Latest / Our Community, Our Mission / Ep #203 - Meet Cindy Risch: Christmas Coordinator

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Ep #203 - Meet Cindy Risch: Christmas Coordinator · 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, as we're quickly approaching Christmas and, Lord, I just reminded of that wonderful baby God that you gave us the birth of your Son, Jesus.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Lord, help us to always remember that during this time and to keep that at the forefront of everything that's going on.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Lord, we worship you and we praise you and just thank you for this time and just thank you for our listeners, Lord.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Pray that they would be blessed today In your holy name.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: We pray Amen.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Hello everybody.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: You're listening to Our Community, Our Mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission right here on A Few Days Before Christmas, I know, December 20th 2023.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Christmas came fast, barry, it did Christmas came fast.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: It really did, maryam.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: It's podcast number 203.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: That didn't come fast, no, but this year has come fast.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, it is just rocking and rolling and here we are with a lot of activity going on.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: It's a big rescue mission and we have a really special volunteer guest a person that's been with us, for I'm going to have you introduce her here in a minute because she's a rock star, yes, she is, and so, but I'm going to kind of lead up to that whole thing in regards to how you got her here.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: I think it'd be okay if we went straight.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: And how you'd stretch her into the job that she's taking right now.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: I learned from you, Barry.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: I learned from you.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you did, you did.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: We'll get into that in a minute.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: So we're going to do a few days before Christmas, on December 20th and this is 2023, if you're listening to it, you know 10 years from now and so on December 20th, it is a special day.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: We always try to help people to understand, you know, the value of the day, right?
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: The value of the day on December 20th.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: So it is national, international, we don't know, but it's what day?
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: You know, it is a very special day if you don't have other things to do, right, because it's game day, it's game day.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Right, that's right.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: It's something else to do.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, some of us work for a living.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: I guess we could wait till we got home.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: I know people who work and play games at the same time.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Oh, you do, I do, I do.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Well, not here at the mission, though I don't know.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Never here at the mission.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: No, sometimes life is a game.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Good point Good point it's when you're losing.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Losing, yeah so.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: But it's also another day that's a little bit more Christmas oriented and it's go careling money.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: I know it's a matter of your phone, yeah.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: I haven't cariled for a long time, I don't know.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, growing up that was a favorite thing that we did.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: We would just and I lived in the country so we had to drive, you know, to go to people's houses, to carol, but I used to love doing that, huh.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: I know, yeah Well, you need to drive again.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: Apparently Well, I could just walk in my neighborhood, but I'd be alone.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: So, mary, do you remember listening to the radio?
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: It was the very second piece of music ever broadcast on the radio, in 1906.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Do you remember what that song was when you were listening?
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: You know what?
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: That's a couple years before I was born, but I know you are a little bit older than I, so can you tell me what that was.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Yes, I can.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, it was very inspiring.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Oh Holy Night, oh, that's a beautiful one.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: It was on, yeah, I thought you listened to that live.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: So second piece of music ever to be broadcast on the radio was oh Holy Night.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: We know that song.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: It's a lovely song, and so, yeah, yeah, 1906.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Well and think how special that is that it was a Christian song.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Yes, right, absolutely.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: And I'm guessing there were other songs right, like Jingle Bells and all those kinds of things, but it's kind of wonderful that that was the one that they chose.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you think we call things Christmas carols?
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Was that because a lady named Carol wrote a lot of songs?
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: You know that's a great question, but I bet it we can blame the English.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay, well, all I know is that what the producer of this program always puts in front of us, and he probably Google searches this, and we know Google never lies.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: It's, you know, good information off Google.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: You know they're not lying to you.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: That's right, that's right.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: That's where we it's always the truth, carol actually means a dancer, a song of praise and joy.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Oh, like Carol, I didn't know that my mother-in-law's name was Carol, and I didn't know that.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Was she joyful in giving praise.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, she actually did.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: She's 95 years old today and not quite dancing as much as she did, but anyway.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, that's where Carol came from and we can go on, but we want to talk about Christmas and so, and so specifically about now and this year, in 2023, before that, it's close to the end of 2023.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: And so you get the fun job of working with the finances here at the.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Speaker Rescue Mission and so how can people help to not only end 2023 well at the Speaker Rescue Mission financially, but also help us to get in a position for 2024?
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: So November and December are our two largest giving months, right in terms of the amount that we receive, so that we can do the work that we do.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: So year-end giving is incredibly important and we're needing to raise a pretty significant amount before now in the end of the year about 850,000.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: That's a significant amount it is.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: It absolutely is, but it really will help us be able to, as you said, end strong but be able to start the year, because our first few months of the year are always a little bit less in terms of the amount that people are giving.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: So we just wanted to encourage people to really just be prayerful about their giving to TRM at this time of year and, if it's possible to give a little bit more, if maybe they haven't given in a little bit, that they consider giving to TRM as a special year-end gift and we will be able to use that money to really serve an ever-growing need that we're seeing, whether it's for folks that are living outside or living in precarious housing, or maybe they're living three families to a house because they just can't afford things.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: People are struggling to buy food and we're seeing the numbers on food assistance needs go up significantly and I think During this time of year we really get to see that need up close and personal because of all the families we adopt, all of the people that come to us for assistance during the holiday season, whether it's Thanksgiving or Christmas or any of those things.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: So I just want to encourage people to be prayerful about whether they are able to potentially give some extra assistance to TRM, and if they can't, we totally understand that too, because things are tough for everybody.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Everyone is looking at their finances very carefully, and so if they aren't able to give to us financially at the end of the year, we would just ask that they continue to pray for us and remember those that we're serving, as well as our staff.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Our teams are working really, really hard right now.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: Those are outreach teams that are on the street who are telling us that they're seeing more people who have never been homeless before.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: So we were hearing some people who have never been sheltered either in a homeless shelter or on the streets into Pica, Kansas.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: Exactly, and so you know they're, they're seeing that.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: They're also seeing folks that have been out for a long time.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: We have folks in our shelter that are serving people that are struggling.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: So prayer is always, always, always, every day of the year, you know.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Maryam, I get to you know been doing this for a long time and you kind of get used to this always being a challenge, always being a challenge.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: And I think about the number of homeless people in America today, which is at all time highs.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: We've got growth in every community, in Kansas, some of the largest growth that we've seen in ever.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: And then I stop and I think wait a minute.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: I live in the United States of America, the most prosperous nation on the face of the earth that has ever been, and the most powerful, and yet we have immense suffering of hunger and homelessness and that just does not seem right.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Well, it's too bad that it doesn't seem right, but what do we do about it?
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Right, what do we do about it?
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: And to pick a rescue mission almost 71 years old now next year will be 71 is been a partnership with people who do see that, who do care about that, who have a ability whether it's a little bit or a lot to be able to invest in people's lives, to help them to have the basic necessities Right.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: But it doesn't stop there.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: It is what we call a space for creating transformation in people's lives, hope, and so we think of Christmas season as hope, and we think of a rebirth in the new year, a new start, and for so many people they've given up on that.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: But yet this, this ministry to pick a rescue mission is an opportunity for people to not only get a basic need met right today whether it's a sandwich or a bottle of water or a place to stay but also a new future.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: Right, and that's what you get to invest in.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: If you're, if you've invested in to pick a rescue mission, it's investing in people's today and their tomorrow.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: And you know, barry, I think this is working with the folks that we work with and walking alongside them.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: It's a marathon, right.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: You know, just the other night we had a board meeting and Amanda was sharing a story about a gentleman that had been on the street for a long time and really was not feeling worthy of being in a different situation.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: And how far because of the persistence of many staff at TRM during the last cold season, the firefighters who were helping us try to rescue people from being out in that bitterly cold weather.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: And now today you know this it was a year long of outreaching before we could even kind of get him to come out of his 10th and talk Right, that's right.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Right and now he is at the shelter, he's getting the assistance that he needs in other ways, and this is really a marathon.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: So when people are giving to whether it's of their volunteer time, their finances, their prayers they are walking with us on what we know to be very long journeys, not always really quick fixes, but definitely worth the journey, as we get to then see people like the gentleman that we heard about the other night Thank you see the hope come back to his eyes that life can be different for him, and that's why we do what we do and that's why people support us right, because they get to be part of something that can very often seem impossible.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Well, if people are interested in helping out to pick a rescue mission financially, they can send in checks to pick a rescue mission.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: The address and the post box number is on the website.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: But also they can give online at trmonlineorg.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: So we want to pivot into this most special time of the year, christmas time.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: And here we are just about five days away from Christmas and we are seeing a lot of people helped already at Topeka Rescue Mission Merrim.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: We're going to talk about the old and the new.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Today we're going to say you're the old and we have new.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: That is very true.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: So, merrim, you came as former director of the Topeka United Way and the United Way of California.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: before that you and.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: I have gotten to know each other and we were coming up to a Christmas number of years ago and I needed a coordinator and I shared with you how, what a fun job that is, how easy that is, and so you did that for a whole year and created some manuals for us.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: That's kind of everybody knows Merrim.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: You know she creates stuff that people can read and follow through with and very valuable.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: But you did that and today, here, a number of years I don't remember what year that was.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: Now it's been a long time 2016.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: 2016.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: And here we are in 2023, christmas, yeah, okay, so that's been a while You've seen some different folks fulfill this position, but this year got another special person that's a Christmas coordinator, yes, and so she's somebody that worked with you on some other things.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: So who's our Christmas coordinator this year?
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: You know the person that is our coordinator this year is somebody that I feel just a little bit guilty about having asked, because this is somebody who has never said no to me.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Who never said no, that's the kind of person we need, right, I know.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: So this beautiful beautiful soul has been a volunteer helping me in the business office, helping at the DC, helping anybody who needs help.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: Right, she is a master organizer and likes it, which is even crazier.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Right, I can give her total chaos and all of a sudden it's just beautiful and she feels so good about it.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: She loves doing it.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: So it's my pleasure to have on our podcast this morning Cindy Riesch.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: Cindy has been a volunteer with us for a very long time and truly has a servant's heart like no other.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: She is just an amazing person.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: And so when Christmas came around and we were really thinking who can do this, who can really do this?
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: Who can understand why it's so important to be organized, who can really understand and Cindy's name just kept coming to mind and we did pray right, we did pray.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: Who would it be?
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Well that we did.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: But then it's like I'm not sure I've ever felt so guilty asking somebody who would you be willing to do part of Christmas, and of course she said yes, yeah, Well, you know, I've had the privilege of getting to know Cindy, and Cindy welcome to our community, our mission.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: And just, cindy, you really everything that Maryam said, and more is, fits you well in regards to you can take, I know, in my situation not being able to find a file that was created many, many times.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: But I'm not sure you created many, many years ago and for some reason you have this gift of going in and digging in, finding that thing and straightening out all kinds of different things which are so essential for operation of a ministry this large.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: So what brought you originally to volunteer to peak a rescue mission?
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: I know that you were.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: You had a working career and then you had a retirement and then you came here.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: But why here?
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: I had so many friends here who just couldn't say enough good things about the work that you do here, and I wanted to be a part of that.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: So what was your first impression coming in?
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: I know that through your church and through your pastor, you know you knew quite a bit about to be, or something about to be, a rescue mission.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: What was your?
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: What was your like?
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Why didn't know that when you got here, what a mess we were in, that you would?
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: do you a straight now.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Or what.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: What was?
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: What do you remember?
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Now, that was the the biggest aha moment.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: People can tell me what type of work you do here and all of that, but what they can't describe is the type of people that work here.
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: I met so many wonderful people who give their whole lives and their heart wholeheartedly to helping people who need it the most, and to meet all those people and work alongside them was just a joy.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: So what kind of things we're going to talk about your Christmas coordination coordination role now.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: What kind of things have you done here at the rescue mission, working alongside folks?
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: Well, all kinds.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: And again volunteer, yes, totally volunteer Started out with cleaning out and organizing everything from offices to files to storage rooms and records and I know I'm odd, but I just get a kick out of that Getting it all in order.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, one thing I remember that you found and presented to me was something that was a publication in the 1950s.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: You know that was awesome, you know, and it was.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: It was like where's that been?
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Why has that still been here?
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Because, again, it's a peak of rescue mission.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: We know why it's still been here.
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: Nothing gets thrown away.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Well, that's, that's true.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: That's true, and some of it's very valuable and some of it's just kind of entertaining, and the rest of it needs to be thrown away, exactly.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: But, and Cindy has done a great.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: She didn't mention that she is really good at throwing stuff away, is she?
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Yes, so tough Papers that we just don't need.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, cindy, you, you dug in, found stuff that you know maybe it was very essential.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: We've, we've, you've rescued us a number of times, finding certain documents and and those kinds of things.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: What else have you done here since you've entered into volunteering at TIRM?
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: I have helped at the DC with building food bags, sorting clothing Um yeah, I'm trying to think honestly.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: I don't know that there's really any area that you haven't helped with.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: Can you think of anything?
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, she's answered the phones, yeah.
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: I mean.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Cindy doesn't know how to say no, she helped me organize the IT closet too.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: That's right, see, wow.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: That's why we have a podcast today.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: You have no idea how true that sort of is.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: So, mary, what besides somebody who loves Christmas?
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: What is this couple of the key things that you would look for in a Christmas coordinator?
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: They need to be somebody that won't panic.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: That won't panic right, that kind of describes Cindy it absolutely does.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: It needs to be somebody who.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Love us.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Panic, but you don't panic, but you don't panic.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: No, it's somebody that can see the bigger picture and can see how things can work together, kind of that.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: If, then, kind of thing Okay, if we do this, then this will work this way, and you just have to stay calm and persevere right and put things up so that people can see it, and that is just so.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: Cindy, right, her background is engineering.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: So when we think about this developing process and looking at how things, how things need to function during a time that is nothing but chaos, if we're serving about 2,000 people during this, why is that?
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Christmas you know you, just you know gonna be nice people give them a gift and say you know Jesus loves you.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: And Merry Christmas.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Why is that complicated?
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: It's complicated because it isn't just about here.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: Here's this thing for you.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: This team is incredibly intentional intentional about Blessing people with things that they want, and we're talking about really some often times, what they want is really what they need.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely, it's very simple, I'm against stuff but it's about wanting to help people be Loved and help.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Help them feel the joy of Christmas, right, help them feel that they are loved.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: And so that is a lot of coordinating.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, there's families I know Cindy could tell you there are families that have Upwards of eight plus people in their family and when you're trying to coordinate all those gifts and then you're coordinating all of the volunteers it takes to put those gifts together and then you're coordinating all of the people that will deliver those gifts to these Berry, that's a lot of balls, so a lot, and some bounce off our heads.
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: I Don't panic, but we do not.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Cindy.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: So you knew a little bit about Christmas here at the rescue mission, obviously having conversation with Maryam, and she got bold enough to ask you if you would take this job on.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: And so how would you describe Christmas coordinator now that you're in the in the thick of it?
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: Have been since even before December started.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: What would you tell somebody that would be good to know?
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: Here's what Christmas and Christmas coordinator means at TRM.
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: Well, to start with, we spent about a month planning, or longer, laying out schedules and processes, trying to make a list of everything that needed to be done so that we wouldn't forget everything.
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: And then things happen.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: I mean the best way.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Plans don't always the activity starts.
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: But it's.
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: It's kind of a win-win, because either all of that planning and preparation, all those lists, all of that works and everything goes fantastic, and that's great, or it doesn't, and then you get to watch God do it instead, and that's awesome too.
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's not the truth.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: So Mary mentioned around 2000 people.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: As we understand it, that's people in to be caress.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Commission shelters it's people they're taken from the Christmas Bureau list of people been adopted.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Trm adopts those also some individuals who are unsheltered helping those out.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: That's a lot of different directions to go.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: People are in shelter, people that are struggling in the community.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: People are actually living outdoors.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: What's that mean to you to be involved in a team and guiding that team to be able to do that much outreach.
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: To me, this is our way of showing those people that, okay, there's a saying that you have around here that each of these people has a name and a story, mm-hmm, and that is awesome.
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: And we want to show that person who has a name that they are loved.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: And we're doing it through a gift or many gifts at Christmas, and they're not loved just by one person.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: There's a donor out there who loves them enough to bring a gift in to the, to the donations.
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: There's a staff member who loves them enough to organize and store those gifts so that when the volunteer who loves them enough comes in to Pick that gift for them, they can find they're just the right gift.
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm and then volunteers love them enough to deliver those gifts so deliver those gifts.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: So it's not like an assembly line where people come by and here's your bag, you know, merry Christmas.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: God bless you.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Actually taking these gifts to people's homes, whether they're in a shelter, whether in a tent, or the way they live in a home here in the community, that's a lot of navigation of different addresses and keeping all that together.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: And Maryam, you said it well, she's an engineer.
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's perfect.
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: I do love a good spreadsheet.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: You know, some of us kind of shoot from the hip around here and that's not you.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: So Describe your, your team that is working underneath your engineering spreadsheet direction to accomplish this great task, whether they be staffer, volunteers, what do they like?
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: They're very flexible.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: We have to make a lot of decisions throughout the day changes and Everyone has been wonderful about adapting to whatever we need whenever we need it.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: We have a lot of very large whiteboards that have schedules and Plans on them.
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: We have spreadsheets and all of that, but other things happen and everybody.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: What could run into just this simple thing of acquiring two thousand names, three different directions, that they go, acquiring the Gifts to take to them?
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Get the volunteers.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: What could go wrong with?
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: that.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: Shipments don't show up, tasks don't take the amount of time that you expected them to, either more or less.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: People don't answer their phones even when you're trying to schedule a.
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: I mean, life is messy for us and it's even messier for some people who are needy and we may not be able to get in touch with them easily to bring them their gifts.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: But boy, do we try hard you still keep, keep at it to try to live does happen with people and and it could be that people say well, you didn't answer your phone, so sorry, you know, have a Christmas this year.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: That's not the way it works, is it?
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: No, we're gonna get it.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so from the engineering spreadsheet coordinator position, that's a very manager management level stuff.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Are you getting the chance yourself to see the people who are recipients and are hear stories about that?
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: What does that mean to you?
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: I love hearing the stories of the delivery teams.
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: When they have taken out gifts to people's homes they come back and talk about the people and how appreciative they were and how wonderful that was.
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: And I got to go do that myself one day and it was pretty awesome.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: So you got out of your luxurious office yeah, which may be a closet, maybe not.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: Maybe in the hallway.
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: Got to take Named 10.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Actually go to someone's house to deliver and so and that's hard to kind of get away from that administrative piece, isn't it To be able to go do that?
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: But what, what?
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: How did that help you to actually see the other end?
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: When you see a family and you know you have picked out the gifts specifically for them, it is just helps you imagine what it's going to be like for them when they can open those gifts, when you see their faces and meet them in person and have a little chat with them.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: And so you don't get a chance to do a lot of that because you got to be the person behind that curtain pulling all the levers and that kind of thing.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: So is that hard for you to kind of miss out on some of the actual direct contact in those kind of blessings, or are you good with that?
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: I have found a good balance, because my happy spot is the organizing part, but but there are plenty of opportunities for meeting the people that we serve to.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: So I'll be at the Christmas parties and get to see the guests, and that'll be fun too.
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: And and you know, I think, mary too one of the things that sometimes I think we underestimate is what a blessing it is to watch the volunteers that come and see their reactions to helping right.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: So we have big groups of people come of all ages, from high school kids that will be helping decorate things to business groups, you know, from XYZ business that are coming in and to.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: I know one thing that's always very powerful for me is to watch the joy that they have in being able to help right and I think that is just a piece of it and how the Lord just continues to bring people to us because I'll tell you in September, october, november or Panicked right.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: I mean we're like, okay, are we going to have enough volunteers, are we going to have enough gifts?
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: Will we have enough food to give out?
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Will we do any of that?
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: And then the Lord just brings them, and so to for me to be able to witness the volunteers and how they just embrace the process is really special too.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: So I feel like there are, there are so many opportunities to see all this, to see how God is at work and how he uses this thing we call Christmas here at the mission to touch people's hearts and to make a difference, both in their lives as well as those that we serve.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: You've been on both sides of this coin with the Christmas Bureau as you were director of United Way and had that big task of trying to find organizations or individuals to adopt folks.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and then now the Topeka Rescue Mission coming in as Christmas coordinator.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: What was that like of you were working hard.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: I know you and I were having lots of conversations about we got another family, we got another family to have an organization like Topeka Rescue Mission and others that would say yes.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: Oh it, I don't know that there are the right kind of words to really tell you how powerful it is when people say yes.
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: Right, because these are families that don't hear yes often, right, so they are used to hearing no, they are used to having people let them down.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: So the thought of us, when I was with United Way, not being able to serve the people, and it's the same here at the mission.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: We don't want anyone to feel like they've been forgotten or that they didn't matter enough for us to go that extra mile.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: And so when people are willing to say yes just like what Cindy did, right, saying yes to what we know and now she really knows is a really big job.
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: It's a really big thing, and so to hear those yeses is an incredible blessing.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: And we just can't stress enough, though, barry, how God intervenes.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: He just intervenes.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: Explain that God intervenes.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: What's that mean to you?
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: When we think we're just not going to be able to, when we think that, okay, we're not going to be able to do what, what this person wanted us to do for them.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: All of a sudden, there it is, coming through the door when we think we're out of something and are like, okay, we've got to go to plan B or we have to utilize some of the finances that come in for Christmas and we have to go shut.
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: Okay, no, the Lord will bring it.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: There was one day I got a picture from the DC and we had been getting requests, especially for the unsheltered, but also for other folks too, for boots.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: Right, it's winter and folks need boots.
• 29:32
  Speaker 3: All of a sudden, here shows up this palette with boxes of boots.
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, boxes, Boxes, you know just I mean, I'm not talking about two or three pairs of boots, Barry, and the Lord just knows he's so far ahead of us and it's just such this time of year for me is just such a great reminder that, yeah, he's there, he's got this.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: And it's also for the person who's the donor sometimes because they kind of wondering you know, what can I do to help.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Yes, I was in the Great Overland Station parking lot yesterday on my car phone, speaker phone talking to a fella, and a car comes towards me and pulls up and I thought, okay, what's going on here?
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: So I roll my window down very cautiously I don't know this guy and he gets out and he goes hey, are you Barry?
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: And I said yeah, okay, what's this guy want?
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: You know, and he said he didn't have a warrant.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: He did not have a warrant this time, no, and so I put it back in park.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: But he said you know, do you have a five year old boy that could use a brand new coat?
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: And I said, oh, yeah.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: And he goes oh, I just want to tell you I didn't know what to do with this.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: I just felt I was supposed to go buy this brand new coat, and I've never been inside the rescue mission, I was sure.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: And here you are.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: He says I think this is a God thing.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: He says I'm a recovering alcoholic of now being sober for 19 years.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: I admire some of what you're doing.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: And he said thank you for being here.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: This is God.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: So it went back to him.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: I brought the coat in right after that, gave it to Amanda.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: She gave it directly to Holton.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: He's in tears because we've got a five year old boy that needs a coat, needs a coat.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Okay, so it goes.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: It's such a partnership that God would touch the donor as well as the recipient, and Cindy and her team gets to be right in the middle of that and get to experience all of that.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: But it does take organization.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: It does take, even though there's those random things, that a need will come up and a whole pallet of boots will come in, or a coat for a five year old boy.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: It takes somebody who is going to be able, an engineer that's going to be able to do all this.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: To put it together, you're kind of like Noah in a way.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: Right, you get the directions, you build the arc, you know, and all that happens, right.
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: So but I want to give a shout out to the staff that works at the DC and the other people that pitch in there.
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: They have regular jobs to do on top of this Christmas stuff.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I still see people like they always do and everything and they are working hard.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: So, Cindy, let me one final question.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: This is going on every day at Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: The need is not just at the Christmas season.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Um, the uh, the hunger, the homelessness, the hopelessness, the brokenness, the the needs to shelter and and feed and take care of people, care for them, um, address their needs, uh, trauma and job training, and on and on, and on and on.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: Why so much emphasis, in addition to everything, at this time of year?
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: Why so much emphasis on this thing called Christmas?
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: Because it happens to one degree at Topeka Rescue Mission every single day.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Why go this far to make this even more?
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: So Christmas is all about how God loves us, and these are people who need that love, and I my prayer almost every night is that they would understand that this, these gifts that we are preparing for them this time of year, are coming from God to them because he loves them.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: Why is that important?
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Why did they need to know that?
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: That's a really hard question.
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: I mean, we all um, maybe you and I know we're loved Um, but these people maybe not so much Exactly.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: I think that that is really what we need.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: We need to keep focused on is that many people that have experienced this level of suffering in their life you know we may look at trashy campsite, you know.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: So they're bad people.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: These are oftentimes people who don't really have any hope, any future.
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: You know, don't have a trash can either, don't have an address, maybe live in a shelter for the very first time in their life ever.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: Maybe they've worked all their lives, maybe they've, um, they've had a medical crisis in their life or um a situation where they were, they went through divorce or domestic violence or human trafficking.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: On and on and on Um.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: They don't oftentimes believe that they're valuable and, uh, we do know that this time of year is when God said, yeah, you matter, you really matter, matter of fact, you matter so much I'm going to give you my most prized possession that you get to keep for eternity, and that is salvation through my son, jesus Christ.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Well, cindy, uh, you are a rock star.
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: It's a Pica rescue mission, to say the least.
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: Yes, you know, mary, it's great that God has sent us an engineer.
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: Oh, it absolutely is.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: But just so you know, and I'm saying this at every meeting and now I'm saying it on the podcast, so it's recorded.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: I want her back.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: Okay, well, yeah, that that I guess.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Maybe there is one more question, cindy when your contract expires in 2033, um, as Christmas coordinator, um, who should we be looking for 10 years from now to replace you?
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: And that's being recorded as well.
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: So answer very carefully.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: So we won't put you on the spot on that right now.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: But if we could just replicate yourself and you've got a good 10 years to get it done.
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: Am I getting a raise out of this?
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: Yep, absolutely.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: We're going to double your, double your salary now?
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: No, we're going to, we're going to quadruple her salary.
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: Absolutely Well.
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: And you know what?
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: We can't even count the number of gems in her crown at this point.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's right, that's right.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: We'll leave somebody else up to decorate your crown, but no, thank you so much for just being so willing to be the servant that the Lord has gifted you to be and say yes.
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: Well, thank you, this has been a fantastic, fun time being here.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: Great.
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: Great, thank you.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: Well, for all of you who've been listening to our community, our mission, you really have heard a little bit from one of the most powerful people in the Topeka Rescue Mission's existence, of someone who is behind the scenes, who keeps us on track, find stuff when we can't find it, and is now taking on this enormous task of Christmas coordination.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Thank you for being a part of the Topeka Rescue Mission and we just want to say Merry Christmas in advance to you.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: This is December 20th 2023.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: We hope that you and your family have a blessed season to know how much you're loved and know that you matter and that you are making a difference for other people in our community that need to know they matter as well.
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to our community, our mission.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: If you'd like more information about the Topeka Rescue Mission or you'd like to do some of that year in giving, you can go to trmonlineorg.
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: That's trmonlineorg.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: Have a blessed Merry Christmas and an awesome New Year.