Latest / Our Community, Our Mission / Ep #325- Compassion Impact Center

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Ep #325- Compassion Impact Center · Our Community, Our Mission

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_04: Father, thank you.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for who you are, who you've always been, and who you will be in the months and years to come.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_04: Lord, thank you for the Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for just all of the people who have come along the way since 1953.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for everybody who has served, everyone who has been served, everyone who has donated.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_04: Lord, there is just so much rooted history with the rescue mission.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_04: And I know that you are still writing such a beautiful story in the midst of a lot of brokenness.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_04: Father, I thank you for the work you're doing, not only at the Topeka Rescue Mission, but just with all of our community partners.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_04: And thank you that we get to spend this morning talking about the Moving Ahead Partnership, Impact Avenues, and everything that's come together to form the Compassion Impact Center.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for Barry.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for how he has served for decades.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_04: And Lord, thank you for what we're still learning from him.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_04: And uh just be with us this morning, Lord.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_04: And I pray that this conversation just gives you glory for all that you're doing on behalf of people.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_04: In your name we pray.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you everybody for joining us for our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission here on September the 8th, 2026.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: This is episode number 325.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Barry Feeker, here with Lamanda and Miriam, as usual, today.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: Did you guys have a good labor day?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: Don't answer that.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_04: Barry knows a little bit about what we had going on.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_04: I was walking yesterday and I saw my neighbor and I he said something about, Do you how did he say it?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_04: It was so cute.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_04: Can I ask a question?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_04: I said, sure.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_04: And he goes, Do you get a day off?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I laughed and I said, Well, sometimes.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_04: And he said, Are you off right now?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_04: Because he saw me walk in the neighborhood, texting, phone calls, all this stuff that's.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: Or talking to yourself.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_04: I do that too, praying.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and so I laughed and I said, But I do think maybe I need a three-day weekend off of my three-day weekend.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_04: And he just laughed.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: But Yeah, well, here we are back, and nothing ever stops at the Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: It's 24-7, uh, people in crisis.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: And uh just because they walk through the front doors doesn't mean their crisis ends.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: And so sometimes it's crisis within.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: And so uh never a day off, but thank the Lord it's here.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_03: So we're gonna talk about uh uh what Lamanda prayed about, uh Compassion Impact Center here in a few minutes.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: But of course, the Research and Development Department wants to highlight what is important about this day every single year.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: And this is a global uh important day, and and and anybody who's a trekkie knows exactly what day this is.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm sure they do.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: This is I'm not one of those.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_03: You're not?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Not exactly.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: Really?
• 2:58
  unknown: No.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of like the original.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: I do too.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: I too.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: You cannot.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: You c you kind of can't improve on the lack of technology that they had back then for filming.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: We're getting close.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: So you probably remember Lost in Space, don't you?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: I do.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_03: My favorite Danger, Will Robinson Danger.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: Danger.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: Those were the good old things.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: Good old days.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_03: And my favorite Martian.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I wasn't big on that one either.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: I might that might have been a little bit more before me.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: So anyway.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_04: At least that was a s little sweet jab, not like a complete jab.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_04: That's true, but it's true.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_04: Was Star Trek the one that had um the guy that had like all the waves on his face?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_04: He almost looked like a monster.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_04: My dad and I watch Star Trek every day after school.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_04: With um, Where in the World is Carmen San Diego and Dukes of Hazard, and Okay.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_04: Well, there you go.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_03: So you got culture.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: So speaking of culture Star Trek Day.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: Today is Star Trek Day.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: Uh unites fans globally.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: Globally.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: We need something to bring us together.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: So um, and it's a day of peace, right?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: And uh on September 8th, uh, on in honoring the enduring legacy of one of television's most iconic franchises.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: And uh boy, they sure did keep it going, but it's not the same as the old original stuff.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: Some of the Star Wars is the same thing, you know.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: Original, yeah, 1977, but you can't beat that.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: Technology, maybe, but uh the storyline.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_04: But it's yeah.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_04: I remember watching those and then watching Quantum Leap.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, I loved Quantum Leap.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_04: But now I'm like, man, I watched a lot with my and then no wonder I you know grew up in law enforcement and then all those kind of shows.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_04: I'm always on alert.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_03: I kind of remember that this next day that uh is part of this reminds me of why I quit watching Star Trek.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um because it is also World Literacy Day.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: And so um when our kids were little, um, I would just really be like powering down at the end of the day, and I'd be turning on the TV, you know, to watch Star Trek.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: And my wife said, get in there and read to the kids.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so before they go to sleep.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I would go, This is my time.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: And they said, Well, it's their time too.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: So I learned how to read.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's wonderful, Barry.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: Reading to my own children.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's commander commemorated every September 8th, reminding the international community of the vital role of literacy plays for individuals, and it really is important today, especially if all you know is Siri and that's how you do everything.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: And so um so any ideas about what books I read to my girls when they were really little that really changed my life, besides the Bible.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: That changed your life.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: Foundational Principles, Little House on the Prairie.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a good one.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: That was a good one.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_03: Man, that was good stuff.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: That was on TV too.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: And then they had a they had a series, of course.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: So anyway.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're uh can take a moment out of Star Trek Day, just remember you might want to read something.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: So now this one fits so well, I'm sure, for somebody.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's national Ants on a Log Day.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: Ants on a log day.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_03: Did you know what that meant, Mary?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh not exactly.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: I had to kind of read it, but I knew it was some kind of snack, except I think it's also a Thai noodle dish.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Except I think those were ants on a tree.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: So when I first saw that, I go, why would they be commemorating a log on a log?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: Because that means if they're very close to your house, they're coming in your house.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_03: And so, but anyway, Lamanda, had you ever heard of it?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, I've made these several times for my girls.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: All right, we're gonna light a few of you, I'm sure that it every second Tuesday of September honoring a beloved and nutritious snack.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're into eating ants on logs, that's one way to do it.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: But there's a simple combination of celery, peanut butter, and raisins, and a nostalgic favorite, especially for kids headed back to school.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: I my mother never did that to me.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, not the raisins.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: No peanut butter and celery, but never the raisins.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that sounds good.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: It does not sound good.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: My Emery would take her.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_04: I remember this like it was yesterday.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_04: I put her in her high chair, gave her this, and walked upstairs for something, came back down, and she's signing for me.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_04: All done.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_04: All done.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_04: And she had taken her finger and scooped out all the peanut butter from the from the celery and left the raisins inside the celery and didn't touch the celery.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: And so she's telling me, all done.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_04: And then she's signing, more, more, because she wanted more of the peanut butter.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_04: I thought it was a plate.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yes, not the celery or raisins.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: So some of you may be wondering what these uh important dates have to do at the Our Community Art Mission podcast with the Topeka Rescue Mission every week.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_03: And the answer is absolutely nothing.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: So uh but it's a nice break to, yeah, just to kind of then we get into serious stuff.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: So speaking of some serious stuff that is really good, um, Lamanda, there's um the um fourth annual night of praise coming up on October the 11th.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_03: Doors open at 5 30 p.m.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: Fairlong, uh, Church of the Nazarene.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_03: And there's still an opportunity for people to invite people, but also an opportunity for sponsorship.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yes.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, when we look at doing this annual fundraiser, um, it's really the one and only fundraiser that TRM puts on where we're organizing it and planning it and and all of that.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_04: We are very blessed by the community who sometimes does, you know, all of these one-off fundraisers for us.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_04: But this is really the one that we back and do from start to finish.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_04: And so um one of the things that we look at each year since we've done this is, you know, the night of.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_04: Um we would love to have a successful fundraiser in the form of um financial blessings.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_04: But the other side of it is this really is a worship night.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_04: And we want to be communicating to the community what um the Lord has done and what he's made possible through them, volunteering, donating, praying, um, walking alongside of us in this work.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_04: And so it is this um balancing act that we feel like we're always doing where we want the focus of the night being giving God glory, communicating uh the truths about TRM and asking people um to come alongside of us and to continue to support us.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_04: We talk about the need for um recurring donors.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_04: We would love to have people sign up to bless us monthly and invest in what we're doing here.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_04: But then there's this other side where we also don't want to over-emphasize the need for money over giving God glory and really setting along, setting aside time for people to come and enter into worship.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_04: The whole night is worship, not just the singing, the whole time to just reflect on the amazing things that God still does.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_04: He's not, he didn't just do stories thousands of years ago, like he's still working amazing works here at the rescue mission.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_04: And so one of the things that we're trying to do is okay, if one of the ways that we can balance and still promote this as the fundraiser and still hope and pray that we raise funds the night of, however, not over-emphasize that over the Lord.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_04: One of the ways that we can offset and still raise dollars to have a successful fundraiser is to acquire sponsorships.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's what we're um in the thick of right now.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_04: We're reaching out to individuals and businesses and churches and organizations that might want to um sponsor the event.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_04: And so uh there are four different levels.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_04: You can be a bronze sponsor and that is for$250.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_04: You can be a silver sponsor and that's for$500.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_04: You can be a gold level sponsor and that's for$1,000, or you can be a platinum level sponsor for$2,500.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_04: And within each of those levels, um, there are different um ways that we also try to bless the people who are sponsoring us.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_04: For example, if you're a bronze level, then we put your business, your name, however you want it worded on the back of the program that everyone receives.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_04: Um, if you're a silver level, we do that same thing, but then we also will be doing posts on our social media, which we have, I believe, almost 10,000 followers on Facebook alone.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_04: Uh gold level, we'll be doing those two things, the back of the program plus social media, and we do a special thank you in our newsletter, um, which at one time also was thousands of people.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and I think we're still at that.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_04: Platinum level, we do those three things: the newsletter, thank you, the recognition on social media, and the back of the program um recognition as well.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_04: But then we also will mention those platinum sponsors on this podcast.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_04: So um within a couple of weeks uh after uh the um event, we'll be talking about it, but we'll also be thanking them right before um the program as well, just to do two different thank yous for those platinum sponsors.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: So if someone's interested in being a sponsor, what do they do?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_04: So if they're interested, um is the sponsor packet on our website?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, so they can go to trmonline.org and it's there.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um you can also uh reach out to us on our phone if that's easier.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um 785-354-1744 and ask for Miranda Molinar.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_04: Um she is our donor relations specialist who is incredible and she's um so good at explaining things and walking people through and just making it as easy as possible.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: So um pretty easy if you want to be a sponsor, but even if you're not at the sponsor level, you can still come on uh uh October 11th, 5 30, Fairlone Church of the Nazarene, and there'll be an opportunity to contribute there as well.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_04: So And we do have a goal.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, again, we've talked authentically as possible and and transparently as what's our goal for the night.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_04: I and I'm not sure, Barry, I'm not sure what the goal is for the night because I think while we want and we need financial donations and stewardship, um, people investing in us, we need that.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_04: And we do need sustainable people walking alongside us, even monthly or um a recurring donor every other month or annually, whatever that people can do.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_04: We need that.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_04: But there's also this emphasis where we know people are hurting, we know people are longing for purpose um to try to find a place where they can serve and belong.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_04: And so we want that to be a part of our success measurement as well, not just the financial piece.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so I don't have a goal for the overall event because sometimes we just don't know things this side of heaven.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and that should be a measure in a ministry, in my opinion.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_04: But we do have a goal for 20,000 in sponsorships.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_04: And what are we at?
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_04: 5,000?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_04: A little bit more.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_04: A little bit more, a little bit more.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_04: Um and so we do have a goal of 20,000 for sponsorships.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: Well, uh we know this uh because it's happened before.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: It will be an opportunity to honor the Lord and uh also love on people.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so um and God takes care of it from there.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_03: He does.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: So anyway, uh, you know, I I'm involved with something uh just recently called Good Maker You.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um it's a uh national platform that kind of helps people uh learn about fundraising and those kind of things.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the things they said so simply, there's a lot of good that people do in this country.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of different organizations, Topeka Rescue Mission being one of those.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: But you can't do good without money.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so all the good you might want to do takes resources to do it.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um, whether even if it's not cash, it could be feeding people, it takes food.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um getting people from here to here takes transportation and gas and insurance and all those kind of things.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: Topeka rescue mission is doing a lot of good, and so it does take resources, and so people can be a part of that.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_03: So we're gonna switch gears now, and uh I'm a little bit nervous.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_04: As you should be.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like we need some music like dun, dun, dun, draconian music, jaws music, uh huh.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like uh something that bad's about to happen.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: No, not at all.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: We'll sort of um but anyway, Miriam is going to interview Lamanda and myself about something called the Compassion Impact Center.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm going to turn my mic off and leave.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: And so Run, run.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: No, Miriam, Miriam's probably gonna pay me back now for some other times I've been very mean to her on this podcast.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: Years talking about it.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: Listen sometimes.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: I know years.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's been years.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's been years.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: 325 episodes, you know.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: And now when I'm not mean to him, it's gonna feel so bad.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: We'll determine what mean feels like.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: So anyway, Miriam, talk uh interview us, talk to us, talk to us.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_03: What do you know?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you've very involved here to say the least, but yeah, um the floor is yours.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I think this is really exciting because I know that the Compassion Impact Center or this one-stop resource center really came about in terms of conversation years ago when the person was here that the consultant was here with the city.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and this was one of the things that really, really stood out that could be a quick win and really help people.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, which one of you would really kind of like to give people a brief history for folks that don't really know what this one-stop or the uh resource center or the compassion impact center is all about?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_03: Go ahead, Lamanda.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: You want me to?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um so, you know, this idea of looking at the barriers people face in regards to poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, I think that has been analyzed for years.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, we have some of even the uh bus tours and stuff that happened in Topeka where people are talking about these are all the different hoops uh people have to jump through.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_04: But then the other side of it is, and here's all these great resources.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_04: And so fast forward, just the work that's been done, people analyzing that and looking at it.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_04: Fast forward to 2023, 2024, um, the city of Topeka invested in having uh Brianna Silver come in with silver consulting.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_04: And uh several of us throughout the community were either serving on the core team or the auxiliary team, uh, multiple businesses, organizations, um, nonprofits, all of that were interviewed.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and not only about what resources they provided, but also what gaps were people seeing.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, we interviewed people experiencing homelessness.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, we interviewed people who had gotten out of homelessness, uh, we interviewed people on the brink of homelessness, and then did things such as um we brought like journal reviews in and um different media things that we had researched with data.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_04: And what bubbled up after, gosh, I think eight to ten months was okay, all of these different perspectives were taken, all of this information was compiled, and we really had this beautiful but honest snapshot of Shawnee County uh and particularly City of Topeka.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and what were the needs that our community had?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_04: And at the end of that, with all these different perspectives, all of this different research, taking the time to analyze it, what came out of that was a couple of recommendations.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_04: The first recommendation was that our county and city needed a multidisciplinary group to continue to move these needs and solutions forward.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_04: It could not solely be the Topeka rescue mission.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_04: It could not solely be at that time Vallejo, now Astra.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um, this was not just a Topeka police department problem, right?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_04: And so multidisciplinary team in that was also okay, well, what does the multidisciplinary team need to push forward?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_04: And those recommendations came out in that we needed a safer shelter or low barrier shelter because sometimes jumping from chronic homelessness on the streets into the type of shelter that we have, it's too much.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_04: Or jumping straight from streets to housing.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so we needed a safer shelter, low barrier shelter.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_04: Again, that recommendation was not the Topeka Rescue Mission saying we need to do this.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_04: It was a collective form of multiple perspectives and expertise.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_04: The second thing that was concluded from that was that we needed some type of transitional village.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_04: Um and what there wasn't really a lot of guidelines on what that had to look like, but we needed this in-between place for people that were not here yet, but trying to get to another place.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and then thirdly, we needed um at that time the language we were using was a one-stop shop.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_04: And we felt like a one-stop shop shop was more of the kind of low-hanging fruit because we already had so many great partnerships working together.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but there and some were at mobile access partnership.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_04: That's what it was called then, um, before moving ahead partnership.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_04: But yet it was still this need for more and for it to possibly not be mobile anymore.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's kind of the history.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and this one-stop shop, which now has really um evolved into the Compassion Impact Center, was one of those three recommendations um, in addition to needing this multidisciplinary group.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, Barry, I know that you were heavily involved with the mobile access partnership at that point, now moving ahead partnership.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Talk a little bit about how you saw that fitting in and what then all of this work was done by the consultant and all these stakeholders in the community.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: How did you then see that transition happening with the mo with the Moving Ahead Partnership?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And and how long did it take and how long has this actually been going on now?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_03: So during the pandemic, um, we were finding Topeka Rescue Mission had to be smaller due to COVID restrictions.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_03: And so um what do you do?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_03: Some good initiatives were birthed out of that, a housing program, rapid rehousing, and so forth.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: But we knew that there was a growing number of unsheltered people in our community, either couldn't get in shelter or they were um uh just growing in in the number of homeless nationally.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_03: So we uh we came together.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: With different agencies, and we said who can do what?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: And so Vallejo at the time said we can do a mobile shower unit.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: Pika Rescue Mission was blessed, as you know, with a mobile kitchen, eventually a mobile supply clothing trailer.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: Stormont Vale joined with a mobile bus to do the medical, eventually Kansas State University with their veterinarians in the Street Dog Coalition all began to come together to move around the community.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: So it was a bit of a uh necessity to help people right where they are on the streets.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um but also it was a bit of a test tube of a one-stop shop without it being a one-stop shop.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: And so it began to grow.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_03: And uh so that was um over five years ago.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: And uh then eventually we decided that uh mobile was probably, as Lamanda mentioned, was probably not the best way to do that.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so let's do it, uh let's keep map in there and call it the moving ahead, helping people move ahead in life, helping our community move ahead in life.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_03: And then we got to the place after last year at piloting at the Let's Help Building, which is now Catholic Charities.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then in the wintertime over at Salvation Army, where can we go that is going to be a place that could become a permanent expanded uh ability to expand agencies, different people coming along to help people in that one-stop resource center?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_03: And the uh most practical um door open with Topeka Rescue Mission, Children's Palace.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so how did that all work out?
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Has there been any challenges?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, when did you start here at the Children's Palace?
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: So we officially kicked off um the um uh move into the Children's Palace uh April of this year.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um and so we then identified a name.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: I think we were doing some basic things here because this was one of the sites when we were mobile.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um the parking lot at the children's palace, um coming inside during the wintertime, being a warming center, those kind of things.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: So uh it's kind of hard to say when we actually started that part, but we became official in April of 2026 to say, let's um let's call it something other than the children's palace.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_03: Uh let's call this effort something more than map uh because it's multi-agencies coming together.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: And so Compassion Impact Center was birthed out of that.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's wonderful.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so, Lamanda, was this building then the Children's Palace not being used at all by TRM at that point?
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_04: This building was fully used.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um we had individual offices over here.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_04: This is where our education was happening, this is where our computer lab was, this is where our teachers were located.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um so our IT and communications, I mean, we were using every nook and cranny.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um and so yeah, it was fully used and fully operational from TRM stance.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we think about this in terms of it seeming a little bit seamless, maybe, in terms of how this could all work, but it probably wasn't exactly seamless or without some challenges, right?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we've got compassion strategies then, who's overseeing this, and we have to pick a rescue mission, you have all these partners.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: What are all the individual roles that each of you has as it relates to this collaborative process?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Well, that's that's expansive in in regards to those roles.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, I think to start out with that, um none of this would have been possible even five years ago without good relationships between different organizations.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_03: And so when we look at asking our mental health services at that time, hey, can you come up with some funds to build a mobile shower?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_03: That was something that normally you just don't do unless you have a relationship.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: So Topeka Rescue Mission had that relationship.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um so when it came to this place, um, Compassion Strategies, which is the umbrella organizations for mobile access partner moving ahead partnership now, um, had a good relationship with TRM, to say the least.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm still around, I'm doing podcasts, and and uh we work together extensively.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_03: So so that's where it started, and I think it would have maybe been a lot harder in any community that tries to do something of this nature, which they just kind of look in awe.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: How have you done that?
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_03: It starts out with you have a relationship with each other, you trust each other.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Lamanda talked about the consultant coming in and recommending a multidisciplinary team.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh all hands on deck was birthed up out of that.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_03: Not that we didn't have relationships, but we had some more formal things that were coming along.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: So so but then you get in the weeds.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um Lamanda just referred to this facility that we're operating this out of, was completely used.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um where do you go?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: So that's a logistical opportunity slash challenge.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: Nightmare.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: Or nightmare.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so I know we talk back and forth about options.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: You know, what does that look like?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: And so is this even realistically an option to not only take part of the building, but someday maybe the whole building?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_03: And so um, so there's been months of discussion and prayer and negotiation and those kind of things, which results in those more formal things called MOUs.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_03: So we've been refining that over and over again.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: So there's there's there's all of that without getting to specific weeds, and then that's not even talking about operations of the different agencies that come along, which moving ahead partnership, um, which is a two-a-day one-stop shop, uh, two times a week one-stop shop, uh, would not be able to do what it does without all the agencies contributing.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: Topeka rescue missions is a big contributor with food, with clothes, uh, with um um um all the things.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_03: Volunteering.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, volunteering.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thank you.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um and uh probably the heaviest lift from a variety of different areas as far as an agency helping this to happen is Topeka Rescue Mission, not to take away the other agencies who are doing amazing things with their resources, which costs compassion strategies nothing to do.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh that we all do this together.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_03: And so um now we're at that place where there is this need for Topeka Rescue Mission to be resourced to be able to do this because costing Topeka Rescue Mission for facility.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: And so we're at that place where we're going to be generating additional revenue for um us to be able to have this place that's going to be potentially permanent.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, Lamanda, what do you see then as TRM's role in all of this?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I think to answer that question, Miriam, it's important to say what was our opinion a couple of years ago, right, when we were looking at this need.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_04: And I think sometimes I feel like a broken record, but the Topeka Rescue Mission, um, I always want us to have the posture of being a great partner, um, being helpful.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_04: I don't mind us pioneering.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_04: I don't mind us being risk takers.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like everything we do is taking a risk.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but I also want us to have this humble heart too, where we don't always have to be the ones leading.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um, if God calls us to lead something, then great.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_04: But I think sometimes too, being good leaders as an organization, not just as individual people, um, that means following.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_04: That means supporting, that means um advocating, right?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_04: For someone else to do something.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_04: And so um we were that champion of champions um last year, and we were rooting and praying for let's help and compassion strategies and map and impact avenues.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um, when we did our prayer walk last year, um, my team is actually the one that went to let's help uh and we prayed about um this potential one-stop shop happening there.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, prayed with Pat Yancey, their uh previous um incredible CEO.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_04: But yet it wasn't the Topeka Rescue mission.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_04: It didn't have to be.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_04: Let's Help was wanting to do this.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_04: And so when um the different reasons happened where um compassion strategies needed to pivot away from Let's Help, I was grateful to be able to have a board that I knew I need to go back to them for them to prayerfully evaluate are we supposed to be a yes to this?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I knew that it was gonna come with challenges.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I knew it was not in our strategic planning.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_04: I knew that.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_04: However, I think it's really important that the community knows the Topeka rescue missions planning, one always has to follow suit with what God's asking us to do.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_04: And a close second to that is what is our community needing?
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_04: This is not what is our leadership team driving for TRM or whatever.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_04: We have to pivot based on what community needs.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_04: So, all of that being said, um, I didn't understand how it was all gonna work and I didn't understand the timelines and all of that, but I knew we had to have the posture of it's not always driven by TRM and last year it wasn't.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_04: Now there was a need for TRM to help drive this forward by offering a facility by being a host.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_04: And so um I knew we were already doing great things with the volunteerism support that we give, the food service support that we give, the supplies and items.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but to know what work was done before us, what work was done with the city innovation team, I didn't feel like it would be wise for me not to at least propose this with the board to say, should we look at removing some of the operations of TRM that's happening in the children's palace that can happen in our other buildings, and then make this a host site for this Compassion Impact Center to operate.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_04: And so um, the more we did it, the more it was like last year it felt right to move backwards and be the champion of champions of everyone doing it.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_04: But this year it felt wrong for us not to step up and say, we can move some things around so that the betterment of our community can move forward.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_04: Not doing that didn't feel right.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_04: So it's just kind of looking at what God was doing, walking in, hey, we don't know how all this is gonna work out, but knowing that we had more of a conviction of not trying it than trying it.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_04: And I just have to say I'm thankful that I have the board that I have because um, you know, I was able to go back to them saying we have this opportunity.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_04: Is this TRM's time to say yes?
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_04: Or is that just me seeing a problem and wanting to meet the problem, right?
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_04: The need.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but I know they took it serious.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_04: I know they evaluated uh what we could do, what we couldn't do.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_04: And so when Barry mentions that there is going to be this financial cost of compassion strategies, that was one of the things that our board knew this is not a time for TRM to take on something new operationally, or even just the expenses of something to operate out of this building.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_04: And so then for me to be able to hear that honest feedback that I agreed with too, and to go back to Barry and say, okay, we want to say yes to this.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_04: And here's the things that we can say yes.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_04: I can work with our team to pivot us to other places.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_04: I can um work on communicating this to the community, all of that.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_04: But financially, we can't take on additional cost for this.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um and Barry knew I wasn't just saying that.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_04: That wasn't me not wanting to be a good partner.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_04: It's really what we're facing.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_04: And then that required Barry and his board to say, okay, what can we do?
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_04: What can we not do?
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_04: And there have just been um really authentic conversations along the way, some very colorful, and um where we're like, well, we don't know.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_04: We just have to pray.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_04: And that's what kind of got us this far was not having all the answers, but having the passion and the purpose and to say, we're gonna try to do this together as best as we can.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's really important.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you've both mentioned relationship more than once.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: So how has this you are both leading different organizations now?
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um you both have things that have to happen within your organizations.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: How has this process maybe the question would be how has it challenged the relationship between the two of you?
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: That was not on the list of questions.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you know, um that's a good thing.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I think we're kind of getting in the in the in the weeds, but I think it's really a good opportunity to explain the value of this good relationship.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, when we did a transition from me being the director of the rescue mission to Lamanda, that was pretty thoroughly thought out.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, the way it was communicated, the way that we started with the board, and then in internally on the staff, and then out to key volunteers, key supporters, and then eventually the community.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: That wasn't like, hey, we got a new director in town.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um and she was here for a period of time before.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_03: So one of the challenges has been here is yours truly, that is stepping out of Topeka Rescue Mission, starting another nonprofit that kind of works in the same arena.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_03: So the obvious is, well, wait a minute.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, are you taking money away from Topeka Rescue Mission?
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's that we we're very open about that.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: Let's let's let's have those conversations.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: So there was an intentionality not to go out and overtly raise funds that could have challenged Topeka Rescue Mission for a while.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_03: So compassion strategies stayed very low-key in that regard.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_03: Still, we had the mobile access partnership, now moving ahead partnership coming together that needed resources, but most of those resources were provided through volunteering and different agencies helping.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_03: But then it gets to the place where, hey, this organization needs to grow.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_03: And so we had to cross that threshold on a little manna said, well, could we do joint fundraising?
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_03: Could we do separate fundraising?
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: Do we put it all through one organization or whatever?
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I think there's still a bit of confusion in the community about me not being Topeka Rescue Mission anymore.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_03: But it's getting better, I would say.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_03: So um we had colorful conversations about that, as you mentioned, uh, but nothing that was um beyond anything that we thought we can't do.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_03: We just figure out what God wants us, how he wants us to do it.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think that there's another commonality here: relationship and mission.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_03: Not to peek a rescue mission or not compassion straight, but the mission of what we're here to do.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the purpose.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_03: The purpose, yeah.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_03: We stay focused on mission, then uh we trust God to be able to help us organize the mission of it.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: To some people's um viewing this from the outside and the complications of it, they know enough about they say this is why this never happens, is because it gets to a place, you know, hats off to Lamanda and the TRM board um for being vulnerable enough to allow somebody to step into the space, especially a guy like me, you know, um, which could be a risk to TRM, which we don't want it to be a risk to him.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_03: TRM has to be healthy um financially and ever otherwise to be able to do what it absolutely has to do in our community.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_03: But this is why we get up to a certain level of risk taking and we go, we're afraid.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: And so we back away.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_03: Lamanda didn't do that, TRM didn't do that.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um she has very clearly said ever since she started here, this is not just a TRM responsibility.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_03: We were beginning to realize that at the end of the pandemic, this thing is growing substantially.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_03: You may recall when I presented to the city council, one organization can't do everything anymore.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_03: And uh that didn't go great.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_03: But why not?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a that's a whole nother podcast.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_03: So so I think that you know, getting in the weeds of this, we're we're getting astride now.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um what's TRM's role in this?
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_03: What are the other partners' roles in this, and what are we doing at this Compassion Impact Center?
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: Also, with some realistic cautions, is that we have committed each other to go till April of 2028.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_03: And so this isn't like an open blank checkbook of what this is gonna happen forever and ever and ever.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_03: And that could end if something dramatic happens between here and there.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_03: But we said, okay, we're going to logically step this out and see if we can build it up to see if it could be the permanent location.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_03: When I say permanent is anything permanent, but could be decades long or it could be a shorter term and we learn from this to the next place.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_03: But we've had those kind of so I don't know if that answers your question.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: It does, yeah.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: I I think so.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: Lamanda, you know, my question for you, I think, would take a little bit different turn.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: But so you came into TRM with not a lot of experience when it came to homelessness, definitely not the same kind of focus um that TRM has on how on homelessness and served under Barry and then walked alongside him as you took on the CEO role.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: How has this relationship been challenged then?
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: As now you have to ha continue your your relationship with him, but also be representing TRM in a in a different kind of way in a role that we've not had at TRM before.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I think the word I've described to Barry a couple of times, so it's not shocking when I say it is like, well, this is awkward.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_04: And so multiple conversations he and I have had, uh, let's say he's coming with an ask, right?
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_04: Like, hey, I think we're gonna need this.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um that he's got to do that because his organization right now is compassion strategies.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_04: And compassion strategies, as best as they can, is representing dozens of different partner agencies, right?
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and so he's got to be able to be honest with the asks as he's coming into a new facility.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_04: They're trying to figure out how this function?
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_04: Can they access this?
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_04: Can they not?
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and so there's probably a level of awkwardness where he's like, man, I really got to ask for this, but they've already given us this and this is feels funny.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_04: And then there's this level of awkwardness that I've had because I can't say yes to everything.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_04: And so while I know, hey, this is a good idea or this is I want to be supportive of it, TRM cannot say yes to that right now.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_04: It's either not the right timing or no, I don't think we can do that.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_04: And here's why.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_04: And so I would say that there are awkward times, and he and I are close.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I I tell people he goes from being a mentor to pseudo dad to um confidant to colleague to wise ow, you know.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but then there are times where we're equals.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_04: And yes, he has 40-something years of experience, but when we're looking at leadership, we're equals.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_04: And that can be awkward.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and not because he's done it or I've done it, you know, to make it that way.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_04: It's just okay.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_04: I now have to pivot from going to him for the answers.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_04: I have to pivot from that to telling him, no, I need to say yes to this or I need to say no to this, or um, a couple of times wanting to encourage him.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_04: Because the pressure that's on him, we talk a lot about my pressure.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_04: Well, everybody thinks Barry should know everything.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_04: That's a lot too.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so I think that um what has what has impacted the the relationship is being able to go, okay.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_04: Now when we come at this from a posture that sometimes it's equals, how do we do that and how do we do that well?
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_04: Because we've proven over five years now that we can do this trustworthiness well.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_04: We can do the fact that both of us want TRM and partners taken care of.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_04: We've proven that.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we've proven that I don't want to just kick him out.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_04: He's also proven that he's not um the person with experience that wants to condescend myself or younger generations.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_04: Like we've proven that.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_04: Now it's okay, how do we be equal leaders, equal partnership, and know when to compromise, when to say yes, when to say no, and how do we do that well?
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I think one thing that I have grown in that is um that Barry is not going to value or love me less if I can't give Barry what he wants in that moment for what is coming or what is needed.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um I've limited my hate to you only five minutes long.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's right, that's right.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_04: He has those moments and then he gets out of it.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_04: He gets over it.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_04: Um and and Didto, same thing.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I think that there's times where he probably, because you know, we joke around that he's wise Alan, I'm the brat.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_04: I'm sure there's times where he's like, Man, she's a brat.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_04: And that is not what I expected that meeting to go, right?
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_04: But in those moments, we have to know we're excited to see each other the next meeting.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_04: We're gonna still figure this out and all of that.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_04: And to me, that is what has been beautiful.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_04: It's not the colorful conversations that are beautiful, but it is what happens afterwards and the fact that nothing has changed with us.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_04: That's the beauty part.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_03: The way we the way we're doing this is not recommended by consultants.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um they're basically saying, hey, the old guy gets out of the way.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um we chose not to do it that way.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh one of the reasons is that the younger person, the new person can feel very insecure about the older person being along.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_03: And we've been very conscientious about me recognizing and saying, I'm no longer that director person.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm good with that.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: I think the hardest thing for me has been, I love the being the mentor, being the wise old owl.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_03: I love those kind of things of sharing decades of experience.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, you want to know something?
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_03: Come ask me, and I'll tell you if it's right or wrong.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I've got an opinion.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_03: The thing has been hard for me is to be at that level of an operator.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_03: She's an operator.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_03: Now we have these two operations to come together.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_03: Not that it it could have broken things here, because I have decisions to make now that.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um it seems reasonable for me that TRM would just say yes.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_03: And she doesn't say yes to everything.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_03: Because she's an operator of an organization too, which we understand that.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_03: But this is where even the closeness that we've had and we've walked this journey together, it's challenged that relationship.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: But again, relationship and the mission.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_03: What are we doing here?
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's a bigger than us thing.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, she's got people on her tail that are saying you need to do it this way.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_03: I have people on my tail saying you need to do it this way.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_03: We come together and we're going, man, how do we work this out?
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_03: Because nothing just is smooth.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_03: And when you get into, and we could 10 podcasts on this, the complications of working with the population we're working with, of the brokenness, the uh failures of quote unquote systems, uh, the growing desperation of people, and we feel that pressure.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_03: Our staff feel those pressures, our volunteers feel those pressures.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_03: The community um by and large says, you fix it when we didn't create it.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_03: We didn't create mental illness, we didn't create addiction, we didn't create crime, we didn't create you know compound trauma.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_03: We're here to respond to those negativities in our community.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_03: And so everybody wants something to be responsible for the problem and fix the problem.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_03: Law enforcement can't fix it, all these organizations.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_03: So we have those pressures, yet we come together in spite of all that and we go, okay, we're on mission.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_03: How do we do this together better?
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_03: And it just um it's been a challenge, but it's been beautiful.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I think one last thing I'll say about that, Lamanda, especially her with the Citigate Network um affiliation that Speaker Rescue Mission has, and her in a leadership position, she is very aware of the challenges that other ministries are going through and how whether it's a leadership change or whether it's just staff facing the politics and complications and spiritual warfare, that we can together on occasion be able to help other ministries out to say, hey, we get it, but here's how you might want to think about navigating through that.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I think it's just so admirable to both of you that you have been able to walk through this.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's probably one of the most significant successes of the Compassion Impact Center is how you all have handled yourselves, the decisions that you all have made, which I know have been very difficult.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to this, what would you say are the greatest successes that you've seen in the past five months?
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um I I can mention one that comes to my mind.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um sometimes when we just get out of the way as people, right?
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_04: As leaders, and we just see what God is doing, um, it is always so much bigger than what we know.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_04: And so um without getting too people specific, I would say it is incredible for me to see how back in 2022 we decided, hey, we need to start these warming centers.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_04: And we didn't know how, we didn't know what this was gonna look like.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_04: I remember, gosh, people falling.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_04: I was one of them, remembering I was like, man, everything I were doing is liability, all these things.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_04: Um, yet that formed connections with some of the people that we weren't even able to do on just normal outreach.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_04: And I remember some of those people going, you opening at night, because remember that first one we opened at night, which why I did that, I don't know.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_04: But anyways, the people were saying that showed us you did this to save lives.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_04: And they saw all these people helping.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_04: It wasn't just the rescue mission.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_04: We had people coming out helping with animals, and we had people TPD helping.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's just great.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_04: Stirring the poor to potties, all these things.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_04: Fast forward, several of those people got connected with services, even housing after that first warming center.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_04: And then we had some people, Miriam, that they weren't ready for the next stage yet.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_04: And we were able to see incredible partners like MAP, Impact Avenues, all this come together.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_04: And then now they're supporting these people outside of the needs of a warming center when warming centers aren't needed.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_04: Fast forward, we still have some people that are still needing services.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_04: But we've also had some people get housing because of this work.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_04: We've had some people um relocate.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_04: They've been here for 30 years, but the last of their family they have might be out of state.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_04: We've worked together as partners to get them reacclimated, all these things.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_04: People get married because they realize, like, hey, there's life outside of what how we were living and all of these things.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_04: So to me, without getting too specific, I think it would be seeing the work of TRM, the work of partners, the work of new ideas, and how it just continues to serve people in all walks of life, um, at all different seasons, and to be able to go, oh, because we said yes to that, now we're being able to say yes to this and see the change in people is incredible.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_00: Barry, what are your thoughts?
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_00: What do you see as the most significant success in the last five months?
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think that um, you know, watching this um grow for five years with MAP and seeing where people were when we started this.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_03: And again, we're talking about primarily the chronically unsheltered homeless.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_03: Some have been in the streets for years who their way of life is just totally different than probably 99% of the people listening to this podcast and the way they look at things, and then to see where they are now, and then being in this place where we're feeling more secure as we can grow here, they're feeling more secure that we can grow.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_03: And to it doesn't take, you know, we're just a few feet away from where this is happening today.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_03: So we walk out of this room, I walk down the hallway, and I walk out, and there's gonna be anywhere from 40, 50, 60, 100 different people coming in off the streets.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and to see the different countenance on their face, to see uh to Lamanda mentioned about people maybe getting married and getting housed.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_03: Well, they're coming back to volunteer now.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_03: They used to be homeless.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there's a couple down here right now.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_03: He was homeless for 41 years.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_03: 41 years.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_03: He's only 55 years old.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_03: He doesn't remember living in a house, and he volunteers every week now.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_03: And so this is change.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_03: This is uh we we got a new thing with compassion strategies that uh we're gonna be rolling out here pretty soon.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_03: Help change the story.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody has a story.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_03: Some people's stories are joyful, some are complicated, and some are devastatingly heartbreaking.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_03: So let's help change the story for those folks.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_03: And this is what's happening, what they call the map community.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_03: This is where we belong.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_03: We grow into that.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_03: So this last few months here um with the Compassion Impact Center has helped us get a bigger vision of the value of helping change a story.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's wonderful.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know that there's anything more powerful than hearing about the stories that have changed.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's incredible.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: So as we as we kind of wrap this up, I don't want to close without you all having this opportunity to really talk about what is the financial need or what has the financial impact been on both of the organizations?
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: Compassion strategies, TRM.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: How can people really have a clear understanding of how they can help this work continue?
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_00: What what are the are there financial needs?
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_03: Always.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_03: Always.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_03: I was gonna say yes.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, and Miriam, it's funny because I've even heard you say this.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_04: It might have originated with you.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_04: Like, we cannot start conversations with finances.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_04: Otherwise, we won't ever talk.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um you did notice I left it to the end of this conversation.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, nice way to be subtle there.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um so yeah, you know, in full transparency, um, TRM didn't know what the costs were gonna be.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_04: We knew we would have costs associated with once we evaluated where certain people were going in different buildings, we knew we were gonna have technology costs, we knew we were gonna have some um construction costs, that kind of stuff um to make room for offices to get um offices what they needed to be technology-wise, all of those kinds of things.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_04: And so um just off the top of my head, I think we're at about 50,000 um in order to make those moves, which consisted of 17, 18 staff moving into different facilities, uh, creating a new educational space uh for all of our program to happen, uh, those kinds of things.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's really been the main cost of TRM.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_04: And so um to answer your question, Barry mentioned this a little bit, but when we first started this, Barry and I's heart, I think he wouldn't mind that I speak for us, was like, okay, we're gonna joint fundraise um because we just trusted each other and we're like, okay, we're gonna joint fundraise and we're gonna put two QR codes out there, and one's gonna be to compassion, one's gonna be to TRM, we're gonna trust the Lord with everything that he does.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_04: And then I was telling Barry, and if we get more, then I'm just gonna split everything with you.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_04: And then if you get this, then you can just let us know.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_04: That was really the heart.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_04: And then we realized our heart was right.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_04: We weren't competitors and we were trusting God to provide.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_04: But what we did was we confused people.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_04: And then we kind of put people in a bad position where they're like, well, we don't want to choose.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_04: We love both, right?
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_04: So then we went back to the drawing board of like, okay, what does this look like?
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_04: And so then we ended in, okay, should TRM not have a place in the fundraising piece and us just say, okay, Barry, here's the cost for compassion strategies to be in our building and here's what the space costs are.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_04: And then if you're utilizing that space, you have to pay this amount and leave kind of the rest of it out.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_04: And so I'm not really sure what all it's gonna look like.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_04: Um, there's some of that 50,000 that will be taken care of by compassion, and there's a lot of it that won't.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_04: So my plan was just if somebody asks us and wants to give directly to TRM, that's what our costs are gonna go to.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and those were costs we had to front because if not, then they couldn't move in.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but really the focus is okay, here's how you can support compassion strategies because TRM is just the host.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_04: And now that we're out and we have this part taken care of, we have to be able to support amazing operators to do the work in this building.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's really the message is this is not a competition.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_04: And if people want to give to this work being done, then it needs to go to compassion strategies.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_03: Again, I think that's speaks to the relationship and the maturity of the CEO of Topeka Rescue Mission, its board of directors.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um Compassion Um Strategies um is the umbrella organization for the um for the Compassion Impact Center and everything that's going on, uh, is going to have a pretty substantial uh significant uh uh increase in its financial needs that will primarily begin January of next year.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_03: And so um there's a couple of ways to we're evaluating this.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_03: One is uh with the current operations we have, it'll be a certain price uh point for operations.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_03: If we would expand the one-stop shop to more days a week and possibly utilize the entire facility, which is just under 18,000 square feet, it'll be another price tag.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_03: So we have um um a year-end goal that is way bigger than we ever thought, and that's$200,000.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_03: What that will do is it'll help us finish this year and set us up financially for the first quarter of next year to be able then to more reevaluate do we think we're ready to expand services and operations?
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right now we're two days a week as far as people coming into the center, but that's not the only work that's done.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_03: There's outside with great navigators, it's case managers doing all kinds of relocation housing and helping people.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_03: So that's those take resources.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_03: So we're looking for um potentially um quite a bit of money.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so and so I don't want to announce that at this point, but it's an opportunity to say, okay, is this working?
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_03: Is it valuable?
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_03: Is it changing the story?
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_03: And and then uh and then again, we'll be continuing to walk alongside Topeka Rescue Mission supporting TRM and the other agencies, as well as saying, hey, we're here too.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_03: And so an opportunity for people to give compassion strategies to help expand a good thing.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I I just think it's such it's so amazing to just watch how the two of you have worked together, um, really keeping the people we serve at the center of the conversation and not letting relationship be broken because of things that you all have never faced before, that have never really happened before.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're paving the way not only for the people we serve, but for other organizations to be able to say it is possible to work together through difficult situations as long as you keep your focus the focus.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I I think that's amazing.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_00: And um I want to thank you both for all of the hard work that you've done.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_00: It is truly making a difference in the community and definitely to people that very often feel unseen and unheard and have struggles that most of us can't even imagine.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you all so very, very much for that.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: I I appreciate you both.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I was pretty easy on you to say it.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_03: Very easy, man.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_03: I feel okay today.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_03: I want to go ahead and move forward.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_04: I kind of feel good about what we've done.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that was the point.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_03: So you ready to turn it back to me?
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm giving it back to you.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_03: Miriam, thank you for asking the questions today.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you all for listening to about the Compassion Impact Center.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you are listening to our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_03: And as we do, we share information.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_03: If you'd like more information about the Topeka Rescue Mission, you can go to TRMonline.org, trmonline.org.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_03: And don't forget night of praise on October 11th.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_03: The doors open at 5 30 p.m.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's a fundraiser and also a time to honor God and to love on each other.