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Speaker 1: Hey everyone, Chuck here and welcome to the Saturday Stuff

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Speaker 1: you Should Know Select episode. I picked this one out

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Speaker 1: this week. It's ah well, it's our famous homelessness episode

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Speaker 1: and for those of you don't know, we recorded this

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Speaker 1: and released it around Christmas time December ten. We thought

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Speaker 1: it would give everyone the warm fuzzies and make people

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Speaker 1: want to go help those in need. But no, actually

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Speaker 1: it did do that for some of you. But we

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Speaker 1: actually got a lot of flak over this one, and

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Speaker 1: very disappointingly, a lot of people wrote in and said,

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Speaker 1: you know what, people deserve to be homeless. They put

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Speaker 1: themselves there. I am not supposed to help them if

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Speaker 1: they can't help themselves, screw it. And that was really

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Speaker 1: disappointed to hear. But we stand by the show. I

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Speaker 1: think it's a good one. So please to enjoy our

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Speaker 1: episode on homelessness from two thousand ten and have a

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Speaker 1: great Saturday. Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House

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Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Josh Clark. With me is Charles W. Chuck Bryant.

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Speaker 1: Fresh off of the Stuff you Should Know Facebook page,

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Speaker 1: where we've been discussing all manner of interesting stuff like

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Speaker 1: Bob Ross has come up. Have you been posting Bob

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Speaker 1: Ross videos? He's the best? Yes? I posted. I posted

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Speaker 1: the Peanuts Christmas time? Is here a little segment? Uh,

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Speaker 1: you've been posting some pretty good stuff too, but thank you?

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Speaker 1: What's what's some what's one of your favorite things that

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Speaker 1: have gotten people buzzing lately? Did I post about Bonnie

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Speaker 1: Prince Billy or was that on my own Facebook page?

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Speaker 1: I don't know. Yeah, did you know? Because you would

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Speaker 1: have taken it down? I would not have. I would

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Speaker 1: respect your post. I'm sleepy today because of Bunny Prince

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Speaker 1: Billy last night. I would scoff at it, but I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't take it down. I love that. That's become a

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Speaker 1: running gag. Is me loving him and you're making fun

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Speaker 1: of him? Go ahead, okay, you ready for me to

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Speaker 1: make fun of him. I'm not going to. He seems

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Speaker 1: like a nice guy. Okay, So Chuck Chucker's um. I

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Speaker 1: wrote a blog post actually recently on homelessness. I read it.

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Speaker 1: Did you read it? Really? I read your stuff? Man?

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Speaker 1: Are you kidding? I'm a fan? Really? Yes? Really? So?

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Speaker 1: The whole thing, then, you know this already was centered

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Speaker 1: around well, it started around this UM, this news that

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Speaker 1: came out in July that the homeless, the population of

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Speaker 1: homeless school children had risen dramatically to about one million

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Speaker 1: kids in US schools, public schools, I would imagine who

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Speaker 1: are homeless? Yeah? Right, and uh in one particular area,

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Speaker 1: I think by the numbers statistically speaking, in Sue Falls,

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Speaker 1: South Dakota, that's a homeless kid per classroom. Yeah, they

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Speaker 1: had a huge increase didn't they there. Oh yeah, something

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Speaker 1: like that in that state period. Yeah, in uh, in

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Speaker 1: Sioux Falls school District, it's jump over the last five years.

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Speaker 1: And what in Texas like a hundred plus percent. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So across the across the US, there's been UM an

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Speaker 1: increase of forty one percent nationwide, right of school children, Yes,

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Speaker 1: of homeless school children and um, the so Texas has

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Speaker 1: seen an increase of a hundred and thirty nine percent, UM,

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Speaker 1: Iowa a hundred and thirty six percent. The lowest of

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Speaker 1: the highest five is New Jersey with an eight percent increase.

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Speaker 1: And this is, of course, i'll due to the great

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Speaker 1: recession that's going on right now, right of course. And

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Speaker 1: somebody actually posted I haven't read the links, but somebody

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Speaker 1: actually posted a comment on the blog that said, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know it's bad enough. You know, homeless school ChIL

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Speaker 1: children are to pressing enough. But you know there's plenty

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Speaker 1: of homeless kids out there who aren't in school. Well yeah, sure,

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Speaker 1: you think about that. So with the economic recession is

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Speaker 1: clearly to blame for this increase in homeless school children. Um.

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Speaker 1: And there's a lot of other factors that over the

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Speaker 1: years have contributed to homelessness, which we'll talk about. But Chuck,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about homelessness in the United States, shall we?

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Speaker 1: And we should say we're just going to concentrate in

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Speaker 1: the United States. Actually, I've got a few stats. Do

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Speaker 1: you have, Well, just some stats, Okay, so let's go

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Speaker 1: ahead and talk about this and get the around the

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Speaker 1: world out of the way. Worldwide, they they approximate, and

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Speaker 1: we should go ahead and say that counting homeless people

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Speaker 1: is is a tough bag because they changes drastically week

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Speaker 1: to week sometimes. Well, we should say that there's two

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Speaker 1: ways of doing it. One is it's called a point

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Speaker 1: in time count, where it's basically like, all right, everybody,

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Speaker 1: go count the homeless people in your area today, right

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Speaker 1: on this one for picular night. And then um reported

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Speaker 1: in and then we'll tally the numbers. And then the

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Speaker 1: other way to do it is UM basically over a year,

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Speaker 1: and that's like a huge undertaking UM usually done by

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Speaker 1: the Census Bureau. UM that identifies, you know, how many

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Speaker 1: people have used homeless shelters, how many of them have

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Speaker 1: been different, and it comes up with a pretty rough number.

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Speaker 1: Well yeah, but one of the reasons it's it's difficult

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Speaker 1: is because fortunes change rapidly in this crazy, fast moving world,

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Speaker 1: and homeless people sometimes are in cars and campgrounds and

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Speaker 1: places where you can't find them, so it's tough to

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Speaker 1: get the dead accurate numbers. But having said all that,

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Speaker 1: my friend, I do have some stats worldwide. Approximately one

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Speaker 1: hundred people around the world are homeless, uh the u N.

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Speaker 1: And what you say, a hundred million people in the world.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like you just said a hundred one million,

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Speaker 1: Uh the u N. It says there's about thirty million

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Speaker 1: displaced indigenous people. I don't know if they count that

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Speaker 1: as homeless necessarily, I would imagine so that to be

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Speaker 1: a part of that larger number. UM. And then I

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Speaker 1: started thinking about, like, are there homeless everywhere? And of

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Speaker 1: course there are, but I said, what about places like

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Speaker 1: Sweden and Norway, like where you would not expect homeless people,

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Speaker 1: They have them there, But Sweden only has about seventeen

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Speaker 1: thousand homeless out of nine point three million people. It's

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Speaker 1: this pretty small percentage. Uh. Norway though, has one point

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Speaker 1: for homeless people per every one thousand people, which is

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Speaker 1: it's not too far off America's percentage really because we

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Speaker 1: have about one percent right two About three to three

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Speaker 1: point five million people is the latest number I saw.

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Speaker 1: The latest number I saw, it was actually less than that.

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Speaker 1: What was it? And this this doesn't make sense because

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Speaker 1: it's it's to the the the homelessness population has increased

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Speaker 1: right in the US since the recession. So the two

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Speaker 1: thousand five number I think was two point three and

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Speaker 1: three point five million between those two right like like

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Speaker 1: you just said. But then there's another one from two

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Speaker 1: thousand nine. It's one point five six. So the numbers

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Speaker 1: are all over the place. A bet this not right.

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Speaker 1: So that's a little bit from around the world, Russia, China, Africa, Canada.

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Speaker 1: It happens everywhere, but most of this is U S

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Speaker 1: base because that's where we are. What we can say, though,

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Speaker 1: is that percentage wise, there's a disproportionate number of minorities

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Speaker 1: that are homeless. Minorities in this country make up about

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Speaker 1: twelve percent of the population, and African Americans make up

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Speaker 1: about fifty and another are Hispanic right, homeless in the

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Speaker 1: United States, right, African Americans are the account for between

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Speaker 1: thirty eight and of the homeless population, right, but they

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Speaker 1: only make up about twelve percent of the US population. Right,

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Speaker 1: And uh, this is you know, obviously you'll see most

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Speaker 1: of this in big cities, but it's a problem in

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Speaker 1: rural areas as well as well as well. And typically

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Speaker 1: homeless families make up a greater proportion of the homeless

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Speaker 1: in rural areas, which is that's any kind of homelessness

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Speaker 1: is sad, But an entire family being homeless, iss, that's

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Speaker 1: really tough. Chuck. We we talked about what was driving

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Speaker 1: homelessness right now. Driving the increase is the recession, but um,

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Speaker 1: in the late twentie and this century as well. First, right, UM,

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Speaker 1: there's been a combination of factors and the two biggest

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Speaker 1: drivers are poverty, an increase in poverty, and UM a

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Speaker 1: decrease in the availability of affordable housing, two huge factors.

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Speaker 1: In addition to others that we'll talk about later, um,

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Speaker 1: that have contributed to people not having a home. The

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Speaker 1: saddest stat what a well, because we'll talk about all

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Speaker 1: the other factors like drugs and alcohol and mental health

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Speaker 1: and stuff like that, but it's sad that the reason

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Speaker 1: why people aren't have homes because they can't afford housing. Right.

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Speaker 1: And here's here's something I just want to put this

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Speaker 1: out there now. I was reading a history of homelessness

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Speaker 1: in the US UM and the author was basically saying,

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Speaker 1: homelessness been around forever, like apparently, um, fourteenth century England

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Speaker 1: had vagrancy laws, right, people have been homeless, have been um,

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Speaker 1: not necessarily living on the streets, but don't have a

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Speaker 1: permanent residence. And that's an important point too. When we

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Speaker 1: talk about homelessness, we're not just talking about people sleeping

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Speaker 1: on the streets. We're not just talking about people sleeping

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Speaker 1: in emergency shelters or even in their cars. The true

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Speaker 1: genuine definition of homelessness is you don't have a home,

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Speaker 1: you don't have a place that's your own, you're staying

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Speaker 1: with family, you live in a weekly motel. That that's

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Speaker 1: homeless as well. Yeah true, right, Um, But back to

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Speaker 1: the uh the history of homelessness. The author was saying,

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Speaker 1: you know, we've had homeless in the US since we've

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Speaker 1: been here. Um, the differences. We used to have homeless

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Speaker 1: because we couldn't afford to give them work. I couldn't

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Speaker 1: afford to take care of them. Now we can't afford

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Speaker 1: to take care of them. We just don't write you know. Well, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's interesting. You brought that up because I was reading

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Speaker 1: about other countries. In America seems to be unique in

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Speaker 1: a very bad way, and that a lot of Americans

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Speaker 1: feel like it's deserved and because you messed up by

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Speaker 1: doing something really bad or you're on alcohol or drugs,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of Americans take that attitude that homeless

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Speaker 1: people deserve to be homeless, and then most of the

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Speaker 1: rest of Americans just don't think about it at all,

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Speaker 1: and it's a very invisible problem, right or there are

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Speaker 1: you know, people that do care and don't think they

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Speaker 1: deserve it, and they're what we call good people or advocates. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so how do people get homeless? Josh, Well, Chuck, let's

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Speaker 1: talk about it. We we said that poverty and um,

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Speaker 1: the lack of affordable housing are two of the biggest

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Speaker 1: drivers um with with poverty. Okay, right now, when you

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Speaker 1: when you quantify poverty and the poverty line, you basically

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Speaker 1: figure out how much the average person pays in a

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Speaker 1: state or in a nation or something like that for housing, utilities, food,

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Speaker 1: that kind of thing. Then you set a line and

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Speaker 1: say anything below this is you're eligible for government assistance.

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Speaker 1: Right your your poverty stricken. UM. In the US, the

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Speaker 1: poverty line is somewhere around seventeen grand a year for

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Speaker 1: a family of three. Right. The problem is there's a

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Speaker 1: big disparity between the poverty line and the minimum wage.

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Speaker 1: So the federal minimum wage is seven dollars and twenty

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Speaker 1: five cents an hour. Right, for a person to work

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Speaker 1: forty hours a week, that's a normal work week, UM,

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Speaker 1: fifty two weeks a year, vacation none, like they work

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Speaker 1: five days a week every week. Uh, they would gross

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Speaker 1: fifteen thousand, eighty dollars. That's not very much money, right,

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Speaker 1: So you're actually falling below the poverty line making the

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Speaker 1: federal minimum wage. Right, and then consider that actually too

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Speaker 1: afford a two bedroom apartment. This is the median for

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Speaker 1: across the states. Uh, to afford a two bedroom apartment

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Speaker 1: at thirty of your income, which is the definition of

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Speaker 1: affordable housing. UM at seven, making seven, you'd have to

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Speaker 1: work eighty seven hours a week. Ridiculous. So there's a

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Speaker 1: big part of the problem right there. Well, yeah, it said.

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Speaker 1: One of the stats in here that was shocking was

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Speaker 1: about fiftcent of homeless people actually have jobs. So, um,

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Speaker 1: I saw actually not in this article, but I just

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Speaker 1: across the internet. Well, what is clear is that a

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Speaker 1: lot of people end up homeless that I don't think

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Speaker 1: they would ever end up homeless. They live paycheck to paycheck.

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Speaker 1: They have a job and they're getting by, but then

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Speaker 1: something happens. They either lose a job, or they have

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Speaker 1: some outrageous medical bills, or some catastrophe happens, and then

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Speaker 1: your average Joe or Jane with a job can find

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Speaker 1: themselves homeless, like pretty easily. Sometimes it's not always just

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Speaker 1: some schizophrenic who has a heroin problem, you know, right.

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Speaker 1: In fact, most of the time I would say it's not. Um.

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Speaker 1: We also talked about a lack of affordable housing, right

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Speaker 1: we said, the definition of affordable housing is of your income. UM.

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Speaker 1: Apparently there are five million that you're shooting for. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: five million US households pay more than half of their

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Speaker 1: income in rent, Right, that is unbelievable. That's called worst

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Speaker 1: case scenario. And the rule of thumb is if you

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Speaker 1: pay a quarter, you're doing good. Yeah yeah, so yeah,

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Speaker 1: half of your income in rent, you're in a bad,

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Speaker 1: bad way. Um, that all shouldn't be living in whatever

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Speaker 1: big city you're living in. Well, that also encompasses that

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Speaker 1: worst case scenario. Also encombs as people who live in

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Speaker 1: substandard housing as well. So, um, it's not just how

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Speaker 1: much you're paying out, it's what you're paying for, right,

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Speaker 1: or a combination of the two, right, Um, part of

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Speaker 1: the problem. Chuck, do you remember tech Wood? Yeah, techwood housing,

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Speaker 1: techwood housing. Uh no, it's not. And that, um, the

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Speaker 1: demolished Remember they demolished tech Wood, which is like the

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Speaker 1: projects in Atlanta right before the Olympics. They were just

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Speaker 1: gone and it was like, okay, all you poor people,

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Speaker 1: you don't have to go home because you don't have

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Speaker 1: one anymore, but you can't stay here. And that was that.

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Speaker 1: And apparently there's a there there. That was a nationwide

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Speaker 1: trend since the eighties. Yes, between eight and two thousand three,

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Speaker 1: more than two million low rent housing units were basically

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Speaker 1: either demolished or turned into you know, high rise, expensive

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Speaker 1: high rises. And during that same period from eighty to

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Speaker 1: two thousand three, government assistance for housing UM fell by half,

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Speaker 1: decreased by half. So that's gonna equal a lot of homeless.

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Speaker 1: So it's not and not only are we not helping

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Speaker 1: the homeless, we're actually creating homeless. Right. So, uh, we

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Speaker 1: talked about obviously pay and being down on your luck

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Speaker 1: temporarily living paycheck to paycheck, why else would you become home? Well,

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Speaker 1: you kind of hit the the nail on the head

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Speaker 1: a little bit when you talked about heroin addicted schizophrenics.

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Speaker 1: Those those can be a combination of those two or separately.

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Speaker 1: Mental illness and addiction are two big factors in homelessness

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Speaker 1: as well with mentally ill um. Apparently about twenty of

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Speaker 1: all homeless people have some type of mental illness. That

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Speaker 1: brings up a really interesting point. Have you ever heard

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Speaker 1: the urban legend that Ronald Reagan is responsible for the

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Speaker 1: increase in homelessness because he closed down all of the

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Speaker 1: mental institutions. Yes, I have heard that that's actually not

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Speaker 1: too far off the mark. When he was governor of

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Speaker 1: California from like sixty seven to seventy four. He shut

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Speaker 1: down a lot of these state run psychiatric hospitals. When

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Speaker 1: he became president. One of the major things he cut

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Speaker 1: funding too was the treatment of mental illness. And because

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Speaker 1: of this cut and funding, a lot of mental hospitals

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Speaker 1: shut down and a lot of mentally ill people found

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Speaker 1: themselves homeless. So kind of indirectly in that sense, he

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Speaker 1: he definitely contributed to an increase in homelessness. Well, should

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Speaker 1: we go ahead and talk about the McKinley Vento Act then,

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Speaker 1: since we're talking Reagan, Well, yeah, now that here we go.

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Speaker 1: He also signed the first and it says only Significant

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Speaker 1: Homeless Act of Congress. Yeah, the McKinley McKinney Vento Act

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Speaker 1: that was had a different name, but then they named

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Speaker 1: it after Stuart McKinney and Bruce Vento, who were two

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Speaker 1: of the biggest champions, and it had all sorts of

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Speaker 1: cool programs in it, right, Yeah, emergency shelter, transitional housing, healthcare, food,

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Speaker 1: job training, substance abuse services, all kinds of cool stuff. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And it's really ironic that he he was the president

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Speaker 1: that signed that into law because he is also widely

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Speaker 1: credited in this kind of take off so many Republican listeners.

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Speaker 1: He is widely credited as creating the homeless problem in

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Speaker 1: the US, not just through de institutionalization, but through the

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Speaker 1: creation of the wealth gap that we've seen between nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty and now. You talked about substance abuse, and about

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Speaker 1: two thirds of homeless people struggle with some kind of

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Speaker 1: alcohol or drug problem, not surprisingly, and then uh, sadly,

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Speaker 1: domestic violence has a big part to do with it,

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Speaker 1: especially with women. About half the women are battered women,

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Speaker 1: and they oftentimes don't have anywhere to go. They'll flee

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Speaker 1: there if if they're brave enough to actually flee they're

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Speaker 1: jerk husband, abuse of husband, then there they have nowhere

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Speaker 1: to be because their husband might be the sole breadwinner

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Speaker 1: and in that kind of circumstance, so they have battered

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Speaker 1: women shelters that God for, just for women that that

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Speaker 1: suffer from abuse, and kids too. I think half of

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Speaker 1: a runaway homeless runaways, Um, we're fleeing domestic abuse or

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Speaker 1: homeless kids on their own. I guess we're fleeing domestic abuse,

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Speaker 1: and about we're fleeing sexual abuse. Yeah, right, But it

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Speaker 1: doesn't stop there. Unfortunately, when you are homeless on the street,

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Speaker 1: you encounter even more abuse. Many times you leave home,

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Speaker 1: you leave an abusive situation at home, you live on

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Speaker 1: the street. Then you get attacked on the street for

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Speaker 1: being homeless, or you are forced into doing really bad

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Speaker 1: things for food and shelter and stuff like that, untoward

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Speaker 1: things at the bus station. At the bus station, and veterans, Josh,

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Speaker 1: are a big part of our homeless problem. And that

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Speaker 1: I can't say saddest of all because it's all really sad.

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Speaker 1: But when you're veterans, when you've got to fight for

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Speaker 1: this country and you end up one of the two

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand homeless single men, usually with mental illness substance

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Speaker 1: abuse problems because of maybe post traumatic stress disorder, that

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Speaker 1: is heartbreaking. Yeah, and and again you just keep hitting

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Speaker 1: that nail right on the head man. There's a lot

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Speaker 1: of overlapping problems or factors of in homelessness. Like you know, veterans,

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Speaker 1: Maybe homeless veterans may be more prone to having a

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Speaker 1: substance abuse problem or suffering from a mental illness like

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Speaker 1: PTSD or substance abuse and mental illness overlap and other

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Speaker 1: people as well. Uh, And part of the problem is

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Speaker 1: you get to get into a vicious cycle. There are

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Speaker 1: far few services, far fewer services available easily accessible on

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Speaker 1: the street. Um then there are if you have a

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Speaker 1: house and an income and an address and a fine

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Speaker 1: number and all the normal stuff that that you just

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Speaker 1: kind of need to be able to get by in

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Speaker 1: the US these days. And you know, you you look

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Speaker 1: at something like the Department of Veterans Affairs, which does

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Speaker 1: as good a job as they can as far as

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Speaker 1: I know, but they can only accommodate about of homeless veterans.

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Speaker 1: But what's so frustrating is that they coul accommodate all

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Speaker 1: of them. They could if they wanted, if they had not,

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Speaker 1: if they wanted to, if they had the funding. So

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Speaker 1: you see these record bonuses for CEOs on one hand,

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Speaker 1: and then you hear about homeless veterans. The money's out there, yes,

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Speaker 1: And I'm glad it was veterans that got you. I

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Speaker 1: hope it's homeless school children that gets somebody else. I

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Speaker 1: hope somebody hears this and realizes that we have all

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Speaker 1: the money we need to get it's just some of

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Speaker 1: the wealthiest are gonna have to give up a little

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Speaker 1: bit of it. So that some of the poorest have

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Speaker 1: a house. It's as simple as that we have the means,

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Speaker 1: just that the will. Yeah, and we're not talking about

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Speaker 1: just some social program with these alcoholics living off my dime.

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Speaker 1: We're talking about homeless veterans and children and abused women.

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Speaker 1: And even if it is alcoholic veterans, we've already learned.

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Speaker 1: Have we not learned already that alcoholism and all addiction

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Speaker 1: is a brain disease that follows the brain disease model

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Speaker 1: these days, you need treatment. Well, that's the whole stupid

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Speaker 1: American idea that I talked about, was that some people

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Speaker 1: feel like they deserve to be homeless. They see him

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Speaker 1: on the street and they think, what did you do

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Speaker 1: to get here? Yeah, instead of what can I do

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Speaker 1: to help you? Yeah? Well, this is touched a nerve today.

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Speaker 1: It's homelessness. Really shocked. But I'm glad, I'm angry, That's

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Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Okay, I'm glad you're angry too, Chuck.

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Speaker 1: So Josher's uh, let's talk about some of the effects.

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Speaker 1: And a lot of these you can file under duh.

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Speaker 1: But it bears saying, well, you're talking about women's shelters. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: women's shelters only let in women. And if you have

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Speaker 1: a teenage son, do you can kiss him goodbye? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: So bye bye family unit. Uh. Physical attacks homeless people

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Speaker 1: are attacked and beaten, kicked, chained, fet on, gurnated, spray

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Speaker 1: painted people, lit on fire, pet on is pretty bad. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: just because they're homeless. People will go out and beat

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Speaker 1: up homeless people. Yeah. Well there's like a whole line

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Speaker 1: of thinking that like serial killers, practice on drifters, or

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Speaker 1: sure health effects for kids. Um, if you're homeless, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna have a higher rate of stomach problems, asthma, ear infections,

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Speaker 1: Depression anxiousness PTSD is pretty prevalent. Yeah, it's a cause

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Speaker 1: of ang is caused by homelessness and not just um

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Speaker 1: adults but kids as well. Right, Like, you can actually

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Speaker 1: start to develop PTSD because you don't know where you're

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Speaker 1: going to sleep the next night. I mean think about it, Chuck, Like,

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Speaker 1: have you ever been without a home? H No? Like

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Speaker 1: I I would think it can be really weird to

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Speaker 1: not know where you're going to stay or did not

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Speaker 1: just you know, have a hard day at work or

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Speaker 1: a hard day at school and to go to know

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Speaker 1: that at the end of this day. You have no

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Speaker 1: idea where you're gonna sleep. Maybe you're gonna sleep in

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Speaker 1: your car, maybe you're gonna sleep in the woods. But

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Speaker 1: you don't get to just rest. You don't get to

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Speaker 1: just take a shower, pop a beer and watch you know,

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Speaker 1: TV or whatever it takes the unwine. So you're you're

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Speaker 1: stress level is heightened constantly without any resolution to it.

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Speaker 1: And of course you're going to suffer PTSD or at

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Speaker 1: least stomach aches something bad. Adults too. It's not just kids.

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Speaker 1: They can get frostbite, leg ulcers, respiratory infections, HIV and AIDS,

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Speaker 1: and diabetes way more common than homeless population. So lots

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Speaker 1: of health effects going on. Josh, I agree, Chuck so check.

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Speaker 1: We talked about UM Reagan as both creator and alleviator

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Speaker 1: of homelessness. UM. You you talked about some of the

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Speaker 1: programs that the McKinney Vento Act created. UM. Some of

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Speaker 1: the other programs that have been developed in the United

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Speaker 1: States are UM like Section eight housing. Yeah, right, do

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Speaker 1: you know about this? That's uh, well, that there's there's

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Speaker 1: homeless shelters which are like the emergency beds when it's cold.

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Speaker 1: That kind of thing where you can go temporarily, right,

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Speaker 1: And a lot of those are I would say most

401
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Speaker 1: I don't have any numbers on this, but I would

402
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Speaker 1: say most of those are privately operated. Really yeah. Interesting. Uh.

403
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Speaker 1: And then there is the Section eight thing that you

404
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Speaker 1: were talking about, which is not public housing. It's when

405
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Speaker 1: you fill out of Section eight vulture and you can

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Speaker 1: go find just a regular private apartment to rent from

407
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Speaker 1: a landlord. It's got to fit certain requirements and if

408
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Speaker 1: you meet all those requirements, you only have to pay

409
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Speaker 1: third of the rent and bills and then the government

410
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Speaker 1: pays the other straight to the landlord. So that's Section eight.

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Speaker 1: But section eight, you know, they're a huge waiting list,

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Speaker 1: and I read that a lot of cities have shut

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Speaker 1: it down until the list gets smaller, and they're like,

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Speaker 1: there's no point in keeping a list of four years,

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Speaker 1: five years. We're just gonna shut it down, get the

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Speaker 1: list smaller, and then open it back up in a

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Speaker 1: couple of years. Yeah, So good luck getting section eight

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Speaker 1: if that's what you're trying to do. And uh, you

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Speaker 1: talked about did you did you mentioned public housing? Know? So, um, well,

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Speaker 1: you talked about shelters. Apparently there were five hundred thousand

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Speaker 1: beds and two thousand five. There's now six hundred forty

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Speaker 1: three thousand or there where there wasn't two thousand nine,

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Speaker 1: and about three million to three point five million homeless people. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but that's a pretty significant increase in five years. Yea. Um,

425
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:53,639
Speaker 1: but but with public housing, if if Section eight is

426
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 1: not an option, there is public housing, or there used

427
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,200
Speaker 1: to be, at least in at tech Wood UM, which

428
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:03,960
Speaker 1: is basically an apartment block where you go and live

429
00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,120
Speaker 1: and you pay what you can um and as long

430
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,960
Speaker 1: as you follow the rules I just made air quotes, um,

431
00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:15,879
Speaker 1: you can stay there as long as you like. Ideally, again,

432
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:18,520
Speaker 1: there's not that many public housing units are not as

433
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 1: many as there used to be. Uh. We need to

434
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:23,919
Speaker 1: talk about food banks because that's a big part of

435
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,600
Speaker 1: being homeless, as getting your meal. And you know, the

436
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:33,720
Speaker 1: United States, it's not like starvation in other countries where

437
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 1: there is no food. There's lots of food here. Lots

438
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,160
Speaker 1: of food is thrown away. So since the nineteen sixties,

439
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,720
Speaker 1: do you know that there's an estimate that up to

440
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:47,639
Speaker 1: half of the food we produced is thrown away, really

441
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,679
Speaker 1: half in the US, and the low estimate is a

442
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:53,840
Speaker 1: quarter Wow. Yeah, I'll tell you what. Never go get

443
00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:55,399
Speaker 1: a job in the film industry if you want to.

444
00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:59,439
Speaker 1: The food waste depresses, you know, the craft services and

445
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,840
Speaker 1: just catering the whole thing. You know, it's ridiculous. Um,

446
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,080
Speaker 1: But food banks have been around since about the sixties,

447
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 1: and that everyone knows. You can donate can goods and

448
00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:12,080
Speaker 1: non perishable items and they will distribute them to uh,

449
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:16,520
Speaker 1: homeless shelters and homeless people directly sometimes, So that's a

450
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,040
Speaker 1: big deal. You ever volunteer or anything like that. Yeah,

451
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:22,879
Speaker 1: I've done the Thanksgiving thing before. Ah, this makes me

452
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:24,640
Speaker 1: want to do more than that though, you know, yeah,

453
00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:26,920
Speaker 1: that feels like going to church on Easter. You know

454
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 1: we should do We should build like an addition onto

455
00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:32,439
Speaker 1: your house that we can get house homeless people in.

456
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 1: We can go there, you go chuck squat Squatville. We

457
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,000
Speaker 1: can put up a lean to or something that chokes.

458
00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 1: Squatville's not a bad idea job training though. I mean

459
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,520
Speaker 1: we we talked about things like public housing and the projects,

460
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:48,080
Speaker 1: and that's all well and good to give people a

461
00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:51,720
Speaker 1: place to be, But at the same time, you don't

462
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 1: and this is where the Republicians can go. Yeah, say it.

463
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,480
Speaker 1: At the same time, you don't want to support a

464
00:28:56,600 --> 00:29:00,640
Speaker 1: nation of people on the government's time without offering some

465
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:04,360
Speaker 1: kind of job training and something to say, hey, let

466
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:06,040
Speaker 1: us help you get on your feet, let us help

467
00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:09,640
Speaker 1: you get a job in data entry or on the

468
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:13,959
Speaker 1: manufacturing line or whatever. So luckily there are groups like

469
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:18,640
Speaker 1: the Coalition for the Homeless First Step that that you know,

470
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,520
Speaker 1: provide this kind of job job training, and the veterans

471
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:26,800
Speaker 1: are doing the same thing with the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program,

472
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,920
Speaker 1: right And I should say, there isn't a homeless alleviation

473
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 1: program in existence in the US that's geared towards simply

474
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,520
Speaker 1: taking care of people. All of them are geared towards

475
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:43,560
Speaker 1: ending homelessness and the individual and collectively through things like

476
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 1: job training, through things like UM helping to write resumes, YEA,

477
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:53,200
Speaker 1: rehab rehabs a huge one, mental health treatment, UM getting

478
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:57,120
Speaker 1: people cheap drugs, like getting them to a point where

479
00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,720
Speaker 1: they're not homeless anymore. Like it's addressed seeing the factors

480
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:03,840
Speaker 1: of homelessness. Not you don't feel like work, and so

481
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,800
Speaker 1: here's some money that doesn't exist. And I suspect that

482
00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:11,680
Speaker 1: there's not really a desire to just have somebody to

483
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:15,200
Speaker 1: give you some money and not do anything ever and

484
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:22,040
Speaker 1: just be poor in anybody. I don't know, that's my

485
00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:24,840
Speaker 1: that's my opinion. We disagree, that's awesome. Well I don't

486
00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:26,239
Speaker 1: know if I disagree on that. I don't have enough

487
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,280
Speaker 1: time to think about that right now. All right, Uh,

488
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:32,520
Speaker 1: what can you do though? Well? You can we can

489
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:35,600
Speaker 1: build lean two's on your squatting land. You can volunteer,

490
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:38,840
Speaker 1: like you said, right, give your time. If you don't

491
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:42,120
Speaker 1: have the dough, you can give a little time. Uh.

492
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:44,640
Speaker 1: If you do have the dough and it's not necessarily

493
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 1: just dough. You can donate old toys and books and

494
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:52,800
Speaker 1: toiletries and clothes. That old computer that's gathering dust that

495
00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:57,480
Speaker 1: you could get seventy dollars for on craigslistuld donate that

496
00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:01,080
Speaker 1: instead write it off in your taxes, and maybe homeless

497
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 1: people can get trained how to use that computer. Where

498
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,760
Speaker 1: you could donate your car. Yeah, oh yeah, that's a

499
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 1: big one. Yeah. You can be an advocate, try to

500
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 1: raise awareness, letter campaigns, all sorts of things you can

501
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: do there. You can hire homeless people. Yes, they do

502
00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 1: have skills. As we've seen a lot of people who

503
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:28,680
Speaker 1: um are recently recently homeless may also just be recently

504
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:32,760
Speaker 1: unemployed as well and have job skills. And then the

505
00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:34,320
Speaker 1: last one on the list in the article, which I

506
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:40,800
Speaker 1: thought was bring at home, great respect, huge h When

507
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,280
Speaker 1: you see that homeless person on the street, don't let

508
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:46,080
Speaker 1: the first thought to be in your head, Hey jerk,

509
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:48,200
Speaker 1: how did you mess up to get here? Maybe you

510
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,760
Speaker 1: should think, hey, did you develop schizophrenia in your thirties

511
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:52,920
Speaker 1: and lose your job because of that and get split

512
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:54,959
Speaker 1: up from your child because you couldn't care for your

513
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,840
Speaker 1: child even though you you know you want to. Because

514
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:02,000
Speaker 1: it happened to Will Smith, I was hoping we could

515
00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:04,600
Speaker 1: make it through this without bringing up that stupid movie,

516
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:10,640
Speaker 1: The Pursuit of Hapwitness. Yeah, yeah, well it's you know,

517
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 1: they make a movie about it. It It was such a

518
00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:14,800
Speaker 1: big deal. Everyone knows that that that guy was homeless

519
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:16,840
Speaker 1: with a son and now he's rich. He's worth sixty

520
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:20,520
Speaker 1: five million bucks. Actually, you know what story I like

521
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:24,640
Speaker 1: better is the one in this article. The that was

522
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,320
Speaker 1: a guy what's his named? David? Yeah, he's he's quoted

523
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,720
Speaker 1: David Purtle. Yeah, he was in that respect part. He Yeah,

524
00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:34,520
Speaker 1: he was a just a regular dude, had a job

525
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:38,960
Speaker 1: as a restaurant manager, college graduate and for fifteen years

526
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 1: as a restaurant manager and developed schizophrenia, got fired, ended

527
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 1: up hitchhiking and homeless for two years on the streets

528
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:51,040
Speaker 1: of d C. And now I think he's a heading

529
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:53,280
Speaker 1: up a homeless group in d C now, and yeah,

530
00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:56,240
Speaker 1: I think he's an executive at it. Yeah, but he's

531
00:32:56,320 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 1: quoted in this article in the respect like what can

532
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:03,680
Speaker 1: you do? He says, Um, most of the despair and

533
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 1: being homeless comes from being treated like you don't exist.

534
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:10,640
Speaker 1: And there's something we should point out, Chuck throughout this.

535
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:17,560
Speaker 1: It's however, many minutes into this podcast, Um, we've just

536
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 1: now used the first homeless person's name, first and last

537
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 1: name of the whole podcast. There's a whole conception of invisibility.

538
00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 1: The nameless they are, they're not the nameless. You can

539
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 1: completely interchange that with the homeless that's just as faceless,

540
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,520
Speaker 1: just as nameless, just as genderless, just as identity lists.

541
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:43,360
Speaker 1: And um, I just want to close and get everybody

542
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:47,160
Speaker 1: to over to on design. There's this awesome blog post

543
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:50,480
Speaker 1: by a guy named John the Kara th h a

544
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,080
Speaker 1: c k a r A called Look or Connect and

545
00:33:54,120 --> 00:34:00,240
Speaker 1: he's talking about he's using photography to demonstrate, um, how

546
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 1: we treat the homeless and how we should treat the homeless.

547
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,920
Speaker 1: And there's a photography book called Shelter, and this guy

548
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:11,719
Speaker 1: roamed around Europe and took photos of homeless like impromptu

549
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:15,920
Speaker 1: makeshift shelters, of like blankets hanging over a limb, in

550
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:19,440
Speaker 1: in a in the woods or some place under an overpass.

551
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:22,239
Speaker 1: But in every single picture it's just the shelter. Not

552
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:26,120
Speaker 1: one homeless person appears in this whole book, and the

553
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:29,480
Speaker 1: care is pointing out like this is kind of emblematic

554
00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 1: of how we view the homeless. And then he was

555
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:36,480
Speaker 1: also kind of crediting a girl named Erica Schultz who's

556
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:40,320
Speaker 1: a photographer out of Seattle, and she has a series

557
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:44,480
Speaker 1: called Invisible Families and shell She photographs the homeless, but

558
00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:48,640
Speaker 1: then the caption she includes captions beneath the the um

559
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:52,960
Speaker 1: photograph and it's of that person. So there's one of

560
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,239
Speaker 1: a little kid walking through a homeless camp and he's

561
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,040
Speaker 1: he's got like this bamboo stick up a right, we

562
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:04,600
Speaker 1: see him, and the caption is um, here Jack ahearn

563
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 1: Age nine marches with the bamboo stick while staying at

564
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,920
Speaker 1: a city located in Skyway. Sometimes Jack win unless fellow

565
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:15,080
Speaker 1: Nickelodeon's quotes to help him look for worms. On other days,

566
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:17,360
Speaker 1: he'd play on a pogo stick in mud puddles or

567
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,560
Speaker 1: with the resident cam kitten that had six digits on

568
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:23,560
Speaker 1: one paw. The bamboo stick was a gift. So like,

569
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:27,600
Speaker 1: that's a person now, not a homeless kid. That's Jack

570
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:30,880
Speaker 1: a hear in age nine. Well, and then the gentleman

571
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,759
Speaker 1: from DC suggests that if you have a regular walk

572
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:35,879
Speaker 1: to work in a city or something where you see

573
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,680
Speaker 1: the same homeless person on a daily basis, then ask

574
00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 1: them what their name is one day, call him by

575
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,919
Speaker 1: their name, look him in the eye. If you don't

576
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:46,279
Speaker 1: have to give him money if you don't want to.

577
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:49,279
Speaker 1: Little things like that can make a big difference in

578
00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:53,080
Speaker 1: a person's self esteem and maybe allows him to view

579
00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:56,600
Speaker 1: themselves as human again. And you can give them if

580
00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:58,560
Speaker 1: you're worried about giving the money that they spend on

581
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,640
Speaker 1: alcohol or something, give them, get a get a little food,

582
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:05,239
Speaker 1: gift valcher, you know something like that. So there it

583
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,000
Speaker 1: is everybody our fifth summation of the podcast, fifth and

584
00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:11,479
Speaker 1: final Yes, if you want to learn more about homelessness. Um,

585
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:15,319
Speaker 1: you can type that word into the search bar. How

586
00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:19,960
Speaker 1: stuff works the blank generic genderless identity list search bar.

587
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,799
Speaker 1: Very nice. And since I said that, it's time for

588
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:26,759
Speaker 1: is it listener mailman? Yeah, And in the spirit of

589
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:30,239
Speaker 1: this podcast, we're gonna do a big old Kiva round up.

590
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:35,480
Speaker 1: You want to explain what Kiva is real quick. Kiva

591
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:39,680
Speaker 1: is a website where schmos like you and me can

592
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:44,120
Speaker 1: go and donate well, I shouldn't say donate lynn increments

593
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:49,000
Speaker 1: of twenty five dollars to entrepreneurs in developing countries and

594
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:51,880
Speaker 1: people on their way up here in the United States

595
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:56,440
Speaker 1: even uh. These loans are pulled together uh to create

596
00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:59,640
Speaker 1: a larger loan which ultimately repay a loan that's already

597
00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:02,440
Speaker 1: been made to the person uh, and then that person

598
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,840
Speaker 1: uses it for their business, repays the loan. You actually

599
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,640
Speaker 1: get your twenty five bucks back, that's right if you want,

600
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:12,120
Speaker 1: and you can reinvest it. And basically it's micro lending. Yes,

601
00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:16,399
Speaker 1: And we have our own loan team, which we're proud

602
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,640
Speaker 1: to say is the number four team and members on

603
00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:21,960
Speaker 1: all of keeping out. I know that's really something behind

604
00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:26,000
Speaker 1: atheists number one. Christians are number two. There's like so

605
00:37:26,719 --> 00:37:30,520
Speaker 1: angry and right behind the ads, and uh, Team Obama

606
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:32,759
Speaker 1: is number three and little old US are right there

607
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,000
Speaker 1: but in front of Australia. So let's go over that

608
00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:39,560
Speaker 1: list again. Go for chuck from Wonderful Atheists of America,

609
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:46,439
Speaker 1: Christian Coalition, Team Obama stuff you should know Australia. So

610
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:48,799
Speaker 1: all pretty cool and we have, as of today, we've

611
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:52,000
Speaker 1: loaned as a collective three thousand, four hundred and six

612
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,160
Speaker 1: members of loan ten thou eight hundred and thirteen loans

613
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:57,080
Speaker 1: to the tune of three d and thirteen thousand, eight

614
00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:00,479
Speaker 1: hundred bucks. So that is not bad. Is this gonna

615
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:03,839
Speaker 1: be up for Christmas? I? I I don't know, Jerry. Yes,

616
00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:06,880
Speaker 1: we would suggest you can get a Kiva gift certificate

617
00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 1: and give it to your love one at Christmas. It's

618
00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:10,359
Speaker 1: a nice little cool thing to do it, like it's

619
00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:14,560
Speaker 1: stocking stuffer and they go and lend it. But ultimately

620
00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:18,359
Speaker 1: if they want, they're just postponing getting that twenty five

621
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:23,200
Speaker 1: or bucks cash um for a month or two and

622
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:26,600
Speaker 1: with that repaid. Yeah it's repaid, it's not a donation.

623
00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:29,360
Speaker 1: And with that here comes a listener mail because this

624
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:33,320
Speaker 1: one really got me. Uh hi two of them really quick. Um. Hi, guys,

625
00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:35,680
Speaker 1: my name is Kara and I am another one of

626
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:37,600
Speaker 1: your thirteen year old fans. Just want to say hi

627
00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:40,560
Speaker 1: and how much I love your show. Uh. Some friends

628
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:43,400
Speaker 1: and I make and sell jewelry and donate the profits

629
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,960
Speaker 1: to Kiva. That is awesome. I know you guys have

630
00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:48,680
Speaker 1: your own Kiva team, and I love that you use

631
00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:51,799
Speaker 1: your power to do good. Uh. Since most people haven't

632
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:53,680
Speaker 1: heard of Kiva, please mention this on your show, would

633
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,279
Speaker 1: be so great to get some business that we can

634
00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:59,120
Speaker 1: re loan. You can see some of our jewelry and

635
00:38:59,239 --> 00:39:03,960
Speaker 1: loans at www dot tiny, u r l dot com

636
00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:07,600
Speaker 1: slash project raw and I went today and they have

637
00:39:07,719 --> 00:39:11,160
Speaker 1: these little earrings and little necklaces and rings and things

638
00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:14,480
Speaker 1: that these thirteen year old girls may make my hand.

639
00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:19,920
Speaker 1: And they've loaned three seventy five bucks so far. And uh.

640
00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:25,040
Speaker 1: That is Kara and Kensington, Maryland. And that is so cool.

641
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,719
Speaker 1: I can't even talk about it. When thirteen year olds

642
00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:31,359
Speaker 1: are doing stuff like this and CEOs are getting rich

643
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:33,640
Speaker 1: and thumbing their nose at the rest of the world.

644
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:39,319
Speaker 1: So Karmen is gonna bite you one day, sir, and

645
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,239
Speaker 1: this one Uh, we usually don't plug other Kiva teams,

646
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:44,520
Speaker 1: but we're going to because this from our our buddy,

647
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:51,440
Speaker 1: sergeant newly promoted Staff Sergeant Walker, Mr Bryant, with your inspiration,

648
00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:54,720
Speaker 1: I've started my own Kiva team for the Armed Forces

649
00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:58,800
Speaker 1: with the whole Armed Forces. He started an Army team. Okay,

650
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:02,840
Speaker 1: so it's different if you're well, he says Armed Forces

651
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,680
Speaker 1: Kiva team. But it says Army in the in the

652
00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:08,560
Speaker 1: u r L. So if you're in the Marine Corps,

653
00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 1: do not give uh. It is www dot Kiva dot org,

654
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:20,200
Speaker 1: Slash Team, Slash US Underscore, Army Underscore, Kiva Underscore Team.

655
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:21,920
Speaker 1: And he says, wondering if you could just give a

656
00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:25,200
Speaker 1: little shout out to all the Armed Forces personnel listening

657
00:40:25,239 --> 00:40:28,239
Speaker 1: to your show, and can they donate to our Army team.

658
00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:29,840
Speaker 1: And so I'm gonna encourage you to donate for the

659
00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 1: Army team. Everyone else donate for the stuff you should

660
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:37,719
Speaker 1: know team and support Project RAW. I can't believe you

661
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:40,040
Speaker 1: did this without checking with me. You don't want to

662
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:44,520
Speaker 1: support the n m D. So sorry. Anyway, good holiday

663
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:46,480
Speaker 1: mojo come in your way if you get involved with

664
00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:51,240
Speaker 1: stuff like this. Well, congratulations on the promotion, Staff Sergeant Walker, Kara,

665
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:55,759
Speaker 1: congratulations on being a very very cool thirteen year old,

666
00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:59,080
Speaker 1: actually a very very cool person in general. That's right.

667
00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:03,080
Speaker 1: Since it's around Christmas time and I'm about to weep,

668
00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 1: why don't we just bring it on home, drive it

669
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:10,680
Speaker 1: through my heart with the sweetest Christmas story you've ever

670
00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:14,080
Speaker 1: heard in your entire life, that's fact based. Have you

671
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:17,120
Speaker 1: got one? No, I'm just saying I'm asking for them.

672
00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:18,680
Speaker 1: I'm on the verge of tears. I want to just

673
00:41:18,719 --> 00:41:22,440
Speaker 1: go ahead and have my first a little weep, be

674
00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:26,840
Speaker 1: a couple of times too, Did you really? Okay? Uh?

675
00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:29,200
Speaker 1: If you have a good story for us, a good

676
00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:32,200
Speaker 1: holiday story, we want to hear it. Send it in

677
00:41:32,239 --> 00:41:34,759
Speaker 1: an email. You can wrap it up. I have the

678
00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:38,640
Speaker 1: ribbon on tight, make sure the card is attached, and

679
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:43,200
Speaker 1: send it to Stuff podcast at how stuff works dot

680
00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:48,800
Speaker 1: com for mora on this and thousands of other topics.

681
00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:50,319
Speaker 1: Is it how stuff works dot com