Family of the Year Award 2025
Alex and Dean are deeply honored to have been awarded Family Services’ Family of the Year Community Partner Award by CEO Leah Feldman at their July 10, 2025, event. We’ve enjoyed an extremely close working relationship with Family Services over the past 7 years, collaborating on projects to raise funds and benefit people in our community, most notably area youth and people facing mental health challenges.
We also feel greatly – and humorously – celebrated by FDR Library Director William Harris, who introduced us for the event. We value both of these organizations for their humanity and strong ties to freedom and human rights.
This year’s Family of the Year film (we have produced films for this event for several years, including Stepkids and The Ship) focuses on PTSE, a term that may not be familiar. PTSE stands for persistent traumatic stress environments. These can exist in homes or in communities and can impact people, young people in particular, the same way PTSD impacts veterans. An important difference is in cases of PTSD, the trauma is in the past. With PTSE, the trauma may be ongoing, possibly daily.
Trauma has real physiological impacts on us. It can alter our brain chemistry and dampen the capacity of our prefrontal cortex, where complex thinking takes place. Dr. David Crenshaw, a trauma expert we interviewed for this film, explains it better than we ever will, as does the staff of Family Services, who have both expertise and experience with PTSE.
Drake Creative, LLC