Welcome to Saskatoon Fire and Flood. It’s a Friday afternoon and Brennen Mills is showing me and my photographer, Rona Andreas, around the building. It’s a really impressive space full of tools and equipment designed to help people recover from an incident such as a house fire.

I feel lucky to say I have never had to call on Brennen and his team for their help. In fact, Brennen was not on my radar for podcast guests until his colleague, Candace Chickowski nominated him through the YXE Underground website. Her email was compelling and it really got me thinking of how important communication is in Brennen’s line of work.

Here is a portion of Candace’s email that really connected with me and got this episode in motion.

Brennen was born and raised in Saskatchewan’s construction industry. He knows this work inside and out, but what makes him different is his ability to see the human side of it. We deal with people going through some of the hardest days of their lives, fires, floods, and major loss and Brennen never lets us forget that we’re not just fixing buildings; we’re helping people get their lives back.

Helping those in need and giving back to the community are priorities in Brennen’s leadership style and his personal life. He is the Vice-Chair of the Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation and his willingness is volunteer his time and energy led the SPSF to recognize Brennen and Saskatoon Fire and Flood at this month’s National Philanthropy Day.

Here's the thing about Brennen; he would rather talk about anything else than himself, which made for some very funny moments in our conversation when I would press him for a story.

You can listen to YXE Underground wherever you find your favourite podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or on the website: yxeunderground.com

Please feel free to leave a 5-star review if you like what you hear.

You can follow YXE Underground on social media. Simply search YXE Underground on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. That's where you will see some lovely photos of Brennen and his puppy dog taken by Saskatoon photographer, Rona Andreas. My thanks to Rona for her amazing work on this episode.

Thank you to my cousin, Andrew Dickson, for creating the original theme music for the podcast.

Thank you to Saskatoon’s Danger Dynamite for creating and maintaining the website.

These interviews were gathered on Treaty Six territory and the traditional homeland of the Metis.

YXE Underground is a production of the Salthammer Production Company. Thank you so much for listening and we’ll talk to you soon, Saskatoon.

• Host, Producer, Editor: Eric Anderson
• Theme Music: Andrew Dickson
• Website: https://www.yxeunderground.com
• Recorded: On Treaty 6 Territory and the traditional homeland of the Metis

Welcome to a special bonus episode of YXE Underground. My name is Eric Anderson and it has been a busy week for the podcast.

Last Monday, I dropped an episode that took listeners to Beaver Creek Conservation Area to enjoy a Dark Skies event put on by the Meewasin Valley Authority.

On Thursday, I spoke with Katayoon Navabi about the Diaspora Film Festival she was helping organize at the Remai Modern. I saw a great documentary yesterday as part of the film festival called Allihopa: The Dalkurd Story. My congrats to Katayoon and her team for putting on such a wonderful event.

Today, I am sharing a conversation about an upcoming fundraising event that has raised more than three million dollars since 2007.

Choc’la Cure is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds to purchase cancer treatment equipment used at the Saskaoon Cancer Centre. It formed 18 years ago and has impacted the lives of so many people in Saskatoon and throughout our province.

Choc’la Cure’s annual gala event takes place on November 7th at Dutch Growers, and I learned more about the organization and its impact on the Saskatoon Cancer Centre thanks to Kim Swiatecki, Breanne Cooper and Dr. John DeCoteau.

Kim is a volunteer on the Choc’la Cure committee and a previous guest on the podcast way back in season one. Breanne is the Chair of Choc’la Cure, and Dr. DeCoteau is the Medical Director of the Advanced Diagnostic Research Lab at the Saskatoon Cancer Centre.

The goal of this year’s gala is to raise money for a new piece of medical equipment for the Cancer Centre, which Dr. DeCoteau explains in fascinating detail in our conversation.

I met Kim, Breanne and Dr. DeCoteau at Citizen Café a few weeks ago and learned so much from all of them. Best of luck to the entire Choc'la Cure team on their upcoming fundraiser!

Listen and follow YXE Underground wherever you find your favourite podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Please feel
free to leave a 5-star review if you enjoyed this episode. I would greatly appreciate it.

Cheers...Eric

• Host, Producer, Editor: Eric Anderson
• Theme Music: Andrew Dickson
• Website: https://www.yxeunderground.com
• Recorded: On Treaty 6 Territory and the traditional homeland of the Metis

Hello and welcome to a special bonus episode of YXE Underground. I am excited to share with you an interview with Katayoon Navabi.

Katayoon is the Program Director for the Paivand Society, which is a non-profit organization in Saskatoon that promotes cultural dialogue, and is on the organizing committee of the Saskatoon Diaspora Film Festival.

This film festival, now in its third year, shows movies that tell stories of migration, immigration, and of people settling into their new homes while trying to create community.

It’s taking place this weekend (October 24th-26th) at the Remai Modern’s beautiful theatre, and you can learn more by visiting paivand-society.ca.

I was introduced to Katayoon by our mutual friend and amazing human being, April Sora, and I am so glad she made this interview happen because, as you are about to discover, Katayoon is simply wonderful.

She is originally from Iran where she grew up in a family that loved to tell stories. Whether it was reading, listening, or cinema, Katayoon, was surrounded by rich storytellers. She attended university in Edmonton before moving to Saskatoon in 2010, and is passionate about sharing stories of migration and immigration with our community.

I hope you enjoy this conversation and hopefully see you at the film festival!

You can follow and listen to YXE Underground wherever you find your favourite podcast including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or the YXE Underground website. Please feel free to leave a 5-star review if you like what you hear!

Cheers...

Eric

• Host, Producer, Editor: Eric Anderson
• Theme Music: Andrew Dickson
• Website: https://www.yxeunderground.com
• Recorded: On Treaty 6 Territory and the traditional homeland of the Metis