1
00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:04,880
Speaker 1: Everybody. It's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.

2
00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,799
Speaker 1: And we continue now with part two of our conversation

3
00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:13,240
Speaker 1: with Adrianne Hillman, right after these brief messages from our

4
00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:27,520
Speaker 1: general sponsors. You want a quick zig zigular story, Yes,

5
00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:31,960
Speaker 1: I love. His favorite part of the roast was the ends,

6
00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:35,200
Speaker 1: but they always threw him away and it made him angry.

7
00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:37,480
Speaker 1: So he went to his So he went to his mom.

8
00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:39,919
Speaker 1: He said, mom, why do you always throw the ends

9
00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,080
Speaker 1: of the roast away? It's my favorite part? And she said,

10
00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:46,800
Speaker 1: I don't know. Your grandmother taught me that. So grandmother

11
00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:48,919
Speaker 1: was on Christmas. Grandmother was in the living room, went

12
00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,760
Speaker 1: and said, Grammy, how come you always throw away the

13
00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:54,560
Speaker 1: ends of the roast? It's my favorite part. And she goes, well,

14
00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:56,800
Speaker 1: that's the way my mama taught me. His great grandmama

15
00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,800
Speaker 1: was sitting in the lounge chair, went over. Great grandmama said, hey,

16
00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:05,040
Speaker 1: great grandmama, why why do you always throw the ends

17
00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,000
Speaker 1: of roast away? And you talk to your daughter? Now,

18
00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:08,920
Speaker 1: My mama that and I can't get the best meat

19
00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:10,760
Speaker 1: that I like. And she says, because back when I

20
00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:12,720
Speaker 1: was coming up, we didn't have big oven. So my

21
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,759
Speaker 1: roaster was too small to fit throwle roast beef in it.

22
00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:18,920
Speaker 1: So for three generations they've been throwing out the best

23
00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:22,520
Speaker 1: piece of meat because sixty years earlier they just didn't

24
00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:23,080
Speaker 1: have an oven.

25
00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:24,240
Speaker 2: Oh man.

26
00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,600
Speaker 1: And the point is, if you do something the way

27
00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:31,160
Speaker 1: you've always done it without questioning why, you will never

28
00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,840
Speaker 1: improve and you may throw away the very best idea

29
00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:37,800
Speaker 1: that exists exactly exactly.

30
00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:39,480
Speaker 2: That's such a great story.

31
00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't. I can't claim it. That's old zig.

32
00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:42,920
Speaker 2: It's zig, but that's a.

33
00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:46,080
Speaker 1: Don't forget that. Oh it's rong.

34
00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:48,600
Speaker 2: I just know that, Yes, sir, Okay, well that's a

35
00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:50,480
Speaker 2: really good story. And when I might have to put

36
00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,600
Speaker 2: in my back pocket, because I agree, you cannot be

37
00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,320
Speaker 2: innovative when you're in that box of like not being

38
00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:59,760
Speaker 2: I'm just like, I'm a naturally curious person anyway. I

39
00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,760
Speaker 2: think that's part of what has been part of my success,

40
00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,200
Speaker 2: because I just want to know why, you know, And

41
00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:08,480
Speaker 2: and I had to. I had to be curious because

42
00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:10,920
Speaker 2: I really didn't know why because I really didn't live

43
00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:12,839
Speaker 2: anywhere near holmelessness, you know what I'm saying.

44
00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:14,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, but now you got the Sauceton thing. You've got

45
00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:16,200
Speaker 1: these people saying no, so.

46
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:19,440
Speaker 2: And I'm just getting increasingly frustrated with why are we

47
00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:21,399
Speaker 2: talking about people like this? Why are we saying those

48
00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,959
Speaker 2: people we you know, there were just some things I'm going,

49
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,640
Speaker 2: We're why aren't we feeding people? Why aren't we bathing people?

50
00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:31,840
Speaker 2: Why aren't we like it just started it start? Oh yeah,

51
00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,520
Speaker 2: oh gosh, Okay, we're getting there because it's yeah, I

52
00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:36,880
Speaker 2: was going to say it, and I'm just like, I'm

53
00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:38,800
Speaker 2: just you know, i just want to offend people, but

54
00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:40,720
Speaker 2: you know, I'm just going to say it. So okay.

55
00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:45,040
Speaker 2: We had this like also the fundraising. You're not going

56
00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:47,639
Speaker 2: to create a movement with like baked sale fund raising.

57
00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:49,640
Speaker 2: It's not gonna you know what I mean. And we

58
00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:51,880
Speaker 2: were doing this fried chicken dinner and we all had

59
00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:53,680
Speaker 2: to sell all the board members had to sell tickets

60
00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:59,359
Speaker 2: to it. And it was fried chicken, broccoli salad, a cookie,

61
00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,400
Speaker 2: a little Hawaiian roll, and a water.

62
00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,280
Speaker 1: Do you people know how to fried chicken properly? In California?

63
00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:07,280
Speaker 2: They bought it from the grocery store.

64
00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:07,480
Speaker 1: Yo.

65
00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:12,760
Speaker 2: So okay, I know I know how, But that's because

66
00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,000
Speaker 2: I'm curious and I'm a cook, and I always want

67
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,040
Speaker 2: to make guses.

68
00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:19,040
Speaker 1: And get some Southern fried chickens around the corner from

69
00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:19,600
Speaker 1: where you're staying.

70
00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,200
Speaker 2: Okay, I might need I'm a huge fried chicken fans.

71
00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:26,040
Speaker 2: I probably will gusses. Wait is there also is there

72
00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:27,239
Speaker 2: gus in Texas as well?

73
00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:28,799
Speaker 1: Yes, it's all started here.

74
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:30,880
Speaker 2: Okay, I've been to guses in Texas. I've been there

75
00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:31,919
Speaker 2: with my sister and their family.

76
00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,840
Speaker 1: Real that's good stuff, grocery.

77
00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:38,480
Speaker 2: So we got the grocery or fried chicken whatever, and

78
00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:40,480
Speaker 2: we all have to buy our we have to buy

79
00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,920
Speaker 2: twenty tickets or whatever. And where they're serving in and

80
00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:45,880
Speaker 2: we're right in the neighborhood where people riding around on

81
00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:50,360
Speaker 2: their bikes. These are clearly people experiencing homelessness. And they

82
00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,680
Speaker 2: come by and they're like, man, I'm hungry. This is Sunday.

83
00:03:53,720 --> 00:04:01,760
Speaker 2: It's a Sunday. To add insult to injury, And they

84
00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:06,080
Speaker 2: put a fried chicken leg on a napkin and say

85
00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,480
Speaker 2: here you go, like, give him a whole dinner. No,

86
00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:17,080
Speaker 2: They'll just keep coming back for more. Then the ladies auxiliary. Afterwards,

87
00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:19,880
Speaker 2: when there's all this leftover chicken, they divvied up between

88
00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,160
Speaker 2: them and take it home to their families. These are

89
00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:28,640
Speaker 2: really wealthy women, really wealthy women. It went all over me.

90
00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:31,520
Speaker 2: I couldn't do it. I'm just like so I took

91
00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:33,680
Speaker 2: all my tickets, I took all my dinners, and I

92
00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:35,680
Speaker 2: loaded my kids in the car. We'd already decided we were

93
00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:36,560
Speaker 2: going to do this when we went down to the

94
00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,839
Speaker 2: bus station. This was probably a game changer for my family,

95
00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:43,720
Speaker 2: for my kids. And there was a guy dressed in

96
00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:45,920
Speaker 2: a Santa suit because that's all the clothes he had.

97
00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:50,360
Speaker 2: And it's you know, May in central California. It is

98
00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,720
Speaker 2: not where you're wanting to wear a felt Santa Suitpha.

99
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:58,440
Speaker 1: Home in May at the bus station in a Santa.

100
00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,440
Speaker 2: Suit, Yeah, it was actually an lsuit. I'm gonna make

101
00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,680
Speaker 2: it clearer and even better. But but we get there

102
00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:05,000
Speaker 2: and we're like, we've got food, and he's.

103
00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:08,320
Speaker 1: Like I was imagining bad Sanna with Bill a little.

104
00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,159
Speaker 2: Bit, like a little bit like yeah, African American guy

105
00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:14,440
Speaker 2: just such a cutie and sweet as can be. And

106
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,200
Speaker 2: he's like, come on, y'all, get up, get up, get up.

107
00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:18,920
Speaker 1: Everybody.

108
00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,880
Speaker 2: He goes all around the camp, gets everybody awake to

109
00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:24,880
Speaker 2: give them the food, and he's helping us distribute and

110
00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:28,640
Speaker 2: he's like, I said, it's almost like Christmas. He's like, yeah,

111
00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:33,000
Speaker 2: he's an elf, right right. He gives them all away.

112
00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:35,839
Speaker 1: And to all the other homeless speed it's all gone.

113
00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,680
Speaker 2: Bro, you gotta get some food too. He's like, that's

114
00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:46,479
Speaker 2: all right, it's okay, I'll find something. My kids boys,

115
00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:50,320
Speaker 2: they had to go to the car because they're just oh,

116
00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:52,560
Speaker 2: we got to go get them some food. I said, Oh,

117
00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:54,760
Speaker 2: I know where to get some. There's more fight right down.

118
00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,719
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, skinny guy food everywhere.

119
00:05:58,800 --> 00:05:59,320
Speaker 2: Skinny guy.

120
00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:01,200
Speaker 1: But he will car body up in the camp to

121
00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:02,480
Speaker 1: make sure they had some dat.

122
00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:04,880
Speaker 2: And I will tell you that I can that is

123
00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:07,920
Speaker 2: I've had ground day on that for years and years.

124
00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,600
Speaker 2: It happens every day on our food truck. I've served

125
00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:13,640
Speaker 2: over one hundred thousand meals, and it happens every day

126
00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:19,400
Speaker 2: because people with less tend to be more generous. You

127
00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,920
Speaker 2: can't believe that people will have nothing and they'll give

128
00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,080
Speaker 2: away the last thing they've got when they need it,

129
00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:27,720
Speaker 2: because there's all these other people that do this.

130
00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:28,000
Speaker 1: Guy.

131
00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:31,600
Speaker 2: So we went. I went back down. I went back

132
00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,360
Speaker 2: down to the to the chicken dinner and I bought

133
00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:37,760
Speaker 2: twenty more. What are you gonna do with those. I said, well,

134
00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:40,159
Speaker 2: I got rid of the last twenty and we gave

135
00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,880
Speaker 2: them away, and there's more people, and there's someone specific

136
00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:45,200
Speaker 2: that needs more. And when I brought him back, he goes, yeah,

137
00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:46,919
Speaker 2: I know I can find twenty more people. Let's go.

138
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:48,440
Speaker 2: He gets in my car with me and we go

139
00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:50,760
Speaker 2: to another encampment across town. He gives all those away,

140
00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,080
Speaker 2: and I said, listen, this time, you're keeping one. Okay, ma'am,

141
00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,400
Speaker 2: I'll keep it. I'll keep it anyway.

142
00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:01,960
Speaker 1: That you put the drunk homeless elf in your car

143
00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:04,800
Speaker 1: after meeting him only two hours earlier.

144
00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:08,080
Speaker 2: Sure did. And you know what, I've never had one

145
00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:14,520
Speaker 2: instance of threat or lack of safety. The only people

146
00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,280
Speaker 2: who have ever threatened me or made me feel unsafe

147
00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:21,800
Speaker 2: or scared me were drug dealers and pimps, predators, people

148
00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,200
Speaker 2: who need people experiencing homeless to continue to be addicted

149
00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,920
Speaker 2: and continue to be trafficked for their good. They don't

150
00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,239
Speaker 2: like people like me because they don't want me helping

151
00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:32,920
Speaker 2: people settle in hell. You know what I mean. They

152
00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:37,240
Speaker 2: don't want me, that's right. So those are the only

153
00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,520
Speaker 2: people I've ever felt threatened by. All that to say,

154
00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:43,680
Speaker 2: just a sad note to that story. Two years ago

155
00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:47,840
Speaker 2: he was hit by the train in town. We lost

156
00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,640
Speaker 2: five people in one year of the train. If you're

157
00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:52,400
Speaker 2: close enough the train tracks, which is the only place

158
00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:54,160
Speaker 2: they could find a camp, if you're close enough to

159
00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:54,800
Speaker 2: it'll suck in.

160
00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:57,160
Speaker 1: Yeah.

161
00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:03,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, just tough stuff. This is heartbreak work, and it's heartbreak. Heel,

162
00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:05,600
Speaker 2: heartbreak heel. I mean it's kind of like you start

163
00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:07,440
Speaker 2: getting used to it.

164
00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,480
Speaker 1: But this dude taught you a lesson, Sure did, and

165
00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:13,080
Speaker 1: now you're even more energized.

166
00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,280
Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm glad you called the energized, because at the

167
00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:19,440
Speaker 2: time it felt pissed really well. I just can't stand

168
00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,920
Speaker 2: the thought of people starving, people not sharing. It just

169
00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:27,320
Speaker 2: it just got all over me. So I did a

170
00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:29,360
Speaker 2: lot of soul search in and I fought this call

171
00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:33,400
Speaker 2: for well from twenty sixteen to January of twenty nineteen.

172
00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,000
Speaker 2: And in January twenty nineteen, I went back to Austin

173
00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:38,760
Speaker 2: for a kind of a leadership thing that they wanted

174
00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:40,760
Speaker 2: me to come to and I didn't want to go.

175
00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:43,240
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm not doing this, I don't want

176
00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,360
Speaker 2: to do I'm not equipped, I can't And my husband

177
00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:49,160
Speaker 2: said to me, then you know, you know, God called

178
00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:51,640
Speaker 2: you to this and you can't say no to God.

179
00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:52,320
Speaker 2: You can't.

180
00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:56,320
Speaker 1: Like that's pretty supportive.

181
00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:58,800
Speaker 2: Oh my God. And here's the deal. He was getting

182
00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,160
Speaker 2: ready to retire and we're twenty years apart, my second

183
00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:05,080
Speaker 2: husband and I and he was getting ready to retire.

184
00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,480
Speaker 2: We had a plan. Yeah, we know we're gonna do.

185
00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:09,640
Speaker 2: We're gonna go climb Killhimnjarrow and we're gonna go to

186
00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:11,959
Speaker 2: ever Space camp because he's a climber and a marathon runner.

187
00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:13,800
Speaker 2: He's a real athletic. And we had all kinds of

188
00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:17,199
Speaker 2: plans for travel and I just kept saying, I can't

189
00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:18,720
Speaker 2: do this. I can't. I just I can't do this

190
00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:21,000
Speaker 2: on my own. I've never run a nonprofit. I'm not equipped.

191
00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:24,800
Speaker 2: Came back from Austin and I knew, I just knew

192
00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,760
Speaker 2: I had to do it. We stayed up for three days,

193
00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:30,679
Speaker 2: We did not sleep for three nights, a lot of tears,

194
00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:37,320
Speaker 2: and I just raised my fist at God and said,

195
00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:39,840
Speaker 2: I'll do it. Fine, I'll do it. And my people

196
00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,000
Speaker 2: always say, like, don't you feel like you are you glad?

197
00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:44,480
Speaker 2: You like you're doing God's work? And I'm like, I know,

198
00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:45,880
Speaker 2: but I think he would probably want a little bit

199
00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,160
Speaker 2: more cheerful servant, you know what I mean, Because I

200
00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:49,880
Speaker 2: didn't want to do it. I was scared to death.

201
00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:52,000
Speaker 2: I had no idea what I was doing. I really

202
00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:54,320
Speaker 2: did not. I did have a front row seat to

203
00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:57,439
Speaker 2: some family businesses, couple that ran well, a couple that didn't,

204
00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,480
Speaker 2: a couple that went from mom and pop big, and

205
00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:04,319
Speaker 2: I got to see how they did that, building culture,

206
00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:10,520
Speaker 2: following guiding values that didn't change, having integrity within the business,

207
00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:13,439
Speaker 2: you know, doing what you say you're going to do.

208
00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:19,160
Speaker 2: And so I decided to do that, and in October

209
00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:21,280
Speaker 2: of twenty nineteen, we launched Salt and Light.

210
00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:23,200
Speaker 1: Pretty tough timing.

211
00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:25,880
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I had no idea what was coming in March.

212
00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:32,240
Speaker 1: So I started my business when I was with seventeen

213
00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:34,280
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in two thousand and one, when I was

214
00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:36,600
Speaker 1: thirty one years old. And you talk about not having

215
00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:41,440
Speaker 1: what you're doing scared, and that was September first of

216
00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:44,480
Speaker 1: two thousand and one. Yeah, and I didn't think I

217
00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:48,160
Speaker 1: was going to make it. Did barely make it. Over

218
00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:51,800
Speaker 1: it and then about eight years ago, as the industry changed,

219
00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:57,120
Speaker 1: well not eight years ago, about six and a half

220
00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:00,559
Speaker 1: years ago, as the industry changed, I needed change with it,

221
00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:03,560
Speaker 1: and to do it, I had to change the bottom

222
00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:08,480
Speaker 1: of our business. And I invested everything i'd saved up,

223
00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,400
Speaker 1: hawked my house, hawked the business to come up with

224
00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:16,640
Speaker 1: about eleven million dollars in debt because I'm not wealthy,

225
00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:22,000
Speaker 1: didn't come from anything, and anyway, financed eleven million dollars

226
00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:24,040
Speaker 1: to put in this new equipment. And I will never

227
00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:27,240
Speaker 1: forget the banker sitting at my conference room table when

228
00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:30,920
Speaker 1: I was shaking signing this amount of money, and I said,

229
00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:35,640
Speaker 1: I have confidence in this because I just don't think

230
00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:37,960
Speaker 1: you guys would loan me this money if you didn't

231
00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:40,040
Speaker 1: think I was actually going to be able to repay it,

232
00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,720
Speaker 1: despite the collateral I'm putting up. And he said, Bill, listen,

233
00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:47,720
Speaker 1: it's a lot, and it's a bunch of leverage, but

234
00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:51,480
Speaker 1: absent a world war or a pandemic, I think it'll

235
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:59,000
Speaker 1: be fine. Six months later, COVID mean, and that's your

236
00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:00,000
Speaker 1: story a little bit.

237
00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:04,000
Speaker 2: So in October twenty nineteen, I we had a launch

238
00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:06,480
Speaker 2: party at my house and a bunch of people came.

239
00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:09,040
Speaker 2: And by this point I had already I had already

240
00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:12,439
Speaker 2: resigned from the board. You know, amicably, and I love

241
00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:14,200
Speaker 2: those folks. These are people I'm still friends with. That's

242
00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:16,679
Speaker 2: why I am careful. I don't want to be disparaging.

243
00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:18,920
Speaker 2: It just was the old model. It was the old

244
00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:19,840
Speaker 2: way of thinking.

245
00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:21,840
Speaker 1: Oh, you don't want to I mean, they're doing whatever work, they're.

246
00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:24,000
Speaker 2: Want to do it for that and they've grown and

247
00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:25,800
Speaker 2: done great work. And actually they've taken some of what

248
00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:28,720
Speaker 2: we've done and they've built it not and not at all.

249
00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:31,280
Speaker 2: It just wasn't what I what I wanted. And so

250
00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,000
Speaker 2: but before October twenty nineteen, I'll be honest with you,

251
00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:37,320
Speaker 2: I have a therapist, and I went to my therapist

252
00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:39,640
Speaker 2: and I'm like, look, I.

253
00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,959
Speaker 1: Know I'm crazy, but is this another level of crazy? Go?

254
00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:45,280
Speaker 2: That was it right there? It's like, why won't this

255
00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:45,920
Speaker 2: let me go?

256
00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:46,760
Speaker 1: Oh? Really?

257
00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:48,280
Speaker 2: She said, let's do some work on it. Took us

258
00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:50,320
Speaker 2: about six weeks. We did some work on it. I said,

259
00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:53,800
Speaker 2: why won't this let me go? Is this a penance project?

260
00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,320
Speaker 2: Is this a vanity project?

261
00:12:57,400 --> 00:12:58,680
Speaker 1: Did you ever ask supose you go.

262
00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:02,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, vanity project? Oh sure, I mean I'm an entertainer.

263
00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,360
Speaker 2: I yeah, I mean you got to check yourself on

264
00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:07,360
Speaker 2: that stuff. Because now I can now I can spot

265
00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:09,079
Speaker 2: that for my mile away. And now that I've done

266
00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:11,920
Speaker 2: that work, and I'm telling you, it's really difficult to

267
00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,240
Speaker 2: have a nonprofit work or this kind of heartbreak work

268
00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,880
Speaker 2: actually work if it is a vanity project, because the

269
00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:24,400
Speaker 2: person's ego it just gets too big, bigger than the organization.

270
00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:28,080
Speaker 2: And it's it's really incredibly difficult to have an integrity

271
00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:31,400
Speaker 2: based organization when the ego is like in charge, right,

272
00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,960
Speaker 2: you just cannot approach It's impossible. I've seen it too,

273
00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:36,880
Speaker 2: and I knew that that was going to be a

274
00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:38,240
Speaker 2: no go for me. And I'll tell you what. I've

275
00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:39,959
Speaker 2: been an entertainer of my whole life. I thought I

276
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,680
Speaker 2: was moving to Nashville after Miss California. I did, and

277
00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:44,320
Speaker 2: I was going to come and sing, and I mean,

278
00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:46,160
Speaker 2: I'm a musician. I that is what I wanted to

279
00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,520
Speaker 2: do with my life. I've always been a performer. Well,

280
00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,160
Speaker 2: you know, performing didn't get me to stay in the church.

281
00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:55,480
Speaker 2: You know, when that kind of thing happens to you

282
00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:59,959
Speaker 2: and you're extricated from your friends and groups and church

283
00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,320
Speaker 2: and places you thought you belonged, it does a number

284
00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:06,959
Speaker 2: on Miss most popular of her senior class. You know,

285
00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:08,760
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, I don't care how much tap

286
00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:13,079
Speaker 2: dancing or doing it doesn't matter. And so I had

287
00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:14,679
Speaker 2: to go to my therapist's say, am I tap dance?

288
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:17,200
Speaker 2: Am I trying to get people like me? Am I?

289
00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:19,640
Speaker 2: What is this about? So we did six weeks of

290
00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:22,880
Speaker 2: work on it, and she said, we got to belongings.

291
00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:25,720
Speaker 2: My heartbreak I got thrown out of church. I mean,

292
00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:30,120
Speaker 2: tell me, when someone says to you, God doesn't love you,

293
00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:33,840
Speaker 2: I mean, in so many words, you're not okay in

294
00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:36,480
Speaker 2: the eyes of God. I mean, how much more can

295
00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:39,600
Speaker 2: we extricate someone? Right? However, and I'm not suggesting that

296
00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,080
Speaker 2: I'm anywhere near homeless, please, I'm not suggesting that getting

297
00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:43,840
Speaker 2: a kicked out of church is like being holmemless. But

298
00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:48,400
Speaker 2: when we tell people that you don't belong to society,

299
00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:50,080
Speaker 2: what that does to a person's soul?

300
00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,400
Speaker 1: Right, So we'll try being gay and hearing that from

301
00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:54,240
Speaker 1: your parents? Right?

302
00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:57,320
Speaker 2: So you can see why my heartbreak is around these

303
00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,640
Speaker 2: these groups of folks, right, anyone who's extricated anyone? And

304
00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:01,920
Speaker 2: so we did a lot of work on it, and

305
00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:03,400
Speaker 2: then we worked it out and I was like, all right,

306
00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:05,760
Speaker 2: I'm clean on this. I know why I'm doing this

307
00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,040
Speaker 2: as any hard as hell, and I had no idea

308
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:14,000
Speaker 2: how hard I thought it was hard. No clue started

309
00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:18,520
Speaker 2: in October. A week later, my dad had an emergency

310
00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:22,600
Speaker 2: open heart surgery, you know, flatlined on the table during

311
00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,040
Speaker 2: a routine angiogram. My grandmother died in my arms. A

312
00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:30,120
Speaker 2: week later, my other grandmother died three weeks later. Kind

313
00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:31,880
Speaker 2: of felt like maybe I shouldn't be doing this, you know.

314
00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,360
Speaker 2: It felt like, Okay, I'm gonna fold up the tin.

315
00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:37,920
Speaker 2: I didn't, and in March of twenty twenty, COVID hit

316
00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:41,200
Speaker 2: and then I was like, all right, God, I did

317
00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:44,600
Speaker 2: my part. I'm folding up the tent. I am done

318
00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:48,200
Speaker 2: and I am The answer that I felt that I

319
00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,120
Speaker 2: got was like, no, you're not sorry, but no, you're

320
00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:55,240
Speaker 2: called to this. And I raised my fist at God

321
00:15:55,280 --> 00:16:00,520
Speaker 2: again and we had a little fight, and I said, fine, doors,

322
00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:02,400
Speaker 2: I'll walk through them. You close him and I'm done.

323
00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:06,880
Speaker 2: And he laughed and laughed and laughs, and the doors

324
00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:07,800
Speaker 2: just started flying open.

325
00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:11,000
Speaker 1: We'll be right back.

326
00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:27,920
Speaker 2: And so I spent COVID behind a screen with making

327
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:32,560
Speaker 2: zoom calls and County calling on our cality supervisors. Powers

328
00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:34,840
Speaker 2: it be, how can we get this done casting that

329
00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:35,720
Speaker 2: vision with people.

330
00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:37,080
Speaker 1: What is this done?

331
00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:40,280
Speaker 2: Building a village? And that's all I really wanted to do,

332
00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:44,080
Speaker 2: was build a village. Then our local continuum of caricane

333
00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:45,920
Speaker 2: to us and said, people are literally starving on the

334
00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,520
Speaker 2: streets of Tileri and by Celia without Ppe, They're unable

335
00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:51,000
Speaker 2: to get their hands on food, and there are no

336
00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,280
Speaker 2: soup kitchens. There's no access to food for these folks.

337
00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:56,880
Speaker 2: Would you consider a mobile food truck operation, which is

338
00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:59,360
Speaker 2: what Alan Graham had at Mobiles and Fishes in Austin.

339
00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:01,800
Speaker 2: But I had wanted to circumvent that. I thought someone

340
00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,240
Speaker 2: else could do the food, clothes, you know, the relief items.

341
00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:07,560
Speaker 2: I want to build a village. Well I did say

342
00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:10,240
Speaker 2: yes to it, and I flew up to Portland and

343
00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:13,560
Speaker 2: drove home a Gelope Canteen food truck. It's still the

344
00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:15,919
Speaker 2: one we use, rusted out and sat on a name

345
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:17,960
Speaker 2: layer base and I drove it home fourteen hours from

346
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:22,760
Speaker 2: Portland myself, and we started Everyone Eats Today. We started

347
00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:24,879
Speaker 2: feeding people in the streets and it was a game changer.

348
00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:27,400
Speaker 2: It taught us what we needed to know about people

349
00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,520
Speaker 2: experiencing homeless us. We had more days of people giving

350
00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:32,920
Speaker 2: away their food to other people who were hungry. And

351
00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:38,880
Speaker 2: this is twenty twenty, twenty summer twenty.

352
00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:40,679
Speaker 1: You go get a gelapie, you fix it up, you

353
00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:42,760
Speaker 1: make a food truck. But in the back of your.

354
00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:44,440
Speaker 2: Mind, meanwhile, I got the wheels.

355
00:17:44,119 --> 00:17:46,119
Speaker 1: Turned on the hill to build a village.

356
00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:47,720
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and I've already cast this vision in my

357
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:49,240
Speaker 2: front yard in front of four hundred and seventy five

358
00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:50,480
Speaker 2: people that I'm going to build a village. And now

359
00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:52,480
Speaker 2: people are going, when's it going to be done and

360
00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:53,880
Speaker 2: where's it going to be I'm like, oh, I don't

361
00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:56,320
Speaker 2: have any land, money, volunteers, donors, or anything else.

362
00:17:57,400 --> 00:17:57,879
Speaker 1: But I got it.

363
00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:00,000
Speaker 2: But I got an idea. I don't need your support.

364
00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,280
Speaker 2: Alan Graham came out and actually was a keynote speaker

365
00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:04,000
Speaker 2: for that helped to cast that vision. But yeah, people

366
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,160
Speaker 2: and people were behind it, but also didn't really understand

367
00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:08,359
Speaker 2: how much work I still had to build an organization.

368
00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:10,640
Speaker 2: And what I didn't know is I had to teach

369
00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:12,480
Speaker 2: people why this even mattered to begin with.

370
00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:14,960
Speaker 1: Which is why we started the way we did, to

371
00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:18,280
Speaker 1: lay the foundation so that everybody understood that's listening to us,

372
00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:21,440
Speaker 1: why is this crazy girl wanting to build a village.

373
00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:23,440
Speaker 2: Right, And I say this a lot, and I still

374
00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:27,800
Speaker 2: think it's true that, yes, our work is around you know, homelessness,

375
00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:29,360
Speaker 2: but I always say, this is just my sneaky little

376
00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:31,680
Speaker 2: way to teach people to love each other better, and

377
00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:34,360
Speaker 2: probably selfishly because I wanted to be loved better too

378
00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:37,240
Speaker 2: than I had been, you know, during some real hard

379
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,520
Speaker 2: times in my life. And so I did kind of

380
00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:42,280
Speaker 2: go on a campaign of like having to educate the

381
00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:46,360
Speaker 2: community about this model, which is a community based, relational

382
00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:52,159
Speaker 2: intentional model which has intensive services, you know, community built

383
00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:56,520
Speaker 2: into that, a lot of grace and a much more

384
00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,639
Speaker 2: robust care system than anyone in our community he had

385
00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:02,520
Speaker 2: ever seen. They only really knew the shelter model, and

386
00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:06,119
Speaker 2: the shelter model is pretty antiquated now. It's good for emergency,

387
00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:08,919
Speaker 2: you know, emergency shelter is a definite need within the

388
00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:13,199
Speaker 2: homeless pipeline. But permanent support of housing where people can

389
00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:16,480
Speaker 2: actually settle and heal is critical, and people are not

390
00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:18,679
Speaker 2: given that chance to settle and heel before they have

391
00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:21,960
Speaker 2: to up and out through transitional housing.

392
00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:22,960
Speaker 1: That's really important.

393
00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:30,160
Speaker 2: YEA, having the time, you know, Yeah.

394
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:33,439
Speaker 1: There's something I've read and I want to go to it,

395
00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:35,280
Speaker 1: and then we got to get back to the food truck,

396
00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:37,840
Speaker 1: because I think the food truck kind of morphs into

397
00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:42,399
Speaker 1: everything else. But you said, we can say, as reasonable people,

398
00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:46,200
Speaker 1: well that's never going to work. But then we also

399
00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:50,560
Speaker 1: criticize someone goes back to life on the streets. But

400
00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,080
Speaker 1: what they're going back to, whether it's dysfunction or not,

401
00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:56,240
Speaker 1: they're going back to a community. They're going back to

402
00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,880
Speaker 1: a place that they belong. And someone will say, well,

403
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,200
Speaker 1: I don't need that, Okay, Well tell me the last

404
00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:04,000
Speaker 1: time you looked out the doors of your house and

405
00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:05,760
Speaker 1: you haven't looked in the eyes of a human being

406
00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:08,439
Speaker 1: for an entire day or days on end. When you

407
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,800
Speaker 1: go to Starbucks and grab your coffee and the brist

408
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:15,240
Speaker 1: she won't even write your name on the cup. Basically,

409
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:20,719
Speaker 1: you're a person persona and on Grada invisible, invisible, and

410
00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:23,639
Speaker 1: when you're invisible, you don't feel worthy.

411
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,080
Speaker 2: That's right, And so good luck trying to get someone

412
00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:31,400
Speaker 2: to get off drugs get a job. Now they've been

413
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,439
Speaker 2: living in survival mode for god knows how long. In

414
00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:36,879
Speaker 2: Larry County, the average age of the average time on

415
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,560
Speaker 2: the streets is five years of chronic homelesses before they're

416
00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,479
Speaker 2: getting housing, because we were at such a shortage of permanent,

417
00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:45,800
Speaker 2: supportive or transitional housing for folks. So five years tell

418
00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:48,199
Speaker 2: you something. I did a street retreat in Austin with

419
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:53,119
Speaker 2: my husband in April of twenty eighteen, twenty twenty eight nineteen,

420
00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,879
Speaker 2: actually twenty nineteen, where we lived on the streets for

421
00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:59,520
Speaker 2: a day. No. I had a backpack and a bottle

422
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:01,879
Speaker 2: of water, no wallet, no cell phone. We went with

423
00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:04,280
Speaker 2: Alan Graham, and we had to make our way no

424
00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,480
Speaker 2: bus pass well. We also had to find a place

425
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:10,000
Speaker 2: to sleep. We slept on the UT Austin campus, which

426
00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:12,320
Speaker 2: I was sure we were going to get arrested. And

427
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,800
Speaker 2: so you don't sleep, you rotisserie sleep all night and

428
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,040
Speaker 2: you got one eye open. Am I going to be assaulted?

429
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:19,800
Speaker 2: And am I going to be robbed? And am I

430
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,520
Speaker 2: going to be arrested? And I'll tell you I did

431
00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:25,440
Speaker 2: that for forty eight hours. That's not that long. It

432
00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:28,280
Speaker 2: took me, I'd say my husband I both said, oh,

433
00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:30,960
Speaker 2: at least a week to reset our nervous systems. After that,

434
00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,280
Speaker 2: then I thought, now, what happens when someone's done this

435
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:41,200
Speaker 2: for a week, a month, a year, Five years Alex, what's.

436
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,920
Speaker 1: The who the people we interviewed that the kid.

437
00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 3: Joe and Kelly Carson, they actually started the Memphis Stream

438
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:47,240
Speaker 3: Center based off.

439
00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:51,280
Speaker 1: The LA one Oh yeah, and their kid had to

440
00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:54,879
Speaker 1: go to Chicago and do the same thing. And the

441
00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:58,520
Speaker 1: very first person that walked out of door reminded him

442
00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,879
Speaker 1: of his grandmother because that's how he grew up. But

443
00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,800
Speaker 1: he had nothing and could only they allowed them to

444
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:08,000
Speaker 1: take their own shoes, but they had to dress out

445
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,399
Speaker 1: of a polo clothes that was given to them. Oh wow,

446
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:12,920
Speaker 1: And they were not able to have any money and everything.

447
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:15,400
Speaker 1: And he asked for a dollar and the first thing

448
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,919
Speaker 1: was why don't you get a job and looked away,

449
00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:24,359
Speaker 1: and he's like, that is exactly how my people treat

450
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:30,160
Speaker 1: these people. And she said that her son, that may

451
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:33,320
Speaker 1: be the most profound lesson in his life, that by

452
00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:41,320
Speaker 1: only changing clothes and only looking like this population of people,

453
00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:44,560
Speaker 1: he all of a sudden became person person.

454
00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,360
Speaker 2: I remember after we woke up, we went to seven eleven.

455
00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:51,840
Speaker 1: Isn't that right? That's the story, right? Yeah, and it is.

456
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:54,560
Speaker 2: We went to seven eleven and said can we use

457
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:55,280
Speaker 2: the bathroom?

458
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,400
Speaker 1: Oh oh, you were still in your eight hours right.

459
00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:00,240
Speaker 2: But we weren't in the clothes he was in. But

460
00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,159
Speaker 2: I was watching all this and I'm in, you know,

461
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,920
Speaker 2: I've got a Patagonia sweater on or sweatshirt or whatever,

462
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,439
Speaker 2: and yeah I got a meanie. Yeah. Yeah. I mean

463
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,280
Speaker 2: we're not playing cause I mean, we're not causling. We're

464
00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 2: just like we're we just have no resources, right, So

465
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:16,920
Speaker 2: we're gonna walk the streets and do what we gotta do,

466
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,600
Speaker 2: and you gotta figure it out. Final seven? Can I

467
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:22,040
Speaker 2: go to the bathroom? And she looks us yes, sure,

468
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 2: And I said to my husband and I walked out. Now

469
00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:28,520
Speaker 2: many how many missed showers and days on the streets

470
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 2: would it take for her to tell me? No, not long.

471
00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:34,600
Speaker 2: It's because we looked clean, we didn't look homeless. We

472
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 2: didn't And I'm like, so now all of a sudden,

473
00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 2: you've got these barriers. And I'll tell you something else.

474
00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:41,040
Speaker 2: We walked around all day because we had no transportation.

475
00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:44,040
Speaker 2: Have you ever tried to walk around per eight hours straight? Well, yeah,

476
00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,080
Speaker 2: you have your a football coach, But I mean it

477
00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:48,919
Speaker 2: was hard and we were tired as hell. And you

478
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,040
Speaker 2: can't sit on a park bench in certain cities or

479
00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:54,400
Speaker 2: you get ticketed or in trouble. It's like, I can't

480
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,240
Speaker 2: tell you. We were searching for park benches everywhere. I

481
00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:58,879
Speaker 2: was exhausted. My feet were killing me. I'm thinking, and

482
00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:00,760
Speaker 2: my feet are in good shape. What happens when your

483
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,760
Speaker 2: feet are all, you know, blistered up from having lived

484
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:05,480
Speaker 2: like this for years on end. You know, just that

485
00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:11,680
Speaker 2: exercise alone for me was huge. But I do think

486
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:18,000
Speaker 2: that them that the larger understanding from the public is

487
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,359
Speaker 2: just a lack of understanding around what truly living in

488
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,000
Speaker 2: survival mode looks like and what it does to the human.

489
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,160
Speaker 1: System and the lack of community and the.

490
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:31,280
Speaker 2: Lack of community it loneliness actually is harder on the

491
00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:35,280
Speaker 2: arteries than smoking a back of day. You know that

492
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,520
Speaker 2: there are I wish I had the study pulled up.

493
00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:41,879
Speaker 2: That's yes, there is a study that loneliness belonging is

494
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,800
Speaker 2: the is the epidemic, that is is the problem of

495
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:46,879
Speaker 2: our time. In my in my book lack of blowing.

496
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,879
Speaker 1: Thus, do you want to build a community, but first

497
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:54,080
Speaker 1: you got to build the Portland food truck.

498
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:56,360
Speaker 2: The food well not really, I kind of both going

499
00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 2: at the same time.

500
00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,480
Speaker 1: They were as they were asking, so tell me about

501
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 1: that expert.

502
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:05,679
Speaker 2: So we started making peanut butter and jellies. And this

503
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:07,600
Speaker 2: is part of the guiding principal piece. It's so important.

504
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 2: I just want to point it out because it really

505
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:10,800
Speaker 2: is an important piece to me, and I think it

506
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 2: is integral to why Salt Light is so successful. Our

507
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 2: guiding principles are what we filter every decision through, and

508
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:18,159
Speaker 2: I really mean that. And so I had someone to

509
00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:19,720
Speaker 2: come to work for me who used to work in

510
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:23,120
Speaker 2: the shelter system and didn't totally espouse the guiding principles.

511
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 2: I thought they did, but they didn't. Really. One of

512
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:29,000
Speaker 2: our guiding principles is abundance and radical hospitality. It's another one.

513
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:32,719
Speaker 2: And she was really big on the bottom line, really

514
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:35,360
Speaker 2: wanting to save pennies, really wanting her numbers to line up,

515
00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:38,600
Speaker 2: And so she contacted Cisco and we were going to

516
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,639
Speaker 2: get what I call brown paper bag bread, you know,

517
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,359
Speaker 2: the kind brown bread, and the peanut butter was the

518
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,480
Speaker 2: kind that ripped the bread because it was so dry.

519
00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:50,640
Speaker 2: First of all, it's not dignified. Guiding Principle number one too,

520
00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 2: that's not an abundance because that's not what I would

521
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:56,240
Speaker 2: feed my kids or myself. And I basically said if

522
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,080
Speaker 2: we won't eat it, they're not eating it. Well, it's

523
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,520
Speaker 2: sixty nine cents alone, and you know white bread is,

524
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:03,800
Speaker 2: you know, dollars from it. I don't care. I actually

525
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:06,360
Speaker 2: don't care build it into the budget. We're not doing that.

526
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,920
Speaker 2: And you know what, people came to beg Oh, please

527
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 2: tell me you guys got great jelly today? Oh we do,

528
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:13,879
Speaker 2: we have strawberry and great. What do you want? You know,

529
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 2: they came to love us. When we first got out there,

530
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:19,560
Speaker 2: it's just kind of like, yeah, well we'll take the sandwich.

531
00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:21,480
Speaker 2: And a lot of times they'd say, I prayed today,

532
00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:24,760
Speaker 2: I prayed today, I read my Bible today, I'm going okay.

533
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,879
Speaker 2: So now we've done outreach that so we have created

534
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 2: such performative Christianity or performative believers because they believe they

535
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:33,160
Speaker 2: have to say that to get what they need because

536
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:36,200
Speaker 2: they're starving. I'm like, hey, you don't have to believe

537
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,479
Speaker 2: or behave to belong. You belong to us by birth right.

538
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:41,240
Speaker 2: We love you. That's why we're giving you a peanut

539
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:42,119
Speaker 2: butter jelly sandwich.

540
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 1: So you felt like people were saying that to earn

541
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:46,240
Speaker 1: your good graces, yaut they.

542
00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:48,280
Speaker 2: Were because the people that had gone out were people

543
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:50,640
Speaker 2: who were saying, well, let me pray for you first

544
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:52,160
Speaker 2: and then you can have your sandwich kind of thing.

545
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,159
Speaker 2: And I mean I had seen it and listen, I

546
00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:57,119
Speaker 2: pray for people and I love people. I love people.

547
00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:59,760
Speaker 1: You know that's funny because in coaching football and then

548
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:01,760
Speaker 1: Ares City, it's one of the things I've said all

549
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:06,119
Speaker 1: the time is the kids aren't signing up to be

550
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:11,120
Speaker 1: on the roster of mentorship. They're signing up because they

551
00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:14,200
Speaker 1: want to play football. That's right, and then you get

552
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,120
Speaker 1: to mentor and teach little life lessons on the way

553
00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:21,199
Speaker 1: because the football is the hook. Likewise, as I hear you,

554
00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:23,280
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about it. You know, if you show up

555
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 1: and say, if you pray with me, you can get

556
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:30,280
Speaker 1: the sandwich. How about we show christ like living by

557
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,800
Speaker 1: giving you the sandwich, and maybe you're inspired to pray

558
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 1: with me because you see what that looks like in action.

559
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:38,919
Speaker 2: Right, And that's what ended up happening.

560
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:40,640
Speaker 1: Very interesting, Uh huh.

561
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,359
Speaker 2: We don't want to create performative Christians. That's what my

562
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 2: job was. I didn't have a clipboard of who am

563
00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:47,760
Speaker 2: I going to save? And trust me, I've had people

564
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 2: come in and ask me how I'm bringing people to Christ.

565
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,240
Speaker 1: I'm like, look, I'm bringing people to food.

566
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:57,440
Speaker 2: I'm bringing people to food and Alan. I called Alan

567
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:00,359
Speaker 2: one day because I had somebody who wanted to give

568
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:02,359
Speaker 2: us a bunch of money. Then they found out I

569
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:05,920
Speaker 2: didn't have Jesus in my mission statement and they were

570
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,120
Speaker 2: now unwilling to give me money. Now my first thought

571
00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:12,240
Speaker 2: was contort because I needed money. But then I knew

572
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 2: better because I teach fear, you know, I know better

573
00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:17,280
Speaker 2: than to make decisions out of fear. So I call Dolan, Hey,

574
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:19,760
Speaker 2: you don't have Jesus in your mission statement. It's mobile

575
00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 2: loaves and fishes. Is clear what you're doing. He goes, Look,

576
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,119
Speaker 2: every day I preached the gospel when necessarily I use words,

577
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,359
Speaker 2: And I said, and I use peanut butter and jellyes.

578
00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 2: He o that I do too, because they were serving

579
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,200
Speaker 2: peanut butter jellies too. But it's like, he goes, Look,

580
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:36,240
Speaker 2: they can't see that Jesus's hands are all over this.

581
00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,040
Speaker 2: I don't know what to tell him. I said, exactly.

582
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,440
Speaker 2: He goes, you don't need to do that. You don't

583
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 2: need to change your mission statement. Your mission statement is

584
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,400
Speaker 2: very clear of what you're doing transforming the lives of

585
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:49,440
Speaker 2: people experiencing homelesses through food shelter. Right. Yes, He's like,

586
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 2: your job is not to have your clipboard. I said,

587
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 2: I'd never have my clipboard. First of all, I'm a

588
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,160
Speaker 2: seed planner and not I have a harvester. I want

589
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,719
Speaker 2: people to know their worth. I want them to know

590
00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 2: they belong by birthright to the body of God, right

591
00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 2: to the body of Christ. I'm a Jesus girl myself.

592
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,080
Speaker 2: I sound like a preacher, but I'm a Jesus girl.

593
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 2: But I'm also like, hey, look, you belong by birthright,

594
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:13,640
Speaker 2: and I'm here to love you because you're my brother

595
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:15,360
Speaker 2: or my sister. And when they would ask us, and

596
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:17,560
Speaker 2: they have asked us, I cannot tell you how many

597
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:19,440
Speaker 2: times I've heard this question, why are you doing this?

598
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:21,280
Speaker 2: Why you love us like this?

599
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:22,840
Speaker 1: I don't know.

600
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 2: You belong to us. You're my brother, you're my sister,

601
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 2: and they just it takes a long time for people

602
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 2: to get the head around. That takes many.

603
00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:32,280
Speaker 1: It takes a long time for him to actually believe

604
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 1: you believe that correct.

605
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,320
Speaker 2: And you know what it takes consistency, show up, show

606
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 2: up and keep doing what you say. And I know

607
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:38,360
Speaker 2: you know that.

608
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:43,840
Speaker 1: Okay, do you know the Turkey person story? Nope, many

609
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:45,960
Speaker 1: of the people listening now do, but I'm going to

610
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:46,760
Speaker 1: share it with you.

611
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:47,239
Speaker 2: Thank you.

612
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:50,280
Speaker 1: My first year at Manassas High School, I was there

613
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 1: seven years. We started coaching football because that's what I am,

614
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,800
Speaker 1: football coach. But it was clear early on that we

615
00:29:56,840 --> 00:30:00,720
Speaker 1: need to coach things other than football, like character, commitment, tigers, teamwork,

616
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,680
Speaker 1: the dignity of hard work, the importance is showing up

617
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 1: on time, and many others grace, So we start coaching

618
00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 1: that too. Again, football's the hook to be able to

619
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:13,800
Speaker 1: do the other things. Halfway through the season, we're three

620
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 1: and three. When I showed up to NASAs, they'd won

621
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 1: four games and lost ninety five the previous ten years.

622
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:21,640
Speaker 2: I watched the movie.

623
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 1: Okay, then you knew.

624
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:23,720
Speaker 2: How they were.

625
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 1: So we were three and three that first year, which

626
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:28,560
Speaker 1: I think is average. But when you've won four games

627
00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,040
Speaker 1: and ten years, they thought I was like a fat,

628
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,360
Speaker 1: redheaded version of Pete Carroll for somebody. So they were

629
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: buying into the football, right, They were yes or no, sir,

630
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:40,320
Speaker 1: But half the team buying an important stuff. The other

631
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:42,440
Speaker 1: half the team, while yes or news are in the

632
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,640
Speaker 1: football field the minute football was over there back in

633
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 1: the streets. Yeah, So I want to my guy. Every

634
00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:51,280
Speaker 1: coach has a guy. And I said, hey, man, what

635
00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:53,120
Speaker 1: do I got to do to get your half the

636
00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:55,000
Speaker 1: team to buy an important stuff?

637
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:55,200
Speaker 2: Like?

638
00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:57,360
Speaker 1: What do I have to get that half the team

639
00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,200
Speaker 1: to buy important stuff? Like you're half the team. You're

640
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:02,040
Speaker 1: all yes or no, are buying the football, but what

641
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 1: about you know the other stuff? And this is a

642
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,160
Speaker 1: guy that had a lot of real conversations with kind

643
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,720
Speaker 1: of like your elf. Yeah, and he looked at me

644
00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 1: and said, oh, coach, just keep doing what you're doing dismissively,

645
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:17,560
Speaker 1: probably like your sons have said to you many times

646
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 1: when they're teenagers, and you know, you know the tone.

647
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:22,200
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm still in it with them.

648
00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:24,640
Speaker 1: So they okay, well fine, So I look out and say, no, man,

649
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:26,280
Speaker 1: real talk. He's like, Coach, I don't want to hurt

650
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:29,080
Speaker 1: your feelings. I said, I'm a grown man. You're not

651
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:31,560
Speaker 1: gonna hurt my feelings. Why can't I get that half

652
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:33,800
Speaker 1: of the team to buy in important stuff? Like you're

653
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,080
Speaker 1: half the team? He said, Coach, are trying to figure

654
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,120
Speaker 1: out if you're a Turkey person or not. And I said,

655
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 1: a Turkey person, he said, Coach, every Thanksgiving Christmas people

656
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,400
Speaker 1: rolling our neighborhoods and they gives us hams and gifts

657
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:47,480
Speaker 1: and turkeys, and we take them because we ain't gotten none.

658
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:49,920
Speaker 1: But they leave and we never see them again. Makes

659
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 1: you wonder if they're doing that because they really care

660
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 1: about us, or they're doing that to make themselves feel good,

661
00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:56,200
Speaker 1: to look good in front of their friends.

662
00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 2: I can't even tell you how how hard we have

663
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,040
Speaker 2: tried to retrain our communities to stop being Turkey people.

664
00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:08,840
Speaker 1: So when you say, here's how hard it is for

665
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: them to understand that you truly love them, and then

666
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 1: you say it's as simple as being consistent and showing up,

667
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:20,360
Speaker 1: it genuinely is as simple as being consistent and showing up.

668
00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 1: And if anybody listen to us serves and soup kitchens

669
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 1: or it gives away turkeys on Thanksgiving, please don't take

670
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:28,880
Speaker 1: the moral of this story is that's something you shouldn't

671
00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:32,280
Speaker 1: be doing. The question is twofold, how consistent are you

672
00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 1: and what is your motive? And if you're motivated by

673
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:41,160
Speaker 1: the simple edification of a brother or sister and humanity,

674
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 1: that isn't as blessed as you, then you're doing it

675
00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:48,040
Speaker 1: for the right reasons, and people respond to that. If

676
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:51,760
Speaker 1: you're doing it because it checks as a box on

677
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:55,880
Speaker 1: your philanthropic needs for work, or it makes you get

678
00:32:56,080 --> 00:33:00,320
Speaker 1: backslaps from your friends and your social circles, you doing

679
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:04,640
Speaker 1: it to otherwise somehow serve yourself, you are in fact

680
00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,360
Speaker 1: a fraud and that people you seek to serve will

681
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:10,080
Speaker 1: see right through you, because if they're good at anything,

682
00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:12,680
Speaker 1: it's recognizing bs yep.

683
00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:15,120
Speaker 2: Best bs meters out there.

684
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:17,720
Speaker 1: There's the Turkey person story, which you're free to use

685
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:20,840
Speaker 1: in the round Fresno area. But the point is when

686
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:25,160
Speaker 1: you say just be consistent and show up and serve

687
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:28,280
Speaker 1: for the right reason, it is so true. And when

688
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:34,280
Speaker 1: they do buy in, they are in because you are uncommon. Right,

689
00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:38,520
Speaker 1: we will be right back.

690
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,920
Speaker 2: We have bridged so many gaps in the community utilizing

691
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:55,959
Speaker 2: this food truck for that very reason, and it took us.

692
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:59,080
Speaker 2: It took us some time, a long time, it does.

693
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 2: And you know what, I can't I tell you how

694
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 2: many people have come to me to remedy an issue

695
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 2: they have when they found someone that lives behind Burger

696
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:08,760
Speaker 2: King that they felt really sorry for and they started

697
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,239
Speaker 2: taking the meals every day, and they started giving them

698
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 2: the clothes and started trying to help them out, and

699
00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:15,120
Speaker 2: then they realized three or four days later, then you know,

700
00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:18,000
Speaker 2: they need to eat it three times a day, and

701
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:19,640
Speaker 2: they have a lot of needs and there's no one

702
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:21,040
Speaker 2: for them. And all of a sudden, I've taken this

703
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:22,600
Speaker 2: thing on, and can you help us because I don't

704
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,520
Speaker 2: know what to do with this person now, And it's like,

705
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:27,920
Speaker 2: be consistent. You have to be consistent. And now that's

706
00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:29,560
Speaker 2: why I tell people, I don't expect you to go

707
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:31,640
Speaker 2: out there and do it on your own. Come support us,

708
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:33,560
Speaker 2: so we can all go out together on that truck

709
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:35,440
Speaker 2: and we'll find every person in town that's hungry. We

710
00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:37,160
Speaker 2: will do it. And we did do it. We had

711
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:39,840
Speaker 2: a roote and they came to depend on us. And

712
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 2: what ended up happening is in the middle of COVID

713
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:44,840
Speaker 2: you're talking about when you talked about services San Francisco,

714
00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:46,319
Speaker 2: I was thinking, we have a ton of services too,

715
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:50,440
Speaker 2: but they weren't bound together and people weren't taking advantage

716
00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:52,120
Speaker 2: of them, which then perpetuates the story. Oh, they just

717
00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:54,359
Speaker 2: want to stay homeless and they don't care and they

718
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 2: don't want the services. That are being offered them, Well,

719
00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 2: they don't trust the services are being offered them. First

720
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:00,880
Speaker 2: of all, they're not always consistent, they're transaction, they're hardly

721
00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:04,400
Speaker 2: ever relational, and they're not bound together. So what happened

722
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:07,800
Speaker 2: was the county came to us, some of the healthcare

723
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,600
Speaker 2: agencies came to us and said, hey, we've really tried

724
00:35:10,600 --> 00:35:13,160
Speaker 2: to get healthcare services out to them. They won't take them.

725
00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:14,759
Speaker 2: But if we come with your truck, do you think

726
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,400
Speaker 2: they'd take them? I said, well, if you treat our

727
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,120
Speaker 2: people with here's my guiding principles, here's my rules. This

728
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:21,520
Speaker 2: is how you treat people, and this's how you talk

729
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,640
Speaker 2: to them. And if you will follow our guiding principles,

730
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:27,920
Speaker 2: we'll partner with you. If you won't, no, but if

731
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,839
Speaker 2: you will, we will. And they wanted to get them vaccinated.

732
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:32,640
Speaker 2: If they wanted that, they're like, we have no chance

733
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 2: of getting anyone vaccinated and they're highly susceptible to death

734
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:38,840
Speaker 2: due to COVID at the time, and we lost several

735
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 2: neighbors to COVID and that people started getting vaccinated after that,

736
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 2: and the healthcare agencies will want to do foot clinics

737
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 2: and I clinics and screenings and get people signed up

738
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 2: for health care services. And all of a sudden, the

739
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,480
Speaker 2: people and the encampments were starting to get those services

740
00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:58,319
Speaker 2: through us. Now they weren't our services, we were just partnering.

741
00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:01,680
Speaker 2: So we became this conduit. What the best thing about

742
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 2: the food truck that I'm so glad it was a

743
00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:06,640
Speaker 2: step that we didn't skip, I'm so glad that we

744
00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 2: said yes to it was that I did not take

745
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:12,960
Speaker 2: into full account. First of all, I had no idea

746
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:16,040
Speaker 2: that people experiencing homelessness didn't trust the community at large.

747
00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:17,960
Speaker 2: I didn't realize that. I thought, well, they need us.

748
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:20,719
Speaker 2: So this is coming from my privileged perch, Right, they

749
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:22,800
Speaker 2: need us, We're giving them something. Of course they love us. No,

750
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,120
Speaker 2: they don't. They're afraid you're an undercover cop, or you're

751
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:27,680
Speaker 2: working with the cops, or you're going to hurt them

752
00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:34,000
Speaker 2: or right, and people Obviously the general public is also

753
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:36,880
Speaker 2: not super trusting of people experiencing homelessness. We became a

754
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:39,680
Speaker 2: bridge in so many ways. But when people started volunteering

755
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:47,400
Speaker 2: on that food truck, I'm telling you game change both yes,

756
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:49,719
Speaker 2: And all of a sudden, people are taking services, They're

757
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:52,160
Speaker 2: taking the turkey dinners. But I mean, but this is

758
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:54,160
Speaker 2: that happens when you're consistent in your relationship. You can

759
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:56,160
Speaker 2: also say them, what do you guys really want for Thanksgiving?

760
00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:58,400
Speaker 2: You know what they said? We get all these turkey dinners.

761
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:00,600
Speaker 2: Everyone brings us all their turkey. All they bring turkey

762
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:03,560
Speaker 2: sandwhich is turkey soup, turkey dinners. The church brings five

763
00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:05,839
Speaker 2: hundred dinners out a lot of it goes aways. We

764
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:09,840
Speaker 2: never get pie.

765
00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:12,280
Speaker 1: Costco man, we never get pie.

766
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,960
Speaker 2: We forget pie and we love pumpkin pie with whipped

767
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 2: cream and apple pie. Would you please? So every year

768
00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:21,279
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving we do not serve turkeys. Now there's a church

769
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,440
Speaker 2: that does these turkey dinners, and we'll let them. We them.

770
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:24,839
Speaker 2: We'll take some of them. We'll take them out. They

771
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:26,920
Speaker 2: want them, but we don't make them. But we always

772
00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:29,319
Speaker 2: have pie. We always bring the pipe.

773
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:32,359
Speaker 1: Is interesting that you'll find out exactly what people need

774
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:34,120
Speaker 1: if you just ask them what they really.

775
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:36,759
Speaker 2: Need them they need inte of giving them what you

776
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:38,959
Speaker 2: think they need. So as an agency, I'll be honest

777
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:40,920
Speaker 2: with you. I just actually just gave a keynote or

778
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:44,080
Speaker 2: a excuse me, a breakout at Homeboy Industries down in

779
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,520
Speaker 2: La father Greg's organization had a deal called the Gathering,

780
00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 2: and I spoke to kind of to how Salt Night

781
00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:52,200
Speaker 2: was built and kind of our guiding principles. And one

782
00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:53,799
Speaker 2: of the things I was telling them is you have

783
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:56,320
Speaker 2: to teat and when you're building an agency, building a nonprofit,

784
00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:59,920
Speaker 2: you have to teach your donors and everyone how to

785
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,120
Speaker 2: treat you as an agency. So one thing we don't allow.

786
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,360
Speaker 2: I don't allow people to bring me trash bags of clothes.

787
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:08,120
Speaker 2: First of all, it's not dignified. Two to my employees,

788
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,120
Speaker 2: because now they're digging through people's dirty underwear that it's

789
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:11,840
Speaker 2: going to go in the trash anyway. Cost me money

790
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:14,480
Speaker 2: to bail all that stuff. And frankly, it's much cheaper

791
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:16,759
Speaker 2: for me to go down to Walmart just buy new, dignified,

792
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:19,200
Speaker 2: nice things that I would buy from my children first fruits.

793
00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:22,279
Speaker 2: Because I'm pretty sure if Jesus was walking along the

794
00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:26,520
Speaker 2: streets of uh Wherever Nazareth, that if he had a new,

795
00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:28,920
Speaker 2: brand new leather pair of sandals and someone walked up

796
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:30,239
Speaker 2: and said they needed shoes, He's not going to go

797
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:32,239
Speaker 2: home to his giveaway pile. He's going to give him

798
00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:34,480
Speaker 2: his shoes, you know, hear what I'm saying, first fruits.

799
00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:37,640
Speaker 2: And so we started teaching the public how to treat us,

800
00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:40,239
Speaker 2: and trust me, we got tons of pushback. People want

801
00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:42,279
Speaker 2: to dump their crap on us. And I said, if

802
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:45,680
Speaker 2: people are experiencing homelessness, people experiencing homelessess are associated with

803
00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:48,520
Speaker 2: salt and light. We we're you know, And I allow

804
00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:51,560
Speaker 2: you to make my organization the dump. I'm letting you

805
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,040
Speaker 2: dump all my people. And you know what, I found

806
00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:56,520
Speaker 2: those encampments with all that trash. You know how many

807
00:38:56,600 --> 00:39:00,200
Speaker 2: kids toys and trisickles and crap that was all the

808
00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:04,920
Speaker 2: on the the UH train you know train line, the railways.

809
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:07,160
Speaker 2: And it's because people come and dump their crap there

810
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:08,840
Speaker 2: when they don't have any place else to take it.

811
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:10,560
Speaker 2: And then they say, oh, those people are so messy.

812
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:12,560
Speaker 2: And I'm going to tell you people don't have hoarding problems.

813
00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 2: We know that's a symptom of trauma, and there's certainly that.

814
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:17,080
Speaker 2: But people come and bring their bags of trash and

815
00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:20,560
Speaker 2: dump them off at the encampments and then see you later.

816
00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:23,080
Speaker 2: And so I just decided, now I'm not letting people

817
00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:26,479
Speaker 2: do that. We're gonna change the way people consider giving

818
00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:29,760
Speaker 2: to people experiencing homelessess. We're asking the community for first fruits.

819
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:32,360
Speaker 2: We're giving first fruits on that truck. I'm not serving

820
00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:34,920
Speaker 2: one thing on that truck. I wouldn't eat myself. We

821
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,759
Speaker 2: even get donations from Crumble Cookie. We get there, like

822
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:40,160
Speaker 2: I wouldn't eve say. They're day old, like at the

823
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:42,400
Speaker 2: end of the day, so they're still really fresh. But

824
00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:44,279
Speaker 2: any of them that are broken go into a bin

825
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:47,320
Speaker 2: and my employees eat those. We only serve whole cookies.

826
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:49,480
Speaker 3: Have you guys seen the Siphold episode on the Buff and.

827
00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:54,960
Speaker 2: TOFs, yes, that is such a good episode, but I

828
00:39:55,000 --> 00:39:56,920
Speaker 2: just I won't allow it, and they love it. I

829
00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:59,000
Speaker 2: give them little tongs and little paper and then the back

830
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:00,279
Speaker 2: of the food truck we set it up like a

831
00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:03,360
Speaker 2: bakery station and they go get their cookies or whatever.

832
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:06,040
Speaker 2: And I had a grocery store that wanted to give

833
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:08,480
Speaker 2: me a bunch of donations and they insisted, and I said, listen,

834
00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:10,240
Speaker 2: they said, we want to give you our bakery dalals.

835
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:11,680
Speaker 2: I said, here's the thing I can't take. I can't

836
00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:14,760
Speaker 2: take bagels because my folks have trouble with their teeth

837
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:16,440
Speaker 2: and I can't toast them. They're not going to be

838
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:18,520
Speaker 2: they're gonna be hard on people to eat. So I

839
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:20,000
Speaker 2: can't take your bagels. Oh no, you have to take

840
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:21,399
Speaker 2: the bagels. If you don't take the bagels, you can't

841
00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:24,520
Speaker 2: take everything. Keep yourself. Well. Then I had a volunteer

842
00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:28,239
Speaker 2: that didn't follow my guiding principles of abundance and really thought, well,

843
00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:29,680
Speaker 2: what if we don't take them, they'll never donate to

844
00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:32,319
Speaker 2: us again. So she speaks for me and says, we're

845
00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:35,080
Speaker 2: gonna go get them. Takes a truck and they loaded

846
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:36,600
Speaker 2: up on the fourth of July, like one hundred and

847
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:38,760
Speaker 2: thirteen degrees outside, perfect day to get all that stuff

848
00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:40,160
Speaker 2: on a Saturday when we're not even open.

849
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:42,040
Speaker 1: We get it.

850
00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:44,840
Speaker 2: We open it up. It's trash bags full of bakery items.

851
00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:47,000
Speaker 2: One of the trash bag is full of cakes. You

852
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:50,000
Speaker 2: ever served a cake out of a trash bag? Do

853
00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:52,759
Speaker 2: you get what I'm saying? Oh yeah, I threw it

854
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:54,920
Speaker 2: all in the dumpster. Costs me money that you know

855
00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:56,319
Speaker 2: what I'm saying. I gotta get rid of it now.

856
00:40:56,760 --> 00:40:59,200
Speaker 2: And I just said we're no longer taking donations and

857
00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:02,840
Speaker 2: this is huge your store, and I mean I had employees.

858
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:04,840
Speaker 2: That was a great lesson for my employees to be like,

859
00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:07,640
Speaker 2: this is not abundance, guys, that's living and scarcy. That's

860
00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:10,440
Speaker 2: saying that we don't have. We know God's best is

861
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:11,920
Speaker 2: out there for us and for our neighbors, and we

862
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:14,040
Speaker 2: are going to stand in the gap and make sure

863
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:14,480
Speaker 2: they get it.

864
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:18,320
Speaker 1: Okay. So people may be thinking that Salt Light is

865
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:24,879
Speaker 1: about a food truck. So that helped you to build

866
00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:27,920
Speaker 1: the relationships. It also helped you train your people around

867
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:34,000
Speaker 1: your guiding principles. Yep. But earlier you said this village,

868
00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 1: which really was what you wanted to.

869
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,560
Speaker 2: Do and be, that was the flagship project.

870
00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:43,520
Speaker 1: Also, take us to what Salt and Light really is

871
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 1: now that we've laid the table for all of the data,

872
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:50,719
Speaker 1: all of the understanding of the people, all of your

873
00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:53,799
Speaker 1: heart and why you did this, why the food truck matter,

874
00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:56,640
Speaker 1: why you went to Portland, how it worked, what the

875
00:41:56,680 --> 00:42:01,040
Speaker 1: principles are, what your volunteers and staff now understand that

876
00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:04,560
Speaker 1: culminated in what Salt Night really is.

877
00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:07,280
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, So the flagship project was always the village,

878
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:10,800
Speaker 2: and so that village I was still you know, moving

879
00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:13,759
Speaker 2: the needle on building that village and trying to figure

880
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:15,400
Speaker 2: out where it was going. To be how we were

881
00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:17,080
Speaker 2: going to do it, how we were going to fund it,

882
00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:19,960
Speaker 2: while that food truck was also going and teaching us

883
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:22,279
Speaker 2: what we needed to know and also helping us build

884
00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:25,080
Speaker 2: a movement. I needed a movement because I needed support

885
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:28,640
Speaker 2: right in a lot of ways, money, volunteers, all those things.

886
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:32,440
Speaker 1: About village, those are houses a development, and yes this

887
00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:33,200
Speaker 1: is not cheap.

888
00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:36,680
Speaker 2: No, it wasn't cheap. And I knew that it was

889
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:38,760
Speaker 2: going to be difficult to raise that kind of capital

890
00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:41,480
Speaker 2: and keep the momentum going because people are like, when's

891
00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:42,560
Speaker 2: the village going to be built? And I'm like, I

892
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,279
Speaker 2: haven't even found land yet. But meanwhile, that food truck

893
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:47,760
Speaker 2: started in like I said, the summer of twenty twenty,

894
00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:50,960
Speaker 2: and I think it was like September October, and the

895
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:53,799
Speaker 2: county had been wanting to maybe give us a piece

896
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:56,359
Speaker 2: of property, maybe lease us a piece of property. They

897
00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:58,440
Speaker 2: had been kind of dangling since the launch party, and

898
00:42:58,480 --> 00:42:59,960
Speaker 2: we've been kind of working on it. But it was

899
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:04,360
Speaker 2: someone else's family business was utilizing this piece of property

900
00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:06,719
Speaker 2: and the county was potentially going to break the least

901
00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:09,040
Speaker 2: so that we could build a village there. That didn't

902
00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:12,479
Speaker 2: feel great to me. It was a family pumpkin patch

903
00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:14,799
Speaker 2: and corn maze, and it was. It's a hit. It's

904
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:16,839
Speaker 2: been around for twenty years. Everybody loves this place. It's

905
00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:18,480
Speaker 2: kind of the place to go during Halloween.

906
00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:22,360
Speaker 1: May not get a get community support, still the corn

907
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:24,120
Speaker 1: maze for the homeless, thinking.

908
00:43:23,840 --> 00:43:26,000
Speaker 2: That wouldn't be the greatest headline, you know what I'm saying.

909
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:29,640
Speaker 2: And also our tagline has also always been cultivating community.

910
00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:32,120
Speaker 2: I'm like, something about this doesn't feel like cultivating community.

911
00:43:32,160 --> 00:43:34,200
Speaker 2: I mean, so I go to the guy and ask him,

912
00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:35,960
Speaker 2: would you be willing to swap land? Has anybody talked

913
00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:37,440
Speaker 2: to you about this? He's like, no one's talking about this.

914
00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:40,600
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you something. I have actually experienced some

915
00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:43,480
Speaker 2: of you of what the people you deal with have

916
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:45,960
Speaker 2: dealt with. I've been through recovery, and I actually think

917
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:48,040
Speaker 2: this model could really work. But if you take the

918
00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:50,800
Speaker 2: corn Maze, it'll put me out of business. And I said, well, okay,

919
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:52,960
Speaker 2: well that's not cultivating community. So I'll just and I've

920
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:56,560
Speaker 2: been working on this for a year and I literally

921
00:43:56,760 --> 00:43:58,440
Speaker 2: I love the county. I have a great relationship them,

922
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:00,840
Speaker 2: still do. And I just said I'm not going to

923
00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:02,640
Speaker 2: do it. I'm just not willing to move forward on

924
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:04,440
Speaker 2: any more discussions on this because I'm not willing to

925
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,480
Speaker 2: do that on that land, on that land, And they

926
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:09,840
Speaker 2: were like, are you serious? I was like, yeah, I'm serious.

927
00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:13,640
Speaker 2: And I had no other plausible ideas for where we

928
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:15,200
Speaker 2: were going to go because I was now, I'm at

929
00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:17,200
Speaker 2: the point. At this point, real estate as just won't

930
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:18,719
Speaker 2: even talk to me because they know what I want

931
00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:20,520
Speaker 2: and no one wants me anywhere near them.

932
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, who wants to build a homeless filled my house?

933
00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:25,839
Speaker 2: And no one's seen what I've seen. No one knows

934
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:27,839
Speaker 2: about this model. So I'm trying to educate people about

935
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:29,759
Speaker 2: how the model looks, but they've got nothing to look at.

936
00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:32,160
Speaker 2: I mean, they can see Alan Graham's stuff, but kind

937
00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:33,920
Speaker 2: of and it's like, well, that's Texas. It's spread out,

938
00:44:33,960 --> 00:44:37,360
Speaker 2: it's different. You know, people aren't getting it. So but

939
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:41,440
Speaker 2: I had faith that if I was honoring to what

940
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:43,120
Speaker 2: I said I was going to do, my insides matched

941
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:45,799
Speaker 2: my outsides, that a door would open. And I'm kid

942
00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:48,919
Speaker 2: you not. Two days later, two days later, the same

943
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:50,720
Speaker 2: people who asked us to put the food truck together

944
00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:53,400
Speaker 2: so our local continuum of Care got us together with

945
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:56,120
Speaker 2: an affordable housing developer and said, you guys need to meet.

946
00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:57,920
Speaker 2: Let's see if you guys could do something. And the

947
00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:00,640
Speaker 2: affordable housing developer been around for sixty five years, been

948
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:04,800
Speaker 2: building farm worker housing, all kinds of affordable housing, said

949
00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,160
Speaker 2: we're interested in maybe making your vision come to life.

950
00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:10,000
Speaker 2: Because what people don't know is that affordable housing buy

951
00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:11,960
Speaker 2: and large in the United States is not one hundred

952
00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:14,680
Speaker 2: percent permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness. There aren't

953
00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:17,200
Speaker 2: villages like this. What happens is you have an apartment

954
00:45:17,239 --> 00:45:19,920
Speaker 2: complex and it's well at least in California, and it's

955
00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:22,439
Speaker 2: a unit mix, and it's like there's tribal housing, there's

956
00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:25,840
Speaker 2: farm worker housing, there's multi family housing as Section eight housing,

957
00:45:26,360 --> 00:45:27,120
Speaker 2: blah blah blah, and.

958
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:28,680
Speaker 1: That that's the same stuff here.

959
00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:31,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then a percentage is people who've experienced homelessness. Now,

960
00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:33,600
Speaker 2: where do you think the revolving door is in those

961
00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:36,919
Speaker 2: affordable housing complexes. Yeah, it's the ten percent of people

962
00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:39,560
Speaker 2: experiencing homelessess because there's no community there, there's no services there,

963
00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:42,719
Speaker 2: there's nothing for them. Farm worker housing, they don't need that.

964
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:45,680
Speaker 2: I mean everyone needs community to agree, yes, but people

965
00:45:45,680 --> 00:45:48,919
Speaker 2: experiencing homelessess need a lot of services. And the way

966
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,319
Speaker 2: we've done it in the US as we say, here's

967
00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:53,760
Speaker 2: your house. This is a housing first model. Here's your house.

968
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,200
Speaker 2: We'll send your caseworker. And you're talking about someone with

969
00:45:56,280 --> 00:46:01,280
Speaker 2: complex trauma, living in survival mode, potential substance abuse issues.

970
00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:03,000
Speaker 2: Now we're going to go put them in solitary and

971
00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:05,240
Speaker 2: tell them good luck. You have no transportation, no food,

972
00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:09,200
Speaker 2: no outside, no furniture. Maybe actually a lot of our

973
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:11,680
Speaker 2: affordable housing developer is really good. They put furniture and everything.

974
00:46:11,680 --> 00:46:14,280
Speaker 2: And I will tell you this. Our affordable housing developer

975
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:17,200
Speaker 2: partner on the neighborhood village, which we obviously end up building,

976
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:20,600
Speaker 2: we'll talk about it. They do a great job. And

977
00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:22,239
Speaker 2: that's why we partner with them, because we really were

978
00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:25,160
Speaker 2: pretty value aligned with them, which is why they said,

979
00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:26,960
Speaker 2: we want to bring your vision to life. And we

980
00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:30,400
Speaker 2: have a piece of property six and a half acres.

981
00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:32,279
Speaker 2: I know you wanted twenty I did because I wanted

982
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:36,000
Speaker 2: two hundred houses. I had a big vision. But they said,

983
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:38,279
Speaker 2: we can make it smaller, and we think we can

984
00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:40,480
Speaker 2: make this work. We're going to have to do some

985
00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:45,279
Speaker 2: contorting because my vision was freer than necessarily and I

986
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:49,239
Speaker 2: don't mean free cheap, I mean less restrictions or just

987
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:51,319
Speaker 2: more ability to have the grace. I wanted to have

988
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:54,799
Speaker 2: a little more fluid than affordable housing always permits. We

989
00:46:54,840 --> 00:46:56,879
Speaker 2: worked with the State of California, so they were able

990
00:46:56,880 --> 00:46:59,680
Speaker 2: to bring down state dollars. So that's something wholly different

991
00:46:59,719 --> 00:47:02,160
Speaker 2: than what Alan did in Texas. They used private dollars.

992
00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:04,960
Speaker 2: He also had a twenty five year nonprofit behind him

993
00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:06,480
Speaker 2: to be able to have that community to build that

994
00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:06,880
Speaker 2: I did not.

995
00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:10,680
Speaker 3: So he's also got like the founder of Patron supporting

996
00:47:10,719 --> 00:47:11,160
Speaker 3: him in subs.

997
00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:14,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, Tito's gave him a huge piece of property. Yeah.

998
00:47:14,120 --> 00:47:15,600
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just a different it's a whole different

999
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:18,600
Speaker 2: climate there. We're not a philanthropic based community, which is

1000
00:47:18,640 --> 00:47:21,360
Speaker 2: that wealth is not there. So we said yes to

1001
00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:23,640
Speaker 2: that and we started working the state of California. It

1002
00:47:23,719 --> 00:47:26,240
Speaker 2: was like nope, nope, nope several times. So we contorted

1003
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:28,040
Speaker 2: and contorted, and we worked with my vision and I

1004
00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:32,640
Speaker 2: held firm on some things, and we got that village built.

1005
00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:35,880
Speaker 2: So we have fifty three units. Fifty of them are

1006
00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:39,200
Speaker 2: people experiencing homeless who have experienced homelessness. Three of them

1007
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:41,920
Speaker 2: are homes of people like you and me who live there.

1008
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:44,319
Speaker 2: As a call, Well, one family does, and then one

1009
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:47,319
Speaker 2: is my property manager, and then another person is someone

1010
00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:47,919
Speaker 2: who lives there.

1011
00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:50,840
Speaker 1: Everybody right now is thinking, so you built a village

1012
00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:52,600
Speaker 1: for a bunch of people to live in that aren't

1013
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:53,439
Speaker 1: paying rent.

1014
00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:54,520
Speaker 2: Oh no, they're paying rent.

1015
00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:58,399
Speaker 1: Yeah. That part, That was the part that I love

1016
00:47:58,520 --> 00:48:01,960
Speaker 1: the most is that you're it's a hand up, not

1017
00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:05,719
Speaker 1: a handout, and you're asking them to meet you halfway

1018
00:48:06,120 --> 00:48:11,839
Speaker 1: with the rules, the association, the rent, which in my view,

1019
00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:18,720
Speaker 1: gives them pride in themselves for the work that they're

1020
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:22,160
Speaker 1: doing in their own lives and the skin in the game.

1021
00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:38,520
Speaker 1: We'll be right back six years ago. You're like, I'm

1022
00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:41,040
Speaker 1: going to build a village, and then you end up

1023
00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:43,880
Speaker 1: with a food truck, and now you build a village,

1024
00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:48,360
Speaker 1: which is freaking insane for someone who had no idea

1025
00:48:48,400 --> 00:48:53,799
Speaker 1: what they're doing. But the secret to the sauce, in

1026
00:48:53,880 --> 00:49:00,440
Speaker 1: my opinion, is just like you were steadfast in the

1027
00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:05,080
Speaker 1: rules of your organization and your guiding principles, you have

1028
00:49:05,600 --> 00:49:11,080
Speaker 1: principles about this village that I think are phenomenally vital

1029
00:49:11,160 --> 00:49:13,279
Speaker 1: to a success, and the people living in it, So

1030
00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:15,359
Speaker 1: talk about that please.

1031
00:49:15,080 --> 00:49:17,960
Speaker 2: Okay, and I'll talk about the fact is it's unique.

1032
00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:22,279
Speaker 2: It's unique because it's unique because it's expensive. Okay, First

1033
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:24,760
Speaker 2: of all, it's expensive because people we believe that people

1034
00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:28,719
Speaker 2: heal people. Have a staff of thirty one people. We

1035
00:49:28,800 --> 00:49:32,400
Speaker 2: moved into that village just shy of five years as

1036
00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:35,040
Speaker 2: an organization, so we moved in September tenth last year.

1037
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:38,440
Speaker 2: It's just incredible, it is, And I really feel like

1038
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:40,840
Speaker 2: a lot of that's just miraculous in a lot of ways,

1039
00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:43,400
Speaker 2: and community support and a lot of it was you know,

1040
00:49:43,560 --> 00:49:46,440
Speaker 2: passion driving behind it, but also the trust the neighbors

1041
00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:48,920
Speaker 2: there were just it was an alchemy you know of

1042
00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:51,919
Speaker 2: things that made this happen. But I think it's also

1043
00:49:51,960 --> 00:49:57,160
Speaker 2: because the model itself works. So we believe wholeheartedly in

1044
00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:01,239
Speaker 2: really coming beside people and really whole person care. So

1045
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:04,120
Speaker 2: there's a thing that people talk about in this in

1046
00:50:04,160 --> 00:50:07,400
Speaker 2: the homelessness realm wrap around care. Wrap around care can

1047
00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:09,879
Speaker 2: look like a lot of things. It's the same as

1048
00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:13,879
Speaker 2: like coaching life coaching. It's like some life coaches get

1049
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:16,560
Speaker 2: their certificate one on Saturday afternoon at the First Baptist

1050
00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:20,160
Speaker 2: Church and some people go through a year of training, certifications,

1051
00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:22,600
Speaker 2: all these things, and so there's wide range of what

1052
00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:25,759
Speaker 2: life coaching looks like. For example, same thing with Wrap

1053
00:50:25,760 --> 00:50:27,960
Speaker 2: around Care. We can call rap around Care someone who

1054
00:50:28,040 --> 00:50:30,960
Speaker 2: just is getting case management services and the phone number

1055
00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:35,080
Speaker 2: to some medical care for us. We bring that on site.

1056
00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:38,480
Speaker 2: We bring services on site. Everything's there, My office is there,

1057
00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:42,359
Speaker 2: We all of my employees are there on site in community,

1058
00:50:42,719 --> 00:50:47,080
Speaker 2: in relationship with people experiencing homelessness, and we hold the line.

1059
00:50:47,120 --> 00:50:51,120
Speaker 2: It's highly managed because we're all there. It's and we

1060
00:50:51,160 --> 00:50:55,279
Speaker 2: hold the line. On community rules, those are like hoa rules.

1061
00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:57,959
Speaker 2: There's things like you can only have two animals. They've

1062
00:50:57,960 --> 00:50:59,239
Speaker 2: got to be on a leash. If they're not on

1063
00:50:59,239 --> 00:51:00,479
Speaker 2: a leash, they got to be in the dog park.

1064
00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:03,319
Speaker 2: If not, you're getting a lease violation. You know, you

1065
00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:07,600
Speaker 2: can't give your gate key to outside folks like your

1066
00:51:07,800 --> 00:51:10,160
Speaker 2: drug dealer, or you will get a lease violation or

1067
00:51:10,200 --> 00:51:12,439
Speaker 2: we will be calling the sheriffs. I mean, there's things

1068
00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:12,640
Speaker 2: like that.

1069
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:14,800
Speaker 1: We have more than two cars, that's right.

1070
00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:16,200
Speaker 2: So and you've got to follow those things.

1071
00:51:16,200 --> 00:51:21,000
Speaker 1: No cars on blocks, correct, no boats in the front yard.

1072
00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:24,520
Speaker 2: No, no hoarding. Yeah, we've got some we've got and

1073
00:51:24,719 --> 00:51:27,160
Speaker 2: we're on it. But let me tell you something. It

1074
00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:30,520
Speaker 2: is a lot. And so people shave that part off.

1075
00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:35,360
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. Don't hear that and think, oh,

1076
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:38,880
Speaker 1: you're crimping their lifestyle. Oh no, I live in a

1077
00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:41,640
Speaker 1: house with a homewern association. I can't put a boat

1078
00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:44,080
Speaker 1: in my front yard or have cars up on blocks

1079
00:51:44,080 --> 00:51:47,640
Speaker 1: in my yard and people run around my place. I

1080
00:51:47,680 --> 00:51:49,759
Speaker 1: don't do it because I don't want a dog, because

1081
00:51:49,800 --> 00:51:51,319
Speaker 1: I don't want to have to walk a dog with

1082
00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:53,880
Speaker 1: a bag of dookie that I got to scoop up

1083
00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:56,560
Speaker 1: off the grass every time they go. But those who

1084
00:51:56,560 --> 00:51:58,480
Speaker 1: have dogs, that's what they have to do or they're

1085
00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:05,000
Speaker 1: going to get fined. So village is just normal.

1086
00:52:05,360 --> 00:52:07,799
Speaker 2: That's right. It's just a community. It's like a little

1087
00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:09,040
Speaker 2: mini city kind off.

1088
00:52:09,120 --> 00:52:11,879
Speaker 1: And everybody listen to me, what's that YouTube thing? What's

1089
00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:14,840
Speaker 1: the link to it? That YouTube you made me watch that?

1090
00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:18,680
Speaker 1: I'm glad I did you sent me a little on

1091
00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:22,040
Speaker 1: the How do people find that about them? Yeah?

1092
00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:24,480
Speaker 3: I just go on their websites a website, The videos

1093
00:52:24,480 --> 00:52:24,879
Speaker 3: are on there.

1094
00:52:25,040 --> 00:52:27,200
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I mean we're not dropping right here. We've

1095
00:52:27,200 --> 00:52:29,080
Speaker 1: still got a few more moments. But I want people

1096
00:52:29,120 --> 00:52:33,960
Speaker 1: to hear me. You think of a village or a

1097
00:52:34,200 --> 00:52:38,640
Speaker 1: housing area for people experiencing homelessness going into it, and

1098
00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:44,000
Speaker 1: you think of a cinder block, institutional, green, multi level

1099
00:52:44,080 --> 00:52:48,560
Speaker 1: type place. Y'all go to the pictures. This is a

1100
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:53,760
Speaker 1: lovely little neighborhood with bushes and yards, and it looks

1101
00:52:53,800 --> 00:52:56,400
Speaker 1: like any other little neighborhood you might pull into.

1102
00:52:56,840 --> 00:52:57,839
Speaker 3: It's a unity hall.

1103
00:52:59,600 --> 00:53:01,520
Speaker 1: It's it's like Niceville.

1104
00:53:01,840 --> 00:53:05,360
Speaker 2: Mean, that was by design, because you know what, people

1105
00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:09,160
Speaker 2: Sometimes people need to be reminded of their worth, and

1106
00:53:09,239 --> 00:53:12,520
Speaker 2: sometimes that comes with being in spaces that feel dignified

1107
00:53:12,560 --> 00:53:16,720
Speaker 2: and beautiful as a whole. And I really wanted people experiencing

1108
00:53:16,719 --> 00:53:20,520
Speaker 2: homelessness and our community at large to think of this

1109
00:53:20,719 --> 00:53:23,520
Speaker 2: differently in the way that they don't need seconds. And

1110
00:53:23,560 --> 00:53:25,239
Speaker 2: my employees don't need seconds. You know, a lot of

1111
00:53:25,280 --> 00:53:28,279
Speaker 2: nonprofit employees work in the back office of somebody's office

1112
00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:30,000
Speaker 2: building that they didn't want, that has the rats running

1113
00:53:30,040 --> 00:53:32,319
Speaker 2: through it and the drippy ceilings and all the things like, no,

1114
00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:34,560
Speaker 2: I don't want my employees. I don't want my employees

1115
00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:36,200
Speaker 2: in that. And you know why, They've got to go

1116
00:53:36,239 --> 00:53:38,120
Speaker 2: do a really hard job and love people really really

1117
00:53:38,160 --> 00:53:42,399
Speaker 2: hard and also pedal, dignity, belonging, raticloss, all these things.

1118
00:53:42,440 --> 00:53:44,319
Speaker 2: If they're not feeling that inside the office, how are

1119
00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:46,000
Speaker 2: they going to do that out there? Same thing with

1120
00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:50,120
Speaker 2: building a village. It's beautiful and neat and kept. People

1121
00:53:50,120 --> 00:53:52,960
Speaker 2: have a serious pride of ownership in their in their houses.

1122
00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:57,360
Speaker 2: You should see all the decorations. The flower on a

1123
00:53:57,360 --> 00:53:59,680
Speaker 2: sliding scale and it's that's basically set by the state

1124
00:53:59,680 --> 00:54:02,239
Speaker 2: of caliph So the way that that works is that

1125
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:06,680
Speaker 2: they take fair market rent based on one bedroom or

1126
00:54:06,680 --> 00:54:08,719
Speaker 2: two bedrooms. So we have one bedroom and two bedroom homes.

1127
00:54:08,760 --> 00:54:10,479
Speaker 2: These are mobile homes that we have on our site.

1128
00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:13,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, but they're not mobile homes on wheels. They're actually

1129
00:54:13,840 --> 00:54:14,600
Speaker 1: on Yeah.

1130
00:54:14,480 --> 00:54:16,840
Speaker 2: We put them on a foundation, pits foundation.

1131
00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:19,560
Speaker 1: So they're basically manufactured homes. This is what they are,

1132
00:54:19,840 --> 00:54:21,200
Speaker 1: but on a concrete slid.

1133
00:54:21,360 --> 00:54:23,600
Speaker 2: That's correct and which for earthquake gives.

1134
00:54:23,360 --> 00:54:26,040
Speaker 1: It also a really cute look.

1135
00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:27,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, we wanted it to feel like a stick bilt.

1136
00:54:27,760 --> 00:54:29,320
Speaker 2: We wanted it to feel like a househouse, and we

1137
00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:31,080
Speaker 2: didn't want it to feel like a trailer was skirting

1138
00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:32,320
Speaker 2: it's not.

1139
00:54:32,080 --> 00:54:35,480
Speaker 1: It's manufactured housing on the thing. But you got one bedroom,

1140
00:54:35,520 --> 00:54:37,120
Speaker 1: two bedroom house rent work, and the.

1141
00:54:37,040 --> 00:54:39,080
Speaker 2: Rent works the way that the state does that. It's

1142
00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:41,400
Speaker 2: always like this with affordable housing. They set it based

1143
00:54:41,440 --> 00:54:43,960
Speaker 2: on the bedrooms, so it's like, okay, in Larry County,

1144
00:54:43,960 --> 00:54:47,000
Speaker 2: fair market rent for a two bedroom houses X, and

1145
00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:49,239
Speaker 2: then they go on a sliding scale of average media

1146
00:54:49,239 --> 00:54:51,839
Speaker 2: and income. And so we have folks who pay rent

1147
00:54:52,200 --> 00:54:56,319
Speaker 2: at sixty percent average meeting, so they would reduce that

1148
00:54:56,360 --> 00:54:58,640
Speaker 2: by thirty percent whatever that fair market rent is, or

1149
00:54:58,680 --> 00:55:01,920
Speaker 2: then there's forty and then there's thirty percent, so that's

1150
00:55:01,920 --> 00:55:02,560
Speaker 2: the lowest rent.

1151
00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:05,440
Speaker 1: So them, but they are paying to live there.

1152
00:55:05,280 --> 00:55:07,359
Speaker 2: Oh yes, and if they so, we have people who

1153
00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:08,880
Speaker 2: have vouchers, so I don't know if you know how

1154
00:55:08,880 --> 00:55:11,000
Speaker 2: the voucher system works that comes through HUD. A lot

1155
00:55:11,040 --> 00:55:12,960
Speaker 2: of those got cut recently. We're really hoping they get

1156
00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:15,520
Speaker 2: reinstated because that's the way we can shore up some

1157
00:55:15,640 --> 00:55:18,040
Speaker 2: of this. When someone doesn't come with income, because there

1158
00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:20,200
Speaker 2: are folks who are disabled, there's all kinds of things

1159
00:55:20,200 --> 00:55:22,640
Speaker 2: about why someone might not have income. Many of our

1160
00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:24,799
Speaker 2: folks have jobs and they pay rent. And then for

1161
00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:26,759
Speaker 2: those there are some who came in on what we

1162
00:55:26,800 --> 00:55:29,759
Speaker 2: call scholarship. We knew they didn't have income at the time,

1163
00:55:29,800 --> 00:55:31,480
Speaker 2: but we have a work force so that we've implemented

1164
00:55:31,520 --> 00:55:34,560
Speaker 2: within the community that they can work for us.

1165
00:55:35,560 --> 00:55:40,080
Speaker 1: You know, there's something you just said that boy, I

1166
00:55:40,120 --> 00:55:41,880
Speaker 1: has toitate to tell this story, but I'm going to

1167
00:55:41,960 --> 00:55:43,920
Speaker 1: tell it because of what you just said, and I

1168
00:55:43,960 --> 00:55:49,600
Speaker 1: think it's really important our listeners hear those. I specifically

1169
00:55:49,640 --> 00:55:55,759
Speaker 1: remember when Barack Obama's president, and there are a lot

1170
00:55:55,800 --> 00:55:57,799
Speaker 1: of things he did and said that I didn't agree with.

1171
00:55:57,840 --> 00:56:00,959
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of things presents from the other

1172
00:56:01,040 --> 00:56:02,640
Speaker 1: side of the all say and do that I don't

1173
00:56:02,640 --> 00:56:06,240
Speaker 1: agree with. So again, I'm an equal opportunity frustration person.

1174
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:12,120
Speaker 1: But he said this. He said, in America, anybody working

1175
00:56:12,200 --> 00:56:16,680
Speaker 1: a full time job should not also be in poverty.

1176
00:56:17,239 --> 00:56:19,920
Speaker 1: And if you aren't paying at this time, it was

1177
00:56:20,080 --> 00:56:23,880
Speaker 1: ten dollars and twenty seven cents an hour. This is

1178
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:26,760
Speaker 1: back then. If you aren't paying ten dollars in twenty

1179
00:56:26,760 --> 00:56:30,200
Speaker 1: seven cents an hour to a person working forty hours

1180
00:56:30,239 --> 00:56:35,040
Speaker 1: a week, then they are earning in a full time

1181
00:56:35,160 --> 00:56:40,440
Speaker 1: job a living that keeps them in poverty. And at

1182
00:56:40,480 --> 00:56:43,400
Speaker 1: that time, I had people making less than ten dollars

1183
00:56:43,440 --> 00:56:45,520
Speaker 1: and twenty five cents an hour in my company, and

1184
00:56:46,200 --> 00:56:49,120
Speaker 1: I first verified that that was not be us and

1185
00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:51,719
Speaker 1: it was true, and it was I looked at what

1186
00:56:51,760 --> 00:56:55,279
Speaker 1: the poverty level, what the what the statistics said the

1187
00:56:55,280 --> 00:57:00,040
Speaker 1: poverty level was in the state, and made sure that

1188
00:57:00,880 --> 00:57:04,680
Speaker 1: within a week, made sure every in my business was

1189
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:06,719
Speaker 1: not killing it at this time. But I still made

1190
00:57:06,719 --> 00:57:09,319
Speaker 1: sure that if someone was working me forty hours, I

1191
00:57:09,440 --> 00:57:12,040
Speaker 1: was at least going to pay them a quarter over

1192
00:57:12,200 --> 00:57:15,640
Speaker 1: per hour. What it took that I was not going

1193
00:57:15,680 --> 00:57:18,320
Speaker 1: to sleep in bed knowing I had people working forty

1194
00:57:18,400 --> 00:57:20,720
Speaker 1: hours a week in my company and not making at

1195
00:57:20,800 --> 00:57:23,360
Speaker 1: least enough stay above the poverty level. The reason I'm

1196
00:57:23,400 --> 00:57:26,200
Speaker 1: telling the story, as you said, many of my people

1197
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:29,640
Speaker 1: had jobs. Can you imagine someone with a full time

1198
00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:34,400
Speaker 1: job still homeless and people don't get that it's not hey,

1199
00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:37,200
Speaker 1: go get a job. I would say if I was

1200
00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:40,479
Speaker 1: that person, Hey, jerk, I do I work forty hours

1201
00:57:40,520 --> 00:57:43,480
Speaker 1: a week and I still am living on the streets.

1202
00:57:44,320 --> 00:57:50,680
Speaker 1: That's sinful that our culture and our society would tolerate

1203
00:57:51,520 --> 00:57:54,240
Speaker 1: that someone is willing to go do the right thing

1204
00:57:54,520 --> 00:57:58,080
Speaker 1: and pay their taxes and pay into Social Security and

1205
00:57:58,160 --> 00:58:02,000
Speaker 1: have a forty hour job week and still be living

1206
00:58:02,040 --> 00:58:05,040
Speaker 1: in the streets. Right, No, it's not right.

1207
00:58:05,400 --> 00:58:05,960
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you what.

1208
00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:11,360
Speaker 1: But you have people that now meet that lower income

1209
00:58:11,520 --> 00:58:14,200
Speaker 1: expectation of forty hours a week in work. But now

1210
00:58:14,240 --> 00:58:17,040
Speaker 1: they can actually afford to live based on the village.

1211
00:58:17,200 --> 00:58:20,160
Speaker 2: Yes, because they can pay for a subsidized rent, which

1212
00:58:20,200 --> 00:58:22,400
Speaker 2: is awesome. But I'll tell you something else, just speaking

1213
00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:25,240
Speaker 2: to the minimum wage thing, there is not a single person,

1214
00:58:25,240 --> 00:58:27,240
Speaker 2: including my work for us at Salton Light, who makes

1215
00:58:27,280 --> 00:58:27,760
Speaker 2: minimum wage.

1216
00:58:27,880 --> 00:58:28,160
Speaker 1: No one.

1217
00:58:28,440 --> 00:58:30,919
Speaker 2: And I made that decision early. I built it into

1218
00:58:30,960 --> 00:58:36,280
Speaker 2: my budget early because I decided that if I believe

1219
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:39,360
Speaker 2: that the greatest cause of homelessness is a catastrophic loss

1220
00:58:39,360 --> 00:58:41,400
Speaker 2: of family or support, I got that straight from Alan Graham,

1221
00:58:41,400 --> 00:58:43,560
Speaker 2: by the way, I can't claim that one, but it's

1222
00:58:43,560 --> 00:58:46,080
Speaker 2: the truth. I've seen it meet it out. But here's

1223
00:58:46,120 --> 00:58:48,920
Speaker 2: what's true. If I'm asking my employees to do this

1224
00:58:49,200 --> 00:58:52,160
Speaker 2: really hard work, I mean, the work we do is difficult.

1225
00:58:52,520 --> 00:58:55,600
Speaker 2: This you know, we haven't talked about the messiness of this,

1226
00:58:55,760 --> 00:58:58,880
Speaker 2: the grittiness of this kind of work. If I've got

1227
00:58:58,880 --> 00:59:00,800
Speaker 2: my people doing this kind of work, that that taxing.

1228
00:59:00,880 --> 00:59:02,680
Speaker 2: But then they're also having to go work another job

1229
00:59:02,680 --> 00:59:05,200
Speaker 2: and another job to make ends meet. But then they're

1230
00:59:05,400 --> 00:59:07,600
Speaker 2: drinking to go to sleep at night, or you know

1231
00:59:07,680 --> 00:59:10,760
Speaker 2: whatever other things can be cause catastrophic losses of family,

1232
00:59:10,920 --> 00:59:13,840
Speaker 2: or a mom that's never home or a dad that's

1233
00:59:13,880 --> 00:59:15,480
Speaker 2: never home because they have to work three jobs because

1234
00:59:15,480 --> 00:59:17,360
Speaker 2: they decided to have a heart for the homeless and

1235
00:59:17,400 --> 00:59:19,760
Speaker 2: work for this nonprofit. But sorry, it's nonprofit work. You're

1236
00:59:19,760 --> 00:59:22,520
Speaker 2: gonna have to work three jobs and just suffer. How

1237
00:59:22,560 --> 00:59:24,560
Speaker 2: am I going to have them doing good work? How

1238
00:59:24,560 --> 00:59:27,320
Speaker 2: can I sleep at night knowing that I'm causing my

1239
00:59:27,320 --> 00:59:30,280
Speaker 2: own catastrophic losses of family and generational trauma?

1240
00:59:30,400 --> 00:59:33,480
Speaker 1: The irony is those people are only one one catastrophe

1241
00:59:33,520 --> 00:59:35,240
Speaker 1: away from needing your services.

1242
00:59:35,280 --> 00:59:37,680
Speaker 2: Correct, Correct? So how about we don't create more of

1243
00:59:37,720 --> 00:59:40,680
Speaker 2: those issues? And also, I just made it my I

1244
00:59:40,760 --> 00:59:43,560
Speaker 2: know minimum wages and cover in the US, it doesn't

1245
00:59:43,720 --> 00:59:46,640
Speaker 2: it's not a living wage. It doesn't work anymore. And

1246
00:59:46,680 --> 00:59:49,760
Speaker 2: so for me and my ORG, we're not doing it.

1247
00:59:49,960 --> 00:59:51,960
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying we pay people an exorbitant amount

1248
00:59:51,960 --> 00:59:52,880
Speaker 2: of money, but we pay.

1249
00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:58,880
Speaker 1: You at least live Yeah. Yeah, So you've got this village,

1250
00:59:59,200 --> 01:00:01,280
Speaker 1: You've got these people in it. Are you still running

1251
01:00:01,280 --> 01:00:01,800
Speaker 1: their food truck?

1252
01:00:01,960 --> 01:00:04,640
Speaker 2: Heck? Yeah, there's all kinds of things going on?

1253
01:00:04,880 --> 01:00:06,080
Speaker 1: How many?

1254
01:00:06,440 --> 01:00:08,000
Speaker 2: So we've got eighty two residents.

1255
01:00:08,080 --> 01:00:11,200
Speaker 1: You got eighty two residents in how many units.

1256
01:00:10,760 --> 01:00:13,720
Speaker 2: In fifty well fifty three, yeah, eighty two resident.

1257
01:00:14,400 --> 01:00:16,240
Speaker 1: Believe you're thinking about the next fifty three?

1258
01:00:16,480 --> 01:00:18,959
Speaker 2: Oh heck, yeah, I got And I've got a piece

1259
01:00:18,960 --> 01:00:21,959
Speaker 2: of property that is an escrow north of us and

1260
01:00:22,040 --> 01:00:24,480
Speaker 2: that we've got big dreams to that. So we're pretty

1261
01:00:24,480 --> 01:00:26,400
Speaker 2: stuffed onto the six and a half acres. We need

1262
01:00:26,440 --> 01:00:28,800
Speaker 2: more ancillary buildings. We want an art house, we want

1263
01:00:28,880 --> 01:00:32,320
Speaker 2: want an entrepreneurial hub. I have big dreams about the

1264
01:00:32,600 --> 01:00:34,520
Speaker 2: you know, I saw what happened with the food truck

1265
01:00:35,000 --> 01:00:38,080
Speaker 2: in terms of bridging the public with people who've experienced

1266
01:00:38,200 --> 01:00:42,280
Speaker 2: homelessess and trauma. And this corridor that we're on has

1267
01:00:42,400 --> 01:00:45,600
Speaker 2: two Amazon warehouses to a UPS warehouse. It's it's right

1268
01:00:45,640 --> 01:00:48,600
Speaker 2: on the edge of an industrial park in Vicelia. So

1269
01:00:48,600 --> 01:00:52,760
Speaker 2: we're in we're actually in Goshen. That's actually where it's

1270
01:00:52,800 --> 01:00:55,360
Speaker 2: a long story, but it's an unincorporated, little, very impoverished

1271
01:00:55,360 --> 01:00:57,760
Speaker 2: little city that we are. We are kind of on

1272
01:00:57,800 --> 01:01:01,880
Speaker 2: the outskirts of Isilia. Anyway. This piece of property has

1273
01:01:01,920 --> 01:01:04,560
Speaker 2: the ability to it's got some frontage, so there's a

1274
01:01:04,600 --> 01:01:06,960
Speaker 2: lot of traffic there, and I'm like, I think we

1275
01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:09,680
Speaker 2: need a bakery, and I think we need a market,

1276
01:01:09,880 --> 01:01:11,400
Speaker 2: and I think our neighbors need to be working it,

1277
01:01:11,440 --> 01:01:14,320
Speaker 2: and I think people need to be coming getting their amazing,

1278
01:01:14,440 --> 01:01:18,120
Speaker 2: delicious sandwich from someone who they didn't realize had ever

1279
01:01:18,160 --> 01:01:20,680
Speaker 2: been homeless or maybe and all of a sudden they're

1280
01:01:20,720 --> 01:01:23,040
Speaker 2: front facing with people who are living in that village

1281
01:01:23,440 --> 01:01:26,720
Speaker 2: and going, huh, they're just people like me, just like

1282
01:01:26,760 --> 01:01:28,560
Speaker 2: people on the food truck. Cause it's like people want

1283
01:01:28,600 --> 01:01:29,920
Speaker 2: to come get a sandwich and want to get their

1284
01:01:29,920 --> 01:01:32,560
Speaker 2: gas pump, they want to get a cupcake. Whatever. That's

1285
01:01:32,560 --> 01:01:35,640
Speaker 2: our dream more housing in that piece of property, and

1286
01:01:35,680 --> 01:01:39,160
Speaker 2: then also just more opportunities, more services for the folks

1287
01:01:39,160 --> 01:01:40,520
Speaker 2: who are going to be living there with us.

1288
01:01:40,800 --> 01:01:42,880
Speaker 1: I did this in five years, when as that next.

1289
01:01:42,680 --> 01:01:47,479
Speaker 2: Week, well, I'm already trying to drawing up planned So yeah,

1290
01:01:47,640 --> 01:01:50,280
Speaker 2: and then yeah, so there's a few things. There's a

1291
01:01:50,280 --> 01:01:52,400
Speaker 2: few irons in the fire in terms of expanding, and

1292
01:01:52,440 --> 01:01:55,040
Speaker 2: that you know, the state has their eye on us.

1293
01:01:55,080 --> 01:01:56,919
Speaker 2: They know what we're doing, and they like what we're doing.

1294
01:01:57,840 --> 01:02:00,160
Speaker 2: The Department of Housing and Community Development has been very

1295
01:02:00,160 --> 01:02:02,440
Speaker 2: supportive of US, And I know California has taken a

1296
01:02:02,480 --> 01:02:06,560
Speaker 2: ton of heat about their homeless policies or perceived homeless

1297
01:02:06,560 --> 01:02:09,520
Speaker 2: policy policies, but I will tell you that this administration

1298
01:02:09,560 --> 01:02:14,600
Speaker 2: in California has been very friendly to innovative solutions to homelessness.

1299
01:02:14,640 --> 01:02:17,480
Speaker 2: And I know that at one point Governor Newsom turned

1300
01:02:17,520 --> 01:02:20,120
Speaker 2: around a bunch of Continuance of Care who came with

1301
01:02:20,320 --> 01:02:22,920
Speaker 2: their next few years plan because it only moved the

1302
01:02:22,960 --> 01:02:25,000
Speaker 2: needle like a half a percent, and he's like, go back.

1303
01:02:25,760 --> 01:02:28,600
Speaker 2: And so there is a real push for innovation and

1304
01:02:28,640 --> 01:02:31,200
Speaker 2: we're we're hopefully leading that charge. And what we would

1305
01:02:31,200 --> 01:02:32,880
Speaker 2: love to do is to say to the state. Look,

1306
01:02:33,200 --> 01:02:36,560
Speaker 2: we've the and the federal government to say, we've got

1307
01:02:36,560 --> 01:02:40,320
Speaker 2: to stop giving affordable housing dollars using this broad brush

1308
01:02:40,520 --> 01:02:44,080
Speaker 2: stroke approach for people experiencing homelessness who need so much

1309
01:02:44,120 --> 01:02:46,520
Speaker 2: more robust care. Think of ICUs, you.

1310
01:02:46,480 --> 01:02:50,160
Speaker 1: Know why top down like that almost never works. You

1311
01:02:50,240 --> 01:02:51,520
Speaker 1: need to be bottom up.

1312
01:02:51,640 --> 01:02:54,640
Speaker 2: That's right, and we've got and we've also got to

1313
01:02:54,800 --> 01:02:58,040
Speaker 2: put those affordable housing dollars specifically for people experiencing chronic

1314
01:02:58,080 --> 01:03:00,960
Speaker 2: homelessness with the care dollars. So what we've done for

1315
01:03:01,000 --> 01:03:03,440
Speaker 2: Salt and Light these care dollars didn't just come We

1316
01:03:03,520 --> 01:03:07,800
Speaker 2: fundraised for him. We grant raised for him. We built

1317
01:03:07,800 --> 01:03:11,520
Speaker 2: the village with affordable housing dollars. That doesn't pay anything

1318
01:03:11,600 --> 01:03:15,600
Speaker 2: for services, really nothing. It paid for a basically minimum

1319
01:03:15,640 --> 01:03:18,800
Speaker 2: wage part time village manager to be on site to

1320
01:03:18,880 --> 01:03:22,440
Speaker 2: give people these violations. His pay doesn't look like that

1321
01:03:22,480 --> 01:03:24,919
Speaker 2: because he was already employee of mine and I wasn't

1322
01:03:24,920 --> 01:03:27,400
Speaker 2: gonna pay him that. But so that budget that came

1323
01:03:27,400 --> 01:03:30,200
Speaker 2: out of those affordable housing dollars does not pay for care.

1324
01:03:30,640 --> 01:03:32,440
Speaker 2: And we know what kind of care it takes. And

1325
01:03:32,480 --> 01:03:35,080
Speaker 2: we've got all the data. We've got the metrics, and

1326
01:03:35,120 --> 01:03:37,280
Speaker 2: we've got I brought you a little folder and I'll

1327
01:03:37,280 --> 01:03:38,680
Speaker 2: show you all the ways we care for people. But

1328
01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:42,000
Speaker 2: it's robust. It's like you cannot expect people who just

1329
01:03:42,040 --> 01:03:44,800
Speaker 2: need to go get a splinter out at the urgent

1330
01:03:44,840 --> 01:03:47,440
Speaker 2: care to be housed with the same people who need

1331
01:03:47,600 --> 01:03:51,760
Speaker 2: ICU doesn't work. People experiencing commissess need ic you, they

1332
01:03:51,800 --> 01:03:57,720
Speaker 2: need time, grace, you know, redentive stance therapy, mental health care,

1333
01:03:58,000 --> 01:04:01,240
Speaker 2: medical health care. I can't tell you we've had We've

1334
01:04:01,280 --> 01:04:03,120
Speaker 2: lost a lot of neighbors. And I had one lady

1335
01:04:03,280 --> 01:04:05,080
Speaker 2: so we did start case managing people, and we were

1336
01:04:05,080 --> 01:04:07,560
Speaker 2: case managing them and housing them in other affordable housing

1337
01:04:07,600 --> 01:04:09,560
Speaker 2: complexes while we were building the village, because we want

1338
01:04:09,560 --> 01:04:11,920
Speaker 2: to get people on the streets, obviously. But we had

1339
01:04:11,920 --> 01:04:15,000
Speaker 2: a woman we got housed in our affordable housing developers,

1340
01:04:15,000 --> 01:04:17,560
Speaker 2: one of their apartment buildings, and she was there one

1341
01:04:17,600 --> 01:04:21,840
Speaker 2: day and she died. She didn't have any and you

1342
01:04:23,000 --> 01:04:25,800
Speaker 2: would she die of broken heart. I think she died

1343
01:04:25,840 --> 01:04:29,600
Speaker 2: of like her body finally got to rest. The trauma

1344
01:04:29,760 --> 01:04:30,640
Speaker 2: of life on the.

1345
01:04:30,560 --> 01:04:34,640
Speaker 1: Streets is so yeah. We got to remember, you spent

1346
01:04:34,680 --> 01:04:36,720
Speaker 1: two days and it took you a week to get over.

1347
01:04:36,840 --> 01:04:37,880
Speaker 1: What's it take to get over?

1348
01:04:37,960 --> 01:04:40,560
Speaker 2: Five years average a life span of a person who's

1349
01:04:40,600 --> 01:04:45,360
Speaker 2: experienced chronic homelessness. They usually average death age between fifty

1350
01:04:45,400 --> 01:04:47,680
Speaker 2: and sixty.

1351
01:04:48,560 --> 01:05:05,120
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. You've had thirteen hundred and seventy volunteers,

1352
01:05:05,480 --> 01:05:09,160
Speaker 1: you open the neighborhood successfully, how seventy four neighbors you

1353
01:05:09,200 --> 01:05:10,280
Speaker 1: now have age eighty two.

1354
01:05:10,320 --> 01:05:12,000
Speaker 2: We have kids, and they're just sure.

1355
01:05:13,040 --> 01:05:16,200
Speaker 1: You open in September twenty sixth or twenty twenty four.

1356
01:05:16,280 --> 01:05:20,920
Speaker 1: We're not even a year old at this point, and

1357
01:05:20,960 --> 01:05:25,360
Speaker 1: you've already surpassed both state and national retention rates. Over

1358
01:05:25,480 --> 01:05:29,960
Speaker 1: eighty six percent of residents feel supported by the village community.

1359
01:05:30,800 --> 01:05:33,280
Speaker 1: And I think not a single resident has gone back

1360
01:05:33,320 --> 01:05:34,920
Speaker 1: to homelessness. Homelessness.

1361
01:05:34,960 --> 01:05:36,720
Speaker 2: Now, I'll tell you the three we've lost. We've lost

1362
01:05:36,760 --> 01:05:40,040
Speaker 2: one to death, lost one to incarceration for something else

1363
01:05:40,080 --> 01:05:41,800
Speaker 2: outside the village, and one that needed to be in

1364
01:05:41,840 --> 01:05:43,880
Speaker 2: behavioral heal to begin with, had a mental break and

1365
01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:45,800
Speaker 2: is now in boarding care. That's it.

1366
01:05:46,040 --> 01:05:51,760
Speaker 1: Ninety two percent of your neighbors feel hopeful about the future.

1367
01:05:51,840 --> 01:05:53,840
Speaker 1: Now that sounds good, and it's like, why not one

1368
01:05:53,880 --> 01:05:57,640
Speaker 1: hundred percent? Well, just remember this that the last polling

1369
01:05:57,720 --> 01:06:02,160
Speaker 1: on our government said that fifty two percent of Americans

1370
01:06:02,160 --> 01:06:04,760
Speaker 1: feel hopeful about the future. So ninety two percent is

1371
01:06:04,840 --> 01:06:06,080
Speaker 1: pretty daggum number.

1372
01:06:06,560 --> 01:06:08,320
Speaker 2: We serve it them. We have a hope index and

1373
01:06:08,360 --> 01:06:10,240
Speaker 2: a dignity index, and we start when they move in

1374
01:06:10,520 --> 01:06:12,760
Speaker 2: and we see where their hope lies then and then

1375
01:06:12,800 --> 01:06:14,320
Speaker 2: we re what is what.

1376
01:06:14,320 --> 01:06:15,960
Speaker 1: Is the hope number before they come in? Do you

1377
01:06:15,960 --> 01:06:16,960
Speaker 1: know's pretty low.

1378
01:06:17,280 --> 01:06:18,880
Speaker 2: I don't know the actual number, and I can ask

1379
01:06:18,920 --> 01:06:19,560
Speaker 2: I wish I had.

1380
01:06:19,440 --> 01:06:21,560
Speaker 1: It, well, I mean it would have to be horrific.

1381
01:06:21,600 --> 01:06:22,560
Speaker 1: I just didn't know if you know it.

1382
01:06:22,680 --> 01:06:24,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, it can't tell you how many ways we have

1383
01:06:24,400 --> 01:06:26,560
Speaker 2: to keep showing people that we love them. They throw tantrums,

1384
01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:29,320
Speaker 2: they throw fits, they do things that cause these violations,

1385
01:06:29,560 --> 01:06:31,960
Speaker 2: and then they keep going. But you still love us, like, yeah,

1386
01:06:32,000 --> 01:06:32,680
Speaker 2: we still love you.

1387
01:06:33,680 --> 01:06:35,400
Speaker 1: Saltonlike dot com. What is it?

1388
01:06:35,160 --> 01:06:37,800
Speaker 2: It is Salt and Lightworks dot org.

1389
01:06:38,600 --> 01:06:42,280
Speaker 1: And if somebody wants to support you, hear more about it,

1390
01:06:42,320 --> 01:06:44,760
Speaker 1: maybe come see you like you saw the folks in

1391
01:06:44,840 --> 01:06:47,080
Speaker 1: Austin and try this elsewhere.

1392
01:06:47,200 --> 01:06:49,920
Speaker 2: We're starting to develop an educational program so that people

1393
01:06:49,920 --> 01:06:52,160
Speaker 2: can actually come out and have a day with us

1394
01:06:52,200 --> 01:06:53,880
Speaker 2: instead of just like a tour. They can come take

1395
01:06:53,880 --> 01:06:56,560
Speaker 2: a tour any Wednesday. Those are always open on the website.

1396
01:06:56,760 --> 01:07:00,000
Speaker 2: But if they want to start learning, they the website.

1397
01:07:00,080 --> 01:07:02,480
Speaker 2: It's a great place to start good. They can email

1398
01:07:02,600 --> 01:07:05,760
Speaker 2: us at info at Saltmightworks dot org and we'll get

1399
01:07:05,800 --> 01:07:09,440
Speaker 2: you the right where you need to go. Yeah. No,

1400
01:07:09,560 --> 01:07:11,480
Speaker 2: I people got to see it to believe it. The

1401
01:07:11,480 --> 01:07:12,880
Speaker 2: thing is, I wish you could. I wish we were

1402
01:07:12,880 --> 01:07:14,640
Speaker 2: in California. I wish you could come see it maybe

1403
01:07:14,640 --> 01:07:16,000
Speaker 2: when you come to California, maybe one.

1404
01:07:15,920 --> 01:07:18,040
Speaker 1: Day, because I do business up in that area, so

1405
01:07:18,280 --> 01:07:20,280
Speaker 1: maybe one day at least, And I like Wine Country.

1406
01:07:20,360 --> 01:07:21,720
Speaker 1: It's not that far away.

1407
01:07:21,520 --> 01:07:23,200
Speaker 2: Now, and we have Central Coast Wine too.

1408
01:07:23,360 --> 01:07:25,840
Speaker 1: Yes, I've heard Central Coastline's actually pretty good. We have

1409
01:07:25,960 --> 01:07:26,480
Speaker 1: done it.

1410
01:07:26,480 --> 01:07:27,160
Speaker 2: It's very good.

1411
01:07:27,320 --> 01:07:35,720
Speaker 1: So I know you have a bunch of sad stories,

1412
01:07:36,040 --> 01:07:38,080
Speaker 1: and I know you have a bunch of success stories,

1413
01:07:38,240 --> 01:07:41,040
Speaker 1: because any time of work that you do like this,

1414
01:07:41,240 --> 01:07:43,760
Speaker 1: there are failures and there are heartbreaks, but you've got

1415
01:07:43,800 --> 01:07:47,360
Speaker 1: to remember the successes carry them all, because if you

1416
01:07:47,360 --> 01:07:50,520
Speaker 1: weren't doing this work, there would be no successes. So

1417
01:07:51,280 --> 01:07:53,280
Speaker 1: I could talk to you for four hours about those,

1418
01:07:53,360 --> 01:07:55,520
Speaker 1: and I really do wish we had time to do that.

1419
01:07:55,880 --> 01:08:03,360
Speaker 1: But on the little video I watched, there was a

1420
01:08:03,680 --> 01:08:08,480
Speaker 1: driver's license picture of an emaciated man Patrick, who is

1421
01:08:08,600 --> 01:08:17,200
Speaker 1: now the receptionist, healthy and happy. And I'd like you

1422
01:08:17,240 --> 01:08:19,800
Speaker 1: to tee up that story just because I saw a

1423
01:08:19,800 --> 01:08:23,439
Speaker 1: little of it. And y'all please go watch this video

1424
01:08:24,400 --> 01:08:26,880
Speaker 1: to get him put in your minds on what this

1425
01:08:26,920 --> 01:08:29,720
Speaker 1: place looks like. But honestly, what I got from it

1426
01:08:29,840 --> 01:08:34,920
Speaker 1: most was the juxtaposition of the picture of this man

1427
01:08:35,000 --> 01:08:42,240
Speaker 1: with his California's driver's license, and he looked horrid emaciated.

1428
01:08:43,439 --> 01:08:45,280
Speaker 1: I mean I know that I don't want to overdo it,

1429
01:08:45,320 --> 01:08:45,880
Speaker 1: but I mean.

1430
01:08:45,840 --> 01:08:46,759
Speaker 2: He was really sick.

1431
01:08:47,080 --> 01:08:49,920
Speaker 1: It was disgusting, and how bad he looked. Not he

1432
01:08:49,960 --> 01:08:53,720
Speaker 1: was disgusting, but it was disgusting to me that he

1433
01:08:53,880 --> 01:08:57,960
Speaker 1: looked like that. And now to have him interviewed and

1434
01:08:58,000 --> 01:09:02,480
Speaker 1: you see this healthy, smiling human being and this transformation

1435
01:09:02,600 --> 01:09:04,680
Speaker 1: that's taken his life. If that doesn't make you a

1436
01:09:04,720 --> 01:09:08,240
Speaker 1: believer in this work, nothing will. But I want you

1437
01:09:08,320 --> 01:09:12,839
Speaker 1: to wrap us up with Patrick, who said I finally

1438
01:09:12,840 --> 01:09:15,519
Speaker 1: feel safe, I have a second chance of life. Why

1439
01:09:15,520 --> 01:09:17,400
Speaker 1: don't you take us to the story of Patrick.

1440
01:09:17,560 --> 01:09:19,040
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna try to do without crying.

1441
01:09:19,479 --> 01:09:21,680
Speaker 1: You can cry. There's been plenty of people that have

1442
01:09:21,720 --> 01:09:24,280
Speaker 1: cried here, Alex Kros because I make fun of him, am.

1443
01:09:26,560 --> 01:09:29,839
Speaker 2: I appregiate not making too much fun of me? But no, Patrick,

1444
01:09:29,920 --> 01:09:31,240
Speaker 2: he was our first neighbor that moved in.

1445
01:09:31,320 --> 01:09:33,360
Speaker 1: He actually was he really I didn't know that part.

1446
01:09:33,400 --> 01:09:34,439
Speaker 1: He was the first one in.

1447
01:09:34,560 --> 01:09:36,000
Speaker 2: Well, he was there the first day we had. We

1448
01:09:36,000 --> 01:09:37,200
Speaker 2: moved five neighbors in the first.

1449
01:09:37,160 --> 01:09:38,080
Speaker 1: Made him on the food truck.

1450
01:09:38,439 --> 01:09:40,720
Speaker 2: He actually was in respite care. So what happened was

1451
01:09:40,760 --> 01:09:44,960
Speaker 2: his mom died. He was addicted after that lost everything,

1452
01:09:45,240 --> 01:09:46,519
Speaker 2: had a stroke on the streets.

1453
01:09:46,800 --> 01:09:47,400
Speaker 1: Oh gosh.

1454
01:09:47,760 --> 01:09:50,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, and if there aren't respite care places set up

1455
01:09:50,439 --> 01:09:52,799
Speaker 2: for people, they just if they're sick, open art surgery. Sorry,

1456
01:09:52,800 --> 01:09:55,040
Speaker 2: you're going back to the streets. It's terrible. But he

1457
01:09:55,080 --> 01:09:56,840
Speaker 2: got to go into respite care. And so one of

1458
01:09:56,880 --> 01:10:01,439
Speaker 2: my case managers met him through this RESPAC care center

1459
01:10:01,439 --> 01:10:04,240
Speaker 2: where he was healing and got him on our case

1460
01:10:04,280 --> 01:10:06,920
Speaker 2: load and then we you know, then he applied for

1461
01:10:07,439 --> 01:10:09,920
Speaker 2: housing at the village and so the very first day

1462
01:10:09,960 --> 01:10:12,920
Speaker 2: and that he was beloved. He has you know, had

1463
01:10:12,960 --> 01:10:14,760
Speaker 2: his walker because he'd had a stroke. So, I mean,

1464
01:10:14,760 --> 01:10:18,000
Speaker 2: he's disabled, but he was just I'm just so glad

1465
01:10:18,040 --> 01:10:19,880
Speaker 2: to be here. I'm just so happy to go sh way.

1466
01:10:20,000 --> 01:10:24,200
Speaker 1: I mean that picture of his license, he'd looked hard, emaciated.

1467
01:10:24,240 --> 01:10:27,040
Speaker 2: He was emaciated. I actually never met him during that time.

1468
01:10:27,080 --> 01:10:29,400
Speaker 2: My case manager had and they nursed him back to

1469
01:10:29,400 --> 01:10:31,240
Speaker 2: health at this RESPA care center, and then he came

1470
01:10:31,280 --> 01:10:33,120
Speaker 2: and moved in and then he ended up being the

1471
01:10:33,200 --> 01:10:36,080
Speaker 2: keynote for our grand opening, which like state representatives were

1472
01:10:36,080 --> 01:10:38,400
Speaker 2: there and everything, and he did so well. But let

1473
01:10:38,439 --> 01:10:40,680
Speaker 2: me tell you just yesterday, so he's he is our

1474
01:10:40,720 --> 01:10:43,760
Speaker 2: front desk receptionist in the afternoons, and he writes to me,

1475
01:10:43,920 --> 01:10:45,840
Speaker 2: and I see him every day when i'm there, when

1476
01:10:45,840 --> 01:10:47,920
Speaker 2: I'm walking on Hey, Patrick, what's up. He's like, I

1477
01:10:47,960 --> 01:10:50,240
Speaker 2: just want to remind you that I'm really grateful for

1478
01:10:50,320 --> 01:10:51,880
Speaker 2: living here, and I just want you to know that

1479
01:10:51,960 --> 01:10:54,000
Speaker 2: I really love you, and I really loved this whole team,

1480
01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:56,720
Speaker 2: and I love being a part of it. Every day.

1481
01:10:56,760 --> 01:10:58,760
Speaker 2: I mean, I get this every day. Yesterday he chatted me,

1482
01:10:59,040 --> 01:11:00,280
Speaker 2: just wants you to know I want you make it

1483
01:11:00,280 --> 01:11:01,559
Speaker 2: a great day. I wish i'd have seen you on

1484
01:11:01,560 --> 01:11:03,920
Speaker 2: your birthday because my birthday was Wednesday and I wasn't

1485
01:11:03,960 --> 01:11:07,720
Speaker 2: in because I wasn't feeling great. And I mean like

1486
01:11:07,800 --> 01:11:11,240
Speaker 2: to get messages from this guy who he said, I

1487
01:11:11,280 --> 01:11:12,800
Speaker 2: was so close to death. I don't know if I

1488
01:11:12,840 --> 01:11:14,599
Speaker 2: five told you. And of course he's told me many

1489
01:11:14,600 --> 01:11:17,040
Speaker 2: times that how close to death he was and how

1490
01:11:17,080 --> 01:11:19,600
Speaker 2: destitute and hopeless he was. He goes, you know what

1491
01:11:19,640 --> 01:11:21,720
Speaker 2: I love the most that I can just sleep and

1492
01:11:21,720 --> 01:11:23,400
Speaker 2: feel safe and then I just get up and I

1493
01:11:23,439 --> 01:11:25,479
Speaker 2: can work. It's so much easier because I could never

1494
01:11:25,520 --> 01:11:27,800
Speaker 2: hold a job before because I just never could sleep,

1495
01:11:27,800 --> 01:11:31,519
Speaker 2: I never felt safe. That's the settling and healing piece

1496
01:11:32,280 --> 01:11:34,800
Speaker 2: that is the game changer. When people know that they

1497
01:11:34,840 --> 01:11:38,559
Speaker 2: can sleep, eat, no, they can be held. I mean

1498
01:11:38,560 --> 01:11:40,160
Speaker 2: people can come to us and say, can I get

1499
01:11:40,160 --> 01:11:42,000
Speaker 2: a box of cereal? Yeah, come and get it out

1500
01:11:42,000 --> 01:11:44,880
Speaker 2: of our pantry. They know where their next meal is

1501
01:11:44,880 --> 01:11:46,800
Speaker 2: coming from. They don't have to worry anymore. And it's

1502
01:11:46,800 --> 01:11:50,080
Speaker 2: not about handouts. It's about reminding people of their works.

1503
01:11:50,160 --> 01:11:52,519
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't don't remember these people are paying rent? Well,

1504
01:11:52,520 --> 01:11:55,599
Speaker 1: they've never paid rent. These are the very people that

1505
01:11:55,680 --> 01:11:59,519
Speaker 1: you avoid on the street that are now working, paying

1506
01:11:59,600 --> 01:12:04,439
Speaker 1: rent and living a good life. Why wouldn't you if

1507
01:12:04,479 --> 01:12:10,679
Speaker 1: you don't care about this from a social faithful or

1508
01:12:12,200 --> 01:12:15,960
Speaker 1: point of view, and if you're just someone who don't

1509
01:12:16,240 --> 01:12:20,120
Speaker 1: like having to deal with homeless folks all over your streets, well,

1510
01:12:20,200 --> 01:12:22,880
Speaker 1: from a pragmatic standpoint, why wouldn't you support this?

1511
01:12:23,240 --> 01:12:24,720
Speaker 2: Right and let us? And I always say let us

1512
01:12:24,720 --> 01:12:26,040
Speaker 2: do the work. I don't expect you to go out

1513
01:12:26,040 --> 01:12:27,559
Speaker 2: and do the work by yourself. I mean, love people,

1514
01:12:27,600 --> 01:12:27,880
Speaker 2: you know you.

1515
01:12:27,960 --> 01:12:29,920
Speaker 1: Don't have to care about them, right, wouldn't wouldn't you

1516
01:12:29,960 --> 01:12:34,280
Speaker 1: be happier if this existed so that we didn't have

1517
01:12:34,400 --> 01:12:37,640
Speaker 1: all of the issues that come along with people experiencing almostness.

1518
01:12:37,960 --> 01:12:40,320
Speaker 1: I mean, I wouldn't much rather you care. But if

1519
01:12:40,360 --> 01:12:43,720
Speaker 1: you don't pragmatically, how about the cost this is? How

1520
01:12:43,720 --> 01:12:44,559
Speaker 1: about the cost of.

1521
01:12:44,520 --> 01:12:47,280
Speaker 2: It, the cost to law enforcement? I mean, like the

1522
01:12:47,280 --> 01:12:49,160
Speaker 2: police chief of Ilia's on our board. It happened to

1523
01:12:49,200 --> 01:12:51,040
Speaker 2: be a really good friend of ours, and the policy

1524
01:12:51,040 --> 01:12:53,240
Speaker 2: in that city is that they want to enforce their

1525
01:12:53,280 --> 01:12:55,559
Speaker 2: way out of homelessness. He knows that's not a vible

1526
01:12:55,640 --> 01:12:57,599
Speaker 2: S book, right, he knows that too.

1527
01:12:57,640 --> 01:13:01,879
Speaker 1: But there's hell of a lot less then a jail cell, thank.

1528
01:13:01,720 --> 01:13:07,439
Speaker 2: You, incarceration, law enforcement, you know, the judicial system. What

1529
01:13:07,520 --> 01:13:09,680
Speaker 2: the cost of healthcare systems? I mean I think when

1530
01:13:09,720 --> 01:13:12,360
Speaker 2: I first started, I think one of the healthcare systems

1531
01:13:12,360 --> 01:13:14,760
Speaker 2: told me that they think it costs about one hundred

1532
01:13:14,800 --> 01:13:17,840
Speaker 2: thousand dollars per person experiencing homelessess who uses the er

1533
01:13:17,920 --> 01:13:20,280
Speaker 2: as their medical treatment. You know, the cost of that

1534
01:13:20,400 --> 01:13:21,519
Speaker 2: is to medical care center.

1535
01:13:21,640 --> 01:13:25,200
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, in the village, you've got this big what's that

1536
01:13:25,240 --> 01:13:27,960
Speaker 1: big six thousand square foot thing called oh Unity Hall

1537
01:13:28,600 --> 01:13:32,479
Speaker 1: A it's a meeting hall for the meanwhile, they can come.

1538
01:13:32,360 --> 01:13:35,479
Speaker 2: There and then yeah, the Frezler Space medical care. Yes,

1539
01:13:35,520 --> 01:13:37,960
Speaker 2: the Frezzo state medical truck comes. They've got an FMP

1540
01:13:38,479 --> 01:13:40,639
Speaker 2: program and they bring their medical truck. It was there yesterday,

1541
01:13:40,680 --> 01:13:43,080
Speaker 2: it's there every other Thursday. And then our local healthcare

1542
01:13:43,120 --> 01:13:44,000
Speaker 2: system in Venice.

1543
01:13:43,840 --> 01:13:46,680
Speaker 1: Health come now now they are is not overrun with

1544
01:13:46,840 --> 01:13:47,760
Speaker 1: correct all of it.

1545
01:13:47,840 --> 01:13:49,840
Speaker 2: And we've got dental care that comes on side, a

1546
01:13:49,840 --> 01:13:52,200
Speaker 2: mobile dental clinic, all these ways that we're trying to

1547
01:13:52,520 --> 01:13:56,560
Speaker 2: ease the burden on the system. Yeah, might be expensive,

1548
01:13:56,560 --> 01:13:59,120
Speaker 2: and I'm using air quotes to run an organization like

1549
01:13:59,160 --> 01:14:01,360
Speaker 2: this with this much row bust care, sure, because it

1550
01:14:01,360 --> 01:14:03,000
Speaker 2: takes people, and I gotta pay people to do it.

1551
01:14:03,040 --> 01:14:06,040
Speaker 2: I gotta pay their insurance and all the things. Right. Yes, However,

1552
01:14:06,560 --> 01:14:09,479
Speaker 2: we've got the data it's nowhere near the cost of

1553
01:14:09,520 --> 01:14:11,840
Speaker 2: society with this turnover we keep having, which that's our

1554
01:14:11,920 --> 01:14:13,719
Speaker 2: human cride of the state and the Feds.

1555
01:14:13,800 --> 01:14:18,559
Speaker 1: Hey, and meanwhile, while that cost is being reduced, people's

1556
01:14:18,600 --> 01:14:20,040
Speaker 1: lives are thank you.

1557
01:14:20,200 --> 01:14:21,840
Speaker 2: I mean, it's like that part the part for me.

1558
01:14:21,920 --> 01:14:23,479
Speaker 2: But if you want to get pragmatic and really it's

1559
01:14:23,479 --> 01:14:24,599
Speaker 2: about the bottom line.

1560
01:14:24,439 --> 01:14:26,640
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. It just checks both boxes, it

1561
01:14:26,680 --> 01:14:27,000
Speaker 1: really does.

1562
01:14:27,160 --> 01:14:35,000
Speaker 3: It tell him about father Greg Boyle's quote about the margins.

1563
01:14:35,520 --> 01:14:39,280
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Oh, I love Father Greg so much. He's

1564
01:14:39,320 --> 01:14:42,880
Speaker 2: such an inspiration to me. Yeah, he's and this happened

1565
01:14:42,880 --> 01:14:46,080
Speaker 2: to me. So I'm real careful with my hiring practices,

1566
01:14:46,080 --> 01:14:48,400
Speaker 2: and I'm really careful about people who come in and

1567
01:14:48,439 --> 01:14:50,599
Speaker 2: want to wear a Superman cape. I don't think that's

1568
01:14:50,640 --> 01:14:53,200
Speaker 2: a good idea because typically then the organization and the

1569
01:14:53,200 --> 01:14:54,479
Speaker 2: people get appropriated. For people.

1570
01:14:54,560 --> 01:14:59,400
Speaker 1: Superman thing about a cape, it's just you know, people

1571
01:14:59,479 --> 01:15:03,000
Speaker 1: look at him a lot. So if you're wearing a cape,

1572
01:15:03,000 --> 01:15:04,599
Speaker 1: you gotta ask yourself, why are you wearing a cape?

1573
01:15:04,640 --> 01:15:05,439
Speaker 1: You won't to be looked at.

1574
01:15:05,760 --> 01:15:10,639
Speaker 2: Right. So Father Greg says when people ask Father Greg,

1575
01:15:10,920 --> 01:15:12,559
Speaker 2: don't you get burnout? And people ask me this all

1576
01:15:12,560 --> 01:15:16,080
Speaker 2: the time, don't you get burned out? And he said,

1577
01:15:16,600 --> 01:15:18,760
Speaker 2: you only get burnout when you think you're going to

1578
01:15:18,800 --> 01:15:21,439
Speaker 2: the margins to fix the margins, when you realize that

1579
01:15:21,520 --> 01:15:26,560
Speaker 2: the margins are actually going to help you. It's addictivity.

1580
01:15:26,560 --> 01:15:27,320
Speaker 2: You can't stop.

1581
01:15:28,120 --> 01:15:30,559
Speaker 1: That is another great quote. Yeah, that's the second one.

1582
01:15:30,479 --> 01:15:32,519
Speaker 2: Of his quote is better than that. That's kind of

1583
01:15:32,520 --> 01:15:34,679
Speaker 2: ad living his actual quote, but that's what he says.

1584
01:15:34,640 --> 01:15:36,479
Speaker 1: We get burned out. Say it again, you.

1585
01:15:36,400 --> 01:15:37,920
Speaker 2: Only get burned out when you go to the margins

1586
01:15:37,920 --> 01:15:40,479
Speaker 2: thinking you're going to fix the margins. When you realize

1587
01:15:40,520 --> 01:15:43,920
Speaker 2: the margins change you, you can't stop.

1588
01:15:44,120 --> 01:15:48,599
Speaker 1: That is another way of saying what I am telling you.

1589
01:15:48,680 --> 01:15:52,559
Speaker 1: Without exception, there's not a single guest that is not

1590
01:15:52,720 --> 01:15:55,640
Speaker 1: ever sat in an interview with me is somewhere in

1591
01:15:55,680 --> 01:15:59,320
Speaker 1: this country and said, the truth is, I get more

1592
01:15:59,360 --> 01:16:00,760
Speaker 1: out of this than I ever put into it.

1593
01:16:00,800 --> 01:16:01,959
Speaker 2: And don't you at Manassas.

1594
01:16:02,160 --> 01:16:05,120
Speaker 1: Yeah I did back then, am now at middle college.

1595
01:16:05,600 --> 01:16:08,800
Speaker 1: But yes, I get more out of this podcast that

1596
01:16:08,880 --> 01:16:10,840
Speaker 1: I put into it. The stuff I've learned, the people

1597
01:16:10,880 --> 01:16:12,360
Speaker 1: I've met, It's unbelievable.

1598
01:16:12,479 --> 01:16:14,040
Speaker 3: You said you don't want to do this interview today,

1599
01:16:14,080 --> 01:16:14,880
Speaker 3: you said it's too many.

1600
01:16:17,040 --> 01:16:19,880
Speaker 1: It's not this one today. This is just me just

1601
01:16:20,160 --> 01:16:23,759
Speaker 1: scheduled five. I've done five interviews this week. It's a lot.

1602
01:16:24,360 --> 01:16:27,720
Speaker 2: I really, I'll be honest. I you did a really

1603
01:16:27,720 --> 01:16:30,719
Speaker 2: good job. I would. I really have wanted to launch

1604
01:16:30,720 --> 01:16:32,960
Speaker 2: a podcast for so long, wanted to before I even

1605
01:16:33,000 --> 01:16:34,800
Speaker 2: started something light. And I got to tell you, your

1606
01:16:34,840 --> 01:16:37,880
Speaker 2: interview skills are really good. Really, you're fun to talk to.

1607
01:16:38,120 --> 01:16:41,120
Speaker 1: Well, just keep saying that, louder, I mean, don't say

1608
01:16:41,120 --> 01:16:42,560
Speaker 1: that anymore. You're embarrassing.

1609
01:16:42,920 --> 01:16:44,960
Speaker 2: You're great. It really was fun. It was fun to

1610
01:16:45,000 --> 01:16:47,120
Speaker 2: talk about it. You gave me the floria talk about things,

1611
01:16:47,120 --> 01:16:49,519
Speaker 2: and I love being challenged and talking about ways that

1612
01:16:51,280 --> 01:16:54,040
Speaker 2: society sees this and ways that we can talk through.

1613
01:16:54,280 --> 01:16:58,679
Speaker 1: I think we need the opportunity to open mindedly without

1614
01:16:58,720 --> 01:17:03,479
Speaker 1: preconceived notions first, that out the preconceived notions that are

1615
01:17:03,520 --> 01:17:05,960
Speaker 1: often inaccurate, before we can even lay a foundation to

1616
01:17:05,960 --> 01:17:07,280
Speaker 1: averill chat. That's all.

1617
01:17:08,280 --> 01:17:09,559
Speaker 2: I think that was really helpful.

1618
01:17:09,800 --> 01:17:12,160
Speaker 1: For another podcast. We can do that About logging.

1619
01:17:15,080 --> 01:17:18,839
Speaker 2: I know you are. I heard about this the hard people.

1620
01:17:18,680 --> 01:17:21,559
Speaker 1: Don't want to hear the truth that there's seventy percent

1621
01:17:21,680 --> 01:17:24,880
Speaker 1: more harvestable timber growing in the United States today than

1622
01:17:24,880 --> 01:17:26,160
Speaker 1: there was in nineteen fifty.

1623
01:17:26,800 --> 01:17:29,439
Speaker 2: I didn't know that exactly. I don't know a lot

1624
01:17:29,439 --> 01:17:30,000
Speaker 2: about logging.

1625
01:17:30,080 --> 01:17:32,960
Speaker 1: So we could we could talk about why there's fires

1626
01:17:33,320 --> 01:17:35,840
Speaker 1: and oh yeah, and there do you know there's four

1627
01:17:35,880 --> 01:17:38,840
Speaker 1: times as many lightning strikes east of the Mississippi River

1628
01:17:38,880 --> 01:17:41,240
Speaker 1: as there are west of the Missippi River. Yet we

1629
01:17:41,320 --> 01:17:43,800
Speaker 1: don't have massive forest fires while the West burns to

1630
01:17:43,840 --> 01:17:44,400
Speaker 1: the ground.

1631
01:17:44,320 --> 01:17:45,679
Speaker 2: Because we're not managing our forests.

1632
01:17:45,680 --> 01:17:50,320
Speaker 1: Because logging roads great fire breaks. When you run out

1633
01:17:50,320 --> 01:17:53,639
Speaker 1: of stuff to burn, the fire just burns out, and.

1634
01:17:53,560 --> 01:17:56,439
Speaker 2: We've lost so many of our gorgeous majestic we have.

1635
01:17:56,800 --> 01:17:59,720
Speaker 1: But when you actually harvest the old trees and you

1636
01:17:59,760 --> 01:18:02,840
Speaker 1: have logging roads, certainly you're going to have fire breaks out,

1637
01:18:02,880 --> 01:18:04,880
Speaker 1: but they're contained a by the logging roads and the

1638
01:18:04,960 --> 01:18:07,720
Speaker 1: lack of tender to keep the fire burning when you

1639
01:18:07,840 --> 01:18:11,160
Speaker 1: don't log them. It is actually pitiful policy, and you

1640
01:18:11,280 --> 01:18:14,679
Speaker 1: lose twelve times the amount of standing timber to forest fire.

1641
01:18:14,680 --> 01:18:16,680
Speaker 1: Then you went to logging in a year, and we

1642
01:18:16,800 --> 01:18:19,960
Speaker 1: have sixty percent more standing timber today than we did

1643
01:18:20,240 --> 01:18:20,920
Speaker 1: eighty years ago.

1644
01:18:21,080 --> 01:18:23,519
Speaker 3: Let's save it for a shop talk. How about that policy?

1645
01:18:23,680 --> 01:18:26,240
Speaker 2: I this, this is the kind of stuff. I love

1646
01:18:26,280 --> 01:18:26,560
Speaker 2: learning that.

1647
01:18:26,760 --> 01:18:28,840
Speaker 1: Yeh for a girl that grew up on the foothills

1648
01:18:28,840 --> 01:18:29,519
Speaker 1: of the sequoia.

1649
01:18:29,640 --> 01:18:32,519
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I care about them burning, of course you do. Yeah,

1650
01:18:32,520 --> 01:18:33,880
Speaker 2: and absolutely, And we know that.

1651
01:18:33,920 --> 01:18:35,599
Speaker 1: I'm not saying we just cut down sequoias.

1652
01:18:35,600 --> 01:18:37,160
Speaker 2: I'm talking about I know what you're saying, we used

1653
01:18:37,200 --> 01:18:37,559
Speaker 2: to do that.

1654
01:18:37,680 --> 01:18:41,080
Speaker 1: But the point is to all of that. Always, if

1655
01:18:41,120 --> 01:18:45,880
Speaker 1: you just hear that there's data about people experiencing homelessness,

1656
01:18:45,920 --> 01:18:48,720
Speaker 1: that may be inconvenient, may fly the face of what

1657
01:18:48,760 --> 01:18:51,960
Speaker 1: you've been told, but it doesn't make it any less true.

1658
01:18:52,120 --> 01:18:59,639
Speaker 1: That's right, my friend, Adrianne. Thanks so much for jutting

1659
01:18:59,640 --> 01:19:02,640
Speaker 1: out here for California. Sorry about Delta screwing you up,

1660
01:19:02,680 --> 01:19:04,439
Speaker 1: but I hope you got a buddy coming down to

1661
01:19:04,479 --> 01:19:04,960
Speaker 1: hang out with.

1662
01:19:04,920 --> 01:19:06,599
Speaker 2: You this weekend, right, Yeah, yeah, And it was worth

1663
01:19:06,600 --> 01:19:08,559
Speaker 2: it anyway, even if she wasn't. This was so fun.

1664
01:19:08,640 --> 01:19:11,560
Speaker 1: Well. I hope you get to enjoy some chicken, some barbecue,

1665
01:19:11,720 --> 01:19:14,360
Speaker 1: a little bit of music, and some of the Memphis

1666
01:19:14,439 --> 01:19:17,040
Speaker 1: flair while you're here. And I really do appreciate you

1667
01:19:17,040 --> 01:19:19,439
Speaker 1: spending time to come out and join us. Touch Story

1668
01:19:19,439 --> 01:19:24,479
Speaker 1: and y'all Salt and Light. She's the founder of the CEO.

1669
01:19:25,000 --> 01:19:29,960
Speaker 1: She's obviously the dreamer of it, and in only five

1670
01:19:30,000 --> 01:19:32,160
Speaker 1: short years to have a village and a food truck

1671
01:19:32,160 --> 01:19:35,000
Speaker 1: and serving all other people that are doing I cannot

1672
01:19:35,080 --> 01:19:37,200
Speaker 1: imagine where you're going to be five years from now,

1673
01:19:37,280 --> 01:19:38,600
Speaker 1: but I want you to check in with us on

1674
01:19:38,720 --> 01:19:39,640
Speaker 1: the snow, Okay.

1675
01:19:39,560 --> 01:19:41,880
Speaker 2: We sure, I sure will. And it's been an honor.

1676
01:19:42,000 --> 01:19:43,479
Speaker 2: It's an honor to be here, it really is.

1677
01:19:43,600 --> 01:19:45,439
Speaker 1: Its honored to meet you as well, thanks for being here,

1678
01:19:49,880 --> 01:19:53,480
Speaker 1: and thank you for joining us this week. If Adrianne

1679
01:19:53,520 --> 01:19:57,240
Speaker 1: Hillman has inspired you in general, or better yet, to

1680
01:19:57,280 --> 01:20:01,800
Speaker 1: take action by donating to Salt and Light, volunteering at IT,

1681
01:20:01,880 --> 01:20:05,759
Speaker 1: somewhere like it in your community, or starting something similar

1682
01:20:06,280 --> 01:20:10,559
Speaker 1: or something else entirely, please let me know. I really

1683
01:20:10,720 --> 01:20:13,000
Speaker 1: genuinely I want to hear about it. You can write

1684
01:20:13,040 --> 01:20:17,080
Speaker 1: me anytime at Bill at normal folks dot us and

1685
01:20:17,120 --> 01:20:21,120
Speaker 1: I will respond. If you enjoyed this episode, share it

1686
01:20:21,200 --> 01:20:25,240
Speaker 1: with friends and on social subscribe to the podcast, rate it,

1687
01:20:25,360 --> 01:20:28,280
Speaker 1: review it, join the army at normal folks dot us,

1688
01:20:28,439 --> 01:20:30,360
Speaker 1: any and all of these things that will help us

1689
01:20:30,400 --> 01:20:35,000
Speaker 1: grow an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. Until

1690
01:20:35,040 --> 01:20:36,720
Speaker 1: next time, do it you can