wow. wow. And this one really resonates me and I think I'll see if we could, there's a way I can share a bit of my story with you as we integrate this a little bit. So you, with this waiting list of tickets, 3 million people, that's nuts. You've shared this incredible dream that you've asked
Emily Cole (18:54.236)
Is this true that the bananas right now have a 3 million person waiting list for tickets? Yes. wow. And this one really resonates, I think I'll see if we can to the way I can share a bit of my story with you as we integrate this a little bit. you, with this waiting list of tickets, 3 million people, that's nuts. You shared this incredible dream that you've asked.
Travis (19:01.802)
Unbelievable.
Brian (19:23.278)
Why can't we create a wait list of foster families? And so before I ask you a question, I can share that your story and my story intersect in a similar way. I, back in 2007, was a pastor in Boulder County, Colorado, and got a phone call from a child welfare worker. And she asked to meet about child welfare.
Emily Cole (19:23.568)
Why can't we create a weightless foster family? And so before I ask you a question, I want share that your story and my story intersect in similar way. Back in 2007, was that?
Brian (19:49.384)
And so I said, sure. this lady named Cindy came in a few days later. First thing she said to me was thanks for meeting with me. I've been trying to meet with a pastor for three years. You're the first one to say yes. So apologize that that had been her experience. And again, just so people don't think I'm patting myself on the back, was my wife who got my attention on this issue. And then we went back to my office, shared a little bit, and she said this to me. goes, Brian, I came here just to tell you one thing.
Travis (20:06.851)
you
Emily Cole (20:09.789)
And then we went back to my office, shed a little bit, and she said this is what Brian
Brian (20:19.406)
in the 26 year history of child welfare in this county at that time. There has never been a single day, not one day where kids weren't waiting for families. And I have a challenge for you. Can you help me change your weight? Can you help me recruit so many families who will step up that they'll be on the waiting list, not the kids?
And that challenge changed my life. so accepted the challenge. We helped fulfill it within a year for Boulder County. And then a few years later, the problem came back and we realized we didn't have just a recruitment problem, but a retention one because families quit. So with your dream of why can't we create a wait list of foster families and my dream of the same, what would you say, what do you think is needed and how
Emily Cole (21:11.792)
What would you say?
Brian (21:17.484)
And you kind of touched in on this, so maybe you'll just be kind of repeating some of what you've already said, but how is Bananas Foster working towards that wait list?
Emily Cole (21:27.13)
Yeah, well, go Cindy. She sounds like an idol. Yeah, I want to connect with her. She was a former nun who fell in love with a priest and they became epistemologists. Okay. I'm going change her theology. Yeah. That it will. That's awesome. Yeah, you know, I think that...
Travis (21:29.315)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Brian (21:29.71)
I could tell you more about Cindy. was a former nun who fell in love with a priest and they became Episcopalian. I said, will change your theology.
Travis (21:44.271)
That's great.
Emily Cole (21:50.684)
These challenges can seem really big. They can seem like a mountain that you're never gonna get up. And we at Bananas Foster are so new. We just started in 2023, but.
We have this challenge, as you said, to ourselves. If we can create an excitement around a sport that enough people in the country sign up so that they wait for years to come to it, you know, we have the attention, we have the platform, we have the followers.
Brian (22:19.072)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (22:21.668)
Why can we not educate them and also get them to be on a wait list for something else? There's 3 million of them waiting to come to a game. Now I understand coming to a game, you're biting off a little bit less, you know, it's, it's a pretty easy commitment. It's a couple hours of your life. I understand we're not going to get 3 million people right away on this list, but we're, we're trying to approach it the same way. We're trying to educate and inspire people because again, we're, talking in front of how many thousands of people.
Brian (22:33.228)
huh, huh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Emily Cole (22:51.642)
every single night who don't even know about foster care. even if the rate of turning people over to this is .005%, whatever it is, we're getting more eyeballs and we're getting more people interested in something that they didn't know about and we're doing it in a positive way. So that's where we're starting. But yes, the vision is exactly like you said, why can we not create a wait list in every single community that there are families waiting in the wings, on the sides, for
Brian (23:06.19)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (23:21.722)
for that call. We are currently putting kids in homes where the same language is not spoken, we're taking them out of schools, we're taking them across state borders and making it challenging in every sense for all the social workers, for everybody. If we could just support this enough to get enough people interested and waiting.
Brian (23:27.0)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (23:42.318)
it would help so many things, as you know, the turnover rate, as you said, the retention, it's so hard. 50 % of foster parents quit in the first year. Okay, if we're not churning and burning through those families because we're treating them better, because we're not calling them over and over and putting nine kids in their home with nine separate cases, we will have more success. And so it all comes back to all of the things that are...
Brian (23:49.56)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Brian (23:57.965)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (24:05.848)
issues in the foster care world. think if we get upstream enough, I mean, I'm not going all the way upstream where I'm able to stop drug pandemics and things like that. There are other people who are working hard on those things, but where we can come in is getting upstream enough where we're educating enough families and getting them involved so that they are the ones waiting for the kids, so that kids are now matched with a family so that there is going to be a better success rate. We're not going to have
Brian (24:14.356)
Right, right.
Travis (24:17.775)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (24:32.448)
Kids going back into foster care after being with the placement, you know, disrupted places are horrible All of that stuff and so yes We are trying to get upstream enough to to at least attack that problem with the number of people who are interested in becoming foster families
Brian (24:47.66)
Yeah, there's a line I got from another Georgia woman, not Savannah, but she's in Atlanta and her name's Leslie. And she says, if we could get enough of these families that you're describing, the goal would then help the kids keep the most and lose the least and like keep their siblings, keep their school, their teacher, their friends. And so obviously you have a-
Travis (24:47.749)
you
Travis (24:52.388)
Uh-uh.
Travis (25:06.08)
man.
Emily Cole (25:09.743)
Yeah.
Brian (25:14.958)
profound impact on the kids, but also the families that like you said, that they're not being used and abused. lot of these families, the child welfare refers to them as resource families and you use resources. so it's like, yeah, yeah.
Travis (25:17.935)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (25:23.472)
Yeah.
Emily Cole (25:27.868)
Great.
Yeah, absolutely. mean, what's the phrase, like, lots of hands make light work? It's so true in this case. If we just had more families who could each take one child, I mean, can you imagine what you could pour into one kid when you aren't worrying about seven different cases with seven different therapies and seven different bio-family visits and court hearings? I commend these families who do keep up with all that, but it's impossible to pour into yourself and to pour into every child.
Travis (25:30.573)
Alright.
Travis (25:35.353)
Yeah, for sure.
Brian (25:46.232)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Travis (25:50.661)
Mmm.
Brian (25:50.872)
Mm-hmm.
Travis (25:56.013)
right.
Emily Cole (25:59.134)
when you're that, when you're spread that thin. And so that's the thought is like, hey, let's let's just whittle down the work for each foster family by creating more of them.
Travis (26:01.209)
Mm-hmm.
Travis (26:09.445)
Yeah. And then the, and then the pairings too, when you have so many more people available to help, then they're like, even, you know, it can be paired better of like, we're a better fit than this family or, you know, I mean, and all that kind of stuff. And I think that too, part of this sort of education awareness piece is what you're talking about with also just the staggering impacts of when we don't have enough, like sibling separation is over 50 % or separated.
Emily Cole (26:19.514)
Yeah. 100%.
Brian (26:19.598)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Travis (26:37.141)
schools move with each each move is like six months loss of academic disruption. mean, everything just continues to compound. And it's just such a giant snowball that just like, need probably more people to stop the snowball, like just let's stop this big thing. So, so really connected to what you've already said. And, you know, on sort of the retention side is, you know, the national study done that showed that 3000 caregivers found that
Emily Cole (26:41.728)
Yep.
Emily Cole (26:49.74)
Yes, you're absolutely right.
Travis (27:06.167)
one of the main chief reasons, not surprising, that they leave is not feeling valued, not feeling seen. It's kind of interesting too to me that kids in foster care probably largely feel invisible and on the margins. And then the very people that are going to help them in some ways inherit that same sort of on the margins issue that they are just part of. But that's something that we as a country definitely can fix and do better. And so,
Emily Cole (27:22.222)
Yeah. Yeah.
Emily Cole (27:32.688)
So you guys are already at work.
Travis (27:33.143)
You guys are already at work in this. You've kind of shared even just I got chills listening to you describe what it would be like to follow a foster parents up to leave the stadium and just see what they're seeing. I mean, that has got to just be unbelievable. So what are some other ways or that bananas foster is kind of working on trying to keep families feel supported and appreciated? I know you guys have something with potassium care baskets you talk about. Anything? Yeah, go ahead and tell us about that stuff.
Emily Cole (27:37.456)
I got chills listening to you describe.
Emily Cole (27:45.614)
I mean, that has got to just be... So, what are some other ways that the grass walkers kind of working on parking balance feel supported and appreciated? I know you guys have some the passing care baskets you talk about.
Yeah, so again, we're still new at this and trying to learn where the biggest needs are or I should say where we can impact the most. But yes, potassium care baskets I'll get into, but the celebrating on the field is so big because they get a moment to actually be recognized. And so our hope is that they feel that and that holds on for a while. We do include them in a Facebook group that they can chat with other families who have been recognized.
Brian (28:09.624)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (28:31.048)
It's fun because our players are in there. They send them videos of encouragement. And so it's just become, we call it our BFFs, the Benannas Foster Families. But it's just this tight-knit group where hopefully you can share. mean, there's a million Facebook groups and foster care support systems out there, but ours is still intimate where you can see and talk to other families who have been recognized by us. And then just that interaction with our staff and our players to be that extra layer of encouragement. But beyond that, yes, we've started doing potassium care baskets, which,
Brian (28:39.47)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (29:00.708)
The thought is, okay, if you have not been able to be recognized by us, or even if you are recognized by us, but now another year goes by, and court is dragging you down, and bio visits are hard, and therapy gets exhausting, and you have another hard placement.
Potassium carry baskets are hopefully going to be that extra little surge of potassium that's gonna pick you up a little bit. And so we've curated these baskets that we send to families. Of course, there's handwritten notes in there from our team, but then there's just things that are simple like gift cards and things that will hopefully pick you up when you have been to a really hard court hearing and you don't wanna go on. That's where that retention
Brian (29:40.494)
Mmm.
Emily Cole (29:45.018)
We're at this point of, I do this anymore? I think I'm gonna throw in the towel. I think I'm done. Our hope is that they go home and that's when they open the potassium care basket and they're given that extra surge of encouragement and they remember why they're doing this in the first place and they know that somebody's in their corner. If we could have a potassium care basket sitting in every foster parent's closet so that when they get to that breaking point, this carries them a couple more months. You know, if we could just extend the long
Brian (30:01.335)
Eh-eh-eh-eh.
Emily Cole (30:14.942)
longevity of a license that much, what kind of impact would that do to the whole system? Because there is just a lot of churn and burn, there's a lot of quitting, and I get it, it is hard. But the things like the potassium care baskets and the encouragement, that's our goal with that, is to just help attack that retention problem that we have.
Travis (30:38.149)
man so much to say with that and it is gonna be exciting too as you continue to grow bananas foster Ripens more The just that yeah how I don't know just you guys are you and Jesse was so infused with creativity and your team and and just how like I think I just know more ideas are gonna come to mind more connections to just kind of see new ways to to really holistically support foster families and keep them going and
Emily Cole (30:40.828)
This is to be a very cute...
Emily Cole (30:49.02)
You guys are so creative.
Travis (31:07.033)
That's huge. Showing up for attention is huge. for listeners who are inspired about what they've already heard about Bananas Foster and wanting to get more involved with ways to support you guys and the work there, mean, what are starting points to help out?
Brian (31:09.731)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (31:12.828)
who are inspired by it.
Emily Cole (31:24.016)
Yeah. So really what we are kind of at our root is we want to be a connector. And so we're not a licensing agency. We're not a foster care closet. Those amazing organizations already exist. But what we do now is we travel the country playing banana ball. And so we have had the opportunity to connect with a number of organizations in every community. And what we want to do is continue to connect with more because when we are in that stadium in Oklahoma City and somebody comes up to us and says, I've
Brian (31:31.864)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (31:53.95)
inspired. That was an amazing presentation. I want to get involved. We want to have a group of people in Oklahoma City that we can connect them with because two days later we're on to the next city. And so we are not necessarily going to be the people that hold their hand all the way through. We are going to connect with them and stay in touch with them until they have a new relationship. But that's our goal is to just connect with everybody who's involved. We've already got a list on our website and we're always looking to add more. So basically if there is anybody listening who has
Brian (32:03.778)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (32:24.01)
any sort of foster care organization or contact. We would love to have that so that we can connect the people who we inspire with the right relationship, with the right connections, so that they can then take the next steps. Our saddest moment would be if we inspire somebody and then we don't have somebody to kind of pass them off to, to get them licensed or to get them into a volunteer opportunity in their hometown. I can't take them all back to Savannah and have them do what we're doing. So that's what we're looking
Brian (32:43.694)
Mm-hmm.
Emily Cole (32:53.87)
for just more of those connections, more relationships, so that we can help with this whole web of foster care across the country.
Brian (33:02.36)
That's great. So Emily, for our listeners who are saying, okay, how do I find you guys? There's your website, said bananasfoster.org, not .com, right? And then social media, how do they find? And again, to our listeners, two different organizations, the baseball team and the nonprofit.
Emily Cole (33:04.87)
So Emily.
Brian (33:31.682)
How do they find you and follow you on social media?
Emily Cole (33:34.091)
The is very different. if you find the Savannah bananas and it's a bunch of guys dancing or lip syncing, that's not us. yeah, so the Savannah bananas are our most popular team. That was our first team, but we are growing. now have the party animals and the firefighters and the tailgaters. So we have three other teams and
Brian (33:36.334)
I bet it is.
Travis (33:37.061)
That's it.
Brian (33:56.29)
Wow.
Travis (33:56.495)
Nice.
Emily Cole (33:57.022)
What that is going to allow us to do is to just present about this at all of the games. So we decided that Bananas Foster is going to be the nonprofit of Banana Ball, not just of the Savannah Bananas. So when the firefighters are playing the party animals, we're still going to present about Bananas Foster because that audience needs to hear about foster care also. And so that's been exciting that we're going to be able to spread it. I mean, you said earlier that we played in front of a million people last year. 2025, we're actually playing live in front of two
Travis (34:02.181)
Hmm.
Travis (34:07.872)
wow, very cool.
Brian (34:15.17)
Yeah. Yeah.
Emily Cole (34:27.012)
million people. And so that's just all the more people. So yeah, you just go to bananasfoster.org, if you go to bananasfoster.org or any of the socials, bananasfoster, Instagram is where we're spending a lot of our time. And then yeah, I'm just Emily Cole on Instagram also. So happy to connect and help anybody however I can.
Brian (34:27.672)
Yeah, that's amazing. That's nuts. That's bananas.
Travis (34:27.717)
Wow. Wow.
huge.
Brian (34:43.544)
Okay.
Awesome.
Well, Emily, thank God there's people like you out there that not only have big hearts but are approaching in a way that is introducing joy and hope and that you're drawing people in through joy and hope, but also then not there to leave them when it gets hard. And so thank you so much for
Emily Cole (34:53.659)
better.
Brian (35:18.732)
the fun stuff you bring and the meaningful stuff that you bring too. Thank you, God bless you. Yeah.
Emily Cole (35:24.965)
Same to you guys, it takes a village.
Travis (35:28.067)
does, it does. Thanks for joining us today.
Emily Cole (35:31.704)
Alright, thank you guys.
Brian (35:33.09)
Bye Emily.