Latest / Our Community, Our Mission / Ep #184 - Looking for the Daily Bread

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Ep #184 - Looking for the Daily Bread · Our Community, Our Mission

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day and your blessings and provisions.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: God, thank you for this time.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Lord, thank you for everyone sitting at this table right now and the blessing that they're to this ministry.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Lord, thank you for all of our listeners and we just pray your blessing over them.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: And, lord, this time as kids get ready to head back to school, lord, I pray that you would make this team ready to equip them.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Father, we love you and we praise your name, amen.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Hello everybody, you're listening to our Community, our mission of podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: This is your host, barry Feeker, here on August, the 2nd of 2023, podcast number 184.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Wow, wow, that's something else huh it's wonderful and we're already in August.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: It's been quite a summer so far.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Yes, it has.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: It's a little bit cooler so far than it has been in the larger part of July.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: So, good morning little man of bros Mary and Crabel, Good morning, yeah.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: So we've got some really cool guys here today that are going to be on this podcast, that we're just going to try to keep it to two hours and so and have a part one part, two, part three, exactly.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so before we get there, amanda, executive Director of Topeka Rescue Mission, there's been a first of some community meetings that are coming up, and there was one that was held here just the other day, so I want to talk a little bit about the what and the why, and a little bit about what the outcome was.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: Sure, yes, last Thursday we had our first of kind of a three-part series of just a time of educating the community and also having dialogue with the community, and so our heart behind this was there has just been a lot of discussion recently in regards to homelessness and concerns that we're hearing and questions that people have, and just some amazing people too that want to be a part of helping and not sure how to help.
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: And so, looking at that, we thought you know what is the best way to try to get information out but also take in information or more questions or concerns, since we are, you know, just part of the team that really plays a huge part in homelessness for our community, and so you and I tag teamed, which thank you for that.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: That was fun.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: That was fun and we just unpacked.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: We unpacked some history of the rescue mission, some history of trends, what we're seeing now in homelessness.
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: That is different.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: We also took a dive into TRM, which sometimes I think we could spend the whole two hours just on the operations of TRM 70 years worth of ministry and Topeka.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: It does take a while to unpack?
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it does, but we did that and we did it well, and so we unpacked, really, what does TRM do and what do we not do?
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: And then we talked about just top 10 concerns or questions that you and I, our team, have either heard from NIAs questions, maybe, that people have reached out to us with some of the questions that we saw city council have those kinds of things, and you and I unpacked those and answered those.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: We also talked about just a game plan, which, if you want to highlight that in just a second, you can.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: We also unpacked also partnerships and just the incredible things that are happening in our community that have been drowned out or maybe misinformed and not discussed like it should be.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: And then we ended our time, too, with looking at questions, and so we gave the audience a time to ask questions and we did that for 20-25 minutes.
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: We had a crowd of over 80, between 80 and 90 there.
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: We also live streamed it.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: You know, I want to touch on that for a moment.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: I think it's important that we live stream and we post, because we know people are busy, schedules are tough and even though these informational meetings we've set three of them they're all gonna be similar.
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: They're all gonna be the same, but we've set them at different times.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: It's still hard for people to do so right now.
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: If people go to our Facebook page, the entire presentation and question and answer, all of that is on our Facebook page as well, if people need a reference, and so it was really just a time to answer questions.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of misinformation out there, barry.
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: You know, sometimes the stuff that I read on social media or I'm hearing in meetings, you know, I just realized that there's a lot of fear out there and fear then invokes toxicity sometimes, and so really trying to be just that voice of reason to not drown out the fear, but for us to walk alongside people who are nervous neighbors, who are experiencing things and they don't know what to do when stuff happens, and really just saying we care and we want to be a part of that and showing what resources we do have.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, the issue of homelessness invokes a lot of emotion in multiple different directions and across the country today there is a crisis of how to handle this issue and Topeka is facing, in its own level, its own crisis, not just in one part of the community, but throughout the entire community.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: I was listening to the radio program this morning and National syndicated, and they were talking about losing the whole city of Portland because of some policy decisions that they had made out there.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's possible Lose a whole city.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: We look at Los Angeles, who was happening in New York City right now and throughout the whole entire Midwest, and so this is invoking a lot of emotion, but emotion doesn't solve anything.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: What does is concrete, productive conversation and decisions and investment in it.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: And to pick a rescue mission For 70 years now and Topeka has been invested in it and the supporters and people who really want to have these good, crucial conversations to not just talk about their frustrations but also to come up with solutions, and so, if you're interested in coming to one of these open community meetings, the next one is August 10th, just a few days from now, 9 in the morning till 11, and it's at the former North Topeka Baptist Church and that is 123 Northwest Gordon Street.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: You can sign up to let us know that you're coming and I think, josh, we can put that on the website of how people can get that.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: If you can't make the August 10th one, there's another one August 22nd.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: It'll be 11.30 am to 1.30 pm.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Again, they're going to be live streamed.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: The first one was in the evening on July 27th, so to catch those folks there and this probably won't be the end of conversation, but it is a really great opportunity for people to say, okay, let's sit down, let's hear about it, let's discuss it and then talk about this game plan, which we can talk about at one of those meetings and some other times that there's some proactive things happening.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: So great opportunity for people to come together and we're so grateful that people did here the other night and really want to be informed and do something.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: So, thank you, maryam.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: You, in regards to supportive services, oversee the volunteer department and summer is always a challenging time to get volunteers and there's a lot of need for volunteers right now.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Can you speak to that?
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: Sure, you know, trm honestly couldn't survive without volunteers, whether it's the distribution center, the kitchen, map, outreach.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: It is just so critical that we have volunteers that basically double our staff, because that's what it takes to get everything done that we need.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: Summer is a tough time.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: People are traveling, people are on vacation with their kids, they're getting ready for back to school All these different kind of things are going on.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: So we have an incredible need for volunteers year round and we would love to have people just come and sign up with us and see when they could have the opportunity to help, whether it's with the back to school drive, whether it's serving meals, whether it's going out on outreach, whether it's helping with map, whether it's being at the front desk here at the Children's Palace.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: All of those things are such significant needs for volunteers and we just we love our volunteers.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: And we love to be able to work alongside them and have them see firsthand all of the things that are going on.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: Our information meetings are great, but there's just something about being here and experiencing the opportunity to interact with the folks that we serve.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: You know, barry I've said it so many times I learned so much more from the people that we serve than I think I'm able to give back, and I know our volunteers can have that experience too, while they're loving on people.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: They will just have a different kind of perspective on people that are struggling, people living in poverty, people who are hungry, people who are unsheltered.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: All of those things just become so much more real.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: They really do and we couldn't do it without volunteers and we're thankful for the ones we have.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: And if you're interested in volunteering, you can go to the website trmonlineorg and hit the Volunteer section and there's a way to get signed up there or call the Tobeka Rescue Mission after the volunteer director.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, you know, I in the community meeting the other night there were some people that I didn't know there, some people that I think I've seen and some people I knew, but I could tell when there was a volunteer in the room because they were just like lit up, they get it, they understand it.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: There are the front lines of this, you know, and it's not just theory to them.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: So if you really want to get in the middle of the river and swim hard, come volunteer to peek our rescue mission.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and you'll be blessed.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: You'll get wet but you'll be blessed, that's right.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: So anyway, our two guys here today are part of the Rockstar team at Tobeka Rescue Mission.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: They do just some amazing things, love them both, and they're kind of comical sometimes.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: So I'm not sure really who's going to come out of here, and we don't have any bleep or any of those kind of things here.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: But we have Holton Whitman who is the director of the distribution of the distribution services to Pika Rescue Mission.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Mike Chotto is assistant director of distribution services.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Good morning guys.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Morning, good morning.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: So that was kind of a really soft good morning.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: I was going to say that Good morning to you.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Okay, all right.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: So anyway, holton, talk about what is the distribution services about it to Pika Rescue Mission.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: We hear the thing about the distribution center, the warehouse, and people get bits and pieces of that, but what is it for?
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: What does it do?
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a great question.
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: So we do a lot and it's Okay, we're done.
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: Next question we do a lot and it's a joy.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: We One of our main focuses is our food distribution ministry.
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: That we do every Tuesday and Thursday From 9 to 2, we're going to talk about that a little bit more here in a little bit.
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: That's one of the pieces we do.
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: We also have a hand in supporting the other arms of the ministry, so making sure that they have the cleaning supplies they need and helping the kitchen with the food that they serve for hot meals, and just all the different departments have needs and we step in and help out where we can with those.
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: And then we have a clothing ministry that we do, so we provide guests with clothing when they come and stay with us and then also help support our map program that we're a part of and that's a huge blessing as well.
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: And then we have what's called our completion of program, and I think that's probably my favorite, if I can choose.
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: It's just an opportunity to come along and celebrate with people who are taking a transitional step into the next part of their life.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: So what does that mean?
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Completion of program.
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so when we have a guest who gets into housing and they work with our amazing team over in the shelters and they get into their own apartment or their own house, we have the opportunity to come alongside them and say, hey, we would like your fresh start to be as good as possible, and so we do our best to provide them with furniture and pots and pans and just basically everything you need.
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: When you're starting from scratch.
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: We try to step in and just love on them and support them in that way, and it's just such an awesome time to celebrate the progress.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: So the picture is somebody comes into the shelter.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: They got nothing, maybe they close on their back.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: They go through the different classes.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: They participate in a program to help them move forward, to Thank you, if nothing else they say graduate from homelessness into their own housing and to jobs, those different things, and so you guys are able then to gather the necessary items maybe not everything that you need right away and help them.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: And also some people that I know of in the community who are precariously homeless and are just now getting things started.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Well, precariously, they're not on the streets, they are not in the shelter, but if they could just get that refrigerator, if they could just get that stove or whatever.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: I know I worked with one lady here the other day and you got her everything except the little fridge and she texted me last night.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: She says I got a refrigerator and so she is so happy, and then she was really pretty desperate.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: You know, just like a life's over and that kind of thing.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Mike Shalda, you get a chance to go out on deliveries, sometimes in these homes and help people set up.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: What's it like for you to be able to see people that get their home?
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: There's nothing in it and then you come hauling in with all this stuff to set them up.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: So they got a bed to sleep in and maybe something to eat on and maybe a refrigerator.
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: It kind of gives me flashbacks to like getting moved into college One of our employees that's in charge of getting the supplies all together.
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: We didn't really fully understand how much she was putting in the boxes until Holton went out with one of the guys that we were housing and just unpacking it.
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: It's like holy cow, why don't we think of that?
• 13:27
  Speaker 6: But yeah, it's like we're moving them into college and I just remember five years ago, my very first completion program that I did on my first day here at the Rescue Mission.
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: We were getting everything into their apartment right behind Highland Park and the last thing that needed to come in was the mattress.
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: And as we were bringing it in, his eyes lit up and he's like who's is that?
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: And I said it's yours.
• 13:58
  Speaker 6: And he's like, no, no, it's not.
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: And I said no, it's yours.
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: And just with tears in his eyes, he said all that I have ever known is what it is to sleep on the floor on a jail cell bed or the beds that are at missions, and that's not any really step up from a jail cell bed.
• 14:17
  Speaker 6: That mattress that you are bringing in tells me that I matter.
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: And I was like, yep, I'm where I need to be right now this is great.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, you do matter.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: First day on the job.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: First day on the job.
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: Hook line and sinker.
• 14:31
  Speaker 6: But yeah, it's great.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so where do all these supplies come from?
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so we are so blessed by the community that we exist in the environment here of generosity that this community extends to us is it would blow your mind and so the community rallies around us and supports us with everything from food to the pots and pans that we give out.
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: I mean, we have a needs list on our website and we'll put up what we need when we need it, and the community answers that.
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: And it is really special to be able to just step into that stage of life and just meet those needs.
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: And I also want to just take a chance, too, to shout out the team that we have there.
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: I am just constantly reminded of how God has orchestrated this group of people to be especially gifted and talented in a way that they can come around and just love on these people, like Mike was talking about the gal who works in our supply room, becky, and she's a mom to six kids, and so she thinks like a mom, and so she thinks of all of these people that she's moving in or that we're getting ready to move in these places, like it's her kid, and so she thinks of everything.
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: I mean there's stuff in those boxes that I would have never dreamed of, as you dreamed of thinking about, because I barely can function on my own.
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: It's just, it's just pretty remarkable.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Well, when you have six kids, yeah, you're going to get it.
• 16:00
  Speaker 6: You guys are number one.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: Both of you guys like it, so talk just briefly.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: We got a lot of the things to cover here, but this is important.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: You put it out on the website what the needs are Facebook, maybe a press conference or whatever, and sometimes that just isn't always coming in.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: What do you do then?
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: We pray yeah, the Lord provides.
• 16:26
  Speaker 6: In such a honest, honest to God answer, the only thing that can come to mind is the word is hilarious.
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: The Lord provides in the most hilarious way because it is.
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: It's like we need this, exactly this, and we pray about it.
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: And time after time and time again, I've seen the Lord just bless us through somebody just going.
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: Well, I don't know why, I just felt this, but I just felt like I need to come drop a, b and C off and I brought this much and said well, that's exactly what we prayed for.
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: Thank you very much.
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: Bless us, that giver too doesn't it.
• 17:04
  Speaker 6: So it really works?
• 17:04
  Speaker 6: Is what you're saying?
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: It really works.
• 17:06
  Speaker 6: Prayer really works.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: So there are times when we can do our best.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: It's not a good enough.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: And then we turn to the Lord.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: And then the Lord comes through Holt and you came to the rescue mission in the beginning to do the outreach program.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: So you know the streets and those kind of things, you know some of the needs out there of the outreach team and then you've been moved into the director of the distribution services.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Before your time here there was a street reach was out and had been ministering to some guys under a bridge, and there was five of them and it was a hot summer, and one of them was a guy that they had been ministering to, was in a wheelchair, a homeless fellow alcoholic in a wheelchair.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: And one day they went by and they noticed he was sitting on the ground, and so the guys surrounding were all higher and talk, skater or whatever, and they could barely function, you know.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: And so street reach team went up to the guy and said hey, would you, would you like to get a wheelchair for you?
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Or what happened to your wheelchair?
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: And they said he's just a guy stole it.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: You know why would somebody steal somebody's wheelchair, you know?
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's pretty rough out there and he said somebody stole it.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: And how long ago?
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: He said, oh, several days ago.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: And how?
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: You getting around while I'm crawling?
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: And so the street reach director at that time said Would you like a wheelchair, if we can get one for you, not knowing if we had one at the distribution center.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: And the guy said whatever you know, life is no good, I'm not worth, I don't matter.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: You know people talk about, they want to help, but they don't.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Street reach had been going by quite a number of times.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: Anyway, the guys left there, came back to the distribution center and at that very moment a lady was pulling up and out of the back of her minivan was an almost brand new wheelchair.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: And street reach guys said um, man, we're from street reach and there's a guy out here in the need and would you mind if we just put that over here in our Jeep?
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: And she goes?
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Sure, and she was blessed.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: And then she went on and 20 minutes later they brought this wheelchair back, pulled it up, showed this guy this wheelchair and he was like stunned Would you like to help me get in it?
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: And he goes.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: And so they put him in, the other guys going, how'd that happen?
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: And so they had an opportunity to talk about the Lord, and one of those guys that had been homeless for for a long, long time came in later that that same day, and I remember seeing him and he said I Don't really believe there's a God, but what I saw happened today makes me think there might be one.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: And he said I'm tired of what I do out here.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: And he said he said you know and this was July he said I have not had a A change of clothes since January.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: I don't remember the last time that I had a shower.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: He said do you do that here?
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: I said yes.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: He said could I possibly get a shower there?
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: Go, yeah, like really soon.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Wait until the night, buddy.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: And so, fast-forwarding that story, he entered in one of the programs and he was able to get a job and Move out of the mission.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: The guy in the wheelchair didn't come in until later that winter and he was really struggling still with the God thing and he ends up coming to being a guest of the rescue mission and and so when you pray, you can't make the need meet, you can't meet the need, and God does it that way.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: It's such a cool thing, people and God working together to make things really happen.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: So Okay.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: So pivot here a minute and talk about school.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: We talked about kids getting ready for school to pick.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: A rescue mission has recently been in the media about the back-to-school drive.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: Talk a little bit about that and then we're gonna get into hunger.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: But let's talk about school first.
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so we're just well.
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: Actually, our back-to-school drive starts today, so we're really excited about that.
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: We've had over four hundred and seventy five students sign up and we'll receive Backpacks this year, and we're just excited, that's not all kids in the Hope Center either.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: No, that's.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: It's a very small percentage In the Hope Center.
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so this is just an opportunity for us to Just love on the community.
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: You know, we we love our kids here at the Hope Center and we we try to spoil them when we can, but we also love the kids in our community too, and so this is just an opportunity to Pour into those kids's lives, regardless of where they're from and regardless what their background is.
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: We just want them to know that we care about you and we and we're, we want to be invested in what your immediate future holds, and then you know the long term as well.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: So the man you've been a principal in two schools in Topeka USD 501 before he came to the mission.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Did you have kids come to school the first day that didn't have all the supplies?
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Yes, what was that like for them?
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: you know, we tried to do as much as possible to alleviate that, and especially when teachers noticed at Back to school night, which was usually like a day or two before that, if a child came and didn't seem to have the supplies, or if the child didn't come Sometimes that was indicative of, you know, that this might be a family that was struggling, and so we were always blessed by either Families in that classroom that if there was supposed to send two boxes of crayons, they would send four, and so then there would be extra.
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: But there was such a difference in the kids who Were coming and their names were on their boxes and they had the folders that they had been able to pick out, and there was, just since, a sense of excitement and joy that the kids had.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: I Don't know if they could articulate it that they were prepared, but that's the feeling that they had.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: They were accepted, they were a part of something, they were coming with.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: They didn't stand out and so I Saw time and time again incredible teachers where a child would come and, and oftentimes in the schools that I was at, one of the expectations I had was that teachers were greeting kids at the door so that there was a smile.
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: Many of them would do special handshakes with the kids, that kind of thing.
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: But I saw numerous times, even before becoming a principal, a child coming and the very first thing they would say to the teacher is I Don't have a backpack or I don't have this.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: It was almost like there was this sense of Anxiousness and they just needed that that teacher to know.
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: And, and time and time again the teacher would say oh, I'm so sorry, but it's okay, cuz guess what?
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: I already have you stuff here.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: And it was like the day changed for that kiddo.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: But that doesn't mean that they didn't still notice, they didn't have things, and you know because you know kids know they're observing.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: But if a kid comes in, he's already prepared, the parents prepared.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: It's a game changer.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: It is the family, for that child when they go to school the first day.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, holton, you starting today with the distribution, nearly 500, probably be that over when it's all said done.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Do you need more supplies?
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: We do.
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: We do, yeah, so, as we need all of the Typical school supplies, but if you're looking first, the stuff that we're in need of the most, we need wide and college ruled spiral notebook paper, wide and college ruled composition notebooks and wide and college ruled loose leaf paper.
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: We also need dry erase markers, scissors, erasers, highlighters, colored pencils, then, of course, backpacks.
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: Backpacks are kind of the backbone of the whole thing.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: So some of us, like myself, have short-term memory.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: If I need to go read, that is that posted somewhere.
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: It absolutely is.
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: It's on our TRM website and on our Facebook page and it's under the needs list.
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: It should pop up right as you click on that's awesome.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: How fun is this, how important it is people can Get involved in bringing things by.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Do we still need volunteers for this?
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: we do.
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: Yep, we absolutely need volunteers.
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: It takes it takes a lot of folks to get that many kids their backpacks, and so it's a great opportunity to come in and see the joy on kids' faces and such an opportunity to serve.
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: I do want to also just say thank you to everyone who has helped so far.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: And this is a huge community effort to to raise these, and so I also want to thank KSNT and WIBW.
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: They heard that we were not quite where we needed to be with supplies, and we're more than happy to Run stories asking the community for that, and so it just it's so important to be able to Communicate that need, and so they're.
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: They're just such a valuable Partners to us and you know, we have probably, I'd say, 60% of what we need, but so room for that prayer part, right room for that prayer part last year.
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: I want to so.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: I was wondering if you were gonna bring this up.
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: Man, okay.
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: So I started at the distribution center like two weeks before back to school and I had no idea what.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: I was getting myself into.
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: And the night before we had just that.
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: We were scheduled for the distribution to start.
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: We had 60 kids Signed up and we had 60 bags packed.
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: I was like, okay, I just not so bad, we can handle this, you know well, that grew to like 420 like overnight and so, needless to say, I was a little bit nervous about that.
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: I'm like, but you know, I one of the things that I learned is that I Think the human, human nature says, okay, well, we don't have what we need.
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: I need to go and just do everything I possibly can and Spend money.
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: I don't have to buy supplies that we need.
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: So no kid goes without, you know, because the heart is that we turn nobody away, right, but it's in this tension of the Lord's provision and and trusting him to provide when he says he will, you know, and trusting that we have a community that is generous and that loves and believes in our mission, and Doing everything that we can on our end, being responsible about communicating our needs, stepping in and purchasing things when it's appropriate, but not getting ahead of God, right, because there's such a risk in doing that.
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: If you get ahead of God, you're robbing people of opportunities for generosity.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: You're taking you're just taking things that shouldn't be in your control and trying to steal it back, missing a blessing that he has a yeah, and you don't want to be in that spot.
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: You don't want to now.
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: It's uncomfortable.
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: I was the most uncomfortable I think I've ever been.
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: I was like I'm gonna fail and I'm gonna get fired.
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: I'm too.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: By faith, with its leaves rolled up.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Oh man, I thought that was just a slogan.
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know what?
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: We are in a similar position right now.
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: We have what we need for day one, we don't have what we need for day two, but it's okay.
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: Wow, god wants us to be in that position where we are looking for the daily bread yeah, it's not the whole loaf, just the daily bread and so I fully believe that the community and the Lord will just show up and God will be glorified Because of it.
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: But it is, you know, it's still not comfortable.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: Her story one time where he fed five thousand people plus women and children.
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: He can probably do five thousand backpacks if we really Okay, all right, very good you know, will you touch, holding on Just the blessing that we had of the lady that showed up.
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: But before you do that, you know, I think sometimes we feel like we have to and you're gonna hear this in just a minute and it is a large blessing.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: But sometimes just saying yes to something small there's really nothing too small for the Lord and what we see time and time again.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: Let's say, I'm able to bring four boxes of crayons.
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: Well then he's touched someone else's heart to bring four boxes of crayons and the next thing we know the need was eight boxes of crayons and we hadn't met.
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: And so that's the other thing that I feel like is important is so many people right now they want to help, but then they feel like they can't help a lot, so then they think, oh well, maybe this isn't really gonna help them, but every little bit helps and we see God turn something little From someone's perspective into just a truly need that's met.
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: So I think that's important, but then it's also important when people do things like this.
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yesterday.
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: So you know, definitely trying to make sure we have at least what we need for the first day of distribution, you know, and stuff.
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: And so I was talking to Mike and I said you know we don't have enough backpacks right now for where we need to be and the backpacks are the most significant expense, you know, when it comes to to getting these kids what they need.
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: And Go downstairs and this lady shows up and she said, hey, I'm from Kansas City and I saw that you guys had need for backpacks.
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: I got 61 of them packed.
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: Can I drop those off?
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: From Kansas.
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: City.
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: I said so.
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: I said I gotta ask.
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: I'm just so curious.
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: I said how did you find that?
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: She said well, you guys asked on your website.
• 29:33
  Speaker 6: So Not limited to geography no, and it wasn't even just the backpack.
• 29:40
  Speaker 6: She had the supply in them too.
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: Supplies them, so yeah and I don't think she probably understood the significance of that.
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: And so we did, we did, and so I, you know, we told her just how thankful we were she's Looking at the website.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: She might be listening to podcast too, so she might be able to hear this.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: That's awesome, huge Thank you.
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: You know, just this focus, barry.
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: I mentioned it last week on the podcast too, and we're gonna dive into it when you guys Transition to food.
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: But it's one of the most challenging things for myself too, as the executive director, because then I have teams that look to me going.
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: Do we sound the alarms?
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: Do we say, hey, we're waving the flag, let's alert people, we need this, and not doing it too quickly when it seems like we're putting faith in man versus the Lord, but then also not being too slow so that if we do run out of something or we don't have something we need, you know, the first thing that I know people think are here is, well, we didn't hear anything about it, they didn't ask, and so constantly trying to find that balance and just saying, lord, what do you need us to do in this moment?
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: And sometimes he tells us wait and watch.
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: And then other times he'll put an idea on our hearts, like has recently you know, there's been a couple of things that has happened with Holton and just ideas that he has about food and stuff like that and then we know the Lord's asking us to pursue it.
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: But I'm telling you it is Probably the biggest growth that I'm experiencing right now is to say, especially as a leader God, what do you need me to do?
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: And when is that totally putting my trust into you and getting out of the way?
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: Or when is it me putting my face out there to say we need this in it?
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: It's beautiful, stressful and all the above.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: It will be for the rest of your time.
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: Thank you, and afterwards I don't think you told me that when you wanted to retire, barry, I think you left that out.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: No, but I said read the slogan it's faith with its sleeves rolled up and there's really great messages.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: And I don't know who came with that.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: People said, hey, that was a great idea, barry.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: No, it was here before I got here.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: But faith, substance of things, hope for the evidence of things not seen, so there's a trust in that.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: But also you got to roll your sleeves up.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: So what I've turned if I was going to modernize that thing.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: Partnership with God and man.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is it really is about that, and so being in tune to the real director of this ministry, which is the Lord himself, and we are servants here to say general, how do you want us to do this?
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Yes, and we'll partner with you.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: And what a cool opportunity that is and for people to.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: There's another slogan that's in your office.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: It's on an easel.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: It says expect a miracle.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, expect a miracles.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: We need a lot of them here.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: And use director Need them every day Multiple times.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: But what is a miracle?
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: Sometimes miracles are those supernatural, spontaneous things that could have come from nowhere.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: And sometimes a lady from Kansas City that drops off 60 some backpacks that didn't drop out of the sky actually probably came in a car, yeah, with a person that really just God spoke to her heart, yeah.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: So we could go on with that.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: But we do want to cover hunger today because this is a significant part of to speak of rescue mission ministries.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: It's a significant need in our community and has been for a long time, and it's continuing to grow and grow and grow and grow.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: Mariam, you and I were very involved with something that brought the hunger attention to the community back during the pandemic, in regards to farms and USDA and so on and so forth, which you've talked about before it turned into an operation we called Operation Food Secure here, which served 10 counties, 120,000 different people multiple times, not just once with food and 500 volunteers and about 4 million pounds of food and all that.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: It was a major operation.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: And so when that was over, pandemic sort of over, but the economic impacts of the pandemic didn't stop, and so the mission had already been feeding through its kitchen for folks in the community, its outreach programs through, well later, mobile access partnership.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: Today, the unsheltered homeless and also the distribution center where people came by to pick up the what we call food baskets Pandemic being over, the people returning to work, things, normalizing, we know it really hasn't didn't turn back to normal, did it?
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: No, it didn't, it never did With people who are hungry.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: And so you've been recently looking at some of those statistics and figures and, whether it's you, hultner, mike, talk a little bit about the increase of need that we're seeing in the community.
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: Sure, Well, and I'll just touch on it because Mike and Hultner definitely know about it even more than I do, because they get to see it firsthand but I can tell you that we're watching our costs go up.
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: So, when we have to actually purchase food, we're watching the costs for that food go up by about 20%.
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: We're watching our needs go up by 20 plus percent.
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: We're watching the number of people who are coming back after not having a need for food before go up right.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: So or maybe they haven't had to access us for a year or two years now and now they're back.
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: And we're seeing families who have never accessed food services now seeking our services, and so it tells us that something's going on, and one of the things is is that food is accessible through different kind of pantries, including the Topeka Rescue Mission, and so people are utilizing our services so that then they can utilize their cash for other things like maybe it's gas to get to work, maybe it's medication, maybe it's paying part of an electric bill or a utility bill.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: So it is such a blessing to them that they have the resource that is Topeka Rescue Mission and our food resources to be able to do that, but it is putting a strain on every system.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: Every system and the strain on the families that are in need in our community.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: Guys, you're on the front lines of this.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: You see it on Tuesdays and Thursdays and every other day that you're trying to get ready for a Tuesday and Thursday, what kind of increased growth, number wise, have you seen this year, maybe over the year before?
• 36:18
  Speaker 6: Well, I love statistics and I would rather spit off like baseball statistics, but you know this is this is something that's not today.
• 36:27
  Speaker 6: Yeah, not today.
• 36:28
  Speaker 6: So let me paint a little bit of a picture Pre-covid.
• 36:32
  Speaker 6: So before March April 2020, the busiest day that we had for our food distribution was either 68 or 86, I can't remember.
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: I always get those numbers and those are households, that's households.
• 36:45
  Speaker 6: Yes, so could be, 68 or 86 households.
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that was the busiest day during COVID and post COVID.
• 36:52
  Speaker 6: We tied the record for households 184 households In a day.
• 37:01
  Speaker 6: In a day, yeah, june 27th of this year, we hit 212 households.
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: We are out of the, the pandemic Per se, whatever they called it, like ending it or whatever 212 households.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: Household could be one person or multiple.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: It could be yeah, one person, multiple people, so you adjust the food baskets based upon the people in the household correct?
• 37:27
  Speaker 6: Yes, and then it just like things have just come in one fell swoop of, you know, the supply and demand.
• 37:33
  Speaker 6: The demand is high and the supply is Stay in the same or dwindling significantly was Maryam said.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: The price of food, yes, and even access correct.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: I understand our harvesters partners, yep, I've had a greater challenge of getting product that's being passed through them, so then we can get it from them to be able to distribute people correct, understand these, to have multiple pages of Things you could shop for, yeah, now they're down to just a few yes yeah, we're in a situation in this country.
• 38:04
  Speaker 5: Yes, yeah, we have.
• 38:05
  Speaker 5: We're seeing, from three years ago, a 200%, over a 200% increase in the number of families that are accessing our food.
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: That's a lot of reasons, right.
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: So food cost doesn't just go up for us, right, it goes up for those families as well.
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: And then, with the COVID-19 era, snap benefits changing, there's just a lot of things happening all at one time to put us in a kind of a unique place where we've got a lot of need, less supply, and we're just trying to make sure that we're being diligent about making sure we can continue to meet needs, be creative about how we go about that.
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: We just did a survey where we surveyed 200 and some of our folks who come through our food line and we just wanted to know, like, are you using the stuff that we're giving you?
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: How can we better supply you so that way that we're meeting you where you are at, you know, and if we're going to be purchasing stuff, I want to purchase stuff that people want and use and find helpful.
• 39:03
  Speaker 5: So, yeah, so we're really trying to drill down and dig in and see where we can just meet the time and the place where we're at.
• 39:15
  Speaker 6: And with that survey, too, we were tracking.
• 39:17
  Speaker 6: It started May 1st when we started tracking how many people were coming in, because we were seeing a pattern in folks coming in that hadn't accessed the food in over a year and I'm not talking about like 2021, 20, no, there were people that were coming that hadn't accessed our food since 2009.
• 39:35
  Speaker 6: And since May 1st, we've had 381 unduplicated households, meaning none of those people that we have counted have been counted twice.
• 39:47
  Speaker 6: 381 have come that have not accessed to get food from us in over a year.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: What are you seeing in regards to the, maybe the story of the people?
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: What are the?
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: What engagement?
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: You're not just handing out food.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: You're talking to people, Correct, and what are you hearing?
• 40:10
  Speaker 6: They're just struggling to make ends meet.
• 40:12
  Speaker 6: They're working.
• 40:15
  Speaker 6: There's a lot of folks that are unemployed, disabled, but there are also families that are coming in, households that are coming in, that are employed, trying to.
• 40:24
  Speaker 6: You know, it's like, am I making payments on my cooling bill, or my cell phone bill, or my car payment, or am I going to be purchasing food?
• 40:32
  Speaker 6: You know what's more important?
• 40:33
  Speaker 6: It's like, well, you got to get around so and you got to go to your work.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: So pay your rent.
• 40:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah, pay your rent too.
• 40:39
  Speaker 6: Yeah, right, so it's like, well, I'm going to have to not get anything for food, but you know, that's where we come in.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: I understand there's a record number of walk-ups too.
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: In other words, they don't even have a car.
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: We've got individuals who may be unsheltered they're trying to get food for wherever they're living but also people that walk from long distances to be able and maybe even ride the bus to get a food basket to take it back.
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: So it's not always somebody that's sitting in a car waiting for the next opening.
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so what does somebody have to do to get a food basket?
• 41:13
  Speaker 6: All that they need to bring is their identification, every single person's identification that's in their household, with their social security number.
• 41:21
  Speaker 6: We just use the social security number to make sure that they are a real person, and that's how we keep track on our program, which is called client track.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: And that client track is then also communicated as far as, if they got a food basket to pick a rescue mission, they go to another agency.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: Then they would say, hey, you were at the rescue mission earlier today.
• 41:37
  Speaker 6: They're six or seven locally here in the peak of the age?
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that happens if somebody doesn't have an ID.
• 41:44
  Speaker 6: We refer them to go somewhere that they can access it.
• 41:48
  Speaker 6: Mobile access partnership.
• 41:50
  Speaker 6: They are able to get identification there, we'll even use.
• 41:53
  Speaker 5: I mean, we've used library cards for identification, yeah, but we also realize too hey, we serve a population where identification is not an easy thing to come by.
• 42:04
  Speaker 5: Sometimes Things get stolen, things get lost, things get burned, and so, yeah, there's some guidelines that we I like to call them guidelines that we have, but we're not going to turn anybody away, so there's options.
• 42:16
  Speaker 6: You're hungry and you need food.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: We will help you.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, good, well, guys, we've covered a lot of bases here today and it's like always, it's so refreshing and exciting to hear what God is doing, what people are doing, what you guys get to be a part of, with a great team of staff, volunteers to help people in significant needs, and so thank you for what you do.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: There's still room for giving.
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: There's still room to give for food as well.
• 42:43
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: People can go to the rescue mission website trmonlineorg and where do they find a food list on the needs list as well.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: That's correct.
• 42:53
  Speaker 5: One stop shop.
• 42:55
  Speaker 6: There's a needs list.
• 42:55
  Speaker 6: You got Amazon wish list.
• 42:58
  Speaker 6: You got a lot of people on the Walmart registry.
• 43:00
  Speaker 6: They can purchase the stuff and it can be sent to us.
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: You know, the health of a community, as they have said, is really reflective of how we take care of those who are in the most need, and so if you're a part of Topeka Rescue Mission and other organizations helping in our community, you are really part of a healthy community.
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: And you hear things today about these people should do this, that or the other thing.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you from first hand experience that it's not that easy.
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: It's not that simple.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: People have gone through a lot of things.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: Pandemic is one issue that is still reeling in our country and our world, but also there's some people very much struggling in the most affluent nation in the world and we have an opportunity to do something like maybe no other country can.
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: Anyway, thank you for listening to our community mission.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: I failed this morning to point out probably one of the most important parts of the podcast.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: This is Wednesday, august the second, and it's a nationally known day.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: Mike, you and I love this day because it's national.
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: What?
• 43:59
  Speaker 6: Ice cream sandwich.
• 44:00
  Speaker 6: Speaking of food, yeah, it's national ice cream sandwich day.
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: And Amanda, you love it for another reason it's national.
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: What?
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: Coloring book day Okay that's right the kid, the principal, the teacher.
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: So, anyway, we always like to do that.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: I forgot to do that at the beginning today, so you all would know the importance of the day, plus everything else you've heard.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: So, guys, thanks for being here.
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: Thank you for being part of our community, our mission.
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: If you'd like more information about the Topeka rescue mission, you can go to trmonlineorg.
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: If you'd like to help, support or spread the word about our community, our mission on your podcast, you can subscribe, rate or share.
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: Thank you again for being a part of our community, our mission.