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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.

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Speaker 1: And we continue now with part two of our conversation

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Speaker 1: with Carly Rice, right after these brief messages from our

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Speaker 1: general sponsors, How'd you get away from the sky?

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Speaker 2: So one day I was cleaning the apartment and there

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Speaker 2: was a flip phone in the couch cushion, and I

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Speaker 2: called the only number I can think of, and it

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Speaker 2: was an ex boyfriend who was like a film student nerd,

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Speaker 2: And I said, Neil, come to this address. Do not

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Speaker 2: call the police. I'm going to jump out the window

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Speaker 2: and third story. Yeah, yeah, I said, I'll probably break

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Speaker 2: my legs. Just drag me to the car and i'll.

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Speaker 1: Be on hero when i'll feel it. Don't worry. I'll

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Speaker 1: make sure I shoot a really good thing in borrow

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Speaker 1: before i'm jumped. You're onto, I'm kidding.

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Speaker 2: No, that's exactly what I thought, Like, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 2: what I thought. I said, just don't call the cops,

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Speaker 2: because the cops were in bed with the cartel guys,

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Speaker 2: right and no, not right really? Oh yeah, absolutely not

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Speaker 2: all of them.

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Speaker 1: But but they had protection there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's why I never you know, that's why

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Speaker 2: my plan was to get citizens because there was another

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Speaker 2: time when I tried at a grocery store and do

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Speaker 2: you know every single person duck and dove from me

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Speaker 2: at that grocery store. I yelled rape. That was the

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Speaker 2: second time I tried to get away. I yelled rape.

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Speaker 2: It is like ten eleven twelve, and we're at a

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Speaker 2: twenty four hour grocery store. Everybody ran from me. Nobody

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Speaker 2: came to help me.

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Speaker 1: Would you look like I'm trying to understand why people

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Speaker 1: was it that you were out of your mind high

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Speaker 1: and probably looked like hell when people just thought you

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Speaker 1: were crazy?

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Speaker 2: My face and I had scabs all over my face.

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Speaker 1: That's why I don't think.

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Speaker 2: Teys were falling out yet, but I definitely had like

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Speaker 2: cavities and stuff. Yeah, yeah, very much. Why I'm so

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Speaker 2: protective of my people these days. So I got out.

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Speaker 2: The guy actually Neil, my ex boyfriend. He actually ended

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Speaker 2: up calling the police, which I was so mad at

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Speaker 2: him for, but we got good police officers. So I'm

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Speaker 2: packing my bag and Sessa is sitting on the couch

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Speaker 2: and the cop is facing Cessa and they're treating it

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Speaker 2: like a domestic violent situation, and I'm like fine, whatever,

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Speaker 2: as long as I get out of here, I don't

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Speaker 2: care what they think is going on here. And I

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Speaker 2: packed this big, giant ball of black tar heroin into

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Speaker 2: my suitcase.

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Speaker 3: Got yeah, and I put the suit The cop carries

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Speaker 3: my cuecake to a cop bar puts it in the

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Speaker 3: truck and I'm like, okay, this is what we're doing.

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Speaker 2: And he drives me to a domestic violent shelter in

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Speaker 2: Los Angeles with my giant It wasn't this big, but

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Speaker 2: it was pretty big. It was about the size of

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Speaker 2: softball to a domestic violent shelter where I felt happy

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Speaker 2: and free, and I was so grateful to be at

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Speaker 2: this domestic valance shelter. However, eventually the heroine ran out.

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Speaker 2: I got kind of nervous, and I flushed some of

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Speaker 2: it because the people were at the domestic valat shelter

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Speaker 2: were so nice and I didn't want them to get

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Speaker 2: in any trouble. So I ran into drugs way faster

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Speaker 2: than I should have. And I knew that I could

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Speaker 2: find drugs if I just find the homeless people. So

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Speaker 2: that's how I ended up in skid row.

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Speaker 1: But again, the drugs were numbing the reality of the

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Speaker 1: first eighteen nineteen years of your life, and so without them,

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Speaker 1: you were forced to face the reality of your life

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Speaker 1: and you couldn't do it. So you leave the shelter

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Speaker 1: and you end up literally on skid Row. And when

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Speaker 1: we say skid Row, we don't mean that as a

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Speaker 1: metaphor for places where homeless people. We're talking about the

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Speaker 1: skid Row skid Row and I was, and from what

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Speaker 1: I understand, there's on skid Row. There's at any one

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Speaker 1: time between ten and twenty thousand homeless people there.

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Speaker 2: When I was there, there was twenty thousand and ninety.

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Speaker 1: Nine percent of them are all using drugs.

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Speaker 2: As well, right out in the open, right in one of.

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Speaker 1: The wealthiest cities in the world. Yeah, la right, I

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Speaker 1: mean and that where.

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Speaker 2: Skid Row is my dreg dealer in the Diamond District.

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Speaker 1: Unbelievad ironic?

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Speaker 2: Is that? Yeah? So I'm living in either a tent

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Speaker 2: or a cardboard box and skid Row.

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Speaker 1: And you have a tattoo of a tint in a

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Speaker 1: cardboard box in your form? Yeah, is that to remind

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Speaker 1: you where you came from? It is absolutely you lived

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Speaker 1: in a cardboard box if I was lucky.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes not even that, Sometimes just literally curled up on

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Speaker 2: the sidewalk, and the sidewalk was so dirty that it

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Speaker 2: if you poured a bottle of water on it, it

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Speaker 2: would clean, It would be like a clean spot. It

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Speaker 2: was just filthy, filthy. It was so filthy, it was black.

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Speaker 1: The sidewalk was people overdose and die. I mean there

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Speaker 1: had to been bodies.

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Speaker 2: I mean there were you're at your correct. There were

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Speaker 2: time that people would die and we would literally step

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Speaker 2: over their body. There were times when ambulances would show

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Speaker 2: up to skid row and they would lay a patient

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Speaker 2: out on the sidewalk in a hospital gown and get

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Speaker 2: back in their ambulance and drive away.

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Speaker 1: What do you mean you mean drop them off? You're

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Speaker 1: telling me an American hospital in Los Angeles would transport

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Speaker 1: a discharge patient and literally just throw them out on

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Speaker 1: skid row.

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Speaker 2: Saw it with my own eyes, and not just once.

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Speaker 1: How does that happen?

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Speaker 2: Beyond me? All I know is that's what I saw.

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Speaker 2: I believe I read something about there being in lawsuits

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Speaker 2: regarding that, and I believe it was La County Hospital

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Speaker 2: that did it, which would make sense because that was

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Speaker 2: the closest hospital. But that is a real thing that happened,

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Speaker 2: and these people dying in skid row, Yes, lots of

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Speaker 2: them died of overdoses. I want to know what's really sad.

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Speaker 2: A lot of them died of very treatable things like

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Speaker 2: pneumonia infection. Those are the two things I saw. Most

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Speaker 2: people die of. Pneumonia and infection or some sort of

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Speaker 2: like can't remember what it's called. It's like a heart

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Speaker 2: infection you get when your blood gets infected from dirty

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Speaker 2: needles and stuff. Those were the kind of thing that

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Speaker 2: people died of on skid row, Totally treatable things.

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Speaker 1: So here you are on skid row at nineteen years old,

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Speaker 1: living in filth.

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Speaker 2: And prostituting, and who man prostituting on skid row is

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Speaker 2: very id prostituted everywhere ever been since I was sixteen.

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Speaker 2: I don't know how old I am, eighteen nineteen somewhere

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Speaker 2: around there. I've been prostituting since I was sixteen, and

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Speaker 2: it was like new ballgame and skid row. One of

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Speaker 2: the first few weeks that I was prostituting, I had

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Speaker 2: a police officer put a gun to my head and

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Speaker 2: make me give him oral sex with the gun to

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Speaker 2: my head the whole time. So certainly didn't feel.

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Speaker 1: I am a police car right.

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Speaker 2: Next to his police car, right outside of it. He

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Speaker 2: had the door open, and I was being sheltered by

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Speaker 2: the police car on my knees, and he had a

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Speaker 2: gun to my head.

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Speaker 1: I just don't want to. I just I think we

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Speaker 1: just don't want to really believe this stuff happens in

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Speaker 1: our country. We want to think it's made up stuff

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Speaker 1: for movies.

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Speaker 2: You determine to normalize the conversation because my story is

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Speaker 2: not abnormal or unusual. Well, it is just like the

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Speaker 2: women that we serve. They have just as many stories.

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Speaker 2: They have very similar, if not worse stories.

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Speaker 1: There's nothing normal about it.

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Speaker 2: But the conversation has to be normalized so that women

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Speaker 2: feel free to speak up, so that people can understand

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Speaker 2: that women are victimized by people in positions of power

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Speaker 2: right in front of our eyes and we don't know it.

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Speaker 2: Women need safe places to run to. Why did nobody

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Speaker 2: in that grocery store help me.

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Speaker 1: It reminds me of the story that from the seventies

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Speaker 1: in New York City, when a woman was getting raped

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Speaker 1: in the street in New York City and was screaming rape,

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Speaker 1: and there were fifty neighbors who heard it. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: she ended up dead, and not one of them called

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Speaker 1: the police. And the psychological event was if there were

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Speaker 1: only one person that heard it, they would have called

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Speaker 1: the Because there was fifty, every one of them thought,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to be involved, and somebody else is

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Speaker 1: going to do it. And the interesting part of that is,

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Speaker 1: as a weird metaphor for an army of normal folks,

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Speaker 1: if we all think somebody else is going to do that,

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Speaker 1: who's somebody? We need to make this personal and singular,

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Speaker 1: so we're the ones to step.

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Speaker 2: Up, exactly. And that's what I believe us as individuals

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Speaker 2: have the power to change people's lives.

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Speaker 1: So you're prostituting on skid row, stepping over dead bodies, yeah,

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Speaker 1: giving oral sex, giving oral sex to cops who've got

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Speaker 1: a gun to your head.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah. And I have this really nice trick

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Speaker 2: who I actually believe it or not. I have an

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Speaker 2: apartment it's like nineteen twenty blocks away from skid Row,

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Speaker 2: but I can't be bothered to get there because the

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Speaker 2: drugs are here. See you in downtown you're kidding me?

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Speaker 2: Oh no, I'm dead serious. In downtown skid Row, you

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Speaker 2: can go to like at that time when I was there,

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Speaker 2: You go to the Diamond District and you can get

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Speaker 2: a pack or a few packs. A pack is like

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Speaker 2: it's a corner of a plastic bag and it's filled

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Speaker 2: up with little water balloons filled with heroin, right. Or

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Speaker 2: you can get a pack of crack and you hold

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Speaker 2: it in your mouth like right here, and every time

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Speaker 2: you sell it to someone, you spit it out, and

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Speaker 2: then you have to get you have to go back

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Speaker 2: and you have to give the cartel member, the drug dealers,

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Speaker 2: the gang members. You have to give them a certain

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Speaker 2: amount of money. I think it was like seventy dollars.

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Speaker 2: You were a dollar short man.

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Speaker 1: You just weren't.

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Speaker 2: You just didn't, So I get.

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Speaker 1: Supposed when you kept the difference, or they just gave

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Speaker 1: you drugs.

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Speaker 2: They gave me drugs and I would sell them because

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Speaker 2: I hated prostituting. Prostituting on the skid row was really

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Speaker 2: really dangerous. Bad bad things happen. Bad things happen. My

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Speaker 2: friend was found in a dumpster with the broom sticking

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Speaker 2: out of her, and like really really bad things happened.

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Speaker 2: I still did prostitute a lot down there, But if

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Speaker 2: I could, I'd get up early enough or if I

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Speaker 2: could make it, not that I ever really went to sleep,

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Speaker 2: if I could make it and in time, because they

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Speaker 2: only passed out so many packs, you had to be

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Speaker 2: there like four point thirty in the morning, and they

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Speaker 2: would pass out all these packs for homeless people to sell,

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Speaker 2: and then we would and then they would come and

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Speaker 2: collect the money at the end of the day. This

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Speaker 2: was all happening like right out in the open too,

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Speaker 2: like in the Diamond district of downtown La Is where

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Speaker 2: we would go get the drugs and then they would

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Speaker 2: come pick up the money from us at a different spot.

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Speaker 2: But so I'm selling these drugs, right and there's this

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Speaker 2: dude that always picks me up. And his name's Ernie,

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Speaker 2: and and he takes me to his house and he's

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Speaker 2: in the twelve step world and he's sober, and he's

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Speaker 2: this really nice guy. And he lets me take showers

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Speaker 2: at his house and we have pizza, and he doesn't

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Speaker 2: even usually make me have sex with them. So I'm like, gosh,

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Speaker 2: this is amazing. I get to take a shower and

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Speaker 2: eat and whatnot. And one night I was at his

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Speaker 2: house and he came out like a different person from

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Speaker 2: the bathroom. He had relapse while I was there, like

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Speaker 2: doctor Jackall and mister Hyde, and he's like strangling me

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Speaker 2: and raping me, and at this time of my life,

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Speaker 2: and I'm not saying that this is what women should do,

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Speaker 2: but just to give you an ixea idea of how

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Speaker 2: I coped with things, I would lay still and I

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Speaker 2: would say to myself, I don't know where this came from,

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Speaker 2: It's just something my brain made up. Lay like a fish,

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Speaker 2: Lay like a fish, and lay like a fish, Lay

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Speaker 2: like a fish. And I just used to chant that

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Speaker 2: to myself while they were doing whatever they were doing

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Speaker 2: to me. And I tried to like be accessible, but

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Speaker 2: then also not make it pleasurable to them, because I

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Speaker 2: found that if I thought back, it was worse. It's

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Speaker 2: almost like what they wanted me to and it made

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Speaker 2: them matter and they hurt me worse. So I just

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Speaker 2: kind of laid there and let stuff happen. He then

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Speaker 2: put me in his car and he brought me back

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Speaker 2: to my tent and skin row, and fast forward some

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Speaker 2: period of time I don't know, two days, two weeks,

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure, and he's now buying drugs from me.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to get these little pets of drugs, and

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Speaker 2: I have a couple packs in my tent, and he

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Speaker 2: has a prostitute go to the front of my tent

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Speaker 2: and he asked me to sell her a couple balloons.

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Speaker 2: So I spin out the balloons and I give them

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Speaker 2: to her. But you can only hold so much in

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Speaker 2: your mouth. So I had these other packs sitting on

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Speaker 2: my little car. I had my coffee table was a

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Speaker 2: cardboard box with duct tape on it. And he cut

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Speaker 2: the tent and he took the drugs. And I was terrified.

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Speaker 1: Because now you don't have the money to pay the

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Speaker 1: cartael guy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and like yeah, I didn't have the time to

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Speaker 2: make it. Prostituting. It's very treacherous prostituting, and a lot

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Speaker 2: of the people would rip the girls off and just

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Speaker 2: not even give you money at all. So I had

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Speaker 2: to tell the cartel guys like listen, I didn't do it.

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Speaker 2: Ernie took it. He also raped me. Blah blah blah

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Speaker 2: blah blah. And the next day I was standing there

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Speaker 2: and they told me, hey, watch out. You know, we're

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Speaker 2: going to talk to Ernie about what happened. Because Ernie

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Speaker 2: was walking down the street and coming up to the spot,

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Speaker 2: the spot, and I thought they were going to rough

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Speaker 2: them off a bit, you know, and you know, tell them, hey,

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Speaker 2: you need to go get our money and we want

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Speaker 2: it now. That's not what happened.

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back.

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Speaker 2: Two guys grabbed him by the arm and two guys

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Speaker 2: started stabbing them, and I heard it happening behind my back,

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Speaker 2: and by the time I turned around, I saw the

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Speaker 2: last couple jabs of the knife, and then Ernie running

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Speaker 2: across the street and my eyes connected with his eyes

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Speaker 2: right when he went down, and the light went out

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Speaker 2: of his eyes. And this was broad daylight. The court

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Speaker 2: doc say it was evening, but it must have been

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Speaker 2: summer evening. I don't remember what time of year it

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Speaker 2: was because it was broad daylight. There was like thirty witnesses.

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Speaker 2: There's at least thirty people there. I don't know how

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Speaker 2: many official witnesses there were. But so one of my friends, Tomas,

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Speaker 2: who was involved in the stabbing, who stabbed him, he

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Speaker 2: got hurt. He had a big cut on his forehead.

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Speaker 2: He was a bald gangster guy with tattoos and stuff,

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Speaker 2: and he got kind of scalped a little bit in

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Speaker 2: the knife fight. So I took him and a couple

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Speaker 2: other people to my apartment to get them cleaned up,

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Speaker 2: because that's I'm like a nurturer. I'm a caretaker, you know.

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Speaker 2: And we didn't report the crime, you know, like there

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Speaker 2: was all someone else else already called the police. So

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Speaker 2: I took these guys to my apartment, and I'll never

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Speaker 2: forget we stopped on the way, so like we got

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Speaker 2: to Agnormal. We got to Agnormal, and we got we're

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Speaker 2: in a stolen car by by the way. We stop

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Speaker 2: at that liquor store and we get popsicles. So I

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Speaker 2: have these guys who and I'm like telling them what

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Speaker 2: to do because they're in some sort of state of shock.

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Speaker 2: I would have thought they would have been like so

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Speaker 2: tough and bad, bad that they wouldn't have been phased

301
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Speaker 2: by this, But these two guys I was with were

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Speaker 2: like traumatized. I said, we got to Agnormal, guys, we

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Speaker 2: gotta Agnormal. I'm gonna go buy some popsicles so that

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Speaker 2: way someone could say, well, she came in and she

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00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:20,600
Speaker 2: bought popsicles. Everything seemed fine. And I gave these two

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Speaker 2: gangster guys who had bloody hands and stuff popsicles, and

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Speaker 2: they just stood there and the popsicles were just melting

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Speaker 2: down their hands, and they didn't eat them. I just

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Speaker 2: forever remember that moment. Anyways, I got them to my apartment,

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Speaker 2: cleaned them up, and I don't remember what happened after that.

311
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Speaker 2: But fast forward a couple of days and I am

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Speaker 2: arrested at the scene of the crime. Basically, then I'm

313
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Speaker 2: taken to an interrogation room. They want me to be

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Speaker 2: a witness. They put me in witness assistance, which is

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Speaker 2: different than witness protection. I'm in witness assistance, meaning these

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Speaker 2: detectives take me to all my interviews, and they escort

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Speaker 2: me to court and to any court things. And they

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Speaker 2: gave me envelopes of money to pay my rent and

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Speaker 2: my incidental expenses. What do you think I did with

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Speaker 2: that money? Drugs and on drugs. Yeah. So I was

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Speaker 2: re arrested yet again at the seat of the crime

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Speaker 2: by bike cops with a literal needle sticking out of

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Speaker 2: hit right the spot I have like a nerve spy.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly where it was, with a needle sticking out

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Speaker 2: of my neck. I'll never forget it went bringing.

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Speaker 1: Why were you having a needle? Sticking out of your

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Speaker 1: neck in the middle of the diamond industry.

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Speaker 2: No, we're over in the skid row area. Picked up

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Speaker 2: the drugs?

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Speaker 1: Are you saying? You just shot it out and left

331
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Speaker 1: it sitting there.

332
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Speaker 2: I had someone else shooting me up because I used

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Speaker 2: to shoot up in my arms. Those were spent. Then

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00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,320
Speaker 2: I shot up in my legs. Those were spent when

335
00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:44,720
Speaker 2: I when I had the opportunity, I would have other

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00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:46,320
Speaker 2: people shoot me up at my neck. I have a

337
00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:51,040
Speaker 2: little scar from it, loss of scars on my legs though,

338
00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:55,040
Speaker 2: and my arms, but mostly my legs because it was

339
00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:57,119
Speaker 2: a sure for you. The big artery right there, and

340
00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,600
Speaker 2: it's really easy to shoot up right there. Bike cops

341
00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:02,920
Speaker 2: arrested me. I had two syringes. I was about to

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Speaker 2: do one of heroin, one of coke, and they arrested

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Speaker 2: me right after the coke one, which anybody out there

344
00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,199
Speaker 2: who uses drugs and has done speedballs and two separate

345
00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:16,480
Speaker 2: syringes knows that being arrested for murder right after shooting

346
00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:19,680
Speaker 2: a bunch of cocaine in your veins without being able

347
00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:23,280
Speaker 2: to do your heroin is like the worst thing that

348
00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:25,600
Speaker 2: could ever happen. It was a nightmare, so I was

349
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Speaker 2: interrogated for hours and hours after that, and I was

350
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Speaker 2: put in solitary confinement for somewhere around a year, the

351
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Speaker 2: duration of the murder trial. And I forgot to tell

352
00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:41,120
Speaker 2: you a whole, big, important part of my story. Right

353
00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:43,119
Speaker 2: before that, my mom and I were home with some

354
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Speaker 2: skin rowed together. My mom lived in the porta potty,

355
00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:50,520
Speaker 2: a handicapped porta potty. She was like the archetypal bag

356
00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:52,960
Speaker 2: lady if you could picture that. She literally had like

357
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:55,800
Speaker 2: a sea of grocery bags that were all tied up,

358
00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:59,640
Speaker 2: a grocery bag, grocery bag, grocery bag, and she would

359
00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:01,880
Speaker 2: carry move them around with her and it would take

360
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,280
Speaker 2: several trips for her to move her bags. But she

361
00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:07,480
Speaker 2: lived in this porta potty and that was my mom,

362
00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:10,600
Speaker 2: and she, you know, was not a mom, and I

363
00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:12,639
Speaker 2: was like the mom and I took care of her.

364
00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:14,760
Speaker 2: And one time when I was sitting in jail, I

365
00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:17,520
Speaker 2: was watching TV and it said, man has women held

366
00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:21,119
Speaker 2: hostage in public restroom? Because after oj Simpson, stuff just

367
00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,120
Speaker 2: goes all over the news in California, and we're all

368
00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:26,480
Speaker 2: watching this It's a Thanksgiving Day and it's the only

369
00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,119
Speaker 2: thing on TV and it's really annoying. And then like

370
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,000
Speaker 2: a couple days later, this Catholic priest comes and gets

371
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,080
Speaker 2: me out of my cell with the CEO and they're like,

372
00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:38,720
Speaker 2: your mom's been killed. And later I found out that

373
00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:41,240
Speaker 2: that was my mom in the bathroom that whole time

374
00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:44,199
Speaker 2: when I was watching that scene unfold. So at the

375
00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:47,119
Speaker 2: time when my mom was killed, I just lost all

376
00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:50,840
Speaker 2: respect for myself and I started morphing into my mom.

377
00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,800
Speaker 2: I started losing my teeth, my hair started to get dreadlocked,

378
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:58,639
Speaker 2: and I basically started to look and act like my mom.

379
00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,360
Speaker 2: And that's when I got all entangled in this murder thing.

380
00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:07,600
Speaker 2: So now fast forward, I've been arrested for contempt of court.

381
00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,040
Speaker 2: I'm sitting in jail waiting for the trial, and for

382
00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:14,280
Speaker 2: some reason I called this district attorney. She was the

383
00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:17,840
Speaker 2: attorney who prosecuted the man who murdered my mom, and

384
00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,040
Speaker 2: her name was Katie Albright, and I reached out to

385
00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:22,920
Speaker 2: her for some stupid reason, I don't remember what it was,

386
00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,640
Speaker 2: and she yelled at me. She was like, why are

387
00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:28,760
Speaker 2: you throwing away your life? She was mad that I

388
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:32,360
Speaker 2: was in contempt of court and testify. She said, you're

389
00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,000
Speaker 2: throwing away your life. You could your story could have

390
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:38,639
Speaker 2: saved someone's life someday, and look at you, you're just

391
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:42,679
Speaker 2: throwing your life away. Because personally, for me, sitting in

392
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:48,080
Speaker 2: that jail cell, I was completely planning on refusing to testify.

393
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:53,520
Speaker 2: I was excited to go to prison for the rest

394
00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:55,520
Speaker 2: of my life because to.

395
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:57,840
Speaker 1: Me, that was safer than what you'd lived in.

396
00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:01,400
Speaker 2: I could and wait. I was excited.

397
00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:03,240
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.

398
00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:05,760
Speaker 2: I had my prison wife waiting for me. Her name

399
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:09,040
Speaker 2: was Mousie. She was like six two or six three,

400
00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:10,960
Speaker 2: and she had these big old ears that stuck out,

401
00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:13,560
Speaker 2: and she was so sweet, but she was also scary.

402
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:16,239
Speaker 2: And I was going to be protected because when you

403
00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:21,359
Speaker 2: when you don't testify, when I when a gang is

404
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:25,240
Speaker 2: being come after by the district attorney and you protect

405
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,560
Speaker 2: the gang, You're set up in prison like you don't

406
00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:30,520
Speaker 2: got to worry about nothing. You're going to have drugs,

407
00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,240
Speaker 2: you're going to have your canteen, You're going to have

408
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:34,800
Speaker 2: a protector. Like I was.

409
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:35,760
Speaker 1: I was.

410
00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:37,879
Speaker 2: I figured like I had my life figured out, you know,

411
00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:39,880
Speaker 2: I felt like I had my life figured out.

412
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:44,679
Speaker 1: What does it say that figuring out wife looks like

413
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:48,280
Speaker 1: living in prison the rest of your life, getting your drugs,

414
00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:50,840
Speaker 1: having a little bit of canteen, and being protected, because

415
00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:54,600
Speaker 1: that is far better than the first nineteen years of

416
00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:59,760
Speaker 1: your existence on earth. And again, we are going deep

417
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:04,000
Speaker 1: into the story for our listeners to understand the redemptions coming.

418
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,840
Speaker 1: But you have to understand why Carly does what she does,

419
00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:12,720
Speaker 1: and it's because she knows that her story, while maybe

420
00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:18,520
Speaker 1: unique to your ears as listeners, it's not unique to

421
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:20,679
Speaker 1: the plight of many people in our country. Today.

422
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,200
Speaker 2: I'm sitting in this jail cell and my sisters are

423
00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:34,360
Speaker 2: starting to write me letters, and the district attorney hung

424
00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:36,560
Speaker 2: up on me and was like, you're throwing your life away.

425
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,800
Speaker 2: And she's last thing she said was your story could

426
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:41,880
Speaker 2: have help someone someday. So it's laying in the cell

427
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,840
Speaker 2: and I'm thinking, and I'm thinking, and I decided to

428
00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,159
Speaker 2: do the right thing. I decided to get on the

429
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:51,639
Speaker 2: stand and tell the truth that The other part that

430
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:53,960
Speaker 2: made it harder was was the detectives wanted me to

431
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,560
Speaker 2: say more than the truth. They wanted me to lie

432
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,600
Speaker 2: on the stand, and it really just, you know, like

433
00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:05,959
Speaker 2: everywhere it turned was corruption and lies, and I just

434
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:09,760
Speaker 2: I didn't like being forced to lie. You know under

435
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,800
Speaker 2: oath on a witness stand. So I was just so

436
00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:14,920
Speaker 2: content and happy to go to prison because it seemed

437
00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,040
Speaker 2: like such a great solution. But my sisters, man, my

438
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:21,320
Speaker 2: sisters were writing me the letters, and this district attorney

439
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:26,040
Speaker 2: said that, and I decided, in like the very last

440
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:29,479
Speaker 2: minute to get on the stand. Another part of that

441
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,160
Speaker 2: is I met so many women there, and I loved

442
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,960
Speaker 2: them and I wanted to stay with them. We bonded.

443
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:37,760
Speaker 2: You know, when you're in solitary confinement, you get to

444
00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:41,159
Speaker 2: talk to them. When you have your hour out of

445
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,080
Speaker 2: the cell to shower. I would go up to their

446
00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:47,080
Speaker 2: doors and talk to them. And I really cared about

447
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,399
Speaker 2: those women a lot. So that was one of the

448
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:52,400
Speaker 2: reasons I wanted to stay. But anyways, I talked myself

449
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:58,040
Speaker 2: into trying another time at normal life. So I got

450
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 2: on the stand and I was released. Yeah, I told

451
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:04,919
Speaker 2: the truth, which I didn't know what was going to happen.

452
00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:07,840
Speaker 2: I didn't know, you know, if telling the truth was

453
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,440
Speaker 2: going to be enough, because they wanted me to lie essentially,

454
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:14,359
Speaker 2: But I told the truth. They got their a little

455
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,320
Speaker 2: bit of revenge on me. They actually rearrested me when

456
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:21,359
Speaker 2: I was leaving the courthouse. They re arrested me for

457
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,640
Speaker 2: some focus crime that I didn't commit, and they put

458
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:26,119
Speaker 2: me back in jail for a while, just because they

459
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:29,320
Speaker 2: were mad at me for not lying for them, which

460
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:31,199
Speaker 2: is whatever. I was so used to jail at that

461
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:33,920
Speaker 2: point I didn't even care, and I just kept hearing

462
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,200
Speaker 2: that when you're in solitary confinement. So I get out

463
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,200
Speaker 2: of jail. I'm allowed to move to Illinois. Everything's wonderful.

464
00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 1: I'm on fire. Why do you choose Illinois?

465
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:48,200
Speaker 2: My sisters live in Illinois, so that's safe. Ish. Yeah,

466
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 2: you had to have a relative and a job, which

467
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:56,320
Speaker 2: is like crazy, who's going to hire you? But I did.

468
00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:58,520
Speaker 2: I got a relative and a job someone was willing

469
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:01,879
Speaker 2: to take you in and prospect, I guess a prospect

470
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,040
Speaker 2: for work. But I had both of those things, so

471
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:06,280
Speaker 2: I was allowed to move to Illinois. Slipped and fell

472
00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 2: on the ice behind the restaurant. Told the doctor room

473
00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,200
Speaker 2: was an addict. I didn't want drugs, and he gave

474
00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:14,560
Speaker 2: me a big bottle of vic it in and I

475
00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:16,680
Speaker 2: was off and running. Both of my kids were born

476
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 2: addicted to drugs.

477
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 1: Now were you you really were sober? It was you'd

478
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 1: fought it.

479
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,000
Speaker 2: Off basically for the first time in my life.

480
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:30,359
Speaker 1: You'd gotten to Rockford, Illinois with your sister, got a job,

481
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:35,760
Speaker 1: and you literally were sober, which means also, now you're

482
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:41,679
Speaker 1: facing the demons of everything that's in here feel but

483
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:45,040
Speaker 1: you're getting through it. And then you slip and fall

484
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 1: on the ice and the doctor gives you pain pills,

485
00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:49,160
Speaker 1: which is I.

486
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,040
Speaker 2: Tell him an addict and I don't want them. He said, well,

487
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,680
Speaker 2: you don't have to feel the prescription, then it's my job.

488
00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:58,040
Speaker 1: But it was. It was the grip. It pulled you

489
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,800
Speaker 1: right back, immediate. Okay.

490
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,640
Speaker 2: So then I had two kids born addicted to heroin.

491
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,679
Speaker 2: Because now I'm a prostitute in Rockford, had two kids

492
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 2: born addicted to heroin, and I hated my life. My

493
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:16,600
Speaker 2: whole house was dirty clothes, cat being dog poop, and

494
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,679
Speaker 2: I wanted to die. My family did an intervention on me.

495
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:23,160
Speaker 2: They gave me three days at this hotel in Rockford

496
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 2: to figure out my life. Little did they know I'd

497
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,440
Speaker 2: been trying for six months to get into treatment. So

498
00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 2: my plan was to kill myself in that room because

499
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,800
Speaker 2: if I couldn't get into treatment in six months with it,

500
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,399
Speaker 2: I had a car, I had insurance I had a phone,

501
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:40,639
Speaker 2: and I had people who would have helped me if

502
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:43,239
Speaker 2: I asked for help. Right, If I couldn't get in

503
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,160
Speaker 2: with all those things, how am I going to get

504
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 2: in in three days? So I was going to kill myself,

505
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:50,280
Speaker 2: but I wanted to get high before I killed myself.

506
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:52,040
Speaker 1: Were you really going to kill yourself? Really?

507
00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:53,760
Speaker 2: Without shadow of a doubt? I was going to kill

508
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,040
Speaker 2: myself because it was pointless. How was I going to

509
00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:57,800
Speaker 2: get a help in three days if I've been trying

510
00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:02,000
Speaker 2: for six months? So I wanted to get high first,

511
00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:05,960
Speaker 2: and I was calling people and I was like, bring

512
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:08,399
Speaker 2: me I need this, I need that. I'm going to treatment,

513
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,280
Speaker 2: bring me this. And this one girl brought me a

514
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,320
Speaker 2: plate of food and a journal. Other people had brought

515
00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:17,479
Speaker 2: me like DVDs. I told them that I wanted DVDs.

516
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:19,760
Speaker 2: There's no DVD player in a hotel room. So I

517
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:23,080
Speaker 2: was walking around like State Street, trying to sell DVDs

518
00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 2: so I could get high one more time at the

519
00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:28,439
Speaker 2: car dealerships and stuff. But this one friend of her

520
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:30,439
Speaker 2: friend came and I can't remember. She brought me a

521
00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:32,680
Speaker 2: plate of food and I think a journal or something.

522
00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:34,879
Speaker 2: It wasn't once she brought me though. It's what she said.

523
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,840
Speaker 2: She said, what do we have to do? How do?

524
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 1: How do?

525
00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:40,720
Speaker 2: How do? How can I help you? What do we

526
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:42,760
Speaker 2: have to do to get you into treatment? You know?

527
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,040
Speaker 2: And the fact that she wanted to help me, knowing

528
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:48,720
Speaker 2: that I was a bad mom, that I had put

529
00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,360
Speaker 2: my kids in danger, that my house was a disgusting mess,

530
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:55,879
Speaker 2: that everything that I that I you know, put drugs

531
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,479
Speaker 2: in my body when I was pregnant, she still wanted

532
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 2: to help me. And I thought to myself, God, maybe

533
00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:05,679
Speaker 2: I need to try one more time. So I was

534
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:10,400
Speaker 2: going to put off killing myself until just before checkout.

535
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,720
Speaker 2: So in the morning, at like nine am the next morning,

536
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:17,400
Speaker 2: I called the treatment center. Well called many treatment centers,

537
00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,240
Speaker 2: but I called a treatment center, and the woman on

538
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:22,120
Speaker 2: the other end of the phone said, for the love

539
00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:24,200
Speaker 2: of God, if you would just stop calling. This is

540
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:26,800
Speaker 2: a verbatim what she said, For the love of God,

541
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:29,480
Speaker 2: if you would just stop calling, someone just left, and

542
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 2: if you get here within two hours, you can have

543
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,240
Speaker 2: their bed. For Christ's sake. Since she hung up on me,

544
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,800
Speaker 2: called in my naw, she had no authority to do that.

545
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:41,600
Speaker 2: She was just like the night dusk woman. And I

546
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 2: got there, I got that bed, and that was ten

547
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:49,080
Speaker 2: years ago, April seventeen, and I haven't had to put

548
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 2: a needle in my body since that day. And I

549
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:57,320
Speaker 2: haven't got high since that day because I realized some

550
00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 2: things about myself, and I did a lot of self

551
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:06,520
Speaker 2: work in therapy. But for me, I had a realization

552
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:08,800
Speaker 2: when I was living in the projects in this little

553
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,240
Speaker 2: city where I went to treatment, it was called Freeport,

554
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,480
Speaker 2: and there's all these little kids just running around the projects.

555
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,720
Speaker 2: I didn't have no shoes on, and it seemed like

556
00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:21,640
Speaker 2: nobody was really watching them. Some of the little girls

557
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 2: didn't even have shirts on, you know. And I started

558
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 2: taking care of them. So I had like this unofficial

559
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:30,440
Speaker 2: daycare basically. So I would put a little sign up

560
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,200
Speaker 2: outside of my apartment that said miss Carly's houses open today,

561
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,040
Speaker 2: and like the parents would just let their kids hang

562
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:39,720
Speaker 2: out with me all day. And I didn't have no money,

563
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 2: but I had a link card, so I would go

564
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,000
Speaker 2: when I would get stuff for us to do crafts

565
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,240
Speaker 2: and activities and make lemonade and I just had a

566
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:49,680
Speaker 2: good old time. And let me tell you, at the

567
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,400
Speaker 2: end of those days, I could just lay my head

568
00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:58,160
Speaker 2: down and go to sleep. I didn't have to relive

569
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 2: all the shit that I'd done. I didn't have to

570
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,000
Speaker 2: relive all the stuff that was done to me. I

571
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:05,760
Speaker 2: could just go to sleep. On the nights that I

572
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 2: hung out with those kids, I was fulfilled and I

573
00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:13,479
Speaker 2: was tired, and I felt like I had done something

574
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:17,480
Speaker 2: good and I could just go to sleep. So I

575
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,640
Speaker 2: realized that if I could get outside of myself and

576
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:24,560
Speaker 2: do something for others, that I could get through that day.

577
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 2: So I spent a lot of time with those kids,

578
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,800
Speaker 2: needless to say, and I dove into service work in

579
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:37,160
Speaker 2: the recovery world, and I learned that being of service

580
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:40,200
Speaker 2: was saving my life.

581
00:30:42,960 --> 00:31:03,160
Speaker 1: We'll be right back, Okay, three questions before we go

582
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:08,240
Speaker 1: to what you did that has now developed into Ms

583
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:15,680
Speaker 1: Carls and who you're serving, And how something you just

584
00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:18,480
Speaker 1: said struck me, which is you talked about all the

585
00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 1: things that you did and the things that were done

586
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,120
Speaker 1: to you. I think that's real close to what you

587
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:27,680
Speaker 1: just said to me. Yeah, where is forgiveness and grace

588
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:33,480
Speaker 1: working all this for you? You know, for both yourself

589
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 1: and for the neighbor who raped an eight year old,

590
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:49,920
Speaker 1: the grandmothers and mothers who not only didn't protect you,

591
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:54,480
Speaker 1: but candidly were complicit in those acc against you. For

592
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 1: the Persian guy who traded you a disgusting cubicle for sex,

593
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:07,840
Speaker 1: for the Mexican guy who had you gang right, for

594
00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:13,320
Speaker 1: the temerity of wanting your freedom. How is you not

595
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 1: just filled with hate?

596
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:17,560
Speaker 2: I'm not at all.

597
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 1: I know that about you because I can see it

598
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:27,040
Speaker 1: in your smile and what you do. Where did you find.

599
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:35,000
Speaker 2: That? It's a really good question, and I don't know

600
00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:37,520
Speaker 2: that I know the answer to it, but I know

601
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:44,040
Speaker 2: that these people. Let's take a pimp for instance, he

602
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 2: doesn't wake up and decide how going to be a pimp.

603
00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 2: When I grew up, you know, there is a series

604
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:56,840
Speaker 2: of circumstances and traumatic events that happened to get a

605
00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:01,320
Speaker 2: person to the stage in their life. I was selling people.

606
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 2: I was a human trafficker. I was selling people to Mexico,

607
00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 2: to these guys in Mexico, like, who does that? You

608
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 2: know someone who's experienced a lot of trauma. And I

609
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:17,880
Speaker 2: think because of what I had been through, I was

610
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,640
Speaker 2: able to understand that these people that were perpetrating even

611
00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:26,400
Speaker 2: acts against me and others, they were sick themselves, and

612
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 2: they had been abused and had traumatic experience happened to

613
00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:32,480
Speaker 2: them themselves.

614
00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:34,400
Speaker 1: Have you been able to have that same forgiveness and

615
00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:35,360
Speaker 1: grace for yourself?

616
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:43,160
Speaker 2: Yes? How through you know, working the twelve steps. And

617
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:48,400
Speaker 2: I will admit I was an atheist for all of

618
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 2: my life until very recently, and what is very recently

619
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:57,240
Speaker 2: about the last year or so, I've seen so many

620
00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 2: miracles happen in the work that we do that I

621
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,680
Speaker 2: can no longer believe that there's nothing out there. This

622
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:09,720
Speaker 2: isn't possible that you cannot tell me that that many

623
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:13,600
Speaker 2: coincidences have happened within the walls of the building that

624
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:17,560
Speaker 2: I'm in. It just can't be. So I know that

625
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,359
Speaker 2: there is a higher power watching out for me and

626
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:25,000
Speaker 2: guiding me, and I feel a sense of peace in

627
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:29,400
Speaker 2: that that I never had before. Am I a person

628
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,839
Speaker 2: of great, strong faith that's gonna get up on an

629
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:37,200
Speaker 2: in front of a church and inspire a room full

630
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:42,759
Speaker 2: of people with my knowledge of the Bible and whatnot? No,

631
00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:46,520
Speaker 2: but I used to be an atheist and I'm not anymore.

632
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:52,040
Speaker 2: And I'm learning to explore where my faith is because

633
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:56,600
Speaker 2: I shouldn't be alive today and I am. And I

634
00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:02,239
Speaker 2: witnessed miracle after miracle after miracle. So I feel like

635
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 2: a baby in my faith and I'm just starting to

636
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,320
Speaker 2: learn more about it. But I pray all the time.

637
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:14,839
Speaker 2: I pray that I will understand what I need to understand.

638
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,520
Speaker 2: And it's a very new and fresh thing for me.

639
00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 2: So I'm not real comfortable talking about it because.

640
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:26,680
Speaker 1: Oh, now that's weird. You'll talk about gang rapes and

641
00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:30,160
Speaker 1: cops holed and guns to your head, but you're uncomfortable

642
00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:33,920
Speaker 1: talking about I think that is really ironic. But you're

643
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,000
Speaker 1: uncomfortable talking about people.

644
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:41,080
Speaker 2: Who identified as Christians and went to church and hurt me.

645
00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:45,040
Speaker 1: You know, there's a difference in religion and faith, Garlic

646
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:55,960
Speaker 1: a huge one, big big Religion can often be can

647
00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:05,120
Speaker 1: often be mishandled in a way that hurts others, and

648
00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:11,319
Speaker 1: that is not faith. That is a human construct that

649
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:19,000
Speaker 1: can oftentimes destroy faith. Actually, And so I get what

650
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:19,520
Speaker 1: you're saying.

651
00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 2: When I was in solitary confinement, there's no books, and

652
00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:29,719
Speaker 2: I just had one little like ripped part of a

653
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:34,799
Speaker 2: Bible and and I would read it and and I

654
00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 2: just really identified with, you know, a lot of the

655
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:46,920
Speaker 2: scriptures and this the idea of unconditional love because that

656
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:48,960
Speaker 2: was the only way I was going to be loved

657
00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:51,920
Speaker 2: because I had done so many bad things. You know,

658
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:55,000
Speaker 2: the only way that anybody was going to love me

659
00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:58,239
Speaker 2: is if they could have the capacity for unconditional love.

660
00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:01,480
Speaker 2: So there were any things that led up to me

661
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:07,000
Speaker 2: deciding not to be an atheist anymore. That happened somewhere

662
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:11,480
Speaker 2: around a year ago. And I just pray a lot now,

663
00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:15,840
Speaker 2: and I pray. I pray a lot in gratitude for

664
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:19,480
Speaker 2: the miracles that I see happening around me, and I

665
00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:23,000
Speaker 2: pray for healing for the people that are hurting around me.

666
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:28,760
Speaker 2: And it happens. It happens all the time. My prayers

667
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:30,760
Speaker 2: get answer, So I just keep praying.

668
00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:34,479
Speaker 1: So let's talk about how those miracles started. I think

669
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:37,839
Speaker 1: it was you decided homeless people that live near you

670
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:44,600
Speaker 1: needed a sandwich. I think that's basically the way it began.

671
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 2: Crying. I'm sorry, It's.

672
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:54,960
Speaker 1: Okay, cry your heart out. Are you one? But we

673
00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:57,520
Speaker 1: deal with a lot of light stuff, you know. Some

674
00:37:57,719 --> 00:38:02,600
Speaker 1: episodes are about Seneca, Indiana, and it's happy and warm

675
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:04,759
Speaker 1: and fun to talk about. And some are with a

676
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:10,880
Speaker 1: guy named big Al who has a magnanimous personality that

677
00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 1: could fill this whole building. Some are deep troubling stories. Obviously,

678
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:22,359
Speaker 1: we try to always get to their dimption, which we're

679
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:26,279
Speaker 1: getting to here. But it's a it's a it's a

680
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:30,440
Speaker 1: it's a it's a very diverse storytelling that we do.

681
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:36,320
Speaker 1: And I got to tell you, I've sat here for

682
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:39,200
Speaker 1: the last fifteen minutes fighting tears. I've got tears in

683
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:41,480
Speaker 1: my eyes right now and a little bit of a

684
00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:46,879
Speaker 1: lump in my throat, and that is rare in these

685
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:51,440
Speaker 1: things that we do. And I'm really affected by your story.

686
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,360
Speaker 2: I'm glad because that means there's hope for the women

687
00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:59,959
Speaker 2: out there who are still living in this backstory.

688
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:03,520
Speaker 1: And I think that's what's affecting me. Is not your story,

689
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:08,360
Speaker 1: just your story. But I can't quit thinking that, oh

690
00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,279
Speaker 1: my gosh, right now, within twenty miles of here, this

691
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:15,440
Speaker 1: is probably happening to ten different women, and it makes

692
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:18,319
Speaker 1: me want to throw up and it hurts me. And

693
00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 1: we just got to do better.

694
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:25,000
Speaker 2: People worry so much about the homeless people, the homeless people,

695
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:29,319
Speaker 2: the homeless people. What about these people living in subdivided buildings,

696
00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:34,120
Speaker 2: you know, with opportunistic landlords, and you know, there's so

697
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:39,000
Speaker 2: many people being taken advantage of and subjugated and poor areas,

698
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:43,000
Speaker 2: and they don't have anywhere to run to for help,

699
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:45,680
Speaker 2: and they don't have people that they can trust. And

700
00:39:45,719 --> 00:39:49,319
Speaker 2: I think that we should open ourselves if we are

701
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:53,040
Speaker 2: capable to be one of those safe people and identify

702
00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:56,040
Speaker 2: ourselves as an advocate, which is.

703
00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,040
Speaker 1: What you did with some sandwiches. So go to it

704
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:00,720
Speaker 1: in my garden.

705
00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:03,280
Speaker 2: I want to. I have a family, I'm sober.

706
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:06,800
Speaker 1: Now, and you're in Rockford, Illinois. You got it straight,

707
00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 1: you got a job, You're you you you you are,

708
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:17,120
Speaker 1: You have done the work that most can't, and honestly

709
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:22,120
Speaker 1: that should be enough. You know, you're you. You pulled

710
00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 1: yourself literally off skid row. Yeah, I get it that

711
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:30,760
Speaker 1: I do identify with. But you, you have, you've you've

712
00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 1: quote made it literally off skid row, and that is

713
00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:40,560
Speaker 1: not a proverbial statement, literally off skid row. You're in Rockford, Illinois,

714
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:44,920
Speaker 1: You've got a life, you're clean, you're sober, you face

715
00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:48,040
Speaker 1: so many of your demons, and you're digging in your garden.

716
00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:53,680
Speaker 2: Only you know, I only know one person that was

717
00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:55,520
Speaker 2: on skid row at the same time as me that

718
00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:56,160
Speaker 2: made it off.

719
00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:01,000
Speaker 1: So what I'm saying it's your You're rare, You're in

720
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:02,160
Speaker 1: very thin air.

721
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:04,800
Speaker 2: So I'm digging in my garden and this homeless person

722
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:08,000
Speaker 2: just gets down in the garden beside me and starts digging,

723
00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:10,240
Speaker 2: and you serious.

724
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:13,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's like, you picked the right person to do

725
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:15,680
Speaker 1: it next to you. I mean, you get him. He's

726
00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:17,120
Speaker 1: probably high as hell, isn't he.

727
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:20,239
Speaker 2: Yeah he was. At the time, I was running this

728
00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:23,960
Speaker 2: very successful, well, very successful, especially for how new it

729
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,879
Speaker 2: was photography business. But I felt like a fraud because

730
00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:29,399
Speaker 2: I'm around all these people who were dressed all fancy,

731
00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:33,479
Speaker 2: and they're like showing all their opulence and wealth off,

732
00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:34,080
Speaker 2: you know.

733
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:37,400
Speaker 1: And you're taking their pictures and making money, good money.

734
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:39,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I made a lot of money. I had

735
00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:45,319
Speaker 2: a great My partner, mister Jacob, is abitious businessman, and

736
00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:48,760
Speaker 2: he's like, yeah, I was charging fifty dollars a session.

737
00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:50,240
Speaker 2: He said, what are you doing?

738
00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:51,440
Speaker 1: That's five one hundred.

739
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly what he said.

740
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:57,839
Speaker 1: Right, And he have a kid getting married. I know what, photographer,

741
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:01,040
Speaker 1: it's a racket as well, photographer.

742
00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:02,920
Speaker 2: I was, And yeah, and then I couldn't do it.

743
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:06,960
Speaker 2: I couldn't charge people that much. I did, but then

744
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:09,440
Speaker 2: I hated it, and then people were just so ugly

745
00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:13,600
Speaker 2: displaying all of their opulence and you know, their gucci,

746
00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:15,480
Speaker 2: Like what why do you have to have an eight

747
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:18,200
Speaker 2: thousand dollars purse just to hold it for fifteen minutes,

748
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:22,799
Speaker 2: you know, like it's crazy. I was very uncomfortable. It

749
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:26,840
Speaker 2: wasn't my scene and I and I was going through

750
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:28,680
Speaker 2: that in my head, like how do I get out

751
00:42:28,719 --> 00:42:30,560
Speaker 2: of this business that it just worked so hard to

752
00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:34,279
Speaker 2: get into. And here comes this homeless person and I'm like,

753
00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:35,840
Speaker 2: you are my people.

754
00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:38,840
Speaker 1: This high homeless dude starts digging next.

755
00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:40,960
Speaker 2: H yeah, yeah. I'm like, come inside, let's go get

756
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,239
Speaker 2: something to eat. He's like, but I'm filthy. I'm like,

757
00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:46,360
Speaker 2: I don't care. I'm dirty too, Go wash up and

758
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:49,240
Speaker 2: I'll make you something to eat. And his name was Shane,

759
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:53,160
Speaker 2: and I love Shane so much. Shane and I would

760
00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:55,399
Speaker 2: hang out a lot in the garden. He just kept

761
00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:57,120
Speaker 2: meeting me early in the morning because I would get

762
00:42:57,160 --> 00:42:59,480
Speaker 2: up before my kids got up because it was cool,

763
00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:01,279
Speaker 2: you know, and then it were hotter and I don't

764
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:03,440
Speaker 2: want to be digging in the heat, so he just

765
00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:06,160
Speaker 2: started timing it. I also smoked cigarettes at the time,

766
00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:08,719
Speaker 2: and that was his way to get his morning cigarette too,

767
00:43:09,080 --> 00:43:10,719
Speaker 2: So he'd come and help me dig in the garden

768
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:12,640
Speaker 2: and he'd get his couple of cigarettes and then I

769
00:43:12,640 --> 00:43:15,359
Speaker 2: would feed them and then we would part our ways. Well,

770
00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:17,040
Speaker 2: he got to the point where I invarted him over

771
00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:19,239
Speaker 2: for dinner and he came and he ate with my

772
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:21,600
Speaker 2: family for dinner, and to him, it was like such

773
00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:23,480
Speaker 2: a big thing. He was like, I'm gonna go to

774
00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:25,560
Speaker 2: Carpentage place and I'm gonna take a shower. I promise

775
00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:28,120
Speaker 2: I'll be cleaning, Miss Carley. He called me miss Carly.

776
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:32,800
Speaker 2: He's the first person to call me that. He's so worried.

777
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:35,320
Speaker 2: He didn't want to be dirty, like around my children,

778
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:38,440
Speaker 2: because I had two children at the time. And he's like,

779
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:40,600
Speaker 2: I promise I'll be clean and I'll wipe my seat

780
00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:42,759
Speaker 2: after I get up, but my pants will be clean,

781
00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:44,920
Speaker 2: so don't worry, you know. He's like all excited about

782
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:47,480
Speaker 2: coming to dinner, and I'm like, I'm not tripping, dude,

783
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:52,560
Speaker 2: Like germs are germs, you know. And he comes to dinner,

784
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:54,839
Speaker 2: and he comes to dinner again and he's like our

785
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:58,680
Speaker 2: friend now, and then his friends start knocking on the

786
00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:01,200
Speaker 2: door and they're like, we're hungry, and we were wondering

787
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:04,239
Speaker 2: if maybe you had anything left over. So now I'm

788
00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:06,920
Speaker 2: calling my friends who owned restaurants and I'm getting bags

789
00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:08,680
Speaker 2: with these and bags.

790
00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:11,920
Speaker 1: And flowers like that is hilarious.

791
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:15,800
Speaker 2: And I'm making rolling out homemade hot pockets and stuff,

792
00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:18,040
Speaker 2: and I'm just trying to figure out how to feed

793
00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:20,680
Speaker 2: these people. And I'm getting a little bit behind on

794
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:24,680
Speaker 2: my personal chores. So Shane started like sweeping the mopping

795
00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:26,440
Speaker 2: for me because I'm making a big mess with these

796
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:30,240
Speaker 2: fifty pound bags of flower and stuff. So he's helping

797
00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:34,440
Speaker 2: me clean, which is notable. Just remember that later. And

798
00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:37,000
Speaker 2: we're just doing it. We're feeding all our friends, right

799
00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:39,120
Speaker 2: And one day, Shane.

800
00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:42,680
Speaker 1: I gotta ask something, Yeah, what are your neighbors thinking, Oh, they're.

801
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:45,960
Speaker 2: They're slipping there, Tamali's over the fence.

802
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:47,240
Speaker 1: Your neighbors are helping.

803
00:44:47,680 --> 00:44:50,319
Speaker 2: They're a Hispanic family, and they're like, who's Tomali's for

804
00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:55,160
Speaker 2: your friends? And then the other neighbors on the other

805
00:44:55,239 --> 00:44:58,400
Speaker 2: side was the building that we know. Oh, and so

806
00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:01,200
Speaker 2: they didn't care either. They're ours neighbors across the street

807
00:45:01,239 --> 00:45:04,320
Speaker 2: that aren't super happy about it, but everybody else around

808
00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:08,120
Speaker 2: right around us loves us. It's in the immediate area.

809
00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:12,240
Speaker 2: So so so the friends are coming and the friends

810
00:45:12,239 --> 00:45:14,359
Speaker 2: are coming, and I'm like, I'm having a little bit

811
00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:17,839
Speaker 2: of trouble keeping up right. And then this one homeless

812
00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:21,240
Speaker 2: young woman who, bless her heart, she ended up dying

813
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:27,719
Speaker 2: of infection cancer. She had cancer, but she actually died

814
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:31,960
Speaker 2: of infection was totally treatable. Once again, she brought me.

815
00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:35,920
Speaker 2: She's this little old lady named Miss Rhonda, who I

816
00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:43,560
Speaker 2: believe is actually from somewhere around here, like yeah, she's

817
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:47,120
Speaker 2: somewhere from Tennessee or something like that. But anyway, she's

818
00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:49,440
Speaker 2: a sweet little old lady from the South named Miss Rhonda.

819
00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:52,759
Speaker 2: And Miss Ronda was walking down Seventh Street, which is

820
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,400
Speaker 2: a notorious street for homeless people in drug sales and

821
00:45:55,480 --> 00:46:00,200
Speaker 2: human trafficking and Rockford, and Miss Ronda says, I I

822
00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:03,239
Speaker 2: swear swear by god, it was the only day I

823
00:46:03,239 --> 00:46:06,719
Speaker 2: couldn't find a single homeless person in all the Salmon Street.

824
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:08,240
Speaker 1: Because they were all at your house.

825
00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:13,719
Speaker 2: I don't know where they were quite possibly. So this

826
00:46:13,760 --> 00:46:17,799
Speaker 2: one homeless person brought Miss Rhonda to me, and Miss

827
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:20,480
Speaker 2: Ronda had all this food left over from a funeral,

828
00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:25,799
Speaker 2: and she said, what are you doing here? Because I

829
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:28,479
Speaker 2: was feeding these homeless people. I said, I'm feeding some people.

830
00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:32,000
Speaker 2: She said, I want to feed people, and so I

831
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:34,480
Speaker 2: would cook half at my house and she would cook

832
00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:37,160
Speaker 2: half at her house, and we would feed like fifty

833
00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:40,080
Speaker 2: homeless people. And it was just this totally organic thing,

834
00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:44,960
Speaker 2: completely word of mouth, home cooked food. And it was

835
00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:47,279
Speaker 2: fifty people, and it was seventy five people, and it

836
00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:49,400
Speaker 2: was one hundred people, and it was two hundred people,

837
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:52,000
Speaker 2: and it was three hundred people. And right about the

838
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:55,080
Speaker 2: time we were feeding three hundred and fifty people a

839
00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:58,800
Speaker 2: hot meal three times a week, I caught two escame

840
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:02,920
Speaker 2: prison inmates. These two prison inmates showed up at my

841
00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:09,560
Speaker 2: house and escaped prison inmates, and I recognized their picture

842
00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:12,480
Speaker 2: only by chance because I do not watch the news.

843
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:15,080
Speaker 2: I've been through enough in my life. I just can't

844
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:17,920
Speaker 2: deal with the news. I don't watch the news, but

845
00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:21,480
Speaker 2: I just happen to see it because my friend's cabin

846
00:47:21,719 --> 00:47:25,160
Speaker 2: was in the area where they were escaped from, and

847
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:28,960
Speaker 2: their pictures in printed in my mind because they were

848
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:31,480
Speaker 2: in prison for the same kinds of charges that my

849
00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:36,160
Speaker 2: mother's rapist was in prison. Wow, rape, kidnapping, et cetera.

850
00:47:37,040 --> 00:47:40,400
Speaker 2: These So, these kidnap rape, kidnap guys are at my

851
00:47:40,520 --> 00:47:44,440
Speaker 2: door and it's I don't know, early in the morning,

852
00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:46,040
Speaker 2: six seven, eight in the morning.

853
00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:48,200
Speaker 1: Or something for yourself for you.

854
00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:51,600
Speaker 2: I've been through so much these guys, I'm like whatever.

855
00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:56,200
Speaker 2: But I'm thinking, how do I get inside to call

856
00:47:56,320 --> 00:47:59,360
Speaker 2: nine one one without tipping them off? And how do

857
00:47:59,440 --> 00:48:01,120
Speaker 2: I keep them here long enough for nine one one

858
00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:04,320
Speaker 2: a cup for the police to come. So another volunteer

859
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:07,799
Speaker 2: showed up at the same time, and I said, I'm

860
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:09,279
Speaker 2: going to go out to sign and get coffee for

861
00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:13,040
Speaker 2: these two guys because they were freezing, And he stayed

862
00:48:13,040 --> 00:48:14,560
Speaker 2: and talked to them while I went and signed and

863
00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:17,080
Speaker 2: called nine one one and made them coffee. So I

864
00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:19,960
Speaker 2: came back out and I stalled them. Then the other

865
00:48:20,040 --> 00:48:25,480
Speaker 2: volunteer went inside, and I stalled the two guys until

866
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:27,360
Speaker 2: the police got there. And I think they took a

867
00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:29,799
Speaker 2: long time because I don't think they believed me, And

868
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:32,560
Speaker 2: then when they finally realized that I was telling the truth,

869
00:48:32,840 --> 00:48:34,839
Speaker 2: they had to get more cops. I guess. So this

870
00:48:34,880 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 2: is like ten, twelve, fifteen minutes. I'm stalling these escaped inmates,

871
00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:42,680
Speaker 2: just small talking with them. I'm like, let me go

872
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:44,359
Speaker 2: get you a pair of sweats, let me go get

873
00:48:44,400 --> 00:48:46,800
Speaker 2: you this, let me and I'm like trying to figure

874
00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:49,840
Speaker 2: out all these reasons to stall them and eventually show

875
00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:51,640
Speaker 2: while the cops come in and they arrest them, and

876
00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:55,239
Speaker 2: I got this award and stuff. So I'm really really popular.

877
00:48:56,800 --> 00:49:00,960
Speaker 1: That is so ironic. Yeah, if you think about it,

878
00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:06,480
Speaker 1: it is that you're getting award from the police.

879
00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:12,280
Speaker 2: I felt like Hunter S. Thompson sitting in that pillow

880
00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:15,160
Speaker 2: police and detectives and stuff. I mean, mind you, I'm

881
00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:18,160
Speaker 2: sober at the time, so it wasn't exactly like Hunter S. Thompson,

882
00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:22,000
Speaker 2: but I felt to myself like if these guys only knew,

883
00:49:22,120 --> 00:49:25,239
Speaker 2: you know, Like but yeah, I went up on the

884
00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:28,240
Speaker 2: stage and it was all like just cops and stuff,

885
00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:31,359
Speaker 2: and they gave me an award and that helped the donations.

886
00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:35,319
Speaker 1: Roll in and then yeah, the point is that was

887
00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:40,560
Speaker 1: the media event. The people are like, this chick is

888
00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:44,680
Speaker 1: feeding all these homeless people and doing good. Yeah, and

889
00:49:44,760 --> 00:49:48,279
Speaker 1: so now you have an organization.

890
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:51,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, we had to start an organization. The city tried

891
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:55,160
Speaker 2: to shut us down and they failed because the community

892
00:49:55,280 --> 00:49:57,799
Speaker 2: rose up and was like, oh, hell no, you're not

893
00:49:57,840 --> 00:50:01,000
Speaker 2: shutting this lady down. And there there so many people

894
00:50:01,080 --> 00:50:03,040
Speaker 2: at city Hall when the city tried to shut us

895
00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:05,120
Speaker 2: down that they had to put TVs in the lobbies.

896
00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:08,480
Speaker 2: People made t shirts, bumper stickers and they were like,

897
00:50:08,560 --> 00:50:12,719
Speaker 2: save miss Carle's. The newspaper did it up ed And

898
00:50:12,920 --> 00:50:15,480
Speaker 2: everybody was just in our corner, you know. We had

899
00:50:15,560 --> 00:50:18,799
Speaker 2: tremendous support and we got a unanimous vote from city

900
00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:23,040
Speaker 2: council to stay open and we've been feeding people ever since.

901
00:50:23,080 --> 00:50:26,280
Speaker 2: When COVID hit, we had to change the hot meals,

902
00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:29,040
Speaker 2: which really broke our heart because a big part of

903
00:50:29,080 --> 00:50:34,160
Speaker 2: what we did was we had volunteers who would just

904
00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:36,960
Speaker 2: walk around and sit down with people and get to

905
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,440
Speaker 2: know them, and then we would find out what was

906
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:41,759
Speaker 2: going on in their lives and we would try to

907
00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:43,680
Speaker 2: help them figure it out. We would show up at

908
00:50:43,680 --> 00:50:46,840
Speaker 2: their doctor's appointments with them. We would you know, just

909
00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:51,319
Speaker 2: like fit the pieces together. So it broke our heart

910
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:53,480
Speaker 2: that we weren't going to have the hot meals. So

911
00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:58,200
Speaker 2: then we went to sack lunches when COVID hit, and

912
00:50:58,239 --> 00:51:03,080
Speaker 2: the sack lunches turned to one thousand, two hundred sack

913
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:04,000
Speaker 2: lunches a day.

914
00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:07,480
Speaker 1: At time that's insane. Twelve hundred, how many people are

915
00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:10,120
Speaker 1: making these things? I mean, you're no longer doing this

916
00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:11,600
Speaker 1: in your kitchen, eight.

917
00:51:11,400 --> 00:51:14,359
Speaker 2: To ten people. We started renting the kitchen next door

918
00:51:14,400 --> 00:51:19,120
Speaker 2: to us, and we'd just pump out the sandwiches, like

919
00:51:19,239 --> 00:51:22,359
Speaker 2: three days a week. We'd make a few thousand sandwiches,

920
00:51:23,040 --> 00:51:27,680
Speaker 2: and we were able to feed as many as twelve

921
00:51:27,760 --> 00:51:31,600
Speaker 2: hundred people in a day during COVID. But the hard

922
00:51:31,680 --> 00:51:36,360
Speaker 2: thing during COVID was seeing people cut off from resources.

923
00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:40,160
Speaker 2: So the fact that you know, people couldn't get into

924
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:44,000
Speaker 2: treatment really resonated with me. I forgot to tell you

925
00:51:44,080 --> 00:51:46,800
Speaker 2: that one night Shane didn't show it for family dinner,

926
00:51:47,640 --> 00:51:50,880
Speaker 2: and me and mister Jacob went to his tent and

927
00:51:50,960 --> 00:51:54,000
Speaker 2: we saw footprints all over the ground and his hat

928
00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:55,799
Speaker 2: was trampled on the ground. I should have taken a

929
00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:58,360
Speaker 2: picture of it, because his hat is on the wall

930
00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:01,680
Speaker 2: at my house, right next to his sure. And we

931
00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:06,000
Speaker 2: knew that our friend was gone and he had overdosed.

932
00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:10,600
Speaker 2: Another homeless person found him in the prayer position, passed away,

933
00:52:12,520 --> 00:52:15,680
Speaker 2: and it just broke my heart that I didn't help him.

934
00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:19,280
Speaker 2: I know, I who had a car, a computer, a house,

935
00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:23,319
Speaker 2: connections in the community. Why didn't I get him help?

936
00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:26,440
Speaker 2: And this was before we started doing that, So he

937
00:52:26,640 --> 00:52:30,720
Speaker 2: was the first person that passed away that we knew

938
00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:33,920
Speaker 2: that was homeless, and it just destroyed us. Me and

939
00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:36,879
Speaker 2: Jacob sat there and cried. And ever since that day

940
00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:40,080
Speaker 2: we started helping getting people to treatment. We started driving

941
00:52:40,160 --> 00:52:44,239
Speaker 2: people in our own car pre COVID to Chicago and

942
00:52:44,280 --> 00:52:47,440
Speaker 2: we would sit with them and we would not give

943
00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:50,880
Speaker 2: up until they got a bed in treatment post COVID,

944
00:52:51,239 --> 00:52:54,719
Speaker 2: same thing, but larger scale, and we used Uber instead.

945
00:52:55,280 --> 00:52:59,399
Speaker 2: We now have gotten over a thousand people into treatment and.

946
00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:09,279
Speaker 1: Just stop a thousand people over. Okay, I'm looking through

947
00:53:09,320 --> 00:53:13,160
Speaker 1: my notes and I can't find their names, and I'd

948
00:53:13,320 --> 00:53:15,560
Speaker 1: love to give them credit for this, but do you

949
00:53:15,640 --> 00:53:19,320
Speaker 1: know how we found out about two army or normal

950
00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:24,600
Speaker 1: folks listeners? Danica? I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing your name, Danica.

951
00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:30,600
Speaker 1: Hey skat them and pat Ran that said they donate

952
00:53:30,640 --> 00:53:35,600
Speaker 1: to your work, but they're just people who know about you.

953
00:53:35,640 --> 00:53:36,759
Speaker 1: Do you know who these people are?

954
00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:39,000
Speaker 2: I Reconi their names for sure, Yeah.

955
00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:42,880
Speaker 1: Yep, they're the one. They They're how we even know

956
00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:48,319
Speaker 1: your story? I knew you didn't know that, and I

957
00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:52,799
Speaker 1: wanted to give it to you as a point of encouragement.

958
00:53:53,680 --> 00:54:01,000
Speaker 1: You're not only affecting homeless people, You're illustrating to people

959
00:54:01,040 --> 00:54:06,200
Speaker 1: who have not been what you've been through. And you're

960
00:54:06,239 --> 00:54:09,360
Speaker 1: inspiring them enough that they take their time to different

961
00:54:09,400 --> 00:54:12,000
Speaker 1: people to email us about the work that you're doing

962
00:54:12,040 --> 00:54:19,360
Speaker 1: in Rockford. You're helping a whole community. You're inspiring a whole.

963
00:54:19,160 --> 00:54:27,359
Speaker 2: Community, because these people are screwed, if not already, there's

964
00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:29,439
Speaker 2: this ads are stacked against them.

965
00:54:29,760 --> 00:54:33,000
Speaker 1: So tell me today what it is. I know you

966
00:54:33,040 --> 00:54:36,640
Speaker 1: do meal service three days a week and you serve

967
00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:39,760
Speaker 1: as many as God, I don't even know how many meals.

968
00:54:39,760 --> 00:54:41,520
Speaker 1: It's an insane amount. What's the number?

969
00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:44,319
Speaker 2: So don't we no longer do the meal service three

970
00:54:44,400 --> 00:54:46,359
Speaker 2: days a week. We do what we call community day

971
00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:49,400
Speaker 2: three days a week, so we have people come in.

972
00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:51,719
Speaker 2: We do the sack lunches twenty four hours a day,

973
00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:52,640
Speaker 2: seven days a week.

974
00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:55,320
Speaker 1: You do that no matter what. So if a homeless

975
00:54:55,360 --> 00:55:00,839
Speaker 1: person in Rockford wants food, it's there seven days a week.

976
00:55:00,880 --> 00:55:07,239
Speaker 1: Allahah water we're talking Christmas, Thanksgiving clothes. Okay, So you

977
00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:09,480
Speaker 1: do that and then you have that is.

978
00:55:09,480 --> 00:55:11,959
Speaker 2: Five feet from the front door. So when people knock,

979
00:55:12,080 --> 00:55:13,440
Speaker 2: I just get out of bed, and I have a

980
00:55:13,480 --> 00:55:17,000
Speaker 2: refrigerator right next to the front door, and I get

981
00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:19,279
Speaker 2: the cold part of the lunch out of the refrigerator.

982
00:55:19,440 --> 00:55:21,359
Speaker 2: I get a bar of soap, I get whatever they need.

983
00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:23,120
Speaker 2: It's all set up right around the front door.

984
00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:25,560
Speaker 1: That's what I was getting to is. It's not now

985
00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:32,760
Speaker 1: just food, it's clothing items, it's hygiene. It's literally meals

986
00:55:32,760 --> 00:55:36,440
Speaker 1: at the door for the homeless, along with the things

987
00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:39,640
Speaker 1: that you remember you wish you had when you were

988
00:55:39,640 --> 00:55:40,319
Speaker 1: on sched row.

989
00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:44,400
Speaker 2: They used to charge like twenty dollars for a blanket.

990
00:55:44,440 --> 00:55:48,200
Speaker 2: It'd be like a dirty life infected blanket, Like you'd

991
00:55:48,239 --> 00:55:50,000
Speaker 2: have to buy it from another homeless person.

992
00:55:50,239 --> 00:55:51,800
Speaker 1: Well where are you going to get the twenty bucks?

993
00:55:52,719 --> 00:55:54,880
Speaker 1: Go deal drugs or prostitute yourself.

994
00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:57,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's so important to me to give people

995
00:55:57,520 --> 00:55:59,200
Speaker 2: blankets and those things that I.

996
00:55:59,280 --> 00:56:03,839
Speaker 1: Right, you got twenty four to seven lunch in a sack.

997
00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:08,839
Speaker 2: You get very basic necessities.

998
00:56:08,360 --> 00:56:16,960
Speaker 1: Right, Narcan. Now that's interesting. Now you do that confidentially

999
00:56:17,200 --> 00:56:21,640
Speaker 1: and without prejudice, because you also understand what that feels like.

1000
00:56:22,760 --> 00:56:26,240
Speaker 2: But Narcan, I won't know how many people I've given

1001
00:56:26,320 --> 00:56:27,480
Speaker 2: narkan and CPR too.

1002
00:56:27,800 --> 00:56:31,440
Speaker 1: I do oh oh darkhan and what CPR? Yeah, I

1003
00:56:31,440 --> 00:56:32,959
Speaker 1: do want to know twenty.

1004
00:56:32,680 --> 00:56:41,560
Speaker 2: Seven people, twenty seven people. Most of those were trafficked

1005
00:56:41,560 --> 00:56:45,640
Speaker 2: women who were dumped on our doorstep during COVID not

1006
00:56:45,719 --> 00:56:49,319
Speaker 2: breathing and blue. Twenty seven people one of them.

1007
00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:53,319
Speaker 1: That literally means you probably saved twenty seven pous on

1008
00:56:53,320 --> 00:56:54,640
Speaker 1: your front doorstep.

1009
00:56:54,239 --> 00:56:57,600
Speaker 2: Save twenty seven lives on my front doorstep. One woman.

1010
00:56:57,840 --> 00:57:02,480
Speaker 2: I gave her CPR five times, and her name is Mary, Mary.

1011
00:57:02,600 --> 00:57:06,080
Speaker 2: I am so proud of you. Her name is Mary Bouchers.

1012
00:57:06,640 --> 00:57:09,440
Speaker 2: And she told me, miss Carly, I'm gonna get sober

1013
00:57:09,480 --> 00:57:12,080
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna get all my kids back, and she's

1014
00:57:12,239 --> 00:57:15,640
Speaker 2: done it. We helped her get, you know, off the

1015
00:57:15,680 --> 00:57:20,160
Speaker 2: streets and off drugs, but she didn't ask us for much.

1016
00:57:20,200 --> 00:57:21,840
Speaker 2: A lot of people are like, Okay, I need this,

1017
00:57:21,920 --> 00:57:23,720
Speaker 2: I need to bust pass, I need some groceries. I

1018
00:57:23,800 --> 00:57:25,840
Speaker 2: need oh, miss Carly, I got to pay my phone bill.

1019
00:57:26,560 --> 00:57:29,880
Speaker 2: She didn't ask us for life. They're nothing hardly. She

1020
00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:33,120
Speaker 2: did everything she said she was gonna do. She got

1021
00:57:33,240 --> 00:57:37,280
Speaker 2: all of her kids back. She even got her pimp

1022
00:57:37,520 --> 00:57:40,800
Speaker 2: sober and he has a year clean now, I mean

1023
00:57:40,840 --> 00:57:44,960
Speaker 2: we helped him, but like they did this, like she

1024
00:57:44,960 --> 00:57:49,040
Speaker 2: she got her pimp sober, so he's no longer out

1025
00:57:49,080 --> 00:57:53,600
Speaker 2: there hurting other women. It's just amazing. She's such a

1026
00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:56,000
Speaker 2: great success story. We have another traffic woman that we

1027
00:57:56,040 --> 00:57:59,320
Speaker 2: helped get sober, and she's her name is Danielle and

1028
00:57:59,440 --> 00:58:01,320
Speaker 2: she's now. She told me, Miss Carly, I'm going to

1029
00:58:01,320 --> 00:58:05,360
Speaker 2: be an inspirational speaker if she isn't. Now she's a

1030
00:58:05,400 --> 00:58:09,880
Speaker 2: freaking inspiration speaker. And I have dropped with this doctor

1031
00:58:10,400 --> 00:58:13,040
Speaker 2: and she goes to the University of Illinois and she

1032
00:58:13,200 --> 00:58:16,640
Speaker 2: teaches graduating doctors on how to recognize the signs of

1033
00:58:16,720 --> 00:58:20,800
Speaker 2: human trafficking in the er or wherever they might find

1034
00:58:20,840 --> 00:58:24,040
Speaker 2: themselves in their profession. Because this is the thing. The

1035
00:58:24,160 --> 00:58:27,760
Speaker 2: women don't identify with the language. They don't know they're

1036
00:58:27,800 --> 00:58:30,480
Speaker 2: being I didn't know I was being traffic I didn't

1037
00:58:30,520 --> 00:58:32,600
Speaker 2: know that I was trafficking almost people when I took

1038
00:58:32,600 --> 00:58:35,680
Speaker 2: them down to San Diego. The language is a barrier,

1039
00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:40,400
Speaker 2: and we got to get past those barriers and educate

1040
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:45,280
Speaker 2: people and have them understand that it's not acceptable treated

1041
00:58:45,320 --> 00:58:47,520
Speaker 2: this way. I'm sorry, I got off on a tangent.

1042
00:58:47,520 --> 00:58:54,240
Speaker 1: Drug and alcohol treatment and which I have I got

1043
00:58:54,240 --> 00:58:59,040
Speaker 1: to be completely candid here. Over the last year of

1044
00:58:59,120 --> 00:59:01,960
Speaker 1: doing an or me normal folks, what I have learned

1045
00:59:02,160 --> 00:59:05,080
Speaker 1: is a massive importance.

1046
00:59:04,960 --> 00:59:08,040
Speaker 2: An army of normal folks. What is that?

1047
00:59:08,080 --> 00:59:08,800
Speaker 1: That's what you're on?

1048
00:59:10,040 --> 00:59:11,880
Speaker 2: That is my dream?

1049
00:59:12,080 --> 00:59:15,360
Speaker 1: Okay, well that's the name of this podcast.

1050
00:59:15,800 --> 00:59:18,760
Speaker 2: I didn't even know that that's your dream. That's to create.

1051
00:59:20,600 --> 00:59:24,040
Speaker 1: Okay, well that's what that's the name of the podcast

1052
00:59:24,080 --> 00:59:29,840
Speaker 1: you're on right now. That's hilarious. Listen to me for

1053
00:59:29,840 --> 00:59:36,240
Speaker 1: a second. The what I've learned over the last year

1054
00:59:36,280 --> 00:59:41,560
Speaker 1: of doing this is you can get people in drug

1055
00:59:41,600 --> 00:59:44,680
Speaker 1: and alcohol treatment and they can get sober, but if

1056
00:59:44,760 --> 00:59:51,040
Speaker 1: you don't have a way to get them a place

1057
00:59:51,080 --> 00:59:54,680
Speaker 1: to assimilate back into the world. If you just take

1058
00:59:54,680 --> 00:59:56,680
Speaker 1: them from drugging out of retart and say okay, here's

1059
00:59:56,720 --> 01:00:00,880
Speaker 1: the world, they're going to relapse. And so so you

1060
01:00:01,160 --> 01:00:08,840
Speaker 1: also handle that right transition. Well not, okay, I did

1061
01:00:08,920 --> 01:00:09,240
Speaker 1: not know.

1062
01:00:09,320 --> 01:00:11,760
Speaker 2: That it was the name of your podcast. I researched you,

1063
01:00:12,840 --> 01:00:15,280
Speaker 2: you know, just a little bit, but I did not

1064
01:00:15,480 --> 01:00:17,720
Speaker 2: know that was the name of this podcast. That is

1065
01:00:17,840 --> 01:00:21,480
Speaker 2: my dream is to create an army of advocates to

1066
01:00:21,640 --> 01:00:25,880
Speaker 2: help pull people out of these depths of despair and

1067
01:00:26,120 --> 01:00:28,520
Speaker 2: help them just get to appointments.

1068
01:00:28,600 --> 01:00:31,920
Speaker 1: And Okay, so what our army of normal folks is.

1069
01:00:33,240 --> 01:00:37,560
Speaker 1: It is people like you who nobody know about, who

1070
01:00:37,640 --> 01:00:40,520
Speaker 1: are just normal folks who've been through whatever they've been

1071
01:00:40,600 --> 01:00:42,600
Speaker 1: in the world, that see areas of need in their

1072
01:00:42,600 --> 01:00:45,480
Speaker 1: community and fill it. And if we have an army

1073
01:00:45,480 --> 01:00:48,680
Speaker 1: of normal folks across the world seeing areas and need

1074
01:00:48,840 --> 01:00:51,520
Speaker 1: in the world and fill in it, we can change

1075
01:00:51,560 --> 01:00:52,200
Speaker 1: our society.

1076
01:00:52,360 --> 01:00:54,640
Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's exactly what I believe.

1077
01:00:54,760 --> 01:00:58,440
Speaker 1: Well, that's what you are joining by being a member

1078
01:00:58,640 --> 01:00:59,520
Speaker 1: of the podcast.

1079
01:01:00,080 --> 01:01:02,760
Speaker 2: My dream is to have an army of advocates to

1080
01:01:03,040 --> 01:01:06,560
Speaker 2: change Rockford, and then I want that to spread with

1081
01:01:07,240 --> 01:01:10,440
Speaker 2: So wow, I'm sorry. I didn't need to get so

1082
01:01:10,600 --> 01:01:12,120
Speaker 2: side checked. Let me answer your question.

1083
01:01:12,400 --> 01:01:17,520
Speaker 1: Okay, so absolutely say a nice job, Alex on your

1084
01:01:17,600 --> 01:01:28,760
Speaker 1: prop nice shot, buddy. Yeah good, We'll be right back.

1085
01:01:40,760 --> 01:01:44,360
Speaker 1: We do twenty four to seven bags, We do narcand

1086
01:01:44,480 --> 01:01:47,439
Speaker 1: we do clothing and hygiene items, meals at the door.

1087
01:01:48,080 --> 01:01:50,400
Speaker 1: You sleep next to the door so everybody gets food.

1088
01:01:50,480 --> 01:01:53,680
Speaker 1: You do drug alcohol treatment. You can get off the street,

1089
01:01:53,760 --> 01:01:57,680
Speaker 1: go to drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Everything's honky, dory. But

1090
01:01:57,840 --> 01:02:01,960
Speaker 1: then then what exactly to be transitioned? There has to

1091
01:02:02,040 --> 01:02:02,919
Speaker 1: be an assimilation.

1092
01:02:03,480 --> 01:02:05,480
Speaker 2: So many people say, oh, they should just go to

1093
01:02:05,560 --> 01:02:11,320
Speaker 2: the homeless shelter. Okay, homeless shelters grateful for it for them.

1094
01:02:11,840 --> 01:02:14,400
Speaker 2: Are they a place to be in early recovery?

1095
01:02:15,080 --> 01:02:16,800
Speaker 1: Absolutely, there's drugs everywhere.

1096
01:02:16,880 --> 01:02:19,800
Speaker 2: Are filled with drugs, right. I don't care what anybody

1097
01:02:19,880 --> 01:02:23,640
Speaker 2: says about how wonderful they are homeless shelter is antics

1098
01:02:23,680 --> 01:02:26,200
Speaker 2: are sneaky and it's not their thought that the drugs

1099
01:02:26,240 --> 01:02:28,880
Speaker 2: are in there, and Annik is going to figure it out.

1100
01:02:29,720 --> 01:02:32,800
Speaker 2: So we have to give them a safe, sane and

1101
01:02:33,000 --> 01:02:37,400
Speaker 2: supportive living environment to learn how to live without drugs

1102
01:02:37,520 --> 01:02:40,840
Speaker 2: in and especially if there's someone who's been doing it

1103
01:02:41,000 --> 01:02:44,880
Speaker 2: for decades. So we pay for them to go to

1104
01:02:45,080 --> 01:02:48,560
Speaker 2: any sober living they want to. And the reason that

1105
01:02:48,760 --> 01:02:50,960
Speaker 2: we let them make the choice and don't say, hey,

1106
01:02:51,040 --> 01:02:53,040
Speaker 2: we like this one, go to this one is this

1107
01:02:53,200 --> 01:02:57,640
Speaker 2: is their first experience of autonomy, of being able to choose.

1108
01:02:58,600 --> 01:03:01,880
Speaker 2: They have the ability to to make a decision for themselves,

1109
01:03:02,920 --> 01:03:07,120
Speaker 2: and autonomy is something homeost people believe they have, but

1110
01:03:07,240 --> 01:03:10,240
Speaker 2: when they truly get to experience it in a sober state,

1111
01:03:10,640 --> 01:03:12,040
Speaker 2: it's a whole different ball game.

1112
01:03:12,160 --> 01:03:15,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, they know that they were everything but autonomous because

1113
01:03:15,400 --> 01:03:19,160
Speaker 1: they were controlled by drugs and the life that goes

1114
01:03:19,240 --> 01:03:23,440
Speaker 1: along with it. It is the antithesis of autonomy truly.

1115
01:03:24,200 --> 01:03:27,440
Speaker 2: So we're very big on them being able to you know,

1116
01:03:27,640 --> 01:03:32,160
Speaker 2: we will suggest some places, but we pay for them

1117
01:03:32,320 --> 01:03:34,680
Speaker 2: to go to sober living and we get them a

1118
01:03:34,800 --> 01:03:37,800
Speaker 2: cell phone, just a cheap thirty dollars cell phone, a

1119
01:03:37,840 --> 01:03:42,680
Speaker 2: little bit of groceries, laundry basket sheets, some cigarettes, everything

1120
01:03:42,760 --> 01:03:46,440
Speaker 2: that they need to succeed in their early days of

1121
01:03:46,520 --> 01:03:52,680
Speaker 2: sober living. But more importantly, we become their family, so

1122
01:03:52,800 --> 01:03:54,720
Speaker 2: to speak, because so many of the people we serve

1123
01:03:54,800 --> 01:03:57,280
Speaker 2: they don't have anybody. They burn to the bridges, they

1124
01:03:57,360 --> 01:04:00,560
Speaker 2: squandered all the resources. Nobody is willing to help them,

1125
01:04:00,760 --> 01:04:03,080
Speaker 2: at least not in our community because we have this

1126
01:04:03,240 --> 01:04:07,440
Speaker 2: like big little city problem wherein there is resources. But

1127
01:04:07,600 --> 01:04:09,400
Speaker 2: once you've burnt your bridge, like, they're not going to

1128
01:04:09,440 --> 01:04:11,720
Speaker 2: help you again. You know they've had enough.

1129
01:04:12,120 --> 01:04:17,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, well people have had enough. Yeah, yeah, I listen

1130
01:04:17,640 --> 01:04:18,760
Speaker 1: before we throw rocks.

1131
01:04:19,160 --> 01:04:23,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can understand that me too, especially if they

1132
01:04:23,840 --> 01:04:24,880
Speaker 2: have anger problems.

1133
01:04:25,080 --> 01:04:27,680
Speaker 1: Well, and you know, you help, you help, you help.

1134
01:04:27,920 --> 01:04:34,680
Speaker 1: You know, it's exhausting sometimes and so I get that

1135
01:04:35,240 --> 01:04:37,480
Speaker 1: it is, but you're the one that's just never gonna

1136
01:04:37,760 --> 01:04:38,200
Speaker 1: have enough.

1137
01:04:38,800 --> 01:04:41,920
Speaker 2: There has to be somebody because the disease of addiction

1138
01:04:42,200 --> 01:04:45,600
Speaker 2: just doesn't make sense, Like, why would somebody who desperately

1139
01:04:45,640 --> 01:04:48,880
Speaker 2: wants to get sober keep relapsing over and over and

1140
01:04:49,040 --> 01:04:54,760
Speaker 2: over and they're not happy using, They're clearly not happy using, you.

1141
01:04:54,800 --> 01:04:58,000
Speaker 1: Know, yeah, the life you described us, who would be

1142
01:04:58,040 --> 01:05:02,160
Speaker 1: happy there and choose that and answers? Nobody would choose them.

1143
01:05:02,440 --> 01:05:07,160
Speaker 2: That is the insanity of the season addiction. Nobody would

1144
01:05:07,240 --> 01:05:10,040
Speaker 2: choose the life that these people are living, the people

1145
01:05:10,080 --> 01:05:10,880
Speaker 2: that we're serving.

1146
01:05:11,360 --> 01:05:17,320
Speaker 1: So you not only provide them the clothing and the

1147
01:05:17,440 --> 01:05:21,960
Speaker 1: food without prejudice while they're using. When they want to

1148
01:05:22,000 --> 01:05:24,560
Speaker 1: get sober, you get them drug and alcohol treatment, and

1149
01:05:24,720 --> 01:05:26,480
Speaker 1: when they get out of that, you give them a

1150
01:05:26,520 --> 01:05:27,360
Speaker 1: wider transition.

1151
01:05:27,800 --> 01:05:31,120
Speaker 2: Yes, and we also act as their support system until

1152
01:05:31,160 --> 01:05:34,960
Speaker 2: they can either reconnect with their family if that's healthy

1153
01:05:35,040 --> 01:05:38,080
Speaker 2: for them, and earn their trust back, or they can

1154
01:05:38,160 --> 01:05:40,800
Speaker 2: grow one of their own. And that is what's most

1155
01:05:40,840 --> 01:05:43,360
Speaker 2: special about us. And that's why I've flipped out when

1156
01:05:43,440 --> 01:05:48,120
Speaker 2: you told me the name of was because my whole

1157
01:05:48,640 --> 01:05:52,240
Speaker 2: dream is to grow this huge army of advocates that

1158
01:05:52,320 --> 01:05:55,520
Speaker 2: will just walk people through these challenges and love them

1159
01:05:55,640 --> 01:05:59,160
Speaker 2: unconditionally in the meantime, because I believe that you don't

1160
01:05:59,160 --> 01:06:03,440
Speaker 2: need a degree to change someone's life. I believe that

1161
01:06:03,720 --> 01:06:08,320
Speaker 2: if you just have the desire to affect someone's life

1162
01:06:09,000 --> 01:06:12,720
Speaker 2: and the empathy and compassion that it takes to understand

1163
01:06:12,800 --> 01:06:16,520
Speaker 2: their circumstances, even better, if you have some personal experience

1164
01:06:16,640 --> 01:06:21,920
Speaker 2: that you share. My dream is to create this big database, basically,

1165
01:06:22,120 --> 01:06:26,080
Speaker 2: this network of advocates, and I can I'll know about

1166
01:06:26,200 --> 01:06:28,120
Speaker 2: each of the advocates, and I can link them up

1167
01:06:28,280 --> 01:06:31,920
Speaker 2: to the people who need service and make sure they

1168
01:06:32,000 --> 01:06:34,920
Speaker 2: get through. Because there's lots of great services that exist,

1169
01:06:35,200 --> 01:06:38,840
Speaker 2: right But here's the thing that people don't believe they

1170
01:06:38,960 --> 01:06:42,880
Speaker 2: deserve the help. I lived in skid Row, the mecca

1171
01:06:43,080 --> 01:06:46,400
Speaker 2: of missions. I lay my head up against the very

1172
01:06:46,520 --> 01:06:49,320
Speaker 2: place that could have helped me. Why didn't I walk

1173
01:06:49,360 --> 01:06:52,680
Speaker 2: on the door Because it felt like a cathedral of

1174
01:06:52,960 --> 01:06:59,480
Speaker 2: cleanness and perfection, and I felt infected and dirty you

1175
01:07:00,720 --> 01:07:05,840
Speaker 2: and disgusted, disgusting and repulsive. I would walk through there,

1176
01:07:06,640 --> 01:07:08,919
Speaker 2: and I would sit across the desk from this lady

1177
01:07:08,960 --> 01:07:11,360
Speaker 2: who had a house and a bank and a big

1178
01:07:11,400 --> 01:07:15,840
Speaker 2: account and a car, and you know, her little water

1179
01:07:15,960 --> 01:07:18,760
Speaker 2: bottle with things hanging off of it, and I didn't

1180
01:07:18,760 --> 01:07:22,120
Speaker 2: have none of those things. And my teeth were falling out,

1181
01:07:22,400 --> 01:07:25,880
Speaker 2: and I just had sex with some guy, and you know,

1182
01:07:26,080 --> 01:07:28,960
Speaker 2: I had fluids dripping down my legs and stuff, and

1183
01:07:29,360 --> 01:07:31,800
Speaker 2: I just walked right back out because I felt so

1184
01:07:32,160 --> 01:07:37,400
Speaker 2: separate from the shining, gleaming building and this neat little

1185
01:07:37,760 --> 01:07:41,600
Speaker 2: woman who has her whole life figured out. I could

1186
01:07:41,800 --> 01:07:44,400
Speaker 2: not didn't feel worthy.

1187
01:07:45,000 --> 01:07:46,920
Speaker 1: And you're saying that people you serve.

1188
01:07:47,000 --> 01:07:50,440
Speaker 2: Feel the same. They do not feel worthy. They may

1189
01:07:50,520 --> 01:07:54,479
Speaker 2: go and begin the process, but then their disease tells

1190
01:07:54,520 --> 01:07:56,760
Speaker 2: them you don't deserve this, you don't fit in. That

1191
01:07:56,880 --> 01:07:58,960
Speaker 2: lady's judging you, she's not going to help you. You know,

1192
01:07:59,080 --> 01:08:01,720
Speaker 2: all these things go to your head and you self

1193
01:08:01,760 --> 01:08:06,280
Speaker 2: sabotage the situation and the service that could be helping you,

1194
01:08:06,840 --> 01:08:09,439
Speaker 2: and it's just so nonsensical. And then people look down

1195
01:08:09,520 --> 01:08:12,160
Speaker 2: on them. Oh, there's all these places that could help them,

1196
01:08:12,200 --> 01:08:14,120
Speaker 2: and they are not taking the help. They don't want

1197
01:08:14,200 --> 01:08:16,519
Speaker 2: the help. It's not that they don't want the help,

1198
01:08:16,920 --> 01:08:20,280
Speaker 2: they don't feel they deserve the help. So our big

1199
01:08:20,360 --> 01:08:23,440
Speaker 2: thing is loving them unconditionally until they can love themselves.

1200
01:08:23,880 --> 01:08:30,200
Speaker 1: For everyone listening to this, if you're not fully inspired

1201
01:08:32,160 --> 01:08:39,679
Speaker 1: by the need for just compassion and the social impact,

1202
01:08:41,080 --> 01:08:45,000
Speaker 1: if that isn't enough, there is a pragmatic side to

1203
01:08:45,120 --> 01:08:48,080
Speaker 1: the work that Carly and people like her do, which

1204
01:08:48,160 --> 01:08:54,479
Speaker 1: is this, these people who are living in this world,

1205
01:08:55,680 --> 01:09:00,679
Speaker 1: each one of them that gets sober, minds a home,

1206
01:09:02,120 --> 01:09:09,040
Speaker 1: gets a job, and become productive members of society. Think

1207
01:09:09,120 --> 01:09:17,000
Speaker 1: about think about the the financial, pas, social, corporate, and

1208
01:09:17,240 --> 01:09:20,080
Speaker 1: municipal impact for every single one of the people that

1209
01:09:20,160 --> 01:09:24,639
Speaker 1: we get off the street and flip them to becoming

1210
01:09:25,840 --> 01:09:31,400
Speaker 1: tax paying, productive members of society. So even even if

1211
01:09:31,479 --> 01:09:35,559
Speaker 1: you're not affected, is deeply by the just the social

1212
01:09:35,680 --> 01:09:38,479
Speaker 1: impact of this, there's a pragmatic impact of the work

1213
01:09:38,520 --> 01:09:40,200
Speaker 1: you do that makes our world better.

1214
01:09:40,560 --> 01:09:43,920
Speaker 2: Absolutely, as I'm trying to sell aways to like the

1215
01:09:44,000 --> 01:09:48,760
Speaker 2: local government, because they are absolutely a drain on society,

1216
01:09:49,000 --> 01:09:50,679
Speaker 2: you know, and if we can get.

1217
01:09:50,880 --> 01:09:56,080
Speaker 1: Which is not don't take that, but you were absolutely I.

1218
01:09:56,160 --> 01:09:58,160
Speaker 2: Was on social security my whole life. All I ever

1219
01:09:58,240 --> 01:10:01,040
Speaker 2: bought was it was a drugs or the act room

1220
01:10:01,160 --> 01:10:04,560
Speaker 2: at the hotel cecil in downtown Los Angeles, you know,

1221
01:10:05,240 --> 01:10:09,719
Speaker 2: which was just a big den of drugs and gang stuff.

1222
01:10:09,800 --> 01:10:11,519
Speaker 2: And yeah, that's all I did was spend my money

1223
01:10:11,560 --> 01:10:13,320
Speaker 2: on drugs. So security disability.

1224
01:10:13,520 --> 01:10:19,560
Speaker 1: So look what sobriety. That's done right. And so for

1225
01:10:19,760 --> 01:10:24,080
Speaker 1: every single person you can serve, think of the pragmatic

1226
01:10:24,200 --> 01:10:26,680
Speaker 1: impact on society if you don't even care about the

1227
01:10:26,760 --> 01:10:31,439
Speaker 1: social impact, it is a two prong thing. Speaking of

1228
01:10:31,600 --> 01:10:34,920
Speaker 1: pragmatic and social impact. There's one more thing you haven't

1229
01:10:35,000 --> 01:10:38,920
Speaker 1: mentioned that you earlier said we'll get back to about.

1230
01:10:39,200 --> 01:10:43,479
Speaker 1: I think it was the guy sweeping your porch. Tell

1231
01:10:43,600 --> 01:10:46,200
Speaker 1: us about that, because that is one I've never heard,

1232
01:10:46,680 --> 01:10:49,880
Speaker 1: which I think is awesome. So what you will have

1233
01:10:50,080 --> 01:10:51,320
Speaker 1: organized with the homeless.

1234
01:10:51,479 --> 01:10:54,960
Speaker 2: The cool thing about our organization is it is run

1235
01:10:55,080 --> 01:10:58,640
Speaker 2: by the homeless people. So you know, obviously we have

1236
01:10:58,760 --> 01:11:01,800
Speaker 2: a board and we do all that stuff, but they.

1237
01:11:01,840 --> 01:11:04,080
Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, that legal stuff that you have to do

1238
01:11:04,160 --> 01:11:05,759
Speaker 1: if you're going to take people's money.

1239
01:11:05,680 --> 01:11:08,040
Speaker 2: And we didn't do enough of it, and we're trying

1240
01:11:08,080 --> 01:11:08,840
Speaker 2: to catch.

1241
01:11:08,680 --> 01:11:09,679
Speaker 1: Up and learning.

1242
01:11:09,960 --> 01:11:11,719
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, that's okay.

1243
01:11:11,880 --> 01:11:12,880
Speaker 1: It's the way it is.

1244
01:11:13,880 --> 01:11:16,560
Speaker 2: Oh it's a mess, but we're getting through it. The

1245
01:11:17,520 --> 01:11:19,920
Speaker 2: people that run the building that run the day to

1246
01:11:20,040 --> 01:11:24,240
Speaker 2: day operations are by and large the people that we serve,

1247
01:11:25,200 --> 01:11:30,479
Speaker 2: and we call them our volunteers, and they clean, they sweep,

1248
01:11:30,600 --> 01:11:35,240
Speaker 2: they hang clothes, they they serve their peers, they collect

1249
01:11:35,280 --> 01:11:39,880
Speaker 2: the donations, and they they come to us kind of

1250
01:11:40,040 --> 01:11:44,880
Speaker 2: slunched over, you know, and half hearted about things. And

1251
01:11:45,000 --> 01:11:47,200
Speaker 2: by the end of the day of volunteering, they're standing

1252
01:11:47,280 --> 01:11:49,479
Speaker 2: up straight, they're looking you in the eye, and they're

1253
01:11:49,560 --> 01:11:51,639
Speaker 2: talking about plans for the future.

1254
01:11:51,920 --> 01:11:53,679
Speaker 1: You mean they've been given dignity.

1255
01:11:53,960 --> 01:11:57,280
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, And the fact that we treat them as

1256
01:11:57,479 --> 01:12:01,640
Speaker 2: equals really hits home for them because they do not

1257
01:12:01,800 --> 01:12:04,599
Speaker 2: get treated that way at other places when and I'm

1258
01:12:04,680 --> 01:12:06,840
Speaker 2: not saying other places are doing it wrong, we're just

1259
01:12:06,920 --> 01:12:09,680
Speaker 2: doing it different. When you go to another place as

1260
01:12:09,720 --> 01:12:13,000
Speaker 2: a person receiving services, you're hit automatically with the whole

1261
01:12:13,040 --> 01:12:17,280
Speaker 2: packet of rules. When you come to us, we're like,

1262
01:12:17,600 --> 01:12:19,439
Speaker 2: what are you good at? Okay, we're going to stick

1263
01:12:19,479 --> 01:12:21,840
Speaker 2: you here, and it's just we just throw you in,

1264
01:12:22,080 --> 01:12:24,519
Speaker 2: like get to work, you know. And if they don't

1265
01:12:24,560 --> 01:12:26,040
Speaker 2: want to be there, they don't have to. And we

1266
01:12:26,160 --> 01:12:28,599
Speaker 2: have cigarettes that they can roll, and they get food

1267
01:12:29,160 --> 01:12:31,240
Speaker 2: they can heat up. We have people who bring in

1268
01:12:32,120 --> 01:12:35,719
Speaker 2: food for them, and they're just such a big family

1269
01:12:35,840 --> 01:12:39,120
Speaker 2: and they're so happy to be of service and grateful,

1270
01:12:39,360 --> 01:12:43,640
Speaker 2: just like I was. I want to provide that opportunity

1271
01:12:43,760 --> 01:12:46,840
Speaker 2: people because there's this idea that homeless people are lazy,

1272
01:12:47,760 --> 01:12:50,320
Speaker 2: and I don't find that to be true at all.

1273
01:12:51,360 --> 01:12:53,639
Speaker 2: Of Course, there's exceptions to everything, and there are people

1274
01:12:53,680 --> 01:12:55,320
Speaker 2: who just want to feed off the system, and those

1275
01:12:55,360 --> 01:12:58,560
Speaker 2: people exist, but they are few and far between. I

1276
01:12:58,640 --> 01:13:00,960
Speaker 2: think in five years I've met two or three people

1277
01:13:01,160 --> 01:13:04,360
Speaker 2: like that. These are some of the most hardest working

1278
01:13:04,439 --> 01:13:06,200
Speaker 2: people I've ever met in my life.

1279
01:13:06,320 --> 01:13:12,759
Speaker 1: They're just addicts and they're traumatized. Often mostly the addiction

1280
01:13:12,880 --> 01:13:14,160
Speaker 1: and the trauma go hand in hand.

1281
01:13:14,200 --> 01:13:16,799
Speaker 2: They're not allowed to be anywhere, there are any stuff

1282
01:13:16,880 --> 01:13:17,719
Speaker 2: of everywhere they.

1283
01:13:17,680 --> 01:13:21,280
Speaker 1: Go well, and most of that trauma and addiction started

1284
01:13:21,320 --> 01:13:24,040
Speaker 1: way before they even were adults, right, I mean that

1285
01:13:24,360 --> 01:13:29,120
Speaker 1: is universally nothing's universally true, but that is by and

1286
01:13:29,280 --> 01:13:33,439
Speaker 1: large the same story over your story, over and over

1287
01:13:33,640 --> 01:13:39,800
Speaker 1: and over again. So honestly, by helping the homeless, we're

1288
01:13:39,800 --> 01:13:43,479
Speaker 1: actually helping people who, for the most part, started down

1289
01:13:43,680 --> 01:13:46,479
Speaker 1: the road of this trauma long before they were able

1290
01:13:46,520 --> 01:13:50,040
Speaker 1: to make decisions even for themselves, and we have to

1291
01:13:50,160 --> 01:13:51,840
Speaker 1: put that human face on these speaks.

1292
01:13:51,880 --> 01:13:54,280
Speaker 2: I can't think of an exception to that of anyone

1293
01:13:54,360 --> 01:13:56,920
Speaker 2: that I serve. There's one guy that I sent a

1294
01:13:57,000 --> 01:13:59,920
Speaker 2: treatment recently that comes from a good family and does

1295
01:14:00,080 --> 01:14:04,040
Speaker 2: and have trauma, but he's we help anybody you know

1296
01:14:04,160 --> 01:14:07,280
Speaker 2: who comes. I wouldn't, I wouldn't can, I wouldn't put

1297
01:14:07,360 --> 01:14:09,479
Speaker 2: him in the category of most of the people we serve.

1298
01:14:09,840 --> 01:14:12,439
Speaker 2: Will never turn anyone down. Anyone that asks for help,

1299
01:14:12,479 --> 01:14:13,880
Speaker 2: We're going to give it to him, no matter their

1300
01:14:13,960 --> 01:14:17,639
Speaker 2: station in life, no matter their situation. It's one hundred

1301
01:14:17,640 --> 01:14:21,800
Speaker 2: percent unconditional. And I think, by and large, like the

1302
01:14:22,160 --> 01:14:25,040
Speaker 2: common thread of the people that we serve is trauma,

1303
01:14:25,160 --> 01:14:27,040
Speaker 2: and not just like a little bit of trauma, like

1304
01:14:27,360 --> 01:14:32,920
Speaker 2: major trauma. That and mental illness of course would be next,

1305
01:14:33,120 --> 01:14:36,400
Speaker 2: and the drug addiction. That's what they all have in common.

1306
01:14:36,880 --> 01:14:38,080
Speaker 2: And we do not just serve.

1307
01:14:38,240 --> 01:14:46,439
Speaker 1: So you're talking about literally the most disadvantaged disenfranchised among us.

1308
01:14:47,080 --> 01:14:49,400
Speaker 2: Yes, And I think and if.

1309
01:14:49,360 --> 01:14:54,120
Speaker 1: We could change the old saying, we're only as strong

1310
01:14:54,240 --> 01:14:58,040
Speaker 1: as our weakest link. So if if the football team

1311
01:14:58,200 --> 01:15:01,920
Speaker 1: or our business or society is only as strong as

1312
01:15:01,960 --> 01:15:09,799
Speaker 1: our weakest link, and these are the most disenfranchised people

1313
01:15:10,400 --> 01:15:13,759
Speaker 1: among us, and we can serve and make them stronger

1314
01:15:14,280 --> 01:15:19,759
Speaker 1: than doesn't our societal chain become stronger as a whole exactly.

1315
01:15:19,880 --> 01:15:22,439
Speaker 2: And the flip side of that is if we don't

1316
01:15:22,560 --> 01:15:25,880
Speaker 2: do something and we don't intervene, then aren't we just

1317
01:15:25,960 --> 01:15:29,320
Speaker 2: as guilty of creating the monster? Is what I feel like.

1318
01:15:30,120 --> 01:15:35,320
Speaker 2: I feel like we have a duty to open doors

1319
01:15:35,600 --> 01:15:40,120
Speaker 2: and enable people to make positive changes. There is nothing

1320
01:15:40,760 --> 01:15:44,720
Speaker 2: worse than wanting to get better and do better and

1321
01:15:44,960 --> 01:15:48,320
Speaker 2: not being able to because then you get the efforts.

1322
01:15:48,920 --> 01:15:51,960
Speaker 2: And that is when people do things.

1323
01:15:52,320 --> 01:15:55,120
Speaker 1: I say the hell with it, I'm done. Why don't

1324
01:15:55,120 --> 01:15:56,799
Speaker 1: I just then throw.

1325
01:15:56,680 --> 01:15:59,080
Speaker 2: In the towel and do what That is a dangerous person,

1326
01:15:59,280 --> 01:16:03,639
Speaker 2: and we as a society create those people. I believe

1327
01:16:03,800 --> 01:16:05,760
Speaker 2: when we shut the door on their face, you know,

1328
01:16:06,040 --> 01:16:09,360
Speaker 2: we have to make sure that we are providing a

1329
01:16:09,479 --> 01:16:10,000
Speaker 2: way out.

1330
01:16:16,040 --> 01:16:17,000
Speaker 1: We'll be right back.

1331
01:16:30,560 --> 01:16:32,880
Speaker 2: I get a lot of flak for being willing to

1332
01:16:32,960 --> 01:16:35,599
Speaker 2: send pimps to treatment and get them off the streets, right,

1333
01:16:36,240 --> 01:16:39,960
Speaker 2: But what I say to those people are I could

1334
01:16:41,160 --> 01:16:43,840
Speaker 2: get a woman off the It's very difficult to get

1335
01:16:43,880 --> 01:16:45,800
Speaker 2: women out of human trafficking because there's always a means

1336
01:16:45,840 --> 01:16:48,880
Speaker 2: to an end. There are so many people who wish

1337
01:16:48,960 --> 01:16:51,040
Speaker 2: for them to stay in the position they are. Plus,

1338
01:16:51,439 --> 01:16:53,559
Speaker 2: she always knows she can go get her drug, right,

1339
01:16:53,800 --> 01:16:55,840
Speaker 2: she goes stand on the street for ten minutes and

1340
01:16:56,040 --> 01:16:58,240
Speaker 2: make forty dollars and get her drug. But if I

1341
01:16:58,320 --> 01:17:00,720
Speaker 2: can get rid of a pimp, I'm getting rid of

1342
01:17:00,760 --> 01:17:04,160
Speaker 2: the source. So if I'm not going to help him,

1343
01:17:04,200 --> 01:17:06,040
Speaker 2: if he comes to my door and ask for help,

1344
01:17:06,360 --> 01:17:08,640
Speaker 2: first of all, he's a human being and Jesus.

1345
01:17:08,400 --> 01:17:08,720
Speaker 1: Would have.

1346
01:17:10,280 --> 01:17:12,760
Speaker 2: And second of all, if I can get rid of

1347
01:17:12,800 --> 01:17:16,760
Speaker 2: a pimp, then those six girls have a much better

1348
01:17:16,880 --> 01:17:19,080
Speaker 2: chance of getting out of the situation that they're in.

1349
01:17:19,760 --> 01:17:24,000
Speaker 2: You know, like don't don't. So people get upset that

1350
01:17:24,400 --> 01:17:27,120
Speaker 2: I'm willing to help both the victim and the quote

1351
01:17:27,160 --> 01:17:29,800
Speaker 2: unquote abuser. But what happened to the abuser to get

1352
01:17:29,840 --> 01:17:31,040
Speaker 2: him to that point to begin with?

1353
01:17:31,240 --> 01:17:33,280
Speaker 1: I was going to say, more than likely abuser was

1354
01:17:33,360 --> 01:17:34,960
Speaker 1: once a victim.

1355
01:17:36,000 --> 01:17:37,640
Speaker 2: I've heard no exceptions to that.

1356
01:17:37,880 --> 01:17:40,040
Speaker 1: The other thing you just said that I really want

1357
01:17:40,120 --> 01:17:48,320
Speaker 1: our audience to year is that we can't equate in

1358
01:17:48,439 --> 01:17:54,160
Speaker 1: your personal story the people, the people that abuse you,

1359
01:17:54,280 --> 01:17:58,200
Speaker 1: that were adults are in a class of their own, definitely.

1360
01:17:58,880 --> 01:17:58,960
Speaker 2: But.

1361
01:18:01,120 --> 01:18:04,800
Speaker 1: People that weren't engaged in the abuse but knew it

1362
01:18:05,280 --> 01:18:09,640
Speaker 1: and didn't act that an action in and of itself,

1363
01:18:11,040 --> 01:18:16,920
Speaker 1: is evil, and I think we all need to remember

1364
01:18:17,000 --> 01:18:20,760
Speaker 1: that as we see needs surrounding us and have the

1365
01:18:20,840 --> 01:18:22,040
Speaker 1: ability to act and don't.

1366
01:18:22,640 --> 01:18:30,000
Speaker 2: Yes, I believe we as individuals absolutely have the power

1367
01:18:30,640 --> 01:18:35,800
Speaker 2: to change people's lives, and we are afraid or just

1368
01:18:37,920 --> 01:18:40,439
Speaker 2: too numb or caught up in our own stuff or

1369
01:18:40,479 --> 01:18:43,800
Speaker 2: in our phone or whatever to realize that. You know,

1370
01:18:44,040 --> 01:18:48,480
Speaker 2: the smallest gesture could change somebody's entire trajectory.

1371
01:18:48,640 --> 01:18:51,880
Speaker 1: You mean, like letting a homeless god dig in your

1372
01:18:51,920 --> 01:18:53,760
Speaker 1: garden and giving him a sandwich one day.

1373
01:18:54,040 --> 01:18:56,880
Speaker 2: Yes, but I'm not saying you have to change your

1374
01:18:56,920 --> 01:19:01,000
Speaker 2: whole life to change someone else's life. As a homeless person,

1375
01:19:02,160 --> 01:19:06,000
Speaker 2: there was this concept that I called the turning away.

1376
01:19:06,400 --> 01:19:09,080
Speaker 2: When you would walk around, people would turn away from you.

1377
01:19:09,960 --> 01:19:13,080
Speaker 2: I would ask people to not turn away, to smile

1378
01:19:13,520 --> 01:19:15,080
Speaker 2: and humanize that situation.

1379
01:19:15,400 --> 01:19:18,080
Speaker 1: Okay, what do you say to the guy sitting out

1380
01:19:18,120 --> 01:19:22,080
Speaker 1: the convenience store that's asking me for change? Now, I'm

1381
01:19:22,200 --> 01:19:23,360
Speaker 1: not a turn away person.

1382
01:19:24,200 --> 01:19:26,280
Speaker 2: I will I wouldn't imagine.

1383
01:19:26,800 --> 01:19:29,639
Speaker 1: No, I'm just not a fear guy. Yeah, yeah, I'm

1384
01:19:29,760 --> 01:19:31,759
Speaker 1: a lot of people turn away because they're just afraid.

1385
01:19:32,280 --> 01:19:35,639
Speaker 1: I mean, let's give people credit for that. A woman

1386
01:19:35,760 --> 01:19:38,559
Speaker 1: walking out of a convenience store driving a decent car

1387
01:19:38,640 --> 01:19:41,439
Speaker 1: and an I set of clothes and a big, young,

1388
01:19:41,680 --> 01:19:44,400
Speaker 1: kind of burly dude that's filthy walks up and says, hey,

1389
01:19:44,439 --> 01:19:47,760
Speaker 1: give me a dollar. You run your car because you don't,

1390
01:19:47,760 --> 01:19:50,120
Speaker 1: you're afraid, you don't want your I mean, so I

1391
01:19:50,240 --> 01:19:54,000
Speaker 1: get that. Okay, that's understandable, Yeah it is so. But

1392
01:19:54,120 --> 01:19:58,439
Speaker 1: the question is the moral dilemma. Do I give the

1393
01:19:58,520 --> 01:20:01,479
Speaker 1: guy a dollar, knowing each probably not going to go

1394
01:20:01,560 --> 01:20:03,400
Speaker 1: get a sandwich and he's going to go get drugs

1395
01:20:03,439 --> 01:20:06,680
Speaker 1: or alcohol. Or do I say I'm sorry, man, I

1396
01:20:06,760 --> 01:20:09,559
Speaker 1: can't give you the dollar when I could certainly afford

1397
01:20:09,640 --> 01:20:12,360
Speaker 1: to give the guy the dollar. The moral dilemma for

1398
01:20:12,479 --> 01:20:16,320
Speaker 1: me is it's not about the dollar. It's about what

1399
01:20:16,439 --> 01:20:18,599
Speaker 1: he's going to do with the dollar. And then am

1400
01:20:18,880 --> 01:20:22,840
Speaker 1: I enabling him to further the misery he's in? Yeah,

1401
01:20:23,200 --> 01:20:24,840
Speaker 1: what do you do? What do you say to that?

1402
01:20:25,439 --> 01:20:28,760
Speaker 2: I I so I'm kind of hypocrite because I give

1403
01:20:28,840 --> 01:20:31,240
Speaker 2: them the dollar. So that I can have a conversation

1404
01:20:31,439 --> 01:20:33,680
Speaker 2: with them. I'm going to hold their attention long enough

1405
01:20:33,720 --> 01:20:35,120
Speaker 2: so I could tell them what I can offer them

1406
01:20:35,120 --> 01:20:36,200
Speaker 2: about treatment and whatnot.

1407
01:20:36,320 --> 01:20:38,840
Speaker 1: You're different, so I will not everybody's.

1408
01:20:38,280 --> 01:20:42,120
Speaker 2: Got I don't think that everybody should. Because some of

1409
01:20:42,200 --> 01:20:45,400
Speaker 2: these panhandlers make three, four or five hundred dollars a

1410
01:20:45,560 --> 01:20:49,680
Speaker 2: day and it's supplying their habit. I would say instead,

1411
01:20:50,040 --> 01:20:53,439
Speaker 2: look that person in the eye and say, I'm not

1412
01:20:53,560 --> 01:20:56,640
Speaker 2: going to give you any money, but I care about you,

1413
01:20:57,439 --> 01:21:01,439
Speaker 2: and I hope that your situation gets better. And you know,

1414
01:21:01,720 --> 01:21:05,360
Speaker 2: here's my pastor's number, or here's my therapist's number, or

1415
01:21:05,479 --> 01:21:09,040
Speaker 2: here is somebody that can help you. I pray you

1416
01:21:09,200 --> 01:21:10,120
Speaker 2: get you know, the help.

1417
01:21:10,320 --> 01:21:13,320
Speaker 1: Here's miss Carly's if you're in Rockford.

1418
01:21:14,439 --> 01:21:18,200
Speaker 2: Or whatever. You say that it is something kind and

1419
01:21:18,280 --> 01:21:21,280
Speaker 2: that you make eye contact and you don't just turn away,

1420
01:21:21,360 --> 01:21:25,200
Speaker 2: because that turning away hurts just as bad, if not worse,

1421
01:21:25,320 --> 01:21:31,640
Speaker 2: than some of the things you're It's dismissive, it dismens it,

1422
01:21:31,800 --> 01:21:35,880
Speaker 2: and you become alienated and you start getting the efforts.

1423
01:21:36,200 --> 01:21:38,559
Speaker 2: And that's when crime doesn't seem like such a bad

1424
01:21:38,640 --> 01:21:40,000
Speaker 2: idea and.

1425
01:21:40,400 --> 01:21:48,280
Speaker 1: And and like it's just further disenfranchisement caring. Tell us

1426
01:21:48,320 --> 01:21:51,720
Speaker 1: how many people you're serving annually right now? And you

1427
01:21:52,000 --> 01:21:53,400
Speaker 1: after how many years?

1428
01:21:54,760 --> 01:21:55,200
Speaker 2: I don't know that.

1429
01:21:55,240 --> 01:21:57,120
Speaker 1: Wait, when did he first kneel down in your garden?

1430
01:21:58,160 --> 01:21:59,080
Speaker 2: It was five years ago?

1431
01:22:00,040 --> 01:22:00,720
Speaker 1: Five years later?

1432
01:22:01,000 --> 01:22:02,759
Speaker 2: Right now? Or if you need three to five hundred

1433
01:22:02,800 --> 01:22:05,120
Speaker 2: people a day and we're closer to the five hundred,

1434
01:22:05,160 --> 01:22:07,920
Speaker 2: does the weather gets nicer? But I would say right now,

1435
01:22:08,000 --> 01:22:10,280
Speaker 2: four to five hundred people to day, every single day

1436
01:22:10,280 --> 01:22:12,960
Speaker 2: is seven days a week, and you've.

1437
01:22:12,800 --> 01:22:16,160
Speaker 1: Saved twenty seven ovs on your front board. How many

1438
01:22:16,280 --> 01:22:20,320
Speaker 1: people have been sent to the whole program of getting

1439
01:22:20,640 --> 01:22:25,080
Speaker 1: off drugs in the transition and are now clean, sober

1440
01:22:25,800 --> 01:22:27,680
Speaker 1: and working in the last five years that.

1441
01:22:27,720 --> 01:22:29,840
Speaker 2: You've worked hard to say that number, because a lot

1442
01:22:29,920 --> 01:22:33,760
Speaker 2: of people reintegrate with their family, you know, and we

1443
01:22:33,920 --> 01:22:40,519
Speaker 2: lose all them. I would say few hundred. Probably somewhere

1444
01:22:40,560 --> 01:22:45,360
Speaker 2: around two three hundred. I would say, you know, that's

1445
01:22:45,960 --> 01:22:49,760
Speaker 2: that is on the generous end, because the statistics are

1446
01:22:49,880 --> 01:22:53,639
Speaker 2: just daunting, you know, I would say probably around two hundred.

1447
01:22:54,680 --> 01:22:58,840
Speaker 1: It's phenomenal. Yeah, that's forty a year.

1448
01:22:59,600 --> 01:23:03,040
Speaker 2: We have will check in with us every day every day,

1449
01:23:03,120 --> 01:23:05,200
Speaker 2: and like at least once a week someone out of

1450
01:23:05,240 --> 01:23:06,960
Speaker 2: the blue that I haven't talked to forever.

1451
01:23:07,760 --> 01:23:09,320
Speaker 1: I really need to what you get your degree in

1452
01:23:09,400 --> 01:23:09,920
Speaker 1: social work?

1453
01:23:10,960 --> 01:23:12,320
Speaker 2: I don't have a degree at all.

1454
01:23:12,640 --> 01:23:17,559
Speaker 1: Oh you don't really. Where'd you get your training? Where'd

1455
01:23:17,600 --> 01:23:19,720
Speaker 1: you get your what'd you get your Wou'd you get

1456
01:23:19,760 --> 01:23:21,599
Speaker 1: your certificate to do this work? Carly?

1457
01:23:21,800 --> 01:23:24,960
Speaker 2: I have no certificate. I have life experience.

1458
01:23:25,640 --> 01:23:28,560
Speaker 1: No what you did? She saw an air need and

1459
01:23:28,680 --> 01:23:31,000
Speaker 1: filled it. And he didn't wait for somebody to give

1460
01:23:31,040 --> 01:23:34,040
Speaker 1: you a degree or certificate or permission to go help.

1461
01:23:34,640 --> 01:23:35,680
Speaker 1: You saw need and filled me.

1462
01:23:36,280 --> 01:23:38,720
Speaker 2: You need to agree to change someone's life. You don't

1463
01:23:38,760 --> 01:23:41,400
Speaker 2: need agree to be a decent person and just treat

1464
01:23:41,479 --> 01:23:43,599
Speaker 2: somebody with loving, dignity and respect.

1465
01:23:46,520 --> 01:23:56,160
Speaker 1: Carly Rice, an abused, traumatized former resident of the skid Row.

1466
01:23:57,439 --> 01:24:04,320
Speaker 1: The Schidrow dho's best prospected life was literally going to

1467
01:24:04,400 --> 01:24:13,639
Speaker 1: prison only ten twelve years ago, who got herself together

1468
01:24:13,920 --> 01:24:17,799
Speaker 1: moved to Rockford, Illinois, ninety miles or so north of Chicago,

1469
01:24:18,160 --> 01:24:21,880
Speaker 1: and five years ago because a homeless gutten knelt down

1470
01:24:22,000 --> 01:24:25,800
Speaker 1: to her in her garden and she had the temerity

1471
01:24:26,000 --> 01:24:30,919
Speaker 1: and the kindness to just feed them, is now serving

1472
01:24:32,200 --> 01:24:40,160
Speaker 1: hundreds thousands, and has started an organization that has already

1473
01:24:41,240 --> 01:24:45,439
Speaker 1: served two hundred ish people from that life all the

1474
01:24:45,479 --> 01:24:50,599
Speaker 1: way to productive citizens. And what a story.

1475
01:24:51,000 --> 01:24:54,680
Speaker 2: Do you pinch yourself every time someone comes back and

1476
01:24:54,800 --> 01:24:58,240
Speaker 2: checks in and says, I'm still doing good, Misscareliu. I'm

1477
01:24:58,280 --> 01:25:02,400
Speaker 2: still doing good every single time. Yeah, because I thought

1478
01:25:02,439 --> 01:25:05,080
Speaker 2: I was going to be dead. It's a miracle that

1479
01:25:05,200 --> 01:25:08,280
Speaker 2: I'm even alive. And I feel so blessed. We have

1480
01:25:08,400 --> 01:25:12,519
Speaker 2: faced so many challenges in this work, so many challenges,

1481
01:25:12,560 --> 01:25:15,679
Speaker 2: and we continue to face more. And people always ask

1482
01:25:15,760 --> 01:25:19,760
Speaker 2: me curly, like it's so hard and you never get

1483
01:25:19,840 --> 01:25:22,360
Speaker 2: to sleep, and all these people are always coming for you,

1484
01:25:23,200 --> 01:25:26,560
Speaker 2: like why do you keep doing it? Because it's worth it,

1485
01:25:27,400 --> 01:25:34,000
Speaker 2: because these are human beings and the success stories they

1486
01:25:34,960 --> 01:25:38,760
Speaker 2: keep me going, and furthermore, it keeps me sober. This

1487
01:25:38,920 --> 01:25:42,960
Speaker 2: is not an entirely selfless endeavor. Here every night, when

1488
01:25:43,000 --> 01:25:46,000
Speaker 2: I'm handing lunches to these people, some of them looking

1489
01:25:46,080 --> 01:25:49,800
Speaker 2: like walking skeletons, I'm reminded of where I come from

1490
01:25:50,360 --> 01:25:53,160
Speaker 2: and where I never want to be again. And it

1491
01:25:53,280 --> 01:25:59,720
Speaker 2: gives me great joy and some semblance of serenity to

1492
01:26:00,160 --> 01:26:05,000
Speaker 2: to be an instrument of God's will or whoever's in

1493
01:26:05,200 --> 01:26:09,840
Speaker 2: charge here to give them hope, because they certainly don't

1494
01:26:10,000 --> 01:26:14,040
Speaker 2: have any. And if I can give them a sack

1495
01:26:14,200 --> 01:26:17,800
Speaker 2: lunch and a little bit of love and a little

1496
01:26:17,840 --> 01:26:19,720
Speaker 2: bit of hope, we can build on that.

1497
01:26:21,120 --> 01:26:24,680
Speaker 1: I have often said, and every guest echoes, which is

1498
01:26:24,720 --> 01:26:29,200
Speaker 1: what you just said. The payoff pitch to all of

1499
01:26:29,280 --> 01:26:31,519
Speaker 1: this is you always get fifty times more out of

1500
01:26:31,560 --> 01:26:34,120
Speaker 1: it than you put into it, Carly. If somebody wants

1501
01:26:34,200 --> 01:26:37,040
Speaker 1: to support you, somebody wants to contact you, somebody wants

1502
01:26:37,040 --> 01:26:40,080
Speaker 1: to hear more about your story, somebody wants to financially

1503
01:26:40,160 --> 01:26:44,040
Speaker 1: give to the organization, or somebody is inspired and thinks,

1504
01:26:44,080 --> 01:26:46,040
Speaker 1: you know, maybe I could do that in that community.

1505
01:26:46,560 --> 01:26:47,400
Speaker 1: How do they find you?

1506
01:26:48,560 --> 01:26:52,800
Speaker 2: Miss Carly's dot org is our website, spell that ms

1507
01:26:53,760 --> 01:26:58,720
Speaker 2: c r l ys dot org and there's no apostrophe.

1508
01:26:59,320 --> 01:27:02,680
Speaker 2: I went. Eat is always food. I mean we are

1509
01:27:02,760 --> 01:27:05,120
Speaker 2: feeding three to five hundred people a day. We have

1510
01:27:05,160 --> 01:27:09,360
Speaker 2: an Amazon wish list on our website, but you can

1511
01:27:09,520 --> 01:27:12,920
Speaker 2: order from anywhere, Walmart or whatever and have it sent

1512
01:27:13,040 --> 01:27:15,960
Speaker 2: directly to our address which is on the website. And

1513
01:27:16,040 --> 01:27:19,840
Speaker 2: then our second most biggest need would be money to

1514
01:27:20,000 --> 01:27:22,080
Speaker 2: pay for people to go to sober living because we

1515
01:27:22,200 --> 01:27:26,160
Speaker 2: actually we uber people to treatment, uber people to sober living,

1516
01:27:26,400 --> 01:27:29,599
Speaker 2: pay their sober living rent, buy all of their incidental needs,

1517
01:27:29,640 --> 01:27:32,000
Speaker 2: and it really adds up, adds up to about three

1518
01:27:32,120 --> 01:27:34,519
Speaker 2: thousand dollars per person to get them through their first

1519
01:27:35,840 --> 01:27:40,040
Speaker 2: thirty to ninety days of recovery. And we're working on

1520
01:27:40,120 --> 01:27:43,840
Speaker 2: a model to sponsor individuals through that, which I'm excited about.

1521
01:27:44,040 --> 01:27:46,680
Speaker 1: And if somebody's inspired to do this in their own neighborhood,

1522
01:27:46,720 --> 01:27:48,560
Speaker 1: they can reach you through that and you'll respond to

1523
01:27:48,600 --> 01:27:52,160
Speaker 1: them absolutely. Imagine with that big smile, you would love

1524
01:27:52,280 --> 01:27:55,200
Speaker 1: to tell anybody the story. Anyone wants to listen. Yeah,

1525
01:27:56,040 --> 01:27:58,719
Speaker 1: carl Rice, you are an inspiration. Thank you for joining

1526
01:27:58,800 --> 01:28:01,719
Speaker 1: me in Memphis, Thank you for telling me this incredible story,

1527
01:28:01,800 --> 01:28:04,760
Speaker 1: and most of all, thanks for the incredible inspiring work

1528
01:28:04,800 --> 01:28:05,760
Speaker 1: you do for people who.

1529
01:28:05,720 --> 01:28:07,680
Speaker 2: Need it, blessed to do it.

1530
01:28:07,960 --> 01:28:15,080
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me, and thank you for joining

1531
01:28:15,200 --> 01:28:19,559
Speaker 1: us this week. If Carly Rice or another guest has

1532
01:28:19,680 --> 01:28:22,840
Speaker 1: inspired you in general, or better yet, to take action

1533
01:28:23,120 --> 01:28:28,200
Speaker 1: by donating to Miss Carly's, by volunteering there or somewhere else,

1534
01:28:28,439 --> 01:28:31,920
Speaker 1: launching a Miss Carly's in your own community, or something

1535
01:28:32,000 --> 01:28:36,040
Speaker 1: else entirely. Please let me know I'd love to hear

1536
01:28:36,120 --> 01:28:39,640
Speaker 1: about it. You can write me anytime at Bill at

1537
01:28:39,720 --> 01:28:44,280
Speaker 1: normalfolks dot us, and I promise I will respond. And

1538
01:28:44,360 --> 01:28:47,160
Speaker 1: if you enjoyed the episode, please share it with friends

1539
01:28:47,200 --> 01:28:51,280
Speaker 1: and on social subscribe to the podcast, rate and review it,

1540
01:28:52,080 --> 01:28:55,680
Speaker 1: even become a Premium member at normalfolks dot us. All

1541
01:28:55,760 --> 01:28:59,040
Speaker 1: these things that will help us grow an army of

1542
01:28:59,240 --> 01:29:04,160
Speaker 1: normal folks. The more listeners, the more impact. I'm Bill Courtney,

1543
01:29:04,600 --> 01:29:05,439
Speaker 1: I'll see it extull

1544
01:29:10,000 --> 01:29:10,040
Speaker 2: H