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Retired cop’s mobile laundry service brings hope to the homeless · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:11
  You're listening to The Hidden Lightness on America Out Loud Talk Radio.
• 0:15
  I'm your host, Jimmy Hinton.
• 0:17
  Welcome to a new week.
• 0:18
  And as we draw nearer to Christmas, I want to remind you of stories of good people doing great things.
• 0:28
  And this is happening all around us.
• 0:31
  There's a story in particular that I heard recently, and I saw it come up in the news again, and I thought I have to do a story on this.
• 0:40
  There's a retired police officer in Maryland who started a mobile laundry unit.
• 0:49
  It's a full service laundry on wheels.
• 0:53
  He got an old bus, and he loaded that baby up with washing and drying machines.
• 1:00
  Now I don't know how he rigged this all up, because that takes a massive amount of water and electricity and all that kind of stuff.
• 1:09
  So to retrofit a bus is pretty hardcore.
• 1:13
  That's not a small task.
• 1:15
  And I know there are some people who are just really gifted at converting things, and uh they're they're just handymen who can figure this stuff out.
• 1:26
  Now, I don't know if he did it or if he had it retrofitted somewhere else, but what a cool idea.
• 1:35
  So I want to start by saying that first of all, the needs are endless.
• 1:41
  As we get into the holiday season, a lot of times we think about our family, and that's daunting enough to think about what we're gonna buy, and you know, we want to be really creative and thoughtful and all of those things, which are all great things.
• 2:00
  I think it's fantastic.
• 2:01
  I think we should be thoughtful.
• 2:04
  We should put a lot of thought into getting presents for our loved ones.
• 2:10
  But what about everybody else?
• 2:14
  And I think about the people who don't have family.
• 2:19
  You know, we have one of my church members, and I'm I'm gonna brag on some people here, but one of my church members approached me, I don't know, it was about a week ago, and he said, can we do a dinner on Christmas Eve?
• 2:32
  Christmas Eve falls on a Wednesday, we already have a Wednesday evening Bible study.
• 2:39
  So he said, can we instead do something to feed people?
• 2:45
  Particularly lonely people, people who don't have family, they don't have a place to go, they don't have anybody to celebrate Christmas with.
• 2:55
  Can we provide a meal and just invite people in the community?
• 3:01
  I was like, you know, I love that idea.
• 3:04
  Make it happen.
• 3:06
  Uh, you know, because the one thing that I don't want to do is have people come to me and ask for permission.
• 3:12
  And I don't think that's what he was doing.
• 3:13
  I think he just was bouncing an idea off of me.
• 3:16
  But my thing is let's empower people.
• 3:20
  If people want to be the hidden lightness, if people want to bless other people, you shouldn't start stringing up red tape.
• 3:27
  And I know there are a lot of churches and organizations that do, and they're like, well, we have to think about you know, liability.
• 3:35
  What if somebody slips?
• 3:36
  What if somebody slips and falls in the parking lot?
• 3:39
  What if what if some of the food's not cooked properly and somebody gets food poisoning?
• 3:45
  You know, and like I'm not making up hypothetical scenarios.
• 3:49
  These are things that have stopped many, many people from serving other people, people in need.
• 3:56
  And they think about all these doomsday scenarios, and they just start stringing up red tape and they string it everywhere.
• 4:03
  I don't want to be that person.
• 4:05
  I'm gonna say, you know what, let's bless other people.
• 4:08
  Let's see where God leads us, and let's just do it.
• 4:12
  If we have an idea that blesses somebody, just do it.
• 4:17
  You know, don't wait around.
• 4:20
  Don't come up with all kinds of excuses because I really think that's the devil's way of getting in your ear.
• 4:26
  What if nobody comes?
• 4:29
  You know, what if what if the food's not good enough?
• 4:33
  What if people complain?
• 4:36
  What if, what if, what if, you know, and we start playing those games, and that cripples us.
• 4:42
  It legitimately cripples us.
• 4:46
  And uh anyway, we're going through with it, we're doing it.
• 4:50
  I had a short conversation with him the other day, and he he wanted me to call him, and he said, I've never done anything like this before.
• 4:59
  Uh what are some things that I need to expect?
• 5:03
  What do I do?
• 5:04
  How do I prepare for this?
• 5:05
  And so I gave him some some tips and ideas, and I said, But just so we're clear, I'm not the one planning this.
• 5:12
  I've got enough on my plate.
• 5:14
  I have more than enough to do.
• 5:16
  I fully support it, but what I don't want to do, and this has happened in the past, and and I'm I'm saying this not as a pastor.
• 5:26
  Um, I'm saying this just as a warning to all of us, to everybody and and anybody.
• 5:36
  Sometimes people will come up with grandiose ideas, and what they mean by that is I have this idea.
• 5:45
  Can you implement it?
• 5:48
  And then you wind up pulling all the weight, doing all the work, in addition to everything else that you have going on in your life.
• 5:55
  And my thing is that's not very empowering for the person who comes up with the idea.
• 6:00
  And I want to I want to empower people to be the hidden lightness.
• 6:05
  I want us all to, when we come up with an idea to take ownership of that idea.
• 6:12
  Now, again, there is nothing in the world wrong with asking people for ideas.
• 6:17
  I do it all the time.
• 6:19
  I bounce ideas off of people, and a lot of times people bring me back to Earth, because I I tend to have these wild ideas where I just people are like, all right, come on, come back to your senses, wake up, pin yourself, we're on earth, and that's never gonna happen.
• 6:41
  And that's okay.
• 6:44
  You know, I've I've had some ideas where the idea might have been good, but the amount of time that would have it would have taken to do that, it just wasn't, it wasn't feasible.
• 6:56
  And so it's good to bounce ideas off of people, but what we need to be careful of, whether it's our idea, and we're the ones kind of pawing that off on other people, that's not okay either.
• 7:11
  But the reverse of that is when somebody else has an idea and they they tell you the idea and you end up doing it for them.
• 7:19
  No, just say no.
• 7:24
  And we think about that, and we're like, well, if I don't do it, it's not gonna get done.
• 7:32
  Then so be it.
• 7:35
  You know, we can't take on more than what we can handle.
• 7:39
  We can't sacrifice our family and our own time and our own mental and physical and spiritual well-being to serve other people because if we're destroying ourselves for the sake of other people, it it's it's not effective.
• 7:59
  You know, I'm all for helping people, and this is my point.
• 8:04
  The needs are absolutely endless.
• 8:06
  If we're worried about not implementing an idea because it's the only idea, and there will never be an idea like this ever again in the history of mankind, you're fooling yourself.
• 8:18
  The needs are absolutely endless.
• 8:21
  So if we don't end up doing something, that's all good and fine.
• 8:24
  Another opportunity will present itself, believe me, sometimes within minutes.
• 8:30
  And this past week has been a testament to that in my own life.
• 8:35
  I uh I've got more phone calls literally every 30 minutes.
• 8:40
  There was another crisis that was presented to me to the point where I am absolutely exhausted.
• 8:50
  Opportunities are always there.
• 8:54
  Opportunities to serve people, to bless people, to sit with people.
• 8:59
  They're endless.
• 9:02
  And so I don't want that to scare you or intimidate you or make you feel like it's an impossibility.
• 9:10
  I want to simply put that out there that there are endless opportunities to serve people.
• 9:17
  We just have to pick one idea, and we need to run with it, and we need to do it.
• 9:26
  And that's exactly what this retired copy.
• 9:33
  His name is Wade Milliard.
• 9:36
  He's from Frederick, Maryland.
• 9:39
  Not a huge place.
• 9:42
  And he is a former canine officer with the Frederick Police Department in Frederick, Maryland.
• 9:52
  And one day, not that long ago, he got a call.
• 9:59
  When he
• 10:00
  A police officer still.
• 10:01
  This is before he retired.
• 10:02
  He just retired very recently.
• 10:04
  I think like January of this year.
• 10:08
  But he got a call for a domestic disturbance.
• 10:13
  And it was in a homeless community.
• 10:16
  And the way he describes this is I had a voice that came out of nowhere.
• 10:22
  And he thought that it was God.
• 10:25
  He was like, I I don't have any other way to describe this.
• 10:28
  It was like the voice of God was coming out of nowhere and telling me certain things and asking me questions.
• 10:37
  And I I want to elaborate on this because I think I know what he means, and I don't want to put words into his mouth, but I've heard a lot of people talk about this, and I've talked about it too.
• 10:48
  I wrote about it in my book, this encounter that I had with God, where I heard the voice of God.
• 10:54
  And so the way I describe that in my book is that I didn't actually hear a voice.
• 11:00
  It's not like the heavens opened up and a voice boomed down and you know, started talking to me.
• 11:08
  But what it was was a nudging.
• 11:13
  And it tugged on my conscience.
• 11:17
  And for me, that voice, it was when I had first reported my own father for sexual abuse against minor victims.
• 11:27
  And I just, I was so angry at God at the time.
• 11:30
  And I was like, God, where were you?
• 11:32
  And that's a question I kept asking over and over and over.
• 11:36
  Where were you when all these victims were being abused?
• 11:40
  Why didn't you, why didn't you intervene?
• 11:42
  Why didn't you stop them?
• 11:43
  Why didn't you stop my dad?
• 11:44
  Why didn't you give him a heart attack?
• 11:46
  I have a brother who died of a massive heart attack at the age of 42.
• 11:51
  Why is it that a good man, a great father, somebody who had three young children, drops over of a massive heart attack?
• 12:02
  My brother was a good, good man.
• 12:04
  I mean a great man.
• 12:07
  We loved and adored him, his wife, my sister-in-law, my niece and nephews, they absolutely adored him.
• 12:19
  He died.
• 12:22
  And my father went on for decades abusing children.
• 12:27
  And so I was asking that question where were you, God?
• 12:29
  Where were you when my dad was doing all of this to all of these innocent children?
• 12:37
  And I wasn't getting an answer, and finally, I heard a voice.
• 12:41
  Um, not a literal voice, but it was like this voice within me that came back and said, You're asking the wrong question.
• 12:52
  The question isn't where was I?
• 12:54
  I was there the entire time.
• 12:57
  The question is, where were my people?
• 13:02
  And that hit me like an absolute ton of bricks.
• 13:06
  And that's what launched my work into victim advocacy.
• 13:10
  You know, at one point my wife said, Why are you doing this?
• 13:13
  And I said, Because I have to.
• 13:17
  And she never fully understood why I would subject myself to all the horrors of all these endless stories that I've heard over the years.
• 13:28
  Why would you subject yourself to this?
• 13:30
  There's no, there's no monetary value in this.
• 13:33
  You're not getting paid to do it.
• 13:35
  It's exhausting you.
• 13:38
  You know, it's not good for your psyche, and it's not, believe me, it's not.
• 13:44
  And so the question is, why are you doing this?
• 13:47
  And my response was because I have to.
• 13:49
  So I get what Wade Milliard is saying.
• 13:52
  He said that he heard this voice out of nowhere, and he knew that he needed to listen to it.
• 13:59
  He thought that it was God.
• 14:01
  It must be God speaking to me.
• 14:06
  And that's calling God is calling me into action.
• 14:11
  So here's how it all unfolded.
• 14:13
  A few years ago, when he was a canine officer for the Frederick Police Department, he gets this call for a domestic dispute at a homeless camp.
• 14:27
  He investigated the disturbance, and soon asked soon after that.
• 14:32
  He heard a voice that was ringing out saying, ask them about their laundry.
• 14:39
  Now, again, I don't think that he means this voice.
• 14:43
  You know, the heavens open up in this voice boom down from heaven.
• 14:48
  And I also don't think that he's delusional.
• 14:52
  You know, there are some people, schizophrenics often hear voices in their head.
• 14:57
  I don't think that this is that.
• 15:01
  You know, schizophrenics will often talk about how a voice told them to do something, and they they literally hear voices, and they'll just they'll respond back.
• 15:14
  They'll talk to people who are not actually there.
• 15:19
  This is not that.
• 15:20
  I know what Wade Milliard is talking about.
• 15:23
  It's a prodding that's inside of him.
• 15:26
  It's an idea that's taking root.
• 15:30
  Ask them about their laundry.
• 15:34
  Well, Wade Milliard heated the voice and he asked homeless people the question.
• 15:45
  Tell me about your laundry.
• 15:47
  How do you do your how do you do your clothing?
• 15:50
  How do you wash your clothes?
• 15:54
  And this question, that singular question, unknowingly set the course, according to Goodreads or good news, good news network that set the course for a prayer-fulfilling future.
• 16:16
  The homeless couple that he interviewed told him that they typically wash your laundry in a nearby creek.
• 16:22
  They walk down to the water, they, you know, and I know Frederick, Maryland, it's not that far from where I live.
• 16:29
  It gets blustery in the winter time.
• 16:32
  It's very cold, and that water is very cold.
• 16:38
  So, yeah, they're walking down to a creek doing what they have to do to survive.
• 16:45
  And Milliard never forgot that response.
• 16:50
  Nor his call to service.
• 16:55
  Well, we're coming up on a break here.
• 16:57
  We'll talk about this ministry that he started, and it's growing, it's expanding.
• 17:02
  It's brand new.
• 17:03
  I just started it last year.
• 17:06
  We'll talk about that after the break.
• 17:08
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• 19:45
  Wade Milliard, a retired police officer, heard a voice.
• 19:51
  Heard a voice that he describes as coming from God.
• 19:56
  There's no other way to describe it.
• 19:58
  It was a call from God.
• 20:00
  A question saying, ask the homeless people about their laundry.
• 20:06
  Ask them about their laundry.
• 20:08
  You know, it reminds me of it reminds me of the movie Field of Dreams.
• 20:13
  You remember that movie?
• 20:15
  Kevin Costner.
• 20:16
  I mean, one of the most famous movies.
• 20:20
  And it's absolutely fantastic.
• 20:22
  If you haven't watched it, it's you got to watch it.
• 20:25
  It's an old school.
• 20:26
  It's just great.
• 20:27
  Good, clean family, family movie.
• 20:30
  My son who loves baseball loves this movie.
• 20:33
  But you remember he hears a voice.
• 20:36
  If you build it, they will come.
• 20:40
  If you build it, they will come.
• 20:41
  And he keeps hearing this voice.
• 20:43
  And he's looking up and he's like, wait, what?
• 20:44
  Where's that coming from?
• 20:46
  Who's messing with me?
• 20:48
  And eventually he has this aha moment.
• 20:51
  He's like, oh.
• 20:54
  If you build it, what's it?
• 20:55
  What is it?
• 20:56
  What's it?
• 20:57
  Well, it ends up being a baseball field.
• 21:03
  If you build it, they will come.
• 21:05
  Well, now he's like, okay, who will come?
• 21:08
  So he ends up listening and he's dirt poor.
• 21:11
  He's a farmer and he's very poor.
• 21:14
  And he builds this baseball field out in the middle of nowhere, right at the edge of the cornfield.
• 21:20
  And then all of a sudden, all these great giants, baseball giants start coming out of the field.
• 21:27
  You know, people who were they've long died, they come out of the field and they start playing baseball.
• 21:33
  Like they turn into real people and they start playing.
• 21:36
  So kind of a kind of a cool, it's just a it's it's a very fictional, very entertaining, great movie.
• 21:44
  But that whole expression, if you build it, they will come.
• 21:50
  You know, sometimes I don't believe that kind of philosophy.
• 21:57
  Because it doesn't always work, right?
• 21:59
  You know, like there are certain things that if we build and there's no market for it, well, people aren't going to come just because you built it.
• 22:06
  You have to know what the market's telling you.
• 22:09
  So, you know, kind of loosely, we can criticize this and be like, yeah, whatever, you know, it's kind of silly, but then there are other times where you're like, wait, God is nudging me, God's telling me something, and maybe I should listen.
• 22:27
  If you build it, they will come.
• 22:30
  And sometimes it just works.
• 22:35
  And this is exactly what happened in this case with Wade Milliard.
• 22:42
  Wade Milliard didn't, to my knowledge, he didn't put surveys out, and he didn't ask 16,000 homeless people.
• 22:52
  If I build a laundromat on wheels, would you would you come?
• 22:55
  Is there a market for that?
• 22:57
  To my knowledge, that never happened.
• 22:59
  He didn't do that.
• 23:02
  He asked a handful of people, right?
• 23:06
  He hears this voice, ask them about their laundry.
• 23:11
  And I think it's an inner voice.
• 23:14
  He asked a handful of people how they do their laundry.
• 23:20
  And they say, Oh, well, you know, a couple that he interviewed said, we typically wash them in a nearby creek.
• 23:27
  So he never forgot that response.
• 23:30
  And he combined that with his call to serve and protect people, the public.
• 23:38
  So he pulled multiple donations with some of his own money, and he goes to work.
• 23:45
  He starts creating this full service laundromat on wheels.
• 23:49
  And you gotta check out this bus.
• 23:51
  It is really cool.
• 23:55
  There's a before and after picture, and the before, it's it's it's literally just a ratty old bus.
• 24:04
  And he pulled all the seats out and turned it into something spectacular.
• 24:11
  And it's got these stacked, it's the uh, you know, the vertical stacked units, so washer on top, dryer on the bottom, or vice versa.
• 24:18
  I don't really know how they're set up.
• 24:21
  I don't have vertical units.
• 24:24
  Um, but it's the vertical units and like full-sized units.
• 24:29
  These are big units.
• 24:33
  There's a table for folding laundry, like it's the real deal.
• 24:40
  Couldn't have been cheap.
• 24:43
  I don't think this is just like a you know, throw it together kind of thing.
• 24:48
  It's fantastic.
• 24:51
  And uh by the way, he's 45 years old.
• 24:55
  This dude's younger than I am.
• 24:59
  He retired from the police force.
• 25:03
  That's fantastic.
• 25:06
  Like I'm living vicariously through him right now.
• 25:09
  I'm like, man, this is early retirement, super early retirement.
• 25:13
  He's going around doing what he loves to do.
• 25:16
  He's serving people, and he started his own ministry, and and on top of that, turned it into a nonprofit.
• 25:22
  I'm like, this dude is living my dream.
• 25:25
  This is fantastic.
• 25:27
  Absolutely fantastic.
• 25:30
  I love this for him.
• 25:32
  I love it for the people he's serving.
• 25:35
  Um, I love to see too and daydream about where this is gonna go, because I guarantee this will inspire other people to do similar things.
• 25:45
  I've already seen I I've seen like mobile showers where people turn old buses into bathrooms, like mobile bathrooms where uh it's essentially it's a glorified shower house.
• 26:01
  What a great idea.
• 26:07
  Because that's one thing that homeless people, they just don't have access.
• 26:10
  Like, where are they gonna get showers?
• 26:13
  It's the things that we all take for granted.
• 26:17
  They don't have access to a bathroom.
• 26:19
  That's why you find the pee and poop out in the streets, and like they just unfortunately they got to do what they gotta do.
• 26:29
  It's not very sanitary.
• 26:31
  It's I mean, think about what homeless people think for just five minutes what a homeless person has to go through.
• 26:39
  You know, and I know there are people who come back and they're like, oh, people choose to be homeless.
• 26:45
  Some do.
• 26:47
  But the vast majority, the overwhelming majority of homeless people, I don't think that they're out there like, man, this is a great lifestyle.
• 26:55
  This is fantastic.
• 26:56
  I strive to be homeless one day.
• 27:00
  That's not how they got there.
• 27:03
  It's not what they want.
• 27:06
  It's not fun digging in dumpsters.
• 27:10
  Every single meal twice a day, trying to find your next your next meal enough to not only feed you, but to sustain you.
• 27:21
  It's no life to live.
• 27:24
  That's a tough, tough life.
• 27:26
  I just last night was messaging with a homeless person, another homeless person that I've been helping out.
• 27:36
  And telling you, this time of year in the winter time, it's it's brutal.
• 27:42
  Absolutely relentlessly brutal.
• 27:46
  Our temperatures are so cold right now.
• 27:49
  I mean, we're getting down into the single digits at night.
• 27:53
  And it's only December.
• 27:55
  February is always our coldest month.
• 27:58
  And in February, we we see temperatures here.
• 28:02
  Uh, we're not like extreme cold, but we'll see, we'll see 20 below zero.
• 28:09
  But you know, you get in the Midwest, it's nothing for them to see 40 below zero.
• 28:15
  Minneapolis, I mean, it's that's typical in the wintertime, 30, 40 below zero.
• 28:23
  By the way, fun fact 40 below zero is where Fahrenheit and Celsius meet.
• 28:30
  40 below is 40 below in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.
• 28:36
  They shake hands and meet at 40 below zero.
• 28:41
  So I always thought that was an interesting fun fact.
• 28:46
  Um, but it's cold, right?
• 28:48
  How do you survive that?
• 28:49
  Think about what homeless people have to go through.
• 28:52
  Well, just go out and get a job, get a job, you bum.
• 28:57
  All right, they don't have money for a haircut.
• 29:01
  They're not groomed.
• 29:04
  They don't have anywhere to take their clothing.
• 29:06
  If they did, they wouldn't have the money to to wash it anyway.
• 29:12
  Their clothing is dirty, it's stained.
• 29:14
  They've been living on the street.
• 29:18
  They can't get a shower.
• 29:19
  They they the smell.
• 29:22
  After a while, your body order does take over.
• 29:27
  The dirt, the filth, it does, you know, it what how are they gonna get a job?
• 29:32
  How is somebody explain to me how they're gonna walk in and get it?
• 29:37
  First of all, secure an interview.
• 29:40
  And by the way, they don't have access to computers, unless they're really close to a public library, they don't have access to computers.
• 29:51
  They're not gonna be filling out applications.
• 29:56
  What do they put?
• 29:57
  What do they put on their application?
• 30:00
  Current residents.
• 30:02
  What do they put there?
• 30:05
  You have to put it down.
• 30:08
  You see what I mean?
• 30:09
  It's literally every single corner that they turn.
• 30:12
  They run into problems.
• 30:14
  Do you know that to prove that they're that they're homeless a lot of times?
• 30:19
  I'm not kidding you.
• 30:20
  I've seen the applications.
• 30:22
  They have to put down, they have to like show bills and prove that they can't pay bills.
• 30:30
  Bring your past two months past due bills before we can help you and give you assistance.
• 30:39
  I don't have any bills.
• 30:42
  Well, prove that you're a resident of this county, right?
• 30:46
  And my county, you have to have been a resident of the county for six months.
• 30:52
  Six consecutive months before the homeless shelter can take you in.
• 30:56
  How do you prove that when you're homeless?
• 31:00
  It's your word against nobody's.
• 31:06
  They have to take your word for it.
• 31:08
  Well, a lot of people aren't going to take your word.
• 31:10
  You have to prove that you've been a resident of the county for six consecutive months.
• 31:15
  How do you do that?
• 31:18
  All right, we worked with a homeless couple at the church that their IDs were taken, their identification forms were stolen.
• 31:28
  They had dogs with them that they would not part with, and I get it.
• 31:33
  I understand.
• 31:36
  We allowed them when we had a church, they came in for church service.
• 31:41
  They were so hesitant, and they were like, what do we do with our dogs?
• 31:45
  I was like, bring them in.
• 31:46
  That's what you do with them.
• 31:48
  We're allowed to bring our dogs in.
• 31:50
  I was like, absolutely.
• 31:53
  You bring your dogs in.
• 31:54
  That's that's your family.
• 31:55
  That's their lifeline.
• 31:57
  You know, it's not like anybody else.
• 31:59
  It's not like us who our dogs.
• 32:03
  Our dogs are our companions.
• 32:04
  Like for these people, their dogs were their lifeline.
• 32:12
  And then the, you know, the man broke down in tears.
• 32:16
  He was telling me I have severe PTSD.
• 32:20
  He's like, my dog's not technically a service dog, but he's like, I don't know, I don't know where I'd be without my dog.
• 32:26
  And he was just so grateful that we allowed them to bring their dogs into our worship service.
• 32:31
  And I was like, uh it's not even a question.
• 32:35
  You bring your dogs in.
• 32:36
  He said, Do you know how many churches would never allow us to walk in with our dogs?
• 32:41
  I was like, I know.
• 32:43
  Probably the majority of them.
• 32:46
  But not us.
• 32:48
  We're not other churches.
• 32:51
  Because I see it.
• 32:52
  I know what it's like.
• 32:55
  I mean, not personally, I've never been homeless, but I've I've sat with enough homeless people that I know the struggle that they go through.
• 33:03
  It's terrible.
• 33:04
  It's tough.
• 33:07
  So these are the kinds of things when I see ministries like this, when I see a mobile laundromat, uh, it's it's not just a cool idea.
• 33:15
  It's a lifeline.
• 33:17
  It's a literal lifeline that can and probably is radically changing people's lives.
• 33:26
  To be able to have clothing and keep your clothing clean, first of all, it gives you it gives you hygiene, and that's really important.
• 33:35
  You're wearing the same clothing that's uh that's soiled week after week.
• 33:42
  That's not good for you.
• 33:45
  You know, you you get all kinds of interesting critters, unfortunately, and I don't mean to be graphic here, but it it happens all the time.
• 33:56
  You get all kinds of critters that get attracted to that.
• 33:59
  They get attracted to the smell.
• 34:04
  And uh, you know, all the stuff that's festering inside of your clothing.
• 34:09
  So having clothing, first of all, it's it's good for hygiene.
• 34:13
  Secondly, it it increases your sense of dignity.
• 34:19
  You know, it makes you actually feel like a half-decent human being.
• 34:24
  People aren't looking down on you because of the way you're dressed.
• 34:29
  I think this is absolutely fantastic.
• 34:32
  What a needed ministry.
• 34:34
  And I really, really hope and pray.
• 34:36
  My prayer is that other people are going to be inspired.
• 34:39
  And I pray that people are inspired from listening to this show.
• 34:42
  That's part of why I'm doing this show, is because I I want to inspire other people to do good things.
• 34:49
  Oh, well, that's not my idea.
• 34:51
  I'm taking somebody else's idea.
• 34:53
  I don't think, I really don't think that a police officer in Frederick, Maryland, a retired police officer, Wade Milliard.
• 35:02
  I don't think that he's gonna be like, oh, well, somebody's stealing my idea to do a mobile laundromat.
• 35:07
  By the way, his mobile laundromat is not the first one that's ever been designed.
• 35:11
  Not by a long shot.
• 35:15
  Not by a long shot.
• 35:19
  We can't come up with excuses.
• 35:23
  We can't come up with red tape.
• 35:28
  All right, why would this never work?
• 35:30
  Well, it's somebody else has the idea, and if I if I do it, I'm just copying somebody else's idea, it's not original.
• 35:36
  So what?
• 35:39
  So what?
• 35:41
  Here's the question.
• 35:42
  Here's how you decide whether you're going to start something.
• 35:44
  One, is it a passion of yours?
• 35:47
  Are you truly passionate?
• 35:48
  Is there is there nothing in the world that's gonna stop you from from implementing this idea?
• 35:54
  If the answer is yes, do it.
• 35:59
  Is it gonna bless people?
• 36:02
  Is my idea going to bless people?
• 36:04
  Yes.
• 36:05
  Do it.
• 36:07
  Don't worry about other people and what you're gonna name it.
• 36:11
  And oh, I gotta come up with some catchy name and I I gotta start a non-profit.
• 36:15
  No, you don't.
• 36:18
  It doesn't need to have a catchy name.
• 36:21
  You just simply need to meet with people.
• 36:23
  People don't care what the name of a mobile laundromat is.
• 36:28
  When you're homeless and you're desperate, you could care less what the name of the organization is or whether it's a registered 501c3 or not.
• 36:39
  What you care about is there somebody who sees me.
• 36:46
  Is there somebody who cares enough about me to actually talk to me like I'm a fellow human being?
• 36:55
  Is there somebody who cares enough to step in and to help me whenever I need help?
• 37:00
  To lend a helping hand.
• 37:04
  That's what they care about.
• 37:06
  Trust me on this.
• 37:08
  That's what they care about.
• 37:09
  We're coming up on another break here.
• 37:11
  All of our shows do go to podcasts the next day after the broadcasts heard on Talk Radio.
• 37:15
  You can hear them on Spotify, Stitcher, Pandora, iHeart Podcast, Apple Podcast.
• 37:20
  There are so many more.
• 37:22
  I don't even, I can't even name them all.
• 37:24
  But definitely, definitely check out the America Out Loud app.
• 37:28
  It's fantastic.
• 37:29
  Visit America Outloud.news, browse the store, use the code Out Loud for 20% off.
• 37:36
  Fill up somebody's stockings.
• 37:39
  I'm telling you, there is no excuse this holiday season not to fill somebody's stocking because the America Outloud store has your back.
• 37:48
  We'll be right back, folks.
• 37:50
  Oral hygiene hasn't changed in 50 years.
• 37:53
  Brush, floss, repeat.
• 37:55
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• 38:01
  That is where the dentist recommended spray dental defense system shines.
• 38:06
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• 38:15
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• 38:18
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• 38:38
  Switch to spray today.
• 38:40
  Ask your dentist about xylitol and the spray products.
• 38:44
  Sprite can be found online and at all fine natural product retailers.
• 38:48
  In a world of rising prices, you can still grow abundance.
• 38:52
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• 39:08
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• 39:15
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• 39:17
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• 39:21
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• 39:30
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• 39:33
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• 39:50
  Wade Milliard started a voice, uh sorry, started a mobile laundromat after hearing a voice.
• 40:00
  Come out of nowhere.
• 40:01
  That's the way he describes it.
• 40:02
  I heard a voice come out of nowhere, and it said, ask them about their laundry.
• 40:08
  Well, that voice, he describes is a voice coming from God.
• 40:12
  God was prodding him.
• 40:14
  God was telling him, you need to be working with the homeless.
• 40:18
  He was about to retire.
• 40:19
  He's a 45-year-old retired cop, which kudos to him.
• 40:24
  I love that he took his early retirement.
• 40:29
  Absolutely fantastic.
• 40:32
  Not that it's uh, you know, not great when we have people serving and protecting the public.
• 40:40
  But the fact that he retired when he was able to, and he's doing what he loves, and he's blessing other people.
• 40:46
  Um, man, it just shows his heart.
• 40:49
  Shows that he has a heart to help and that he listened to that voice, thank God.
• 40:55
  And he found a way to make it work.
• 40:57
  This is a cool story.
• 40:58
  It's a heartwarming story, and it's not just about Wade Milliard.
• 41:03
  This story is about helping other people.
• 41:06
  It's about lending a helping hand when people are struggling.
• 41:10
  We just had a prayer service last Wednesday.
• 41:14
  There was a lot going on.
• 41:15
  I mean, a lot in our small little church, just the it was one of those, one of those weeks where I was like, Oh, I just want the end of the week to come.
• 41:26
  It can't come fast enough.
• 41:29
  It's just problem after problem after problem.
• 41:32
  Not my problem, uh, you know, other people's problems, crises, deaths, health problems.
• 41:41
  Uh we have one of our dear church members in the hospital, getting a major surgery.
• 41:50
  Uh, my nephew totaled his vehicle, 16 years old.
• 41:55
  He's only had this car for three months.
• 41:57
  I helped him pick out the car.
• 41:58
  I test drove the car for him.
• 42:00
  He loved this car, and I mean, just babied it and took care of it.
• 42:06
  He hits a patch of ice and spins it out and spends the car right in half.
• 42:12
  Thank God, no injuries.
• 42:14
  Uh, it was a single car accident.
• 42:16
  He's fine.
• 42:18
  Um, the car's not.
• 42:20
  The car is absolutely totaled.
• 42:23
  And my heart breaks for him.
• 42:24
  But it was just, I mean, just story.
• 42:26
  And the same day, one of my other church members, uh, he crashed his car.
• 42:34
  Slipped on ice, wrapped it around a tree.
• 42:37
  Uh, he's okay, thank God.
• 42:39
  Nobody else was involved.
• 42:42
  But literally, I mean, every 30 minutes the phone was ringing.
• 42:49
  And so the story about Wade Milliard, hearing a voice from God and finding a way to bless people, to bless homeless people, to wash their clothes and to give them dignity and to help keep them clean and to keep them looking nice.
• 43:04
  And he takes pride in his work, believe me.
• 43:07
  This is so cool.
• 43:09
  He is doing the work of God, he really is.
• 43:13
  But the story is not simply about Wade Milliard.
• 43:18
  It's about all the needs that are around us all the time in every given second of every given day.
• 43:27
  There are needs all around us, everywhere.
• 43:31
  Trust me.
• 43:34
  There are needs.
• 43:35
  All we have to do, and I I just use this on Sunday.
• 43:39
  My saying was if if you're wondering if there are needs around us, all you have to do is blink.
• 43:47
  Blink your eyes, and when you open them, there will be a need to standing in front of you.
• 43:53
  That's how endless the needs are.
• 43:55
  So this story is about the needs that are out there.
• 43:59
  They're everywhere.
• 44:01
  But we were doing this prayer service on Wednesday, and we're just praying because there's so much going on.
• 44:07
  So much going on in the world right now.
• 44:09
  And I said, I just I think we need to get on our knees and we need to pray.
• 44:13
  We need to pray for people.
• 44:15
  We need to pray that God raises up workers.
• 44:18
  Isn't that what Jesus prayed for?
• 44:21
  Right?
• 44:22
  He said the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
• 44:27
  Therefore, God, I pray for workers.
• 44:33
  That's an absolute fantastic prayer.
• 44:39
  That our Lord and Savior prayed for workers.
• 44:42
  He didn't pray that all these needs be wiped out, and he like he didn't say, God, come down and just remove poverty from people, remove all these issues that people are dealing with.
• 44:53
  That wasn't his prayer.
• 44:56
  Remember, I said when I was crying out to God, I was like, God, where were you?
• 45:01
  Where were you when all this abuse was going on?
• 45:05
  All these kids were being abused.
• 45:06
  Where were you?
• 45:08
  And God answered back and he said, Jimmy, the question is not where was I?
• 45:12
  The question is, where were my people?
• 45:17
  And that's what sparked me to step into action.
• 45:20
  God is always right.
• 45:23
  Where are my people?
• 45:26
  It's exactly the prayer that Jesus prayed.
• 45:29
  Father, I pray, I pray for the workers.
• 45:32
  I pray for more workers.
• 45:36
  He didn't just say, God, where are you?
• 45:39
  Just take all this pain away.
• 45:40
  Just snap your fingers, wave your wand and take it all away.
• 45:44
  Just bless people.
• 45:46
  Fill their pockets with money, fill their bellies with food.
• 45:50
  Just bless them, God.
• 45:52
  That wasn't Jesus' prayer.
• 45:55
  His prayer was, Lord, I pray for workers.
• 45:58
  The harvest is plentiful.
• 46:01
  What's the harvest he's talking about?
• 46:04
  The very harvest that Jesus is talking about is telling people the good news, bringing good news of the gospel, and serving people.
• 46:16
  Right?
• 46:16
  Jesus says, At the day of judgment, God is going to separate the sheep from the goats.
• 46:24
  The sheep he'll put it his right hand, and the goats he'll send to the left and say, Depart from me, I never knew you.
• 46:34
  Okay, well, what's the difference between sheep and goats?
• 46:37
  And Jesus lays it all on the line.
• 46:41
  Did you give drink to the thirsty?
• 46:45
  Then you're a sheep.
• 46:48
  Did you feed the hungry?
• 46:51
  Yeah, then you're a sheep.
• 46:54
  Did you clothe the naked?
• 46:58
  Yeah.
• 46:59
  Then you're a sheep.
• 47:02
  Did you visit people when they were in prison and lonely?
• 47:06
  Yeah.
• 47:07
  Then you're a sheep.
• 47:10
  Right?
• 47:10
  Jesus' ministry was all revolved around serving the needy.
• 47:20
  That's not just what he did.
• 47:22
  It's who he was.
• 47:26
  And who he is.
• 47:28
  So Jesus tells us to do likewise.
• 47:31
  Go out and do likewise.
• 47:32
  This story today is not about Wade Milliard.
• 47:36
  It's about us.
• 47:37
  It's about you.
• 47:38
  It's about everybody going out and stepping up and serving.
• 47:44
  Just find ways to do it.
• 47:47
  God will make a way.
• 47:50
  Steve Harvey says that all the time.
• 47:52
  He's like, if you really believe, you have to believe that God is going to do this.
• 47:57
  If you don't, it will never happen.
• 48:00
  God will never bless something where people don't believe that God is capable of doing it.
• 48:04
  God's not going to come down and be like, oh, well, let me bless you.
• 48:07
  You doubt, you don't believe.
• 48:09
  I'm let wait till you see the miracles I do.
• 48:14
  That's not how it works.
• 48:15
  God blesses the people who believe that he's already accomplished it.
• 48:22
  So it's not about you and I.
• 48:23
  It's not about how smart we are and how talented we are.
• 48:26
  And for Wade Milliard, it wasn't about how much talent he has and how great he is at washing clothing.
• 48:33
  That wasn't that wasn't even on his radar.
• 48:39
  It simply was a voice from above that said, ask them about their laundry.
• 48:50
  And Wade stepped into action immediately.
• 48:53
  And you know, to me, this it kind of reminds me of the story of Noah.
• 48:58
  Right?
• 48:58
  Because Noah hears this voice, and he's like, there's gonna be a flood, build the ark, build the ark.
• 49:08
  And Noah's like, wait, what?
• 49:10
  What?
• 49:10
  Build a what now?
• 49:13
  Yeah, there's gonna be a great flood that covers the entire earth.
• 49:17
  I want you to build the ark.
• 49:19
  I'm gonna give you the exact dimensions.
• 49:23
  And after you build the ark, I want you to start gathering animals two by two.
• 49:31
  Huh?
• 49:34
  You you want me, you want me to do what?
• 49:38
  And so he's building the ark, and as he's building it, people thought he was insane.
• 49:44
  They thought he absolutely had fallen off his rocker and was nuts.
• 49:51
  And guess what happened?
• 49:54
  The floods came.
• 49:56
  And Noah and his family were spared.
• 50:00
  God rescued Noah and his family precisely because they were faithful.
• 50:07
  So the point is that sometimes you just have to do it.
• 50:12
  People probably thought that Wade Milliard was insane.
• 50:15
  They were like, what are you building?
• 50:18
  You bought a what?
• 50:19
  Like, you know, can you imagine his family?
• 50:21
  You bought a what now?
• 50:23
  Oh, yeah, I bought this old ratty bus.
• 50:26
  And I'm gonna rip all the seats out and I'm gonna turn it into a mobile laundry station.
• 50:32
  It's a full service laundry service.
• 50:37
  And it's gonna be the best in Frederick, Maryland.
• 50:40
  And they're like, what now?
• 50:43
  Like, I just I can imagine them thinking he's absolutely insane.
• 50:49
  I hope not.
• 50:50
  I mean, maybe they were supportive, but typically when I do big ideas, I'm I'm usually um usually people are not surrounding me like, yeah, what a great idea.
• 51:01
  Usually they're like, this is nuts.
• 51:06
  You know, this is a crazy idea.
• 51:08
  I like it.
• 51:09
  It's a great idea, but boy, is it crazy.
• 51:13
  That's when I'm like, you know, full boar.
• 51:15
  I'm gonna, I'm gonna go for it.
• 51:17
  But now, if they think it's a bad idea, then I I listen, you know, because sometimes I do have bad ideas, believe it or not.
• 51:25
  Sometimes I'm saying that sarcastically because I think a lot of my ideas, my wife is just like, what are you?
• 51:32
  What are you smoking?
• 51:33
  Come on.
• 51:36
  That's why I need people to bring me back to Earth.
• 51:39
  But you know, when you have a good idea, people might think you're crazy, but if they're supportive, if they're like, yeah, that actually could work.
• 51:50
  Doesn't matter if they think you're crazy.
• 51:52
  If they think it's gonna work, go for it.
• 51:54
  Do it.
• 51:57
  So since retiring from the police force in January of this year, the 45-year-old has been traveling around his Maryland City, which Frederick is near DC.
• 52:11
  And he's been making a difference.
• 52:13
  One load of wash at a time.
• 52:17
  He set up a schedule so that people can meet him to take advantage of his laundry service.
• 52:23
  His email is at the bottom of his website.
• 52:27
  That's brave.
• 52:29
  People can contact him directly.
• 52:31
  He never charges a penny.
• 52:34
  Not one cent, which by the way, the cents are going away anyway.
• 52:38
  Maybe he was prophetic, and he's like, Yeah, they're gonna stop minting the penny.
• 52:42
  So I'm not even gonna charge one penny.
• 52:46
  Um, but the work, according to Good News Network is yielding substantial dividends, and that is that he's blessing people.
• 52:56
  A man named Chris Washington told Steve Hartman.
• 53:02
  Steve Hartman has a cool show, by the way.
• 53:05
  Um, it's a CBS show, and he goes around the country and he finds like these inspiring stories.
• 53:11
  So, and he's been doing this for a while.
• 53:14
  It's really, really cool.
• 53:15
  I love what Steve Hartman does.
• 53:19
  But there's a man named Chris Washington who said, if you're clean, you just feel better.
• 53:27
  You feel a bit more proud of yourself.
• 53:31
  Wade Milliard replied, and he's like, you know, that's the thing.
• 53:35
  You're doing it to maybe give them a little bit of a boost.
• 53:39
  If having clean clothes can help them just a little bit, then my mission is fulfilled.
• 53:44
  Amen and amen.
• 53:46
  That's 100% right.
• 53:48
  Is Wade Milliard feeding hungry homeless people?
• 53:52
  Nope.
• 53:54
  Not that I know of.
• 53:57
  Is he providing clothing for them?
• 54:00
  Not that I know of.
• 54:03
  Is he drilling wells and giving water them?
• 54:06
  Not that I know of.
• 54:08
  But he found one niche.
• 54:13
  And he ran with it.
• 54:14
  He he's blessing them in the way that he's able to bless them.
• 54:19
  Because we can't do it all, and I don't think that's what Jesus meant.
• 54:22
  I don't think Jesus was like, okay, all right, are you feeding, feeding the hungry, giving clean water to people, or are you drilling wells or buying bottled water?
• 54:32
  Uh, are you visiting prisons?
• 54:34
  Are you, you know, are you doing all these things?
• 54:37
  Because if you're not doing every single one of them, then you're going to hell.
• 54:40
  That's not what Jesus meant.
• 54:45
  What he meant is there are all of these needs that people have.
• 54:51
  Are you taking care of collectively?
• 54:53
  Are you taking care of people?
• 54:57
  Are you finding what you're able to do?
• 54:59
  And in our church, our mission, everything that we stand for has pivoted in recent years, and we are the church that provides clean water to people.
• 55:12
  We're a money-raising uh congregation, a small poor congregation in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania.
• 55:22
  That our mission is to raise funds to bless other people for what for water, specifically for clean drinking water.
• 55:31
  It's what we do.
• 55:33
  We put all of our effort into that.
• 55:37
  Every last bit.
• 55:39
  We're not feeding people, we don't do food banks, we don't do clothing drives.
• 55:44
  You know why?
• 55:45
  Because there are other churches who do it.
• 55:48
  But nobody in our town that I'm aware of, nobody is raising money for wells.
• 55:55
  They're not drilling wells all over the world, but we are.
• 56:01
  All right.
• 56:01
  So find what works for you.
• 56:03
  Find where the biggest need is, find where there's a gap or a hole, and fill that need.
• 56:09
  If you're good at it, if you're passionate about it, if you're gonna see it through.
• 56:16
  And I agree with what Wade Milliard said.
• 56:19
  That's the thing.
• 56:20
  You're doing it to maybe give them a little bit of a boost.
• 56:23
  If having clean clothes can help them just a little bit, then my mission is fulfilled.
• 56:30
  Fantastic.
• 56:32
  Absolutely lovely, beautiful, wonderful.
• 56:35
  What a blessing.
• 56:37
  And I pray that this inspires other people.
• 56:39
  In the last several weeks, uh, fresh step, his organization, organization has washed more than 2,000 pounds of laundry.
• 56:48
  And his next goal is to add a second vehicle so he can double the number of people that he can serve.
• 56:53
  Bravo, bravo, bravo.
• 56:57
  I pray that this inspires you to find somebody in your community to serve, even if it's five people.
• 57:04
  If you know five people who are struggling, just do it.
• 57:10
  Bless other people, be the hidden lightness.
• 57:12
  Don't wait for other people to step into action.
• 57:15
  Just do it.
• 57:17
  All right, my friends, you can find more out about my show yet, all the latest podcasts.
• 57:22
  If you go to the menu navigation bar at America Outloud.news under our shows or schedule, you'll be in the know.
• 57:28
  There is a hidden lightness that shines inside of all of us when there's so much darkness that envelops the world.
• 57:33
  Remember that it doesn't take much light to expose that darkness and to ultimately inspire other people.
• 57:38
  Join me in being a light.