Latest / Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News / This waitress made 270,000 meals to feed the homeless in Florida

Transcript

This waitress made 270,000 meals to feed the homeless in Florida · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:08
  You're listening to The Hidden Lightness on America Out Loud Talk Radio.
• 0:12
  I'm your host, Jimmy Hinton.
• 0:13
  Today's story brings us to Florida.
• 0:16
  And it's a story about sheer grit and determination and faith and excellence and uh giving all of those things combined and so much more.
• 0:30
  This story is absolutely fascinating, and it captured my heart.
• 0:36
  And especially as a pastor and somebody who uh works with the church that uh I'd say the majority of of my church members are living in poverty.
• 0:49
  Uh we're living in a in a very poor county in Pennsylvania, and um it it really affects you, you know, seeing poverty and watching what it does to people and how that doesn't determine people's future is actually really inspiring, and it brings a lot of hope.
• 1:11
  And I hope that this story today brings hope to people who maybe have that misconception that once once you're living in poverty, uh that's kind of the end of your story, and that you're you're gonna be stuck there because that's the American message, right?
• 1:30
  The the wrong message, it's the message that Congress wants you to hear how many representatives talk about poverty and how oh well people are just they're stuck in these endless cycles, and the only answer is government, right?
• 1:48
  Bigger government.
• 1:50
  We we've got to raise the debt ceiling, and we've got to give more in terms of uh food stamps and housing assistance and on and on and on.
• 2:03
  That that list never stops, and of course, very few of those tax dollars actually make it to actual people living in poverty.
• 2:14
  There is still, I don't care what people say, still, even after Doge had its way, you know, quote unquote with uh with the budgetary items, uh, there's still a lot of waste.
• 2:31
  Unbelievable waste.
• 2:35
  And a lot of people living in poverty, uh, I I know from working with them, they don't see many of US tax dollars.
• 2:46
  They just don't.
• 2:48
  And there's another misconception from a lot of people on the on the conservative right that people don't need any money, right?
• 3:01
  Let them kind of figure things out and go out there and get a real job like the rest of us.
• 3:07
  That's kind of their mantra.
• 3:10
  Well, the problem with that is uh there are a lot of people who are just stuck, at least temporarily, and they need help, is what they need.
• 3:22
  They need help getting jobs, finding jobs, doing things as simple as for us simple anyway, getting identification.
• 3:35
  A lot of people who are who are living in homelessness, they don't have proper documentation, and I'm not talking about illegal people who poured over the border.
• 3:48
  I'm talking about U.S.
• 3:50
  citizens.
• 3:53
  It's very, very common.
• 3:55
  In fact, I'd say it's probably more common than not, at least in my area, what I've experienced.
• 4:01
  I don't know.
• 4:02
  I I didn't uh I didn't really research this aspect of it, but in my experience, more often than not, people living in homelessness, homelessness have no identification.
• 4:18
  Uh typically it's uh either lost or stolen, or they don't have a license, or they had a license that expired and and they just weren't thinking, and and they threw their license out because it wasn't valid, and on and on it goes.
• 4:34
  And so they they lose essentially all forms of identification, and it creates a lot of havoc for them.
• 4:43
  I mean, you try to go out and get a job if you have zero identification, none.
• 4:52
  And even try to try to get housing.
• 4:55
  If you don't have bills and you're right, they want two forms of of bills that prove that you're a resident of of the state or the county, uh, at least two, plus your identification, usually two forms of identification.
• 5:13
  They want something like a social security card and uh a license or picture ID of some sort, passport, uh, ID card.
• 5:25
  If somebody doesn't have a license, they they will issue an ID card, but they want all these forms of identification, and that's just for starters.
• 5:34
  Then they want proof of income, even for low-income housing.
• 5:40
  No matter what your uh quote, income is whether it's a job or you're on some kind of assistance from the government, they want proof of that.
• 5:51
  And oftentimes, people either don't have assistance, they don't have jobs, or they just don't have the paperwork.
• 6:04
  And so it's a really big problem for people.
• 6:09
  So it's very complex.
• 6:10
  I just want people to understand it's it's a complex issue, and it's not as simple as shouting out the window for people who are holding signs, will do anything for money, shouting the shouting insults at them and telling them to go get a job.
• 6:25
  99% of the time isn't very helpful.
• 6:30
  And so we need to think beyond that and think of ways to actually serve people and help them out.
• 6:38
  And that doesn't even get into the transportation issue.
• 6:41
  Think about transportation.
• 6:44
  Let's suppose that they do get a job.
• 6:46
  Okay, how do they get there?
• 6:55
  I know uh I don't know, last year, I don't, I don't remember what month it was.
• 7:01
  It doesn't really matter, but uh we were helping a young homeless woman, and she didn't have transportation.
• 7:11
  I asked her, I just said, what are your immediate needs?
• 7:15
  And she was so incredibly grateful.
• 7:18
  Uh she was just very pleasant to work with, and sometimes that's not always the case, and I get it.
• 7:25
  It's uh they're they're living a hard life.
• 7:28
  Certainly don't judge, uh, but oftentimes, I mean, more often than not, we're we're lied to, and I think that's just a part of life, it's part of survival.
• 7:39
  It's not that they're bad people, it's just that they've they've come they've become accustomed to survival, and they learn pretty quickly that if they just tell the truth, oftentimes that that doesn't help get them ahead.
• 7:57
  It doesn't move them forward.
• 7:59
  And uh so this woman had told me that she needed a bicycle, and I was like, well, that's that's something I can actually help with.
• 8:09
  We had my wife had a bike that I and a good one, it was in really good shape.
• 8:14
  She just wanted to upgrade, and I had bought her a bike, and so we had this other bike that was in in really good working order, and I just gave it to her.
• 8:29
  And I thought, man, and she was so grateful, and I thought, man, how crazy is that something as simple as a bicycle can be life changing for somebody living in homelessness.
• 8:46
  And oftentimes we we just don't think about those things.
• 8:51
  That it takes small steps, just something, a little something to help improve somebody's life, or to make them mobile, or to help them get identification, or to help them fill out a resume.
• 9:07
  Like these little simple things really help.
• 9:10
  So with all that said, I I want to turn to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
• 9:18
  There's a waitress who doesn't have that much money.
• 9:23
  She's not extremely wealthy.
• 9:28
  You know, this is not somebody who's a millionaire, or even close to it, that just has extra money at her disposal, and she's helping homeless people.
• 9:41
  This is a waitress.
• 9:43
  Here's an article, and this caught my attention, and I started digging into uh the organization and the the deeper I dig, the more I find this woman is just absolutely incredible.
• 9:55
  Her name's Gloria.
• 9:58
  She's a waitress.
• 10:00
  At Fort Lauderdale, and she has fed more than 270,000 meals to homeless Floridians.
• 10:12
  That's incredible in itself, but like I said, it doesn't even stop there.
• 10:18
  This woman is absolutely incredible.
• 10:22
  She's an immigrant.
• 10:24
  She came to the United States, I don't know, a couple decades ago, and decided that she was gonna make a difference in life because she grew up extremely poor.
• 10:36
  And again, this goes back to this idea that when you let your hidden lightness shine, there's always a story behind that.
• 10:47
  And I know a lot of people are like, oh, I don't have a story.
• 10:50
  Yes, you do.
• 10:52
  It doesn't mean that you lived a hard life and had had this, you're a gangbanger and you know, whatever it was.
• 11:01
  You don't have to have this extreme story to say that you you have a story.
• 11:09
  Not everybody's story is dramatic.
• 11:11
  Not everybody's story is hard.
• 11:14
  Some people have lived an incredibly good life, but they still have a story and they're still helping people tremendously.
• 11:23
  So I don't want people to get this in their their head that the only way that they're able to help people is that they live this life of poverty or abuse or both.
• 11:33
  And uh, you know, they have to have this hardened life and come out of that and be given an upper hand in order to let their hidden lightness shine.
• 11:43
  That's just not true.
• 11:44
  That is absolutely 100% false.
• 11:48
  I've covered a lot of stories of people like Gloria who grew up in extreme poverty, and who are absolute world changers, uh, phenomenal people.
• 12:02
  Uh the things that she's doing are absolutely incredible.
• 12:08
  But I've also done stories like the Dells, billionaires who've given money to the uh the Trump accounts, right?
• 12:19
  So you don't have to have this hard story, uh hard upbringing, this tough life to be able to make a difference in the world.
• 12:31
  You can literally have the easiest life and still do kind things to other people.
• 12:38
  And and they do.
• 12:39
  People do.
• 12:41
  And that's one of the frustrating things that that I experience is all the narratives that are out there.
• 12:48
  There's so many false narratives that paint people on every end of the spectrum.
• 12:55
  They paint people as terrible people.
• 12:58
  Homeless people are lazy.
• 13:00
  They're they're just uh bunch of druggies who they just make the choice, right?
• 13:07
  Have you ever heard that?
• 13:08
  People choose to be homeless.
• 13:12
  Uh they get painted as troublemakers, lazy, terrible humans.
• 13:20
  Let them let them die.
• 13:23
  Right?
• 13:25
  People actually believe that.
• 13:27
  Some people do.
• 13:31
  There are drug problems with with a lot of homeless people.
• 13:37
  And there are people who are like, well, just let them overdose.
• 13:42
  Why would you use Narcan on people?
• 13:44
  They're just a blight on society.
• 13:46
  That's such a false narrative.
• 13:48
  It's a terrible thing to think.
• 13:50
  It's a terrible thing to say.
• 13:52
  But the same is true of billionaires.
• 13:55
  You know, there was a um, there's a famous YouTuber slash TikToker, slash social media influencer.
• 14:04
  Ray Johnson.
• 14:05
  Uh I don't know if you're familiar with Ray Johnson, but I I love his videos.
• 14:09
  I think he's just uh brilliant.
• 14:11
  He's very creative.
• 14:12
  He does an incredible job, but uh he did a story recently about uh the uh the ocean gate, you know, you know, the ocean gate uh Titan, the submarine that imploded, and on board had billionaire Hamish Harding.
• 14:32
  Uh all of them died.
• 14:34
  Uh the thing imploded, and it just it was a terrible, terrible, heartbreaking story.
• 14:40
  And what about uh pride and arrogance and uh ignoring warnings and all that stuff?
• 14:47
  Okay, so Hamish Harding died.
• 14:50
  Uh he was the billionaire businessman, uh, chairman of Action Aviation, Stockton Rush died.
• 14:58
  He was the CEO of Ocean Gate and the pilot of the Titan.
• 15:03
  Um Shazada Daywood and Suleman, his uh son, uh prominent Pakistani British businessman, and Paul Henry Narguette, uh, the French deep sea explorer and leading uh Titanic expert.
• 15:32
  They all perished in that.
• 15:33
  And Ray did a story about how the public went absolutely wild, like they cheered the deaths.
• 15:41
  He's like, people all over the world were celebrating, like making fun of them and making fun of the tragedy, and and and his point was this was a really terrible thing that happened.
• 15:55
  And it's just this idea that because you have billionaires and rich people, and you know, there was a little bit of pride that was that was introduced into this story, and it's it's it's a sad story, it really is.
• 16:08
  But he said it really was a bizarre thing where the world celebrated.
• 16:13
  Like they they thought it was hilarious that these people died.
• 16:18
  And he just said how cruel people can be.
• 16:29
  But my point is it doesn't matter where you come from.
• 16:32
  It doesn't matter if you had a silver spoon in your mouth from the time you were born or if you were born in extreme poverty.
• 16:38
  We all can make a difference.
• 16:41
  And Gloria's story, uh, I'm gonna share this after the break here, but it is absolutely phenomenal.
• 16:48
  It's so cool and so powerful, and I consider her an angel.
• 16:52
  Her, her husband, and her kids, they're they're angels.
• 16:56
  We are coming up on a break here.
• 16:57
  Be sure to check out the America Out Loud Store where you'll find incredible deals.
• 17:01
  Use the code Out Loud for 20% off, and visit America Outloud.news.
• 17:07
  Help us share the out loud truth.
• 17:09
  We'll be right back.
• 17:12
  Let's get real.
• 17:12
  Let's get loud.
• 17:13
  On America Out Loud Talk News.
• 17:16
  Yes, this is Dr.
• 17:17
  Peter McCullough, and I'm personally inviting you to join me in Nashville on July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th for a historic experience in 2026.
• 17:25
  America Out Loud News 250 slash 10 Nashville.
• 17:29
  Along with Clear and the Wellness Company, we're celebrating two big milestones.
• 17:33
  250 years of America and 10 years of America Out Loud News.
• 17:38
  I'm calling all patriots to this historic weekend with inspiring entertainment, incredible fireworks, and nationally recognized speakers who proudly stand for freedom.
• 17:48
  I would love to see you there because your presence matters and you are family.
• 17:52
  Now's the time to get together and we can exchange ideas, answer your questions, and enjoy fellowship.
• 17:59
  Join us and register now at America Loud.news forward slash Nashville.
• 18:04
  That's America Outloud.news forward slash Nashville.
• 18:09
  We'll see you there.
• 18:10
  Struggling with your health, energy, and constantly feeling hungry, want to save money on the rising cost of groceries and dramatically improve your health.
• 18:19
  Go to ChemicalfreeBody.com forward slash out loud today.
• 18:23
  Get nature's super multivitamin, doctor formulated green 85 juice formula, empower your immune system, cut your grocery bill, and save 20% on your first order.
• 18:33
  Have you been looking for a healthy snack for on the go?
• 18:37
  Well, not all energy bars are soft and sugary.
• 18:41
  Bear bars are a crunchy savory bar made from just six simple natural ingredients.
• 18:47
  Bear bars or plant-based, organic gluten-free, contain six grams of protein and are low temperature dried for unique crunch.
• 18:56
  Most energy bars are based on chocolate or fruit and are held together with syrups or sweeteners.
• 19:03
  To learn more, just visit Bearbar.com slash out loud.
• 19:08
  Feeling off since COVID?
• 19:10
  Try the wellness company Spike Detox Trio, packed with natokinase, bromaline, and turmeric to help boost your immune system and fight off harmful spike proteins.
• 19:19
  Bounce back with energy and clarity.
• 19:20
  Go to TWC.health forward slash out loud and use promo code Outloud for 20% off your first order.
• 19:42
  This is uh really incredible.
• 19:43
  It's an incredible story.
• 19:45
  And uh Gloria Vargas is an immigrant from Barbados.
• 19:51
  She moved to the United States in, I believe it was 1987.
• 19:55
  Yeah, 87.
• 19:58
  Uh only to
• 20:00
  End up battered and alone without food or a safe place to sleep.
• 20:06
  And she was 1400 nautical miles from family.
• 20:11
  This is on her website, Care in Action USA.
• 20:19
  Her organization.
• 20:23
  You want to talk about scaling a business, which was not a business.
• 20:29
  And I don't know that it even can be considered a business.
• 20:32
  It's a 501c3, I believe.
• 20:35
  And she's not in this for the money.
• 20:40
  But she began to scale what she was doing, and that's handing out food to homeless.
• 20:48
  But she came to the United States and was really, really struggling.
• 20:55
  In fact, she struggled growing up.
• 20:56
  She's one of six children born to hardworking parents who labored in sugar cane fields.
• 21:04
  And she never realized that she was poor growing up.
• 21:08
  Oftentimes that's the case.
• 21:11
  People living in poverty don't realize it's just it is what it is.
• 21:18
  And they don't really think about it.
• 21:21
  Their parents don't focus on the fact that they're poor.
• 21:26
  And uh so Gloria came to the United States.
• 21:30
  She moved to America, and she started to muster up her strength.
• 21:40
  She learned how to cook, clean, wash, take care of a family.
• 21:48
  By the time she was 13.
• 21:52
  And oftentimes this is the case.
• 21:54
  Young children become they become the parents.
• 21:58
  They have to grow up really, really quickly, and they are incredibly resourceful.
• 22:05
  She had crafted bed sheets out of flower sacks.
• 22:10
  She attended to her siblings, even her older ones.
• 22:18
  She would rush home from school and make the family supper on a kerosene stove.
• 22:26
  Um really impossible conditions.
• 22:31
  But she learned how to improvise.
• 22:35
  She learned how to be creative.
• 22:36
  She learned essentially how to survive.
• 22:42
  And when she moved to America, I think she was expecting this wonderful instant transformation, and that's not what she got.
• 22:51
  She really struggled.
• 22:55
  For many years.
• 22:57
  According to her, she said, uh, God had a plan for all my hardships.
• 23:04
  After many years of putting one foot in front of the other, taking any job that she could just to get by, according to uh her website, all while getting uh rooting herself in the hope that comes through prayer.
• 23:26
  I love the faith element in this.
• 23:27
  And wait till you hear what her and her family are doing.
• 23:31
  Gloria now works as a waitress.
• 23:35
  She's married again, and she has two beautiful sons of her own.
• 23:46
  Really incredible story, but I'm gonna go back to this good news network story.
• 23:52
  Uh, this one just published a couple weeks ago, and uh, it's just an update.
• 23:58
  I mean, she's been doing this for years, but she is on the map, and I love that she should be.
• 24:07
  So here's how it all began.
• 24:10
  She started uh running the operation of feeding from her home in Fort Lauderdale since 2012.
• 24:21
  She said, I started buying a little bit of spaghetti and ground beef, and I started with 40 meals.
• 24:30
  She's now 62.
• 24:34
  She said the next week it went to 60 meals, 80 meals.
• 24:39
  Before you know it, I was at 200 meals every weekend.
• 24:46
  Now, I don't know about you, but I feed five people.
• 24:53
  Right?
• 24:53
  It's my wife and I, we have three kids, we're a family of five.
• 24:58
  It's expensive.
• 25:01
  She's on a waitress's salary, feeding two hundred people every single weekend.
• 25:09
  Two hundred meals.
• 25:12
  That's absolutely incredible.
• 25:14
  You want to talk about using all of your money for food.
• 25:21
  Are you listening to the expense?
• 25:23
  She funded this all on her own.
• 25:27
  On a waitress's salary, using all her resources, Gloria now purchases huge amounts of chicken, fish, fresh produce, rice, bread, and bottled water, enough to feed 175 to 200 people.
• 25:44
  Her son's right, God loves you, or some kind of encouraging scripture on every single meal's styrofoam lid.
• 25:55
  And they minister to the downtrodden by listening to their stories.
• 26:00
  What's really cool about this is you want to know what day of the week they do this?
• 26:06
  Sunday.
• 26:07
  Now, I got to tell you as a pastor, let me just tell you how upside down this this is for a lot of Christians, how uncomfortable this is for a lot of Christians.
• 26:19
  I guarantee now the story doesn't say this, but I just know.
• 26:25
  I know from 20 years of experience in ministry.
• 26:30
  I guarantee she gets criticism.
• 26:33
  Why don't you go to church?
• 26:36
  You're out here doing this, and you call yourself a Christian, but you're not, quote, going to church.
• 26:44
  And I got to tell you, I mean, story after story after story in the Bible, Jesus upends the synagogue worship, which was their worship service.
• 26:55
  He upends that by healing people, by walking out, by sending people out of the synagogue and saying, go in peace, go home.
• 27:11
  I mean, it drove the religious leaders absolutely insane.
• 27:14
  It drove them crazy.
• 27:16
  They were, they hated him.
• 27:19
  Right?
• 27:19
  You don't disrupt the worship service.
• 27:24
  And we've made the worship service our God.
• 27:30
  Right.
• 27:30
  That's the Bible over and over again.
• 27:33
  And I'm not saying that we should not go to worship.
• 27:37
  I am a very, very, very, I guess, committed person to worship, to weekly worship.
• 27:47
  I think it's important.
• 27:49
  I think it's vital.
• 27:50
  I think the fellowship is very important.
• 27:52
  I think that it's necessary.
• 27:55
  Uh, but with that said, there are other ways to minister to people, which, according to James, that's true and undefiled religion.
• 28:08
  James, the brother of Jesus has a really really good grasp on this.
• 28:15
  It kind of hits people right between the eyes, and it's a wake-up call for Christians.
• 28:21
  He says, if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart.
• 28:29
  This person's religion is worthless.
• 28:34
  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
• 28:47
  That's it.
• 28:48
  You want pure and undefiled religion.
• 28:54
  Visit the orphans and widows in their affliction and keep yourself unstained from the world.
• 29:00
  Don't get caught up in all the traps of the world and all the greed and bitterness and anger and hatred.
• 29:08
  Don't get caught up in that stuff, but instead visit the orphans and the widows.
• 29:13
  That's what pure and undefiled religion is.
• 29:16
  So she decided to take this very literally and uses her Sundays to deliver the meals.
• 29:24
  I love that.
• 29:30
  Um, during a COVID-19 pandemic, when other organizations shut down, Gloria Vargas expanded her operation to serve up to 600 meals, feeding communities in both Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
• 29:52
  Are you hearing this?
• 29:56
  That's so cool.
• 30:00
  Government's shutting everybody down, they're shutting these organizations down, people are living in fear and panic.
• 30:05
  We all lived through the pandemic.
• 30:07
  We we all remember the nightmare that it was.
• 30:11
  Not Gloria.
• 30:13
  She ain't scared.
• 30:15
  She's she's like, let's ramp this up.
• 30:19
  A lot of people, they used COVID.
• 30:22
  They used the pandemic as an excuse to not do ministry.
• 30:28
  I promise you, I know.
• 30:30
  I know a lot of Christian leaders that they just backed way away, and their churches have never really recovered.
• 30:40
  They used it as an excuse.
• 30:42
  I heard a lot of churches, I know a lot of churches that split during the pandemic.
• 30:47
  They literally split.
• 30:49
  A lot of them were fighting over whether you mask or unmask and like they literally split over that, and a lot of churches closed their doors.
• 30:57
  I have friends whose churches closed their doors permanently.
• 31:03
  And all I heard were excuses.
• 31:06
  Well, the government, this, the government that, the government made it so hard on us.
• 31:12
  What did Gloria do?
• 31:15
  She ramped up her ministry.
• 31:19
  Hey, we're feeding 200 people.
• 31:21
  Let's make it 600.
• 31:22
  We're feeding people in Fort Lauderdale.
• 31:24
  What if we could expand to Miami, too?
• 31:29
  Listen to what she says here.
• 31:31
  When it's cold, when it's windy, when it's raining, it doesn't matter.
• 31:36
  We have to show up.
• 31:39
  Rain or shine.
• 31:43
  Windy.
• 31:45
  Cold or warm.
• 31:48
  Doesn't matter.
• 31:49
  They show up.
• 31:50
  Why?
• 31:52
  Because people are still hungry.
• 31:53
  Homeless people don't get a break from the weather.
• 31:57
  They live outside year-round.
• 31:59
  Gloria knows this.
• 32:00
  I love her shirt, by the way.
• 32:02
  There's a picture of her serving people, serving meals, and she's wearing a shirt that says, Don't tell me you care for me.
• 32:10
  Show me you care for me.
• 32:13
  Like, man, that's so cool.
• 32:14
  I want to meet her so bad.
• 32:18
  She just looks like such an incredible person.
• 32:23
  So there was a generous steed grant from the buyers foundation.
• 32:28
  That allowed her to set up her nonprofit care in action USA.
• 32:34
  Now it's a daily operation.
• 32:37
  She prepares approximately 120 breakfasts and 125 dinners, which are distributed to waiting crowds in under 40 minutes.
• 32:48
  So it's a pretty well-oiled machine.
• 32:53
  She says that the scope of care in action USA extends well beyond meal preparation, too.
• 33:00
  This is where we get into the nuts and bolts of uh her scaling this ministry.
• 33:08
  Her family assists people with rent, utility payments, hotel rooms, bus passes, new clothes, and on and on and on.
• 33:21
  Oh, it gets better.
• 33:23
  Her husband Antonio is a certified auto mechanic.
• 33:29
  Hmm, I wonder where this is going.
• 33:32
  Oh, yeah, that's right.
• 33:34
  He uses his skills to repair cars for free and to drive folks to job interviews and appointments.
• 33:45
  Gloria says, My husband can make so much more money doing the job he does, but he takes homeless people to appointments.
• 33:54
  Are you hearing this?
• 33:57
  This is incredible.
• 33:59
  This is what success looks like in America.
• 34:03
  People are so often about chasing money, chasing fame, chasing uh all this stuff.
• 34:11
  I just did this thing on uh on only fans and how uh it really has opened up a conversation since the pandemic.
• 34:19
  A lot of young women, especially are being trapped in this idea that you need to sell sex in order to make money.
• 34:27
  Get on only fans, you'll make all this money.
• 34:29
  You know, the average, the average amount of money that that women make exposing themselves.
• 34:39
  That stuff is out there forever, those pictures and videos.
• 34:41
  I promise you, there are websites that uh, even though there's a there's a paywall, there are websites where people they pay for the service for a month, they they they steal the pictures and videos, and then they archive them on other websites.
• 34:58
  That stuff is out there forever.
• 35:01
  Forever.
• 35:02
  The average monthly payment is about a hundred dollars.
• 35:09
  I mean, it's false hope.
• 35:14
  It's false hope.
• 35:16
  People are chasing this, what they think is the American dream, and uh they're getting themselves deeper and deeper in debt, they're exposing themselves, they're putting all this stuff out there that's forever on the internet, and uh not Gloria.
• 35:30
  She's like, you know, my husband could be making a whole lot more money being an auto mechanic, but instead, he's driving people to appointments.
• 35:38
  He's taking homeless people to their appointments, he's fixing their cars for free.
• 35:44
  It's incredible.
• 35:46
  That's the American dream.
• 35:48
  Blessing people, helping people.
• 35:52
  And that's our family's prayer every single night.
• 35:55
  God bless us more so that we can bless more people.
• 35:59
  That's it.
• 36:01
  I don't care about fame and money and all like my family just doesn't care about that stuff.
• 36:10
  Now it's nice, and uh right.
• 36:12
  I wrote a book about tithing your time and money.
• 36:16
  I'm all about building generational wealth, but for what purpose?
• 36:22
  To free you up to be able to help more people, to bless more people.
• 36:30
  Uh, the article goes on to say, thanks to donations and volunteers, the couple says they've opened a transitional home that has housed eight men who pay between 300 and 400 in rent if they maintain employment requirements.
• 36:48
  It's incredible.
• 36:49
  They have they they provide housing, they fix cars for free, they take people to job interviews, they take people to doctor's appointments.
• 37:02
  All of this, they they fund themselves or through the organization.
• 37:09
  That's incredible.
• 37:11
  The article goes on to say people are blessed by glorious food, to be sure, but they're drawn like magnets to her story, her family's kindness and her example of love.
• 37:24
  Uh, good on buyers, by the way.
• 37:28
  The buyer's organization for seeding money for her to be able to start her own organization.
• 37:34
  That's incredible.
• 37:38
  She is helping thousands and thousands of people.
• 37:41
  And uh, there was another article that said uh she had given uh about $50,000 of her own money.
• 37:49
  I think it was for uh helping people with rent.
• 37:52
  Well, we're up, we're on a hard break here.
• 37:56
  All the shows go to podcasts the next day after the broadcast heard on talk radio.
• 38:00
  Find it on your favorite podcast app, share it, rate the show, visit AmericaOutloud.news and use the code Outloud for 20% off.
• 38:07
  We'll be right back.
• 38:08
  Oral hygiene hasn't changed in 50 years, but our diet and the way we eat has creating an environment in your mouth for bacteria to wreck havoc on your teeth and gums for better oral health, get spray, dental defense, an oral care line designed to combat acid-creating bacteria.
• 38:26
  The toothpaste, mouthwash, mints, and gum, all contain xylitol and natural ingredients shown to dramatically improve oral health.
• 38:34
  Sprite can be found online and at all fine natural retailers.
• 38:38
  I'm Doug Evans, author of the sprout book.
• 38:40
  And I'm also a father with a three-year-old daughter, and that's why we grow sprouts.
• 38:47
  Did you know that you could take seeds, add water, and get fresh organic vegetables in three to five days without soil, sunshine, or fertilizer for under a dollar a serving?
• 39:00
  That's the miracle of sprouting, and I want to share that with you.
• 39:04
  Go to the spouting company.com slash out loud and use the code out loud for a special offer.
• 39:18
  Gloria is a waitress in Fort Lauderdale who is given over 270,000 meals to people.
• 39:28
  Her husband fixes people's cars for free.
• 39:32
  He's an auto mechanic, a certified auto mechanic.
• 39:35
  Her sons write Bible verses and messages of encouragement on every single styrofoam box for these meals that go out to people.
• 39:44
  But it goes on.
• 39:45
  They do more, they provide housing for people.
• 39:50
  They just recently opened up a transitional housing for people.
• 40:00
  Eight men who pay between 300 and 400 in rent, as long as they maintain employment requirements.
• 40:09
  And they do so much more.
• 40:10
  They do Bible studies.
• 40:12
  Her husband does Bible studies on Monday for people that they serve.
• 40:17
  People are coming to know Christ, not just through acts of kindness, but through Bible study.
• 40:26
  Here's another article.
• 40:28
  This is an article that was written a couple years ago.
• 40:33
  Almost three years ago now.
• 40:35
  But it's on gentneybooks.com.
• 40:40
  Gloria Vargas and Care in Action USA strive to help homeless.
• 40:45
  My name is Monica LeKind.
• 40:48
  I'm a single mother of two autistic children.
• 40:51
  During COVID, I was the domestic violence survivor, which left us homeless, jobless, financially unstable, and sleeping on the streets of Broward County.
• 41:01
  That's where I met this amazing person.
• 41:04
  So full of energy, spreading hope and grace while feeding the homeless on the street of our community.
• 41:11
  This exceptional woman is Gloria Vargas.
• 41:15
  Gloria is a full-time waitress who works in Delray Beach.
• 41:20
  During her time away from work, she uses her every spare moment she has helping the homeless women and children on the streets of Fort Lauderdale.
• 41:30
  Gloria founded Care and Action USA in 2012.
• 41:37
  Miss Vargas, along with her husband Antonio Vargas and her son Cedric Lewis.
• 41:45
  She has two sons.
• 41:48
  They've been cooking meals for the homeless since 2012 on Sundays to provide hot meals for the homeless in this community.
• 41:58
  They feed and provide services for the homeless, help families find services for housing, give support for their needs and spiritual support, as well as Bible studies conducted by her husband Antonio Vargas.
• 42:12
  The Bibles take the Bible studies take place on Mondays at 1230 p.m.
• 42:18
  Shortly afterwards, lunch is served at 145 p.m.
• 42:24
  And a second distribution of meals at 5 30 p.m.
• 42:27
  to 6 p.m.
• 42:29
  And Strong Park, downtown Fort Lauderdale.
• 42:35
  They've been fighting for the plight of the homeless for the past eight years.
• 42:40
  There are too many lives lost and destroyed while waiting for help.
• 42:45
  And most people believe the myth that mental health creates homelessness.
• 42:52
  The lack of affordable housing adds stress to the homeless mental health crisis.
• 42:59
  Gloria and her family have cooked and served well over 200,000 meals.
• 43:06
  But this mission doesn't come easily.
• 43:10
  Gloria pleads to the politicians to address affordable housing.
• 43:15
  Section 8 vouchers do not solve the problem, and it has not just become a poor man's problem due to our current inflation crisis.
• 43:24
  That was three years ago.
• 43:26
  I mean, look at where we are now.
• 43:28
  It's gotten worse.
• 43:44
  It's mom and dad and kids.
• 43:48
  By far, that's the biggest demographic of people entering into homelessness.
• 43:53
  And it's getting worse, not better.
• 43:55
  Look at what the value of houses has done.
• 44:00
  I mean, there was a tiny little correction just recently.
• 44:05
  I don't know how closely y'all keep an eye on that.
• 44:09
  I look on Zillow all the time, and I just kind of check it out, see what the value of homes is doing.
• 44:18
  But there was a there was a little dip where it lost homes kind of lost value for a little bit, and now they're going right back up again.
• 44:27
  And they're going to continue to.
• 44:29
  I have news for people.
• 44:31
  The value of homes is going to continue to climb and climb and climb.
• 44:37
  This is not good news for people who who are living in homelessness.
• 44:42
  Why?
• 44:43
  Because as the value of homes increases, so does rent.
• 44:49
  Rent is increasing, and that's, you know, Mam Donnie is on his big kick in New York City.
• 44:55
  He's gonna put a freeze on rent.
• 45:00
  Good luck with that.
• 45:04
  You know, people, yeah, people get gouged, and I'm all for accountability when people are getting gouged by the homeowners when they're charging too much rent, and they're taking advantage of people.
• 45:19
  Yeah, uh, we ought to crack down on that.
• 45:21
  I get it.
• 45:23
  I'm all for that.
• 45:26
  But putting a freeze on rent and saying we're we're gonna keep rent exactly where it's at for the foreseeable future, good luck.
• 45:36
  Because as the value of properties increases, it costs homeowners a tremendous amount of money.
• 45:43
  Number one, to purchase them, but also to maintain them.
• 45:49
  Yeah, I uh just talking to people here.
• 45:52
  I got a roof on my house, I don't know, 12 years ago, and just talking to people, local people here, the cost to put a roof on has more than doubled in the last 12 years for the similar size house.
• 46:10
  People are telling me what they're what they're spending to put a roof on, and my jaw hits the floor, and I'm like, holy cow.
• 46:16
  I thought it was expensive whenever I put a roof on, it's more than double, more than double.
• 46:25
  So affordable housing is it's a major issue, and it's contributing to homelessness.
• 46:30
  Homelessness is not going to be eradicated in the United States.
• 46:34
  It's just not.
• 46:35
  Even Jesus addressed that.
• 46:38
  You know, there were systems in place to ensure that every single person living in poverty was taken care of.
• 46:47
  The old testament has plenty of regulations from farmers leaving the outsides of their fields, don't uh don't harvest the outside of the fields, leave that, leave that for people to glean, people who are homeless and traveling through, leave the corners of the fields.
• 47:07
  That was a commandment.
• 47:11
  Don't be tight-fisted towards people who are in need, on and on and on.
• 47:16
  Lots of scriptures, lots and lots and lots of scriptures.
• 47:21
  There were a lot of commandments and regulations for how inheritances were supposed to be handled.
• 47:28
  But then Jesus said, the poor you will always have with you.
• 47:35
  So I think people get this idea, and you hear politicians talk about it all the time.
• 47:41
  We're gonna eliminate homelessness.
• 47:44
  No, you're not.
• 47:54
  Not to not to sound negative, this is just truth, it's just fact.
• 47:59
  The wealth gap in America is widening every single day.
• 48:05
  The wealthy are getting wealthier, and the poor are getting poorer.
• 48:13
  That's just a fact.
• 48:15
  That's the way it is.
• 48:19
  And we can bemoan that, we can point to the government, we can uh we can bellyache, we can protest, we can do all those things, and it's not gonna fix it.
• 48:31
  So, what do we do?
• 48:32
  What do we do knowing that this wealth income gap is growing dramatically?
• 48:40
  Uh I think a lot of people have in their minds that as the economy crashes, like a lot of people, believe it or not, want the economy to crash because they think that's gonna hurt poor people.
• 48:53
  It is not, I promise you.
• 48:57
  Wealthy people right now, people who understand how money works, how it flows.
• 49:05
  People as soon as this war is done in Iran, the wealthy are going to become so much more wealthy.
• 49:15
  They're positioning themselves very wisely, in my opinion.
• 49:22
  You know, they they understand how the stock market works, they understand how corrections work, they understand all of that stuff.
• 49:29
  And so they're stacking themselves right now.
• 49:34
  They're buying up stocks so that when the market begins to take off take off, they're gonna do quite well.
• 49:44
  I'm doing the same thing.
• 49:45
  I'm very transparent about that.
• 49:49
  I'm positioning myself, uh, buying things at a discount, buying stocks at a discount, doing my research on which stuff.
• 50:00
  Stocks I want to buy, what I don't want to buy.
• 50:03
  I'm very selective.
• 50:07
  But that there is a wealth gap.
• 50:09
  There is.
• 50:10
  It's here.
• 50:14
  And the poor people who either don't have money or they don't understand how money works.
• 50:22
  They are becoming more poor in America.
• 50:24
  That's a fact.
• 50:28
  So what we do, what we do to help with that is that we serve people.
• 50:33
  We bless people.
• 50:35
  We don't point fingers and say, well, you missed the boat.
• 50:39
  Information's free.
• 50:41
  You could be on this boat too, but you you chose not to.
• 50:46
  No.
• 50:47
  What we do is we lend a hand to them.
• 50:52
  We minister to them.
• 50:54
  We feed them.
• 50:55
  We feed the hungry.
• 50:58
  We clothe the naked.
• 51:02
  Right?
• 51:02
  Jesus says that this is the test that separates the goats from the sheep.
• 51:10
  People who go to hell and people who go to heaven.
• 51:14
  What separates them is not how often you went to church, but it's whether your religion was pure and undefiled.
• 51:25
  Did you care for the orphans and the widows in their distress?
• 51:28
  Did you clothe people who are naked?
• 51:30
  Did you feed people who are hungry?
• 51:32
  Did you give water to people who are thirsty?
• 51:38
  So I'm going to read a little bit more on the Jitney books.
• 51:43
  It's a really, really great article.
• 51:47
  So just to give you a little bit of context for what's going on in Florida, and this is being replicated across America.
• 51:54
  The woman who wrote this, she said, My family and I were homeless for over a year and a half.
• 51:59
  The same programs that were developed to help the disadvantaged are destroying the lives one family at a time and does not solve the homelessness crisis.
• 52:12
  Did you hear that?
• 52:14
  We have to understand this.
• 52:17
  This is from somebody who is living out in the streets.
• 52:21
  They know better than any of us, trust me.
• 52:25
  She said the same programs that were developed to help the disadvantaged are destroying lives one family at a time, does not solve the homelessness crisis.
• 52:35
  Gloria started reaching out to numerous politicians in the last 18 years to offer common sense solutions to combat this problem.
• 52:43
  Gloria believes that social class is one of the biggest hurdles that the lower class has to deal with.
• 52:49
  It's exactly what I was just talking about.
• 52:52
  Gloria even has proof of this.
• 52:54
  For years, Gloria's fight to help the lower class has been dismissed by the government officials who refuse to even meet with her to discuss to address these issues.
• 53:06
  Housing, a crisis like this is just as big as the fentanyl problem in the state, if not bigger.
• 53:14
  Affordable housing has affected 70% of the lower and middle income people.
• 53:21
  Governor DeSantis has attacked almost every problem except housing in the state of Florida.
• 53:30
  Care in Action Inc.
• 53:32
  is mostly supported by private donors, along with a few small donations from working class people, as well as a few continual major donors, such as the late Bob Byers from Chalfont, Pennsylvania.
• 53:48
  Alan and Megan Camisa from San Diego, California, Larry and Tammy Clum from Ohio, and Lewis Dominguez from Florida.
• 54:01
  So it's a handful of donors that are making this possible.
• 54:06
  Not the government.
• 54:08
  Basically, the message is government get out of the way.
• 54:12
  We're here to serve.
• 54:15
  And I love this.
• 54:17
  I love that this started as a grassroots movement.
• 54:20
  And it started with one family, with one woman who then brought in her husband and her two sons, and they are absolutely changing the world.
• 54:31
  They're changing the world as we know it.
• 54:33
  They're making the world a brighter, better place.
• 54:36
  And they're going to continue to scale this.
• 54:39
  I mean, every year, this organization just gets better and better.
• 54:44
  I think that's so incredible.
• 54:46
  Care in action USA.
• 54:49
  I'll link to all of these links in the show notes.
• 54:53
  And I just, I want to pray for Gloria and her family.
• 54:57
  I want to pray for the people living in homelessness as these numbers continue to grow.
• 55:04
  Um it's it's a problem.
• 55:06
  It's not going away.
• 55:08
  You can see it.
• 55:09
  All of us instinctively know it.
• 55:11
  If you're from a city or if you drive into cities, you see the homeless encampments.
• 55:17
  They're all over the place.
• 55:19
  And in the past five years, they've grown like I've never seen ever in my lifetime.
• 55:27
  You know, I'm I'm in my mid-upper 40s, and I have never seen the amount of homeless encampments every time that I go into any city, doesn't matter where it is, what time of year it is, how cold it is, it doesn't matter.
• 55:42
  I've never seen the amount of homelessness that I'm seeing now.
• 55:46
  So it's it's here.
• 55:47
  It's here to stay.
• 55:48
  The question is, what are we gonna do about it?
• 55:54
  Are we gonna be the glory of Vargas'?
• 55:57
  Are we gonna open our eyes and our hearts to see the problem that's on the street?
• 56:02
  I pray that we do.
• 56:04
  I really, really pray that we encounter homeless people and that we have a heart for them and that we bless them beyond measure.
• 56:15
  The American people can do it.
• 56:17
  The money's there.
• 56:18
  We have the wealth in this nation to turn it around.
• 56:22
  That, my friends, is the hidden lightness.
• 56:24
  You can find more out about my show and get all the latest podcasts if you go to the Mini Navigation Bar at America Outloud.news under our shows or schedule.
• 56:32
  You'll be in the know.
• 56:33
  There is a hidden lightness that shines inside of all of us.
• 56:36
  When there's so much darkness that envelops the world, remember that it doesn't take much light to expose that darkness and to ultimately inspire other people.
• 56:43
  Join me in being a light.