Latest / Our Community, Our Mission / Ep# 310- Inside Topeka Rescue Mission’s 2025 Annual Report

Transcript

Ep# 310- Inside Topeka Rescue Mission’s 2025 Annual Report · Our Community, Our Mission

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_04: Oh Heavenly Father, what a time this is.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_04: We have beautiful weather.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_04: We have so much going on.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_04: We have laughter.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_04: We have all good things that you have given to us.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_04: And uh we are we are truly grateful.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Lord, we would just ask that um you bless the uh Compassion Impact Center as they're serving our unsheltered guests today.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_04: Um be with them in this new place with new processes and new procedures.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Lord, change is not always easy, um, but we're so grateful that we know in the the depths of our hearts that this is the right thing to do and that you have guided each of the steps, even though sometimes they seemed confusing and there's still so many questions, Lord.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_04: We just are so grateful that we know that you are in charge and in the midst of it all and tolerate us.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, Lord, uh we would just ask that as we now discuss all the beautiful things that happened last year, uh, that you help people hear and understand how important it is that we see and acknowledge our neighbors who might be struggling, um, and that we can't do it with with all of the people that support us, whether it's volunteers or donors, whether it's board members, whether it's all of our precious staff, Lord.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_04: Um, help people just hear what they need to hear so they can clearly understand how important this work is.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_04: Lord, I just ask all of this in Jesus' precious name.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: Hello, everybody.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for joining us for our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission on our beautiful day, April 14th, 2026.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host today, Barry Feeker.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, with episode number 310.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: I have Lamanda Cunningham, CEO of Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: Good morning, good morning.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Mary Crable, Chief Strategy Officer, the CSO of Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: I do believe that's it.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you've had a few titles since you've been here.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: You know what?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_04: It's kind of the pattern at the mission.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_04: You change your title 150 times before you're done.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: So is there a reason for that?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it is the 14th of April.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: Tomorrow is tax day, and if you change your titles, that means they can't find you?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we could hope.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_04: We could hope.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_04: I have a feeling it wouldn't be a very wise hope, but Yeah, probably not.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_03: Probably not.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: So anyway, well, thank you for joining us today.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, in your prayer, Miriam, you mentioned the Compassion Impact Center.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: This is week number two of people who not only um um uh are the rescue mission serving people who are sheltered, but this is for unsheltered.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh people who are living on the streets, um, who don't have access to showers and food and those kind of things.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um we've uh been in operation for nearly five years, something called the Moving Ahead Partnership Map now, which has moved into the uh Children's Palace, Topeka Rescue Mission, we're calling the uh Compassion Impact Center.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're confused about all that, that's okay.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: We are too.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: In this beautiful facility and also um Topeka Rescue Mission's other programs are still existing and have been for many years in this in this pure in this building.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: Oh guest education.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: I just saw um one of the shuttles from the shelters come over and it was packed with uh rescue mission guests who are going into trainings.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_04: You know, there's it there is not a single day at Topeka Rescue Mission where there isn't a lot going on.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_04: For sure.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_04: You know, in one way or another, where we're trying to help people find a different path forward, uh something that most of us would think is more stable or more sustainable.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um and so it's just it's always there's always a lot of activity here.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: Always is, and there's never a a day that there isn't, and there's another day it won't be.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: Today we want to look back at what was um so we have a bit of a reflection.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_03: So that um and it here we are, middle of April, uh, but it's always good to um in the month of April, Lamanda, to take a look back at some of the accomplishments that happened, even though we've we've moved on, right?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: But we want to look back at what uh happened and maybe some of the things that were essential for us to know where we're going for the year of 2026.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: So um you uh recently have uh put into uh people's mailboxes uh the annual report.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: And so it looks nice.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: It seemed to good.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so let's talk today.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: And again, um uh we're not living in the past, we're reflecting on the past so that we can be in the present and know how to better look at the future.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: What were some of the highlights that people could know about?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe they've seen already read the annual report.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's a nice little booklet.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um go to the website, I assume, the rescue mission website, and can get the same information.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um that's trmonline.org.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're listening to us and you um want to go there now, um trmonline.org, you can find that.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: If it's not there yet, it's gonna be there soon.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's there.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm just asking the questions.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: So anyway, uh we want people to know their impact um on how they've helped so many people.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: So, Laman, what sticks out to you in regards to the year 2025 that was um very impactful about uh what was accomplished through so many people coming together to help um our um neighbors in our community who are experiencing homelessness?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, I think uh the annual report is always something so neat, stressful, exciting to work on, right?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I I know I say this every year, so if people hear it, they're probably like, she says that all the time, or is a broken record.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's very important for myself, um, our board, our leadership team to report out the annual report.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it is something we take serious, um, we look at the data, we spend a lot of time trying to format it, get the pictures with it as well.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is a very big deal.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: But what I also want to make sure listeners realize is that when we talk numbers or statistics, that's really people.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I just don't ever want to be overemphasizing numbers or data separate from that being a life.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's so personal.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: So many times in a lot of things in regards to helping people, we talk about numbers, we talk about programs, and sometimes that can be anything but people-centered.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: So these numbers represent people center.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, to be fully transparent, Barry, that's part of my struggle still, maybe just being a newer CEO.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much that we can't report on because we're in the the people business.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is people helping people.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so so much of what we do, um of course we can track the data, but there's so much of how do you put a quantification on someone who has hope again or someone who gets reconnected to family through our food distribution because they're getting those basic needs met, and then that helps something else, and then that helps reunify.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: There's just so much that when Miriam and I sit down with this, every year she and I say, and there's still so much we can't tell.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: However, what's on my heart is I'm not sure we should be.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where I go back and forth on we, it is our responsibility as leaders to account for as much as we can data-wise, and we do that, and I feel like we do that well.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: The other side is the faith piece in me, not everything has to be told this side of earth because it's kingdom work.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord is walking with people, volunteers, staff, guests, unsheltered neighbors, and he is at work all the time.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And not everything needs to be a Facebook post, not everything needs to be something that we account for.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I just don't think this side of heaven, we will ever know what all TRM has done on a daily basis from the right.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think there's any way because you're talking about thousand, over a thousand people that were helped here just in the shelter piece, let alone everything else.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um you can't capture everybody's story.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um and uh but occasional stories are good.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but you're right, uh everybody's got a story.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's not just a number.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so um, you know, how do you reflect, how do you balance that out?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_03: So again, uh you had um um 1,218 people spent at least one night in the rescue mission facilities and shelter, totaling a 81,431 total bed nights.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: Want to explain that?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um that math doesn't work, right?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think starting with bed nights and and guests staying with us is a great place to start because to me it's foundational.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when we look at these numbers, and I'll explain those in just a minute, then there is this domino effect, Barry.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that we just had over 1,200 people here and they only stayed the night with us.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: That means we had over 1,200 people that needed food, that needed clothing, that needed toiletries, that needed assistance, that needed help, that needed next steps, that needed case management.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I think this is a great place to start.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, some people may be going, well, if they had 1,218 people stay, how does that equal eight, 81,431 people or bednights?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Some people come with us, Barry, and they only stay one night for whatever their story is.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um there are other individuals that are here working an entire program and they could be with us the entire year.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: I get asked that frequently, you know, do y'all have a cutoff on your stay?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: And my response to that is always if people are um making movement ahead to the goals that they need to, they can stay.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes we see, particularly um for individuals that are working during the day, sometimes their progress can be a little bit slower because a lot of the resources they need are during the day.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: So they have to find time to take off work, to do the things that case management needs them to do.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: The other side that we see people staying um more than one night, you know, if they have extended stays, a lot of times are single parents because they are trying to juggle work, they're trying to juggle maybe their kids being in school, not being in school yet, um, trying to um get IDs and just get different things like that.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: So as long as people are working the program to move ahead um towards more stable housing and all of that, then there's really not a cap on how long somebody can stay.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: Some people do ask that a lot.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know, what's how much time does a person have at the rescue mission?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's uh very important to understand.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's based on the individual and what their needs are and what they really want to take advantage of.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: One thing, Barry, I hadn't thought about until this year.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, each year I think I just realized to look at things differently, right?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord just kind of shows you.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: But when I look at that number, the 81,000, um that was our team, and when I say our team, our staff, volunteers, kitchen, everybody that touches this, right?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's 81,000 worth of needs that our staff, volunteers, all that face in 12 months.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because those are nights that everybody, if you have 120 people in the Hope Center, there are often times where half of them have needs that evening, right?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: All of them are gonna have the basic needs.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's 120 people just in the Hope Center trying to bathe, trying to do laundry, trying to eat, all of those things.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And when you compile what all goes into that, I was just that's miraculous in itself.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not even including the main shelter that has, you know, between 120, 130 men every night that have the same needs and everything that our staff and volunteers and the community make happen.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_04: And those are just the basic needs, you know, because then there's also the things where people are really struggling and the team just has to support them, uh-huh, has to be there to talk with them, has to be there to pray with them.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, all of those, those kinds of things that we can't even quantify on a regular basis because they're just part of the work.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you've got hundreds of people in two buildings.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: People still get sick.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: People get sad, people get stir crazy in the wintertime.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's just just think about your own families and what you face.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes we're putting 250 plus people that have the same needs that we have, basic needs, and additional things come up.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: And we're that's what we're juggling.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_03: So another, I think, important thing to bring out of the 1,218 different individuals that occupied 81,431 bed nights, 207 were children.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: And so talk about the kids.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you're a former principal in schools, um, uh you have your own children.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: What is the it it was always very impactful to me when our kids were here.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: And people would come through, they go, have children they're staying here, they're homeless?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: Talk personally how you feel about TRM's ministry to kids.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this is gonna sound negative at first, but then I'll explain my heart.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: On one hand, I think that it is heartbreaking when I think about the fact that we had 207 kids needing to be sheltered in a homeless shelter.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that is however many families make up those children, families that are in need.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that that breaks my heart because I know being a parent is not easy.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And um there is a lot of things that I have not faced, and I won't act like that I have, but there's actually a lot of similarities with me and some of our parents um that come in at the Hope Center.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: So on one hand, it breaks my heart to know that there is that great of a need um for children, the most vulnerable, the ones that don't have an option, and then their their parents are um trying to just change the trajectory of their present and their future.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I just it's the empathy side of me, I can just feel the heaviness on that.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't ever want us to I don't ever want TRM to have the posture that we're heroic.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: I want us to have the posture of we're in the trenches with people, and we want to really let people know that, especially the ones with children, that you're safe and that you're gonna have what you need.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want us to always have the right heart of that because being a parent is not easy, and being a child that is facing poverty needs and other uncertainties is not easy either.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a very real thing and something that I don't take lightly.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: The other side of it is how amazing is it that there were 207 plus kids kept safe every night because of the Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that's 207 kids, Barry, that had Christmas that maybe wouldn't have.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's 207 kids who had an Easter egg hunt and heard the resurrection story that maybe wouldn't have.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that is 207 kids who received brand new backpacks and school supplies and got to write their names on all of the things so that they were prepared and that it was equitable to peers.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I could go on and on.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Those are just the additional things aside from the fact that those kids had a pillow to sleep on and a bed to sleep on and they were getting bathed every day, those kinds of things.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: They were protected, they were safe, they they were they were able to be a kid.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I think um there is something you know, sometimes we go through life and things can become mundane or they can just like be a part of our day.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I just ask the Lord all the time, like just keep keep having it touch my heart, is when I pull up and all the school buses are out there.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you see the moms and the dads, and um sometimes it it's fun mornings and you can tell uh they're playing and they're getting ready to catch the bus, and the buses is coming around the corner, and you can see everybody lining up on the sidewalks.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you can see there's mamas just like me, stressed out because someone's forgotten the backpack, this shoe isn't on, this one's untied.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um if we just stop, regardless of our position, regardless of title, regardless of anything, there is so much common ground that we have and that we can relate to.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: And um, that is a very precious thing to me each morning before I have to do everything as CEO is honestly, I drive by, I go in between the shelters, I go around the grain elevators, like I just kind of do my drive and seeing all of the kids just ready to load up for school.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: And um, it's just precious.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I do think to myself, what would their lives look like if TRM was not here?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: And um I don't know.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't ever want that to lose the soft spot in my heart because that's really the why of what we do.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and you haven't been here long enough and it'll take a while, but there will be kids someday if you're still doing this job in Topeka that are going to be adults and they're going to say, I remember when I was a kid and stayed there, and this is how I felt.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_03: And generally it's a very positive experience for those children.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: And um you don't get to see that for a while.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: Take some time.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: I also think um it's kind of important for us to note um Miriam and I, it's kind of hard to tell right now, but we are really gonna be looking at things differently this year and into next year.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: But it seems like our numbers as far as individuals staying with us seem a little less if people are comparing years.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um but what we're noticing, and this is why we're gonna try to start tracking some things differently, it might not be that we had less people accessing TRM, but people are staying longer.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: They are taking more classes, they are um walking through our housing team.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about that in a minute.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Our households are up from last year.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's too early to tell, but it does seem like our numbers are slightly less as far as individuals staying at the shelter, but I think it's because people are staying here longer and maybe quality versus quantity, the ins and outs are less.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we are looking at those parameters to help lessen recidivism.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we're analyzing that as well.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: As we've talked about something called the continuum.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's uh the beginning, the middle, and the end.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: We have talked about uh wouldn't it be great if TRM could really focus on that equipping piece of helping people, which TRM does today, but it's also the emergency shelter of town.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's about about everything.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um that's why we're introducing things like MAP into the equation, more affordable housing, supportive, more case management, those kind of things.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_03: But to your point, um, there's a great opportunity for people to get the tools that they need to be able to be successful and to remain um housed in the future.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: Before we jump into those things, I do want to talk about a couple of startling demographics, I think, here.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um in these general numbers of 1,218 people.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um about uh about it's about 60-40 split between men and women.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um it's uh pretty close to the white, non-white, uh, about 50-50.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: Here's what's startling: 63 percent were identified as disabled.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: 63 percent of your total population was identified with as disabled.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_03: Probably that's taken most of the kids out of there.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_03: And so we're looking at a significant component of our adults who are coming to the shelter now, which means a different future for those folks, maybe than what we historically would have seen of get job training, get out, get a job, and you're gonna be on your feet again.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: Talk about that.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_03: What is TRM doing?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: One number one, it's recognizing disability, and that can be all the way from wheelchairs, walkers, uh mental.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_03: Mental, that's right.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, those kind of things in regards to this adult population, 63 percent, um, that 63 percent are adults, 63 percent are disabled of the total population.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's saying something.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um talk about that.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_03: What are you doing?
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think the first thing we're trying to do is ask a lot of questions.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um not to our guests, because we try not to be invasive and all of that, but we are doing a lot of reflection here at TRM of if this is gonna start being some of those numbers, and then we try to do a deeper dive into what's physical, what's mental, those kinds of things.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the things that has really bubbled up from this from the physical side that we're concerned about is um we have talked for a couple of years now that the rescue mission really needs to move in our dorm rooms to a step up bed model.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so currently, right now, we have bunk beds, um, and that is the most feasible way to be able to house um larger numbers of people.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um so on one hand that's the benefit of it.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: The other hand is um it is difficult for individuals that have physical disabilities to climb up and down bunks.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so then sometimes that puts us as a liability.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_03: And sometimes impossible.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so we always do what I call the human game of Tetris in that when an individual comes in and they need a lower bunk, um, we do try to shuffle anybody that's in a lower bunk that maybe the needs are not as crucial as the individual coming in.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, for the most part, in the four or five years I've been here, I think one person has complained, I had to give up my bunk for someone else.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone else just does it.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: They've got the right hearts, you know.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, however, what I've noticed, and particularly probably the last eight months, Barry, kind of since the end of last summer going into the fall, everybody on a lower bunk needs a lower bunk.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: There, there's we're now to the point where there's no longer anybody to shuffle because the needs are severe.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so that being said, um, we have been analyzing what's called step-up beds.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um the dollar amount is is reasonable, but it's not in our budget right now.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so when we're looking across the board, I think it's around 250,000 in order to replace um the beds that we would need to.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: They come in four bed units.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Is it around 8,000 a unit?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh or four of them?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_04: Well, now you've got me wondering.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's Weg, I think it was sixteen.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_04: Weg, I think it was four.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_04: I think that's for two.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: Two units.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I think we're both right.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think um the unit comes in four beds, and the steps are just different.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to hop up into a bunk or climb a ladder to get a bed.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_03: Just a few steps up into your own space, which there's another advantage to that.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's not just kind of a stark room with with bunk beds.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's a kind of a new technology that, man, I wish it was around a long time ago because it is really amazing and a whole lot safer.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: And aesthetically, it looks nicer too, which then people feel like they're coming more into kind of home away from home in that stepping stone.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so um it is more just trauma-informed, in my opinion.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just there's a lot of reasons we need to go to that.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: But financially, it is a cost.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, I am gonna start talking more publicly to donors this year about just the need, the why, and a lot of that is being motivated by some of this data that's showing the physical disabilities.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's just what people are self-reporting or that we can help them identify.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of people that have what I would say significant impairments, but they're not identifying disabled, or we're we've not been able to.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: But we've got gentlemen that have really bad backs.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: We've got um one right now that is walking with a cane because of a bad hip, needs surgery, those kinds of things.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that doesn't fall in this number.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that's just one of the things that stands out to me in what are we doing about some of this data that we're seeing?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: Trevor Burrus, Jr.: So there's been a trend towards more people that have some type of disability, they're homeless that are coming into the Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, the question is why?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it takes a long time to unpack that, but what are we going to do about it?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think that's what is um Topeka Rescue Mission's opportunity and the contributors' opportunity to say, okay, how do we best want to take care of the folks that are called guests at the rescue mission?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, well, there's more we could dive into the numbers and stats and so forth about the people that came.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_03: But Topeka Rescue Mission, um some people don't know this, is more than just shelter and clothes and a meal and some education we talked about.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: Talk about some of the other things TRM does that really is reflected in this annual report.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think another huge thing um when I'm looking at just our pillars, uh, what we're known for, it's shelter and it's food.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I I'm trying to start introducing the community in kind of this third prong of shelter and food is also um trauma-informed care.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Shelter and food are two very big prongs of what we do.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: The trauma-informed that I want our community to start realizing is the heart of which TRM does those things.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so to me, we're really starting to move to those are three foundational pillars of what we do and how we do it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so food, food blows me away every year.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's because I have the perspective of our distribution center, uh, what it looks like, and um our kitchen, how small it is.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yet amazing blessings come out of both spaces.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it is just both are such well-oiled machines in order to be able to do some of these numbers.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: So when we're looking at all of the different ways that TRM um does meals, so we provide um holiday meals, we provide meals to the Moving Ahead Partnership, we do community meals um every evening.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: When we look at the meals we're doing for guests, when we look at the distribution bags that we do, when we total up all of those meals, last year alone we served 604,348 meals.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's a lot of meals.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's a lot of food.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of food, isn't it?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: That is.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: And a lot of need.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of need.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the other side, again, I say this to showcase what God's done.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: I say it with a humble heart.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not, I'm not trying to say it bragging because we need to always look at this as that was 604,000 meals provided to hungry people.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like that should just always wreck us.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yet it should motivate us that we want to keep serving because we don't want anybody to be hungry.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I think the part of this number that is just heavy and amazing to me is everything it takes to even have those meals.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: We have to have the food, we have to have the items, we have to have the staff, the volunteers to make the food, to um bag the food for the distribution center to prepare it.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: We have to have um our team organizing it.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's a whole system in which we get food in, how we keep the inventory, how we keep it circulating, the dates.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: There is just so much that this number does not represent.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_04: And the thing that I'm always struck by too is because I'm on the finance side of things, I know what we spend on food.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_04: It is nowhere near enough to constitute being able to do over 600,000 meals.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_04: And it is donations that allow us to do that kind of thing.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_04: You know, Lamanda, you weren't able to be at a meeting yesterday, but talk about being wrecked by a story.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_04: Um the person, and I think I have we can say Brett's name.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_04: We say his name all the time, right?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_04: He shared a story of a pastor that came to him during the oh snap situation when the whole thing was going on with Snap.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_04: And this pastor started recognizing how the recognizing the people in their church that were experiencing hunger because of communion.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_04: They had switched from having, you know, communion that's already all prepared and kind of thing to just going with a loaf that people can can take from as they're doing communion.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_04: And what he noticed is that there were people in the congregation taking large chunks of bread.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_04: And why?
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_04: He said, the pastor said when he looked in their eyes, what he saw was hunger.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_04: Hunger for the Lord, yes.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_04: But hunger, physical hunger.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_04: And when you think about that as part of communion, that is that that rocked me, just kind of going, oh my goodness.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_04: And that that pastor then recognized what he was seeing in front of him.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_04: And so what we do here, we get to recognize that it's hunger and we get to see it all the time, right?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_04: We see it in our guests, we see it in the people that drive up, in terms of how thankful that they are, how thankful to us and all of our donors and all of the support we get that they are able to not just be hungry with no outlet.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_04: And yeah, so looking at these numbers, it it is numbers, but Lamanda, I think what you said about these are people that have a name and a story that is so reflected in 600,000 meals.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: The other part, Miriam, as you're saying that is I think we need to start asking the question of what if that data point wasn't there?
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if we know we did because of God's provision and all of the teams and the volunteers and everything to make it happen and we serve over 604,000, I would like our listeners in our community to say, what would our community look like if those 604,000 meals weren't served?
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: And from a community impact, right?
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: But then the other part is when you're looking at those meals, we have it broken down into what areas they were served at.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: So we kind of have a picture of individuals and stuff.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: But Miriam, that that's a lot of people that would have really gone hungry if it was not for the work of the Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: And would have been desperate.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we know what desperation leads to, right?
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm absolutely, and then it makes me thankful too, because we are we do have some other incredible partners in this community doing food work.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so on one hand, just what would happen if TRM wasn't doing this portion, and then from a broader scale, because of just my love, my respect, and adoration of other partners doing food work, you take some of those social services out, and it our community looks very different than what it does right now.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you but Mary mentioned the the look of hunger.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think if people would just pause a moment and think about that.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um I remember the first time I recognized it.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_03: I've probably seen it a lot, but the look of hunger in a woman's face one time when something was closed down and we couldn't do anything about it at that point.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then telling her no.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_03: And then when she walked away saying, No, not no's not okay.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_03: Go find her and give her something because you can go find something.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_03: But that look of hunger, if no if if a listener, if you've never seen that in somebody's eyes, it is something you'll never forget.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_04: That's absolutely right.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_04: And I don't think that we can expect anything to change when we have people who are hungry.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_04: It's all they can think about.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_04: That's all.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I think about Leadership Greater Topeka or the United Way bus tour that they do with people when they just have them give them for lunch on a particular day.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_04: Here is your lunch.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_04: And they buy it at a quick trip, just like other people do when they're trying to feed their kids and the impact that it has on those folks who are used to eating whatever they want, you know, having a a lunch that is nutritious and well balanced, and how they feel.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_04: It seems fun in the beginning because you're eating stuff that you're not supposed to eat, you know.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_04: You got chips, you've got all this stuff that really, but then in a few hours, you're grouchy, there's no way you're learning, you can't pay attention anymore, you know, and then we expect people to be able to find jobs, to do resumes, to go on interviews and be successful when what they're experiencing is a body that doesn't have enough nutrition to think beyond the fact that they're hungry.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then you add on again, back to that statistic we talked about.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_03: The majority of adults at the Speaker Rescue Mission have a disability.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: So it's really hard for them to even get a job to be able to move forward and then you add hunger onto that.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_03: So I know, Miriam, from uh from the financial side, just like you said, there's a significant need there for finances, but it doesn't all come through uh money donated for food.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: Not at all.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: It comes through these amazing donors.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_04: Barry, I think that you know, our budget for food is in the let's say it's two hundred thousand dollars, right?
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_04: What it would take for us to buy the amount of food to equate to six hundred thousand plus meals would be in the millions.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_04: In the millions.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, think about when you go to the grocery store.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_04: Like I go, I shop for one person.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_03: My grocery bill is getting close to a million now.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_03: But it seems like it's like it anyway.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I know.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_04: So think about that.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_04: There is all of these things that we know we have to pay.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_04: Well, now double that by 81,000 bednights, people needing food, whether it the the hundreds of people that come or hundreds of households that come every week to the distribution center, it would cost us millions.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm so grateful for our donations.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_03: A place to receive it, a place to store it, a place to prepare it, people to do all those things, not just the food cost.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_03: Correct.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_03: There's there's a lot to this.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: Miriam, one of the things that uh is in your area of um oversight is um helping people to move forward.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_03: And so how exciting is the whole idea of not only equipping people educationally, but then helping them to find that home to be able to move into.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: Talk about the restore program, talk about rehousing.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, it's probably one of my favorite things if I can have a favorite thing, because there's lots of favorite things here.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_04: But our ability to help people get to get into housing is absolutely one of my favorites.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_04: But it isn't just about getting them into an apartment or a some other kind of, you know, maybe it's a uh communal living kind of situation.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_04: It's not just that.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_04: It's about what it takes to get there, right?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_04: Helping them get all of their um documentation that they need, helping them pay down debt, right?
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_04: So they can actually get into an apartment.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe they've had evictions before, maybe they have outstanding utility bills.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_04: So it's about having a case worker that is really willing to take every step with them and say, we're gonna help you find the best possible scenario.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_04: We're gonna get you to a situation where you can actually sustain what you're about to move into.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_04: And then it's about finding them the house, right?
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_04: Finding them the apartment and working with them in that way.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_03: So talk about that sustain part because there is this kind of general thought.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we got abandoned homes in town, uh, we've got homeless folks.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_03: People could just go live in one of those if somebody would fix it up and those kind of things.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_03: But it's it's bigger than that.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's more than that.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_03: So it's complicated.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, Barry, if you've lived outside of what the rest of us consider normal.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_04: So a house, an apartment, a condo, it's just a different way of life.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_04: So helping people adapt and become ready to live in a in a I can't think of a better word, and I hate to use the word normal, but kind of in a normal living setting.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_03: Normal to other people, not necessarily them.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_04: Not to them.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_04: How do we help them prepare for that?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_04: How do we help them prepare to be a good tenant?
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_04: How do we help them prepare to know how to cook food or store food or do their laundry or or or you know, all these things that wasn't feasible for them to do when they were living outside or living um homeless in their car or whatever the case might be?
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_04: It's about preparing them in that way.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_04: But it isn't about stopping that support once you get them into housing.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_04: It really is about following them, walking alongside them, making continuous contact with them on a bi-weekly or monthly basis so that they have an opportunity to build a new community while not losing touch with people that they also have a relationship with.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_04: So we case manage people for a year after we place them in housing because we know it's so important that they not just feel like they've been abandoned in some way while we think, okay, this is great.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_04: It's going to be exactly what people need.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_04: That's not always the case because sometimes they're uncomfortable.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_04: They've been picked up out of the community of people that they know.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_04: Now there's all these new kinds of things, and we need to continue to be with them.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_04: Not to me, it's it's the perfect example of giving people a hand up because you're still there to guide them, help them overcome challenges they might have, encourage them with when they feel like things aren't going well.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_04: You know, there's there's one story where uh we housed uh a woman that just really struggled um with being kind of grumpy with people.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_04: And so she would go to all these service providers or like a social security office, and she had no patience for them not responding to her the way they should.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_04: So our team member was there for her and then would recap with her, okay, try this, try doing it this way, to the point now where she can go to all of those places, not walk out, not get thrown out, not uh make anybody mad, get the things that she needed because now she is able to negotiate it appropriately for herself.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_03: Talk about different uh famous uh foods.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, what's the secret recipe or the secret sauce in this relationship piece?
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_03: It is in all this.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_04: It's a hundred percent.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_03: You've got to have a shelter, you have to do everything we've talked about at this point to help people to stabilize, get them equipped, and then housing on the other end.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: But the secret sauce is that relationship from beginning to end.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, but not just with the people that we're serving, also with the landlords.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: So 113 people were households.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_03: 113 households were um uh served last year, only two evictions in that, and that's pretty.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_04: Isn't that incredible?
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_03: That's incredible.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_03: But again, the secret sauce, relationship.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_04: It's all about relationships and not abandoning people just because they've got four walls around them now.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: So if we look back, and we're talking about households, which is more than one person, but if we look back at the um area of um of over a thousand people stayed at the mission.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um that number seems fairly slow.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_03: Slow, low.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_01: Slow and low.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_03: Slow and low.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um why is that?
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_03: Why isn't everybody just housed quickly?
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_03: What are some things that are on the horizon for TRM and the community to be able to up that number um gradually as we we move forward so that more people when they leave TRM have an opportunity for housing?
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_03: What are some of the barriers?
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_04: Some of the barriers, well, some of the barriers are the debt that people have when they come to us, right?
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_04: So they've been experiencing things for a long time, and debt can build and build and build, especially when it comes to uh rentals, evictions, utility bills, that kind of thing.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_04: So it can take people a long time to get that paid down, especially if they're on very limited income, right?
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_04: So if you're on fixed income, you can only do so much so quickly.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_04: So that is a barrier in and of itself.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_04: The other thing that is a barrier is actually finding housing.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: Housing.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_04: So are there enough places that number one are willing to take a chance?
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_04: You know, how many second-chance landlords do we have out there that are willing to take a chance on somebody that's been experiencing homelessness for a long time?
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_04: If they are then, do they have enough space?
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_04: Do they have enough units to be able to house everyone?
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_04: You know, sometimes it can be easier to house people who are single individuals, but then when you get up to a situation where you've got families, now you're looking at different size apartments that then also cost more money.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_04: You know, so there are all of these things.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_04: Is there adequate income?
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_04: Can people find an adequate job that will pay for that?
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_04: All there's just so many complicated and complex things that come into play when we talk about getting people housed.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a bigger issue out even outside of Topeka Rescue Mission to find a fix for this particular housing shortage.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_03: And uh and some of our people come to us as zero income.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't fit so well.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_03: No, um and so there's a lack of uh safe, sure, attainable, affordable housing in Topeka, Kansas.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_03: Those numbers are stymied to some degree because of housing shortages and the right kind of housing for people to move into.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_03: Especially when you look at the 63 percent of disability.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: So um that's a bigger conversation for another time, but even at our federal state levels, we're seeing a reduction in subsidized housing dollars, and maybe more so in 2027 than we have uh seen thus far.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_03: And so those are things that we uh we don't have a crystal ball at this point to know what to do, but that does not negate the fact that people are going to need housing and also are going to thrive in housing because there's a system that we've seen that works.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_04: And we want that.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_04: To thrive, right?
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_04: We want them to just experience all the good things that life has to offer and not feel as though every single day is a struggle.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_04: Every single day is at this high level of urgency for them to find this or that or the other thing.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_04: So to me, it's I love the housing program.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: Otherwise, we build more shelters and people stay for the rest of their lives in shelters, which is not what shelters are for.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_03: Shelters are a transition place.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: Another big thing that uh is in your area is the volunteer department.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_04: Actually, that's not my area because Lamanda took it away from me.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, Lamanda won't be away from the Barry.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_03: That's a really tough thought.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_03: You gave her having to raise money and trust people for food and all this, and then you took away the funny, the fun part?
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I took Susie away and I took Marcus away.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_03: And she's still very bitter.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_04: I go through the whole adoption process with people and then she just rips them away from me.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you did a good job for a long time, Mark.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_03: And that's why Lamanda wants it.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_03: I want to take a good thing while it's a good thing, right?
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_03: So Lamanda uh volunteers, uh, as we've talked so many times, uh, without them, couldn't do it.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_03: So according to 2025's uh report, the savings to TRM in value was six hundred and sixty-two thousand three hundred and fifty-six dollars.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_03: Volunteers saved Topeka Rescue Mission that much money, well over half a million dollars because they volunteered.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_03: Now, as a CEO, yes, I know that was always like, oh, that's awesome.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_03: Talk a little more about the person who volunteers, though, and not just the money savings.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, when we're looking at that money savings, it is also um the equivalent of 10 full-time employees.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I tell people all the time when I'm doing speaking events or whatever, when I say the Topeka Rescue Mission could not do the operations like we do them.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's no joke.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: It is no joke without volunteers.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: And um this, these numbers just prove that.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: The other side of this is it's not just the number of people that we have donating their time on top of everything else that they're doing, right?
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just about that.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's also about how they do it.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, to me, that's incredible.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: We have people that come here um, and it might be a one-off because they have to.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_00: Their business is doing it, their team is doing it, they've never set foot in the rescue mission, but they come and they say, I had no idea.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like we've joked and said that should be our tagline, right?
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we have that type of volunteer that did not even know we were down here, um, didn't know what we did.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have volunteers that I joke, but I'm half serious, that we should probably get them a name badge as far as an employee name badge, because they work just as many hours as some of our part-time and full-time staff.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I could go on and on about volunteers.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but one of the things that I just had the blessing of last week um was a because April is volunteer appreciation month.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so we did an appreciation uh luncheon for volunteers and we had around 75 people in the room.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, Barry, I walked through this with you too, but I was very candid with with the team that was there.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: I was more nervous talking to volunteers than I am strangers, people I don't know, maybe people even that are opposing us, you know, our work that we do.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I prayed on that for a couple of weeks.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, God, I don't normally get nervous at speaking events, and normally I know exactly what you're wanting me to say.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why do I have such a block?
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then the night before it came to me that in that room are they're people that just get it and they don't expect anything in return other than knowing that they're on assignment and their assignment is to love well in whatever capacity they are at the Tobeka Rescue Mission.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so I told them that and I said, So honestly, I think my nerves come from how do I say anything to you all when you are the ones helping someone um at the distribution center when they're talking to themselves and you can tell they're hungry, but you can't even get across to them to eat the food?
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do I thank people that clean up shower trailers and help people when they've defecated on themselves?
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: Who am I to to say anything when they're already incredibly blessed people that are making our world so better and they just do it?
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_00: And what the Lord revealed to me was I don't need you to motivate them, I don't I don't need you to encourage them.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing all of that.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so the night before, I'm still sitting there not sure what to say, and I feel like the Lord very clearly said, just love them like they love the people that you're entrusted with.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so I hope we did that well last week.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: I hope we do that well all the time.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: But that was really the focus of my speech to them was just I hope you feel loved right now by being able to be served a meal.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you feel loved and knowing that we could not do this kingdom work on earth without you here.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope you know, and I was just crying that I might not see everything that you do, and I might not personally be able to thank every thankless job that you do at the Topeka Rescue Mission, but the Lord does.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I just need to get out of the way and just consistently remind you that we're on this journey together, that you are loved and adored, and that I wish that the community truly knew the impact that volunteers at the Topeka Rescue Mission make in our community.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_03: When Jesus talked about the sheep and the goats and uh talks about um the sheeps will be the ones who um saw him or or served him when they fed the hungry, when they sheltered the homeless, um, when they give somebody something to drink when they were thirsty and on and on.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_03: And I just in the in the in the kingdom, there's going to be a separation of people who didn't do those things and people who did.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm just that this kind of visual image of the people that you're the volunteers to Pikachu Rescue Mission and other places who are doing these things without recognition are the sheep.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_03: And uh just standing there watching those people get recognized by the Lord someday for what they have done because they've done it unto him.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_03: I mean that that that that to me just kind of moves me.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I will tell you what was neat at that one too is we had a our youngest volunteer and he was 45 days old.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um he is precious.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_03: He lifted the age limit on the year, that's right.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um and what I mean by that is his um family, his mother and his father, um, are wonderful volunteers of ours, but it was so sweet to see that, and that touched my heart because I love kids, and so um, and she let me hold him, and then I didn't want to give him back.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you know, she letting you hold that's cool.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I grabbed that's exactly it.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, I was sitting there and I just happened to clear my hands, and she saw that I had just wiped them.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: She's the one that offered for me to hold him, and he was precious.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: But what was neat about that is then we had people that um volunteered almost four decades.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so we had people raise their hands if you've been here five years and ten years and twenty years.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, it's just incredible to be a part of that.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_03: Volunteered for 40 years.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_03: Well, there is a so much more we could talk about in this annual report.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_03: We do want to uh if you g don't uh have a copy of it that didn't come in the mail, you can request one at Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_03: You can go online and you will see it there or eventually see it there as in regards to this annual report.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and want to um mention one thing, and that is, and this is kind of the downer part, but there is a 2025 financial report here, Lamanda.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_03: We don't want to spend a lot of time on this.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_03: But uh revenue versus expenses um didn't look pretty.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_03: Everything else looked really pretty, but it didn't really look pretty here.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um there looked like there was a significant uh overage in trying to do what you do versus the revenue that came in.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_03: Talk a little bit about that.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know, Barry, we've talked before about um when I am so forthcoming, because I think that's my responsibility as CEO at the Topeka Rescue Mission, to lead with transparency and to um really find ways to communicate to the community the needs, how great they are, and that it's going to take the community to keep TRM doing what it does for our community.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I think I'm learning how to do that better each year, but it's still hard for me because I find myself trying to articulate that we had a deficit and to be able to talk about that deficit, to be able to talk about the um astronomical increase in unanticipated expenses, major expenses that happen, all of those things.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yet how do I do that where I'm not walking in fear and sounding this alarm?
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_00: And if I can just talk about the elephant in the room, that it doesn't lead straight to everybody talking about 2019.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that is hard for me, Barry, because I want to talk about the financial needs of TRM.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: I am very honest when we did not meet budget for contributions and all of that.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yet I also don't want us walking in fear and going back to the one negative um financial time that we had when God has provided since 1953 for this ministry and continues to do.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes it's not on our time frames and sometimes it's not in the forms of individual contributions and those kinds of things.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so um Miriam and I have diligently looked over the last five years of um revenue contributions, expenses.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_00: We've done that for 10 years, and there's really not trends, Barry, and it doesn't fit a business model.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't fit being able to say, here's all of our mile markers that we want to do.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes God provides more um in individual contributions, and sometimes he provides more in estates.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes our church contributions are up and sometimes they're down.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so um we are trying diligently to communicate to the community we need monthly recurring donors to cover costs, yet we also know that there is a need for the people that contribute annually before end of year because that's what they choose to do.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: I will tell you, when you look at us being a ministry, I am shocked that our church financial support is not more.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_00: We are a part of the church, we are a part of the body of Christ doing work that he's called us to do.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so there are things that we are analyzing that we do want people to know.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_00: We need more individual contributions, we need more recurring donors, whether that's monthly or annually or quarterly, to sustain the budget that this community needs for this community resources.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the other side of it is I don't ever want to be doing too much myself, Miriam, our board humanly that we don't stand in awe and trust in what God does that nobody else can do.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: So a perfect example of this, um, and I'm being vulnerable.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_00: When I think about our numbers, Barry, I don't ever want to have missed something that I should have done as a leader to communicate the financial needs of TRM.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_00: The other side of it is I also don't think that the Lord wants us to try to be so controlling with money and inputs and outputs and what we're trying to do that we don't set ourselves up ready for miracles.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so this morning I walked in and um Miriam said, Um, hey, here's a blessing.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_00: And she handed me a piece of paper.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_00: And um, there's an estate that we received.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it is a significant estate.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_00: And in that moment, I just said, Praise God and thank you for that.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what all that's gonna cover.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the need is, but this is an individual that left us uh an estate that we don't even know his connection to TRM.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's miraculous.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I am trying hard as a leader to do my due diligence to recruit new donors, to talk about the need, to be transparent of the deficit.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yet I also know that I serve a father who is working stuff in ways that I can't ever do.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that I want to continue to trust his provisions over my strategy.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_00: And somewhere in between us being good leaders and strategy and vision casting and our faith with the father of what he can do, I think is where we're supposed to lie as leaders here at TRM.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_03: And that's not an exact science.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_04: It is not even close to an exact science.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, Lamanda, your your motion on this um totally can relate to that.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um the balance between letting people know what the need is um very definitively because it is there.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_03: The financial needs are there.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_03: Without it, it doesn't happen.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um but also um stepping aside and letting God bless in special, supernatural ways.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we talked about volunteers and how important they are.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_03: The donor is a volunteer.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_03: They are volunteering their money to be able to support Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um if you look at the annual report, approximately 70 percent of the total annual revenue came from individuals.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_03: People who are listening to this podcast today.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_03: The next highest was estates.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gathering that's individuals too, that were thinking ahead in regards to that.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_03: So about 90 percent, pretty close to 90 percent of the donations that come to Pika Rescue Mission come from you who are listening.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh whether it's you've put it in your will, um, you have uh planned it out, you're a monthly giver, um, you uh annual giver, um, you are a volunteer that's essential to this whole effort of supporting our neighbors in need in this community.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm not sure how we better describe it than we've described it today about the need.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um and that was just last year, let alone coming up this year.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_03: And so really consider about the opportunity for you to volunteer either your time um or your finances or both, uh, but also volunteer spreading the word.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_03: Volunteer taking this.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_03: Some of you are long-term our community, our mission listeners.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we've been doing this for over five years now.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for listening.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_03: Spread the word.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_03: Tell people about the value of Topeka Rescue Mission, what it's doing, uh, what it needs to be doing.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_03: Talk about everything that you can to stay in tune with what the needs are in our community because there's people who are literally on the streets today that will have no hope and more will come if it weren't for you.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_03: You are the one standing in the gap, loving in the gap, as you said, for 2025.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_03: So, Lamanda, real quick, um talk about just what your hopes are for 2026.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_03: We're already at April 14th today.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um, first quarter, boom, gone.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_03: What are we doing in your thoughts, just very briefly, because we'll have more time throughout this year to talk about it.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_03: But what do you want people to take away today about this year?
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think um that can just be summarized in the Topeka Rescue Mission is all about loving people and that it takes manpower to do that, it takes volunteerism to do that, it takes finances to do that, um, it takes prayer to do that.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_00: I I've noticed that there's a lot of people that say maybe age, maybe disability, maybe time work, those kinds of things that they they can't be boots on the ground, how else can help?
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_00: And literally, this theme this year is the power of prayer.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_00: Help us.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_00: When people do all of those things that I just mentioned, it helps the Topeka Rescue Mission love others.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_00: And um there's a lot that complicates this work.
• 1:01:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot that um we do need strategy on and that we try to figure out and we try to stay ahead of things, but yet I don't think that the Lord ever wants us to stop having loving him and loving others as the foundation for everything that we have, whether we take data on it or not.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about loving people.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so my my desire for 2026 um for staff is that we love the Lord first because in this work, if we don't do that, we don't love others well.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then sometimes don't love ourselves well either.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh for volunteers, I think same thing, loving being at TRM and loving how they're serving and loving the people that they're serving.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I think for guests, um, I just hope that they receive love with no expectation in return.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_00: And there's just a lot of guests that um their behaviors might look different and it might look anything but loving, but when you really get down to the heart of it, some of those things started because they weren't ever loved properly.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so I hope that TRM's operations, the spirit of which we operate, all of that is centered on truly loving the Lord and loving people.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_03: Love is a word, love is also an action.
• 1:03:11
  SPEAKER_03: So love in word and love indeed.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_03: And you can do that uh by helping Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_03: Lamanda, Miriam, thank you uh for unpacking last year, which was just a tidbit of what happened.
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, if you would like more information about this, you can go to the rescue mission website at trmonline.org.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's TRMonline.orgorg.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_03: Remember this Jesus once said, the poor you will always have with you.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_03: Some people use that as an excuse to say, well, they're always going to be here.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_03: He only said that one time, but if you dig into it, over 2,000 times the Bible tells us what to do about it.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for listening to our community, our mission.